Podcast 35 – Moms with Moxie: How The Survivalist Guide Helped This Mom

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In this podcast, we cover:

04:45    Life before Joette and homeopathy

14:03    The Survivalist Guide: carbon monoxide poisoning

23:42    Apis for wound puncture

28:03    Hip issues and Rhus tox

 

You are listening to a podcast from joettecalabrese.com where nationally certified American homeopath, public speaker, and author, Joette Calabrese, shares her passion for helping families stay healthy through homeopathy and nutrient-dense nutrition.

 

Paola:  It’s another podcast at JoetteCalabrese.com. Today, we’ve got a new episode for the Moms with Moxie miniseries.

Joette:  All the way from my desk in New York, I get to see how homeopathy is transforming lives all over the globe. Some of my students have really caught my eye. Some of you have done all you can to learn how to cure those around you using homeopathic medicines. Your successes inspire me. They’re glorious and powerful. I can’t keep your successes a secret any longer. So, with help from my roving reporter, Paola, we bring you this mini podcast series that I call Moms with Moxie. It’s actually grandmoms, too. But it’s Moms with Moxie. See how regular mothers and others, average people who want to cure those around them have gone from freaking to fabulous with homeopathy.

Paola:  I am here with Shannon Gunther. I am so excited to be with you today, Shannon. We’ve gotten to know each other a little bit on the phone and through email. We have a really great podcast for Joette’s listeners.

Shannon:  I am so excited to be here. Thank you.

Paola:  Shannon, tell me where you’re from, where you’re living, what state or whatever.

Shannon:  I am in Northern California. We’re up in the mountains. I am a homeschooling mama with seven kids and of course, a husband. Just getting ready to graduate my third child, so pretty exciting.

Paola:  Awesome, graduate your third child. So, you’re a little bit ahead of me. I have to say you look just as young as you sound. That is so fun that you can just be so young to enjoy your family.

Shannon:  Yes, thank you.

Paola:  Do you have grandkids or anything yet? Are any of your kids …?

Shannon:  No grandkids, yes. My oldest is going to be 20 and he’s like, “Mom, not yet, stop.”

Paola:  So, your oldest is 20.

Shannon:  Well, it’s pretty cute.

Paola:  Shannon, the first question I like to ask Moms with Moxie like you is why do you love homeopathy.

Shannon:  Well honestly, when I found it, it completely gave me my life back. I was suffering from some chronic illness and I was at the end of my rope. I’ve tried everything and homeopathy was it. It completely gave me my life back.

Paola:  Do you feel like you have perfect health now?

Shannon:  I don’t have perfect health but improvement in my life, just I can function again. It’s going to be a longer journey. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue. But I’d tell you, within that first month of starting remedies, I felt like a new person.

Paola:  So you mean, you’ve been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue by a traditional doctor?

Shannon:  A naturopath.

Paola:  A naturopath, okay.

Shannon:  Of course, there were lots of tests involved and can we for sure be sure.

Paola:  Right, right.

Shannon:  But it all was pointing to that with extreme exhaustion and what not.

Paola:  I’m trying to remember where I read this. It was a homeopathic practitioner (who might have been Joette, I don’t know). They say that your hormones are a three-legged stool.

Shannon:  Yes.

Paola:  Your adrenals, your thyroid, and then the other stuff — the progesterone and all that pituitary stuff — and when one of them goes out, the other two were close behind.

Shannon:  Exactly. It’s just so linked and one will try to help the other and then of course get weakened. So, it’s just like this complex stuff. But I found homeopathy, so it simplified it completely.

Paola:  You feel like you’re living a robust life and that’s the thing. That’s the key. Joette says it. You’re not going to have perfect health. That doesn’t exist.

Shannon:  Exactly. Yes, I have my bad days. I have days where I’m definitely more tired. But I can get out of bed. I can feel not as overtaxed. I emotionally am stable. That was just a huge blessing.

Paola:  That is huge. You’re right. I know. I feel like I also don’t have perfect health, but when I look at what I can accomplish in a week, it’s okay. I’m working on it. We got it. It’s okay.

