Podcast 143 — Health Fears: The Power of Assessing Symptoms (Without Unnecessary Tests)

Joette: (2:10)

Alright, so let's go back to Kate, because you had mentioned to me that you had this sensation in your chest. And my first thought always is, what could be extrinsic? What could be from the outside coming in?

And, of course, diet matters, food matters, but that's not what I was thinking.

I was thinking that I know, Kate, that you were taking a medicine (a homeopathic) for appetite, right? To curb your appetite?

Kate:

I was, but I actually stopped taking that a while ago.

Joette:

Oh, okay. Okay. So, my first thought is in looking at that medicine — at any homeopathic medicine — if we have new symptoms, then my first thought is it's likely the medicine — the homeopathic medicine.

Kate:

That's a good point because I actually did stop taking that medicine because I had a new symptom. Now, I don't know for sure if it was from that medicine or not.

Joette:

We don't know. We don't know. All we can do is, yes, check it out. That's right.

Kate:

Yes. But I did stop taking it, and I haven't had that symptom since. So again, it could be, or it could not. But it wasn't a medicine that I absolutely needed to take.

Joette:

No, you were kind of testing it out. “Let's have some fun with this. Let's see if this will work for me and see if it reduces my appetite, et cetera.”

So, that's always my first thought, is what's coming in. And if there is, whether it's a conventional drug, whether it's a vitamin, a supplement (which are, by the way, often synthetic) or a homeopathic medicine, we do have to consider that. Because what we're doing is … we are — even if it's for good — to a certain degree  we're manipulating our bodies. And so, it would behoove us to consider that the manipulation is working. Perhaps in other ways we might get some good from it, but if we get other symptoms, even if they're mild …

This description that you were giving me today, the sensation you were having in your chest, it's rather mild, but it's new, and it's something you say, “Hmmm. I don't know. I've never had this before.” That's my first clue that it could be something that you've been taking.

Now, even if you stopped taking that homeopathic — say, even four days ago — it doesn't mean that it's done. It also doesn't mean that it's still in your bloodstream, but it stimulates the body to make shifts.

As my mother used to say when we were doing something that she thought we should rethink and rearrange the way we're approaching a subject, she would say, “arrangiare te,” which means arrange yourself. And so, in a way, well, she meant that we need to rethink things and to approach a concern, a problem, a condition differently. Rearrange it and rethink it and come to a conclusion.

In a way it's the same message, but what we've done is we've already arranged or rearranged, and perhaps that re-arrangement (by taking a homeopathic medicine, a supplement, a vitamin a drug, whatever else it might be) is now showing itself in a, perhaps, not so savory fashion.

Now, here's the upshot. If you had said to me, Kate, “I'm having this little sensation in my chest. It's not horrible, and it doesn't feel as though it's of imminent danger. But there it is, and I wonder what it is.”

But meanwhile, you've been taking a homeopathic medicine that's helping you reduce your craving or your appetite, and it's working, then we have to weigh it out.

One of the best ways to weigh it out is to open up the materia medica and read up on the medicine that you're presently taking,which I assume you did. I know you already did that. But I would encourage people that anytime take something, you really should know what you're doing. You should know what the medicine represents. Read up on it and see if any of the symptoms that you're experiencing are noted in the description of this medicine in the materia medica.

Now, we're being intelligent, and we are arranging ourselves properly. So, I'm not slapping you on the back of the hand, Kate, because I've done the same thing myself … so many times that that's how I've been able to come to this conclusion — not only in treating myself and my family, but certainly clients and thousands of students.

And that's how I can come to a more comfortable conclusion and teach people that if on the other side of this, you're finding that the sensation in your chest outweighs the benefit (or perhaps no benefit quite yet), in taking the homeopathic for the cravings and appetite — it's outweighing in such a way that it makes you uncomfortable — it's time to rethink. It's time to reassess and decide, “I think I'm just going to stop this homeopathic medicine and see what comes of that.”

Or if it's something you're insistent upon, okay, instead of taking it twice daily, you might take it only twice a week and see what comes of it that way.

So, as I always tell my students, knowing how to use Practical Homeopathy® — in other words, knowing which homeopathic medicines to choose, their potency and their frequency — is the easy part because I give it to you. I just give it out!

The hard part is knowing what to do once you've taken it (or once you've observed someone else taking it) and knowing how to assess what's next.

In other words, in a way, it's really case management. You're managing what's coming down the pike, and this is what gives us greater freedom and liberty in understanding how to treat, using homeopathy — using Practical Homeopathy®.

It gives us more wisdom; it gives us a greater depth of knowledge. And it puts us in a place where we can be a little more confident instead of just, “I don't know what's happening. I have no idea.”

Now, having said all of this, I'm not going to tell you, we absolutely know. These are indicators. This is a way to assess.

I'm not telling you that we absolutely know. Because what if randomly out of nowhere, you have a sensation in your chest that's new, that has nothing to do with taking vitamin supplements or new homeopathic medicine or a drug. Now, what if it has nothing to do with that?

To be honest, we will not know. We actually may never know, but we'll have a better knowledge — a better understanding of it — from 30,000 feet above. Meaning, it's only in time will you recognize that this potentially triggered that.

Because you may try it again, and the same incidence occurs, and then, you halt the use of the medicine again. And then six months later, you try it again. And it's pretty clear that this medicine — this homeopathic medicine — causes this sensation in my chest. And is it worth it or is it not worth it?

And that's how we can truly judge whether or not we've chosen the correct medicine and the correct potency and frequency.

Kate:

Yes. One of the things that occurred to me was it could be a new food that I'm eating, and maybe it's something that I'm allergic to, and it's causing a sensation in my airways or my chest.

So yeah, you're right. We have to look at all of the things that we're doing, and I think one of the things that we see often is that people start to have this fear, right?

“Oh my gosh, it's this new thing. It must be something terrible.” Right? Our minds go to that.

But what you're saying is really step back, have that bird's eye view — that view from above.

What are all these extrinsic factors? Am I doing something new? What might I try to eliminate, whether it's a new homeopathic or a new food that I'm eating? And see if that makes the difference.

And instead of having that fear, and oftentimes, Joette, if we talk to someone about this, it brings us down. And that's why we love our study groups and our homeopathy buddies, and they can help us think logically when we have this fear of something.