What happens in a homeopathic consultation

First homeopathic appointments

The first homeopathic consultation is for the practitioner to get a clear picture of your physical, mental, emotional state and your general characteristics. They will also ask for a brief overview of your family history. You will be doing most to the talking throughout the consultation.

Your practitioner will start by asking you to tell them about your main complaint, the reason you came to see them. After you have told them everything you can, the practitioner may ask you some questions to get a more detailed picture of the condition.

Following this she will ask about your medical and emotional history. For example, medical procedures, broken bones, traumatic experiences, experiences that were traumatic at the time, even if you don’t consider them so now.

She will also ask about your:

family history to determine if there are any illnesses or characteristics that run through the family,
lifestyle, diet, activity, habits,
previous treatment and responses,
personality, eg, are you timid, sensitive or irritable,
stress-coping style,
work, family situation, social behaviour,
fears, worries, emotional triggers.

She may ask some questions that seem odd, for example ‘do you like being by the sea, or by the mountains?’. This is normal for a homeopathic consultation. The practitioner is trying to get a picture of you that she can use to find the right remedies for you and your situation out of the 8,000 or so remedies that are available.

Book a consult

After the consultation the practitioner will collate all the information you have given her to put together a picture of you, your main complaint, and how that complaint affects you. It is all very individualised. She will then select one or more remedies and determine how you should take them, for example, how often and in what form. Homeopathic remedies generally come in pillules or liquid. Sometimes you may even be asked to dilute the remedy in water before taking them.

After you have been taking your remedies for a time, you will be booked in for a follow-up consultation to see how things are going. This appointment will usually be made at the end of you last appointment and can be 5-8 weeks after that appointment.

When you start taking the remedies, consider keeping notes of things that seem to change. This will make it easier to report back to the practitioner in 5-8 weeks.

Follow-up homeopathic appointments

At the follow-up appointments, you will discuss how things are going while on the remedies. Have you been taking the remedies as prescribed, were there times when you didn’t take them? It pays to be honest about this so that the practitioner can get a clear picture. She won’t be mad or upset, this is your health journey and she is just there to help you on the way. If you found it hard to take the remedies multiple times a day, your practitioner will take that into consideration for your next prescription to make it easier for you to follow her guidance.

Your practitioner will ask you about any changes you have notices since starting to take the remedies, ie, physical, mental or emotional changes. Once you have told her what you’ve noticed, she will likely ask you about some of the things you discuss at your earlier consultations. Your practitioner will then decide if you should continue with the current prescription, change it slightly, or reconsider the whole case before coming up with a new prescription.

At the end of the follow-up appointment, you should make the next appointment. The time-frames for appointments may change as your symptoms improve; your practitioner will discuss this with you as you go along.