Shannon:  Exactly.

Paola:  Well, let’s talk about … what was your life like before Joette? Let’s go into some more details.

Life before Joette and homeopathy 

Shannon:  I had my first child in my 20s and really got into herbs, really loved herbs. They helped with colds that little toddlers get. So, I was just a huge fan. I was into eating really healthy. Then we discovered Weston A. Price, loved that. So, I fell into herbs and the clean eating. That definitely assisted with health. That was great.

But fast forward to right after I had my 7^th baby. I was right around 30. That’s when all the chronic stuff popped up. So, I found, I went to a naturopathic doctor, got on Nature Throid. That’s all good. I was taking a lot of stuff. I mean it’s great supplement. I believed in it. But it never quite got me over the hills. So, it was a constant few steps. Climb up a bit this mountain and slip down. Climb up and we’re never reaching the top and getting over that.

I remember — I know I told you earlier — that here I was at my dining room table and I had 12 to 15 supplements in front of me. I had to make a schedule of when to take them; this before eating, this during eating. It was so overwhelming, I just started bawling. I’m like, “I can’t do this anymore.” This had been probably eight years into my illness. It was this roller coaster. My body would respond a little bit to the supplements and then slip back down to the bottom. So, it was actually my naturopath at that point who said, “We should maybe bring in a homeopath just to assist.”

Paola:  Wow! Good for him.

Shannon:  I know. So, that was really incredible, that just willing to do that.

Paola:  It is so discouraging when you have improvements and then it stops working. I mean it’s one thing to have a step forward, a step back, and a step forward but to have it stop working, oh my gosh. It’s like you feel like you’re losing everything.

Shannon:  To just go on this rollercoaster up and down for eight years, it was just so discouraging. It was like I actually can’t mentally do this anymore. So that brought me to the end of the rope. It was like okay, homeopathy is left. It’s not like I didn’t believe in it but I just didn’t know. I didn’t know about it fully.

Paola:  So, your naturopath brought in the homeopath, just like a classical or what?

Shannon:  No, it was actually, she gave that up to me. So, I had known about Joette, had been kind of following her blog. My Weston A. Price group had brought her to our little town for a two-day intensive. Here I was in the front just eating it up. So, I had had the experience of hearing her and seeing her and just loved everything she said. But there was just little time. Then I was like, I want to go to Joette. That’s the one. So here, my husband was like, “Yes. Whatever it takes.” I gave her office a little call. Pulling back tears in the whole conversation because she actually gave me hope again. She’s like, “Oh, hypothyroidism, we can address that. Adrenal fatigue, no problem; emotions, I got that.”

Paola:  Wow.

Shannon:  So nobody had said that to me in my eight years to that point of we can help you out.

Paola:  With that confidence.

Shannon:  That was wonderful.

Paola:  Yes. Yes.

Shannon:  Like I said before, really my body just, of course, just responded so well right away.

Paola:  Then tell me about before Joette then, as far as being a mom, what was that like?

Shannon:  I was again just into herbs. That was before the chronic. So, that’s what I would just assist our bodies with, the herbs and the eating healthy, kind of Weston A. Price, because at that point when I had little kids, I didn’t have the chronic.

Paola:  I see, which is interesting because it sounds like you’re doing everything right and then the chronic stuff came which is a little bit scary. That’s not supposed to happen.

Shannon:  I know. I know. Genetics!

Paola:  Yes, that’s true. Then you did have a lot of kids which is sometimes more stressful on some women. Some women, every time they give birth, it’s like they get thinner and their hair gets thicker.

Shannon:  Exactly. You know, I can look back. When you do your timeline, Joette suggests this timeline, I had antibiotics as a kid. I had some vaccinations. Then of course, there’s a strong family history of hypothyroidism. I just think of those like Joette talks about that sleeping giant. It just made sense just as far as the chronics.

