Helping Your Homeopath See the Iceberg
by Carol Thompson

One of the most common complaints I hear about homeopathy is that after taking a remedy for a select period of time, it did nothing. Quickly they come to the conclusion homeopathy does not work. It is true, a poorly selected remedy that does not resonate with an individual will not work. That does not mean homeopathy as a whole does not work. It usually means that your homeopath was not able to get a clear enough picture of you to make a better remedy selection.

A committed client described a homeopathic consultation, especially the first one, like trying to discover an iceberg. She explained when a client walks through the door, the homeopath only gets to see a part of the person…like an iceberg that sticks out of the water, he/she only gets to see one side. The trouble is that it is the part of the iceberg under the water that a homeopath needs to understand, as homeopathy takes the entire person into consideration when finding a remedy that will stimulate the person’s own healing mechanisms. The challenge is to try to see the whole person in a very short time. Therefore, it often takes more than one appointment to give your homeopath the chance to see the whole iceberg. 

The following is one of my long drawn-out cases that might have initially made one think homeopathy does not work. This person came to me hoping that he could get a situation of extremely smelly feet under control. When I asked him to tell me all about it, he simply explained that he knows the odour is offensive and it makes it difficult to take off his shoes when he goes somewhere. It does not seem to matter what he washes with or puts on, the smell never goes away. He seems to have a rather shy quiet disposition and he stutters a fair bit. When I asked him about the stuttering, he told me he had a frightful experience as a child and stuttered ever since. I could see he had lots of dark spots on his arms and a significant number of skin tags. Using rubrics (a term used by homeopaths to analyse a client’s unique symptoms) that took the previously mentioned symptoms into consideration, the remedies that seemed most indicated were Silicea, Thuja Sulphur, and Lycopodium. None of those remedies were effective in helping relieve the odour.

With no results, I needed to reconsider the rubrics used. Did he actually have a quiet disposition? Maybe it is more about being reserved, or secretive, or timid. If, for example, I decided he was actually more reserved, I might be more inclined to choose Natrum Muraticum. As he became more comfortable with me, I determined his quietness was more about being shy/timid. I would expect a timid person not to make eye contact and to frequently look away while talking, but since that was not really the case, I never initially thought to use timid as a characteristic. He eventually opened up and told me that the frightening experience he had left him very angry at his parents, so choosing a rubric that took that into consideration, “anger after fright” would bring up a whole different set of remedies as well. Eventually, he felt comfortable enough to tell me about the fact he has hemorrhoids that got really itchy at night. For a homeopath this sheds a whole new light. The real clincher came when he arrived one day wearing glasses. He said he had to quit wearing contact lenses because they caused his eyes to hemorrhage. Bingo!! That just made the whole iceberg visible. The light went on. He is a bleeder. And a story he told about his dad going to the hospital one evening unexpectedly because he started hemorrhaging confirmed it for me. With the addition of new rubrics and a different perspective or description for some of the old ones, a homeopathic preparation of Phosphorus (Phos.) was now strongly indicated and prescribed. It was hard to imagine Phos. would be a suitable remedy since it is generally agreed that people needing it are frequently thought of as the person that walks into the room and everyone notices them. Somehow they manage to get attention like a firefly. With a dose of Phos. the foot odour disappeared, the hemorrhoids disappeared, and he could wear his contact lenses again. What was really amazing was how it seemed to adjust his whole constitution. It was like he became the man he might have been if he had not had such a childhood fright. The stuttering diminished and he started to resemble a more typical phosphorus constitution, attracting attention instead of being so quiet. He even later told me of his new found interest that required him to be on stage in front of an audience.

As this case demonstrates, it can take some time for a homeopath to get the complete picture of the mental, emotional, and physical expressions of the person needing to be healed. Not all cases will take five years as this one did. The more completely you can help the homeopath to understand who you are, the faster a homeopath will be able to narrow down the best remedy.

Carol Thompson lives in Saskatoon. Her passion for health and healing lead her to studies in homeopathic medicine with the Devon School of Homeopathy in England, to health sciences at the University of Saskatchewan, and to childbirth/midwifery/fertility education. She works as a teaching assistant in the department of obstetrics/gynecology at Royal University Hospital, Saskatoon, is a health coach and homeopathic consultant, a director with a fertility related non-profit organization, a doula/midwife, and a political and community activist in client-centred health care. To contact her, call (306) 280-2160 or email: cadithompson@hotmail.com.