When we get ill, we tend to focus on our immediate symptoms, and this is where healing begins. This is when you look for a doctor, because it is often acute and unbearable. Of course the medicines given will help. It is not conventionally known that Homeopaths have many emergency remedies that work almost instantly. Many people are happy with that. However that is not always the end of the story. Many of us accept that certain symptoms emerge regularly (mostly self medicated with over the counter medicines) and have our set remedy that helps to deal with the symptoms. For deeper healing, however, one has to look deeper. The first symptoms are often simply opening symptoms. They are the outer skin of the onion of illness.
When looking at the most prominent symptoms of an illness one can do one of two things: 1. Suppress the symptoms or 2. Work with the symptoms.
- Suppressing the symptoms: Symptoms are your very intelligent body alerting you to a problem. When you suppress them, you are simply switching off a warning light. In conventional medicine, one symptom and one system is dealt with at a time. The one that cries loudest is the one that is suppressed. Different medicines are often given for different symptoms and different systems.
- Working with the symptoms: This where a homeopath is an expert. A homeopath will evaluate ALL symptoms that arise, not just the most prominent one. A homeopath makes a map of your symptoms and traces the origin throughout your body. Thus they deal with many quieter symptoms at the same time, some that have been in the background for years. They do not suppress symptoms, but alert your immune system to do the healing. Surprisingly this can be very quick. Your immune system is more reactive than you think and knows how to respond when given the correct signal. Usually one or two remedies are given that are designed to address all the symptoms at once.
The first symptoms are often simply the skin of an onion of illness that lies deeper down. Often, the first remedy will reveal the deeper layer of illness that has often been suppressed over years. Thus you may find new symptoms coming out. A homeopath will then address this second level. At each level, your energy that has been used to cope with the illness is released and you feel stronger and more energetic.
This is the path to true Health. Suppression simply covers up and hides illnesses. Over years you develop a complex and chronic illness with layers of medications, each having side effects that lead to further layers of illness. The good news is that all these illnesses and toxins accumulated over the years can be systematically relieved. A homeopath will lead you gently along this path.