Paola:  Yes, that’s true. Yes. You could have been much worse off. I’m sure, obviously, right? So, that’s good that you were wise and just from the beginning avoiding what she calls — what is it she calls it — avoiding medicines of commerce, so very good. I remember, you also told me something about how Joette transformed your perspective on illness in general.

Shannon:  She did. Just having a bunch of little kids, and they’d get sick and bring home a cold, the flu. It just seemed really stressful because there is a lot of them. I’d be like, “Oh man. We’re going to be sick again.” Of course, the herbs, they assisted definitely, probably shortened the illness that I saw. But what I loved just learning from Joette, she said that sickness and the suffering with it, especially like chicken pox or the measles is actually a good thing for kids. It’s okay to have some suffering. That’s how your body can respond afterwards if they were having trouble reading or riding their bike. That just really was neat for me, just to go, “Oh! Okay. I just need to really relax about this.”

Paola:  Yes.

Shannon:  So, I just love that.

Paola:  Something that you even mentioned the chicken pox. I don’t know where she got it from, but my daughter got the chicken pox. She has it literally right now. I posted on Facebook like, “Stay away or whatever, if you want to stay away,” just kind of public warning, public health warning that she’s got chicken pox. The responses I got from my friends that do homeopathy and my friends that don’t do homeopathy were night and day. So, my friends who know homeopathy and do homeopathy were like, “Oh, you got this.” Just like oh, rite of passage, very even-keeled, calm about it. My other friends that don’t do any sort of natural homeopathy or even natural medicine, “We will pray for you. I am so sorry.” I appreciate that. That’s so nice of them. Thanks. We always need prayers, I guess. But there is a fear and a lack of empowerment and understanding there that I’m so glad I don’t have.

Shannon:  That is so true. Even when I was doing herbs primarily, I had this book. It actually had different things in there addressing to help with measles and the mumps and the chicken pox. That’s just, as a mom, empowering like, “Oh! We can do this.” Now, homeopathy just was all the more … as far as feeling confident and especially just with Joette teaching those Banerji Protocols.

Paola:  I know it.

Shannon:  Oh man, that is just huge amount of confidence. Yes, got that. Oh yes, we got this. So that’s just wonderful.

Paola:  Yes, you’re right. That’s the difference between fear is having information and preparation and that gives you the confidence.

Shannon:  Yes.

Paola:  So tell us. Speaking of getting that information, have you taken any of Joette’s courses? If so, which ones?

Shannon:  Yes. I’ve taken all of them, as many as I can. I think the Skin course was my first. Then I did the Survivalist, Good Gut, Bad Gut, Allergies, just finished Feminopathy. I just got it. I need to carve out that time to sit down and listen to that. So, I’m super excited. With four girls … I’m just super excited about it.

Paola:  Awesome. So, this is a practical question. But how did you save up for all those courses? What did you do? Like no Christmas anymore, just homeopathy.

Shannon:  Exactly. It was birthdays, Christmas. Just can I set aside a little money for this? It was just really neat. My husband, he is all about just the natural and healthy way of living. It was just neat for everybody that’s in this family what homeopathy did for my chronic. So, he’s just like, “Yes. Let’s just try to figure that out.”

Paola:  Yes. Let’s keep learning and doing it.

Shannon:  Exactly.

Paola:  Which of the courses so far in what you’ve experienced has had the most impact for you?

The Survivalist Guide: carbon monoxide poisoning

Shannon:  In my experience, and especially with seven kiddos here, Survivalist. Mainly because it’s so practical, and you get a syllabus with it. So, that chapter on first aid is well worn. I run in to it! The kids know the book. They’re like, “Get Mama’s syllabus here.” In fact, I will say it paid for itself because it saved us two emergency room visits. So right there, paid.

Paola:  For some people on the low end, that copay is just 100 bucks. So, it goes up from there. So yes, I want to hear the stories. Tell us about an experience where you felt like the Survivalist Guide was awesome.

Shannon:  This is kind of my biggest story to date. It’s about my daughter who is 12 years old. It was this last summer. We had been splitting wood with gas motor log splitter and stacking wood.

Paola:  I see.

