Good Question!
Many people avoid doing any sort of natural therapies because they are concerned that they will have to stop their Western Medicine drugs to do so.
Conversely, other folks feel that if what they are doing is “natural”, they can do whatever they want while they are using homeopathy.
Finally, there is a group of folks who are fearful of doing anything else while taking a constitutional remedy, for fear of antidoting it.
What is a person to do?
Let me tell you….
Before I get into the explanations, let me preface this by saying that at Lotus Homeopathy, we are pretty flexible in this regard. Many practitioners are much more rigid when it comes to what you can and cannot do. We hear this from other users of homeopathy and in Facebook groups.
The one hard and fast rule we have: Don’t start anything else when you have a new homeopathic remedy. You won’t know what is helping what.
The corollary to this rule: You must be willing to stop your natural modalities if they are masking the effects of the remedy.
There.
Now that we have that out front, let us begin.
Do I have to stop my medication from my doctor to do homeopathy?
There is a simple answer to this: If your doctor prescribed a medication for you, by law, I am not allowed to tell you to stop it. I have most certainly had clients stop their medications, but not because I told them to.
Usually the approach is, see how the remedy is working. If, after a few months, you want to work with your doctor to reduce the medication, that is acceptable.
Sometimes, it becomes very obvious that the remedy is working, and the medication needs to be adjusted. For example, if someone is seeking homeopathic care after having been diagnosed for hypothyroid and given a prescription, if the remedy is working their need for the synthetic thyroid medication lessens. They might actually end up becoming hyper thyroid temporarily. In a situation like that, it is important to call the doctor and ask for guidance in cutting back on their thyroid medication. In fact, they should alert their physician that this might be happening when they start the homeopathic remedy.
But most of the time, the medications don’t work that well, so clients always have some symptoms that are still remaining and will get better with the remedy.
The most important thing for homeopathy clients to be aware of relating to taking medications and homeopathy is to be clear which symptoms are side effects of the drugs and which are their own symptoms.
I can use any product along with homeopathy, even other remedies, as long as it is natural.
Whoa! Hold On! Not true!
Usually, natural products are just fine. But, there are situations where they are not.
For example, using a new Essential Oil to which your body has not become accustomed can antidote a remedy. This means that the positive benefits from the remedy disappear due, in this case, to the strong smell of the EO. So, no new Essential Oils when trying a new remedy.
There are times when I would prefer you use an OTC drug rather than a remedy. For example, with seasonal allergies. If we are working with your allergies to try to get you over them, sometimes during the allergy season, you can be miserable. There would be less interference with the constitutional remedy by Claritin than there would be if you took an acute allergy remedy, most likely.
CBD Oil, which is legal in all 50 states, has also been found to be helpful. It is also found to be very effective at masking symptoms. This is very important to homeopaths, because we need to know the order in which the effects of a remedy appear in order to determine whether it is going to be working in the long run. CBD Oil can make it impossible to know what is going on. Being a homeopath and trying to determine what is going on is hard enough without having CBD oil cover up what is going on.
When someone feels the need to do something else, I generally will offer a mix of Bach Flowers to help out until the remedy is working full force. Bach Flowers are gentle and do not interfere with homeopathic remedies, and cause much less confusion than CBD oil does. I addition, you can stop the Bach Flowers easily and restart them with almost immediate relief, if needed.
Must I avoid all kinds of natural products in order to use homeopathic remedies?
The answer is no. Homeopathy is very powerful, yet gentle. It can usually overcome most obstacles to cure in the form of other products, such as vitamins, supplements, and some Essential oils. But really strong smelling essential oils can antidote a remedy and if the remedy doesn’t work, we won’t know if it is the wrong remedy or if the EO’s interfered with the remedy. The only time I have every antidoted a remedy is with a Eucalyptus cough drop. So yes, it can happen. Camphor is considered a universal antidote.
Please watch this video to learn more about Antidoting. Dr. Hahnemann, who founded the principles of homeopathy, used to suggest that people stay away from onions and garlic as well, and we don’t recommend that. I have never had a client have problems with that. So please keep that in mind.
The bottom line:
Homeopathy is a very powerful tool. Little can interfere with the right remedy. But when you are in the start of your journey, it is best to avoid the things mentioned above, so that your homeopath can determine what is really going on and you can get better more quickly.
Contact Lotus Homeopathy if you have any questions about medicines you might be taking and if they will cause problems with homeopathy.
Kathryn
651-748-1556
Some of you know me, others of you may have heard of me. And for most, you probably have no clue about me or my business. So I wanted to take a few minutes to introduce myself, my family, my business, why I am a homeopath and how I became a homeopath—not necessarily in that order.