Wanting To Be Heard

Wanting to be heard.

I am always reminded of this. With my patients. With my interactions with people. With myself.

We want to be heard. Sometimes we want to be agreed with, to be acknowledged, to be validated, to say out loud what is going around in our heads. to share, to just say.

When I said this to a friend, that I want to be heard, she said we want to be loved.

And we want a safe place to be heard.

When I meet with a patient, finding out what is bothering them, taking their case, many people talk. They usually talk about a lot of things, in addition to what brought them in to homeopathy.

Wanting to be heard:

• A patient’s mother said to me that this is the first time someone agreed with her that there is a connection between the brain/mind/head and the gut. Her son was my patient.
• Another patient said, this is the first time a health practitioner has really listened to what I am experiencing with my health.
• Another asked me how do you feel about this? I answered, you are taking care of your health, and doing what you feel is right for you. I think what the person was really wanting was to open a conversation about something that was bothering them, which was how their family felt about their choices about health, not that she necessarily wanted my opinion.
• A patient told me when she said to her husband go see Pam, it was not just for his health concern, but for someone to listen to him.
• A man was telling me about a painful event in his life. He was filled with so many emotions, expressed on his face, through his gestures, and his words.
• Many times a patient is given a name or a diagnosis to what they are experiencing. They have used different healing modalities, yet are not feeling better. In the homeopathic process, THEIR particular symptoms are heard, along with the general symptoms of the name/diagnosis. I would like to say that they are being heard, not the name/diagnosis.

At the beginning of the appointment, I always ask first, why are you here? What is bothering you? Often, the name or the diagnosis is stated, then the symptoms, and then more about how they experiencing this health issue. These are some of the health issues (the name or diagnosis) that have brought people in for homeopathy: warts, eczema, depression, grief, anxiety, stomachaches, nausea, hormonal issues, menstrual issues, painful to hear sounds of any kind, shingles, fatigue,sinus pressure, coughs, and flus.

I invite you to contact me about a health issue you or a loved one may be experiencing, to see if homeopathy is a healing modality you would like to pursue. You can contact me here on this blog or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com. I offer a complimentary Get Acquainted Call.

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“I Feel Anxious”

“I feel anxious.”

We may be hearing more people saying this,  from both adults and children. In this past year, we have been living in more uncertain times than usual. From this, some of us are feeling more anxious than usual. 

We can’t necessarily change what is happening around us, but we can change and help ourselves in how we response and react to what is going on. There are many different healing modalities that can be helpful for this and when someone feels anxious. Homeopathy is one of them, and homeopathy can be used along with these other healing modalities.

Feeling Anxious

One girl experiences severe stomach aches and nausea. She doesn’t want to eat. She feels very anxious and is very concerned about her family members.

A woman feels out of control. Cries a lot. She feels very anxious. Notices that she is eating a lot, out of feeling anxious and she isn’t hunger. 

Most of the time when someone comes to homeopathic care there is a particular physical issue that is bothering them.  As they talk, they may say “I feel anxious”. As a homeopath, I want to know what this anxiousness is like for this person. For example: 

• What do they mean by anxious?
• How do they feel anxious in their body?
• Any physical symptoms? Stomachaches, headaches, rashes. difficulty breathing, sleeping difficulties, dreams, behaviors, thoughts, fears.  What are these like?
• What triggers the anxious feeling?
• How do they react or respond when they feel anxious way?
• What do they do when they feel anxious?
• Is there an image to this anxious feeling?

We are not a one size fits all. That is the same with helping someone when they feel anxious. IT is finding out about them.

Homeopathy To Heal

If I can be of help homeopathically to you or a loved one, please contact me here on this blog or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com. I offer a complimentary 15 minute Get Acquainted Call to see if this is something you would like to pursue.  I can work with people virtually.

Anxiety/Panic Attacks – It Is Individual

As a homeopath, my job is to understand what is the underneath, core imbalance that someone is experiencing.  This is with whatever has brought someone in for homeopathic care, including when they say they are feeling anxious, and/or having panic attacks. The given homeopathic remedy is not for the anxiety, it is for this particular person who is feeling anxious.  (To read a previous post on anxiety, click I am SO Anxious.)

Very often, people who say they are feeling anxious are given a prescription medication. The prescribed medication may be relieving for a period time, but it is not healing, at the core. We use the words “anxiety” and “anxious” a lot. It is a BIG generic term/label/diagnosis, and it is treated in a generic way too, not looking at the individual and what they are experiencing. Homeopathy looks at the individual and what they are experiencing.

I Am Anxious, And ______

Someone can say they are anxious, and then proceed to say:

• I have to constantly move. I am so jittery. I am always moving my leg.
• I do certain behaviors or actions that help calm or ease me, such as pacing,  rocking, checking things over and over again.
• I feel paralyzed and unable to move
• I am so uncomfortable in social events.
• I worry how I am doing in school. I have an exam coming up.
• I feel sick to my stomach. My stomach feels like it is burning. I need to go to the bathroom all the time.
• I am feeling fearful. I am worried that my house will be broken into.
• I am anxious about my health, my family, my house, my children. I feel something horrible is going to happen.
• I am not sleeping well
• I want to sleep all the time
• I am having nightmares.
• I want to be in my house, which is where I feel safe.
• I am eating a lot, or I can’t eat at all.
• I have headaches
• I break out in a rash or other skin eruptions
• My mind is so dull. I can’t think.
• I want to be in control. I feel better when I am the one driving the car.
• I am afraid I will lose control.
• I bite my nails. I am short tempered. I want to be alone.
• And more.

As you read through this list, you can see how varied anxiety is experienced.  When I meet with a patient, I want to hear more about what and how the anxiety and/or the panic attacks are for this person.  I also want to find out about other physical and emotional symptoms, medical history, dreams, fears, and more. It is getting a whole picture of the person. The anxiety or panic attacks are not a separate piece of the person. They are a piece of the whole.

Other Healing Modalities

People often seek out ways to help themselves when they don’t feel well. There are many healing modalities that can be helpful for someone who experiences anxiety and panic attacks. Along with homeopathy, there is counseling, talking to someone, having a support system, being physically active, doing an activity that you love, meditating