Shannon:  I had come in, I think to make lunch for everybody. I had to walk to the back of the house where the laundry room was, and found her just sitting there kind of in a state of collapse. I said, “Oh no, what’s going on?” I very soon realized that she was in a state of confusion as well. She was crying just kind of gently, “It’s my head.” Her head hurts but very rapidly, the symptoms were increasing very fast. She cannot talk clearly. So, it was kind of babbling.

Paola:  She could just babble and not form coherent words?

Shannon:  Yes, correct. Of course, that freaked me out.

Paola:  Oh my gosh, yes.

Shannon:  I’m like, “Oh my goodness.” So, I called. I had one of the kids get my husband. I called the older kids just to help us. I was having people get the homeopathy kit, the syllabus, the Survivalist syllabus.

Paola:  I can just see it. Was it like, “Go get the kit. Go get the book. Go get your dad. Everybody go!”

Shannon:  Exact, mobilize.

Paola:  I love it.

Shannon:  It was great. So, I’m thinking anaphylactic shock. I’m thinking she got stung by a bee. She’s reacting.

Paola:  Oh yes.

Shannon:  We’re having a lot of trouble with these bees in the late summer. They were just crazy and angry.

Paola:  Oh no.

Shannon:  So, we wait. Husband came in. We’re looking over for a bee sting. He got on his phone and Googled her symptoms. He saw it’s coming up carbon monoxide poisoning. I’m, “Oh no!” He’s all, “No, really, look.” I’m like, “What?” We’re out in the fresh air with log splitting and all. Sure enough, it totally matched. So, I quickly looked up carbon monoxide poisoning in the Survivalist syllabus.

Paola:  Real quick, your husband is sensitive to carbon monoxide too?

Shannon:  He is, so, yes. Yes, I’m glad you reminded me. We knew he was sensitive to that. She is just very much like him, so kind of prone to that as well.

Paola:  That helped that he was kind of aware what that feels like or something.

Shannon:  Absolutely, yes. So then, it was like … it just seemed so doubtful. It could be carbon monoxide, but with that history and then the description in the Survivalist syllabus matched exactly. I’m like, “Wow.”

Paola:  And I can’t … like it was really in there. Carbon Monoxide poisoning …

Shannon:  Yes, it really is in there. I love it.

Paola:  That’s awesome.

Shannon:  I’m like okay. So of course, her daddy is holding her. We opened a door, fresh air. She’s real sensitive and she gets very distressed when she’s ill. So, she’s very distressed. She actually knew that she couldn’t form her words. She was trying to communicate. So that freaked her out all the more. It was just bad. So, looked up, there are several different remedies for carbon monoxide, but she fit Gelsemium alternating with Belladonna. I would dose her and I’d watch. Literally. Before our eyes, her body calmed.

Paola:  Wow.

Shannon:  That’s actually, I knew how to dose. And then the intensity of her … and her words would come back. She could form her words because we’d ask her questions and all that. Even her eyelids were kind of half open, and she had a little bluish on her eyelids. It’s so faint that probably just a mom could tell. I could watch that go away and then I’d watch it come back.

Paola:  What does that mean blue on the eyelid? Is it lack of air?

Shannon:  I’m not sure. That was just something I noticed because it would go away. In the description that fit these remedies for her, it did talk about the eyelids kind of being half open. So that was just something I was aware of and just caught. I’m just not really completely … I knew … up to that point, I had no idea about carbon monoxide poisoning.

Paola:  Right, yes. It doesn’t matter. It was something blue. It wasn’t supposed to be. It was coming and going. You wanted it gone. Right.

Shannon:  Yes, exactly.

Paola:  I have an important question. What about that situation, why weren’t you guys jumping in the car driving to the emergency room? What’s that discernment like? Sometimes in the moment, you’re just doing what feels right, but can you walk us through that real quick?

Shannon:  I did during this episode here. I would look at my husband and I’d say, “Do you think we should go to the emergency room?” I’m so glad he was there. He just totally confirmed my confidence as far as no, let’s just keep going because what would happen is when I would dose, there would be improvement. So, we saw the improvement by watching her body. Literally, you could just watch this calm come over her body. But I had to dose every three minutes for about an hour actually. I know that’s usually not typical, but I would just watch the symptoms come back. So, we did that for the first hour and then she wanted to go to sleep. She was calm. She could speak. And so, I love, love that when a remedy is working then they want to sleep. That’s a neat sign. That’s a sign that I look for.

Paola:  Okay. So deep down, that kind of scares me though because I’m like what if she falls asleep and doesn’t get up again. You know what I mean?

Shannon:  I know, exactly.

Paola:  So what did you do?

Shannon:  Because she wanted to sleep, I had her laid down on the couch and I sat with her. Then I dosed every 30 minutes for the next hour or two. Then from thereon out, I dosed every hour to the end of the day. Then I just had her sleep in my room because I just wanted to watch her and observe and just make sure nothing was coming back.

Paola:  Right. Yes, that’s very, very wise. I like that. You said earlier that your husband — while you were dosing her during that very first hour — he was online trying to find the emergency rooms, just kind of lining your ducks up in a row. And yet, because she just consistently was improving and improving, you felt like, “We’ve got this.”

Shannon:  Yes, exactly. Of course, we would jump in that car. I love what Joette says. You jump in the car and you start driving, but you’re dosing on the way. We would totally do that. But because we just saw that instant improvement after we would dose, that just really gave us the confidence that so far, so good. But of course, we always have that in the back of our mind that we would do that … head to the emergency room.

Paola:  One little side note that I thought was really interesting about this experience is — you kind of said it earlier, but I want to make sure the listeners catch this — is your daughter is a little bit prone to being Gelsemium-ish with anxiety a little bit here and there. That was interesting that when she had the carbon monoxide poisoning that it was the remedy that she needed. You know what I mean? That doesn’t always happen but it’s kind of interesting that we pick up on these little patterns with our kids as we use homeopathy more and familiarize yourselves with your kid and remedies that help them.

For my son, every time he would get sick with something, I’d look up remedies, look up remedies. Oh, Pulsatilla and then I’d write it down my book. Then six months later, look up remedies for this new illness, oh Pulsatilla. It seems to always be Pulsatilla for him.

Shannon:  Exactly. I think, don’t you think that is just why having a materia medica and just familiarizing yourself with these remedies then your brain has that connection, like, “Oh!” So that’s for me, definitely when her symptoms did fit that Gelsemium for carbon monoxide, I was like, “Oh yes, that remedy works well on her.”

Paola:  Yes, exactly. That’s exactly the time to say, “Yes, this remedy historically has been great for her.” That helps confirm things, if you work through the case.

Shannon:  Definitely.

Paola:  Not that I wouldn’t use any other remedies other than Pulsatilla on my son obviously or a protocol or whatever. But it’s just an interesting familiarity and intimacy used for gaining with your kids and the remedies.

Shannon:  Definitely.

Paola:  Tell us another survivalist one that you wanted to share.

Apis for puncture wound

Shannon:  So, this actually happened before the carbon monoxide episode. We were fixing up a little house. My youngest daughter, 10, was helping us out. She came inside and again, here I was in the kitchen, busy, busy making lunch. She goes, “Mom, a nail poked my hand.” I go, “Oh! Okay well, go wash it and stick some tea tree on it.” Because I was just busy, I was not thinking. So later, I kicked myself here. Shoot. Live and learn. That night she’s like, “My hand hurts, mom.” Here, the site on her hand is it’s hot. It’s red. It’s hard. There’s a very faint line but very faint. I’m like, “Oh no. Really?” I should have known better. I kind of see — I don’t know — is it dirt, rust? Who knows? I go grab my book, the Survivalist syllabus here and looked up puncture wounds. In the back of my mind, I was thinking Ledum. But what matched up to her symptoms is Apis just like a bee sting. It was hot, hard, and red. So, I went, “Well, it matches.” I dosed her with that. Again, it was really neat to watch. I actually could feel the heat go down.

Paola:  Did you use a 200 or a 30 just because I’m curious.

Shannon:  I used a 200. I thought it was enough of an emergency. I was like hey, let’s just go for it. We actually watched the swelling go down, the heat go down, the little redness go down. That’s when I knew how to dose her. So, probably about four doses about 15 minutes apart and then I could lessen them. Again, Dad’s on the couch. We’re watching it. We’re looking at each other, emergency room or not?

Paola:  Looking it up again.

Shannon:  Exactly. This time it was late at night, of course. But just to watch those symptoms go down was so neat. It’s such a blessing to confirm we were on the right path. We had chosen the right remedy and went down. She went to sleep. I checked her in the morning. Probably gave her one more dose and we’re good. I was just like unbelievable. I mean it is believable but it’s just so neat to watch it work.

Paola:  Yes. It is unbelievable because no matter, it’s not an issue of whether or not I believe in homeopathy, because I do. It’s just it never ceases to amaze you.

Shannon:  Yes.

Paola:  It’s always just so wonderful. I think of like, Mother Theresa. Every time I read a quote from her or something from her life experience, it just never ceases to amaze me how special she was. It is similar with homeopathy.

Shannon:  That’s so true.

Paola:  It keeps impressing me. I love those stories. I’m glad everybody turned out okay. I’m glad that you got your money’s worth of the Survivalist Guide.

Shannon:  Isn’t that great?

Paola:  Yes, absolutely.

Shannon:  But having these experiences as a mom — no, we don’t want our kids to get hurt — but talk about the information, and just being able to share with people if they have this. I just feel like those experiences were great. I gained more confidence, more information for that. I always write things down, make notes.

Paola:  Yes, it’s true. If I was at home listening to you tell the story, I would feel like, “Oh my gosh. I could never do that.” But here’s the thing. One day you’ll wake up and the situation smacks you in the face. You’re going to have to deal with it.

Shannon:  Yes.

Paola:  If you’re prepared, you do.

Shannon:  Yes. On a side note, with the carbon monoxide poisoning, it was pretty stressful as a mom. So, I grabbed my bottle of Ignatia. Take that for stress for mom.

Paola:  Good for you. I know. Think clearly please.

Shannon:  Exactly.

Paola:  Very good. New topic, you were telling me that you’ve also had some hip trouble for yourself, right?

Shannon:  Yes.

Paola:  I think it somehow affected the knee or you tell me about it.

Hip issues and Rhus tox

Shannon:  Well, it probably started a year and a half ago with chiropractor adjustment. So, new thing for me, never really had trouble with that. Probably seven pregnancies, probably getting older. Who knows? But what it would do when it would come out, it would twist my leg to where my knee would be twisted out of alignment as well. The knee just swelled up like crazy. There was just a lot of pain. It just prevented me from even sleeping.

Paola:  That’s interesting. It’s like the hip being out had a domino effect and impacted the knee?

Shannon:  It did. Yes, that’s what my chiropractor said. So, with the swelling … actually the first time it happened, I was on vacation. I actually brought my Arnica 1M, took that. The pain was really intense and my knee was huge

Paola:  Oh wow.

Shannon:  It was awful. That took away a lot of the pain and the swelling. So, at least I could make it the next few days and get home and then get to the chiropractor.

Paola:  Right.

Shannon:  But this kept happening. I thought, “Gosh, I don’t want to live for having to go to the chiropractor all the time. I love the chiropractor but I don’t want to go every week. I travel. I don’t want to rely on that. I checked in with the chiropractor. Can you give me some strengthening exercises and what not? Well, I happened to be on an end of a consult with Joette. I just mentioned. I said, “Joette, there’s got to be something to help this.” So, she suggested Rhus tox 1M. I’m like, “Oh, okay.” I could tell when it would start to come out of alignment. There’d be a lot of pain, kind of burning pain in the hip.

Paola:  Interesting. So, tell me, what was the frequency you were having to go in for adjustments? Was it like once a week or what?

Shannon:  So when it would come out, I’d probably have to go two to three times just get it to calm down because everything was just all kind of mad and twisted up and angry. It just needed to kind of relax. Then of course, I’d probably overwork it or do something. Then I have to go back in in another couple of weeks and then have two or three appointments.

Paola:  Oh wow. So, it was two or three appointments.

Shannon:  I’m like, “Gosh.”

Paola:  Then there’s a three-week break then two or three more appointments. That’s kind of a lot.

Shannon:  Yes, exactly. So, I thought “Well, I can’t do this.” There’s got to be something, right? So Rhus tox was and is amazing. I’ll start to, usually at the end of the day, feel the pain. I take that at night right before bed, one dose, one little pill, and gone. It has lengthened the chiropractor appointments to six months in between. So, it has kept it in alignment. That was just huge for me. So, it was just amazing.

Paola:  So, it’s not that the chiropractor didn’t need to do the adjustments. It’s like it helped glue it in place to last longer. That’s amazing.

Shannon:  Exactly. So, I don’t know how it does it but it works.

Paola:  Yes. I have to tell the listeners, Rhus tox 1M is not something that you should just willy-nilly use. This is a pretty significant situation with the swelling and the frequency of it.

Shannon:  Yes. I don’t think I would have even thought that had not Joette told me how to do it.

Paola:  Maybe you would have done like a 30 or 200 or something.

Shannon:  Exactly, exactly.

Paola:  And you checked the materia medica, it was better from heat, better from movement, worse from overuse which is very Rhus tox.

Shannon:  Yes. That just again, using the materia medica just confirmed that we’re on the right track. With any remedy, I always like to look that up and just confirm, if you have time. Obviously, for emergency or first aid, you may not have time but I love that for that reason.

Paola:  Exactly, very good. Those are some pretty awesome experiences. You definitely have moxie, I’ve decided.

Shannon:  Thank you.

Paola:  You’re welcome. You’ve earned it, girl. That is just so wonderful. Then just do you have any closing thoughts for people who might be new to homeopathy or what you wish you would have known at the beginning of your journey?

Shannon:  Yes. I really wished I had known about homeopathy from the beginning. I feel like a lot of us take this — maybe not for everybody, but a lot of us — take this journey of … we try everything else and our last resort is homeopathy. I would just encourage everybody if you’re new, try it first. As moms, there is just so much confidence just being able to raise your kids without drugs and running to the pediatrician. There’s a good place for that, for sure. But it really has just empowered me as a mom. I mean, Joette says that all the time. I just love that. It’s a hobby for me, learning about it. I just want to know as much as possible. I want to be able to pass it down to my girls and even my boys. I got a boy going to Mexico on a mission’s trip. He’s like “Mom, tell me what I gotta take.” I love that.

Paola:  Absolutely. I think that’s really good advice. Try this first. You’re right. It does. It literally makes you a better mother because the skills you need in homeopathy, listening, observing, caring — those are things that we can always hone as moms.

Shannon:  Absolutely.

Paola:  Very good. Well, thank you for joining us Shannon. It has been delightful. I love your peppy personality and your passion for homeopathy. I really think that this podcast is going to help a lot of people. So, thanks for taking the time out to be with me.

Shannon:  Oh yes, thank you, Paola.

Joette:  Are you or someone you know a Mom with Moxie? Well, we’re on the hunt for you. And of course, we don’t want to hear just from moms but from anyone who uses and loves homeopathy. Reach out to my podcast team and let us know why you’re a Mom with Moxie. For more information, contact podcast@joettecalabrese.com.

Thank you for listening to this podcast with Joette Calabrese. If you liked it, please share it with your friends. To learn more and find out if homeopathy is a good fit in your health strategy, visit joettecalabrese.com.

If you’d like to learn more about Shannon’s favorite course, The Survivalist Guide to Homeopathy, please click here. As she mentioned in the podcast, it paid for itself by allowing her to avoid two emergency room visits. It is, indeed, a valuable and practical course for moms to have at the center of their first aid arsenal.

These Moms with Moxie podcasts are designed to be inspirational, not specifically educational. No Remedy Card is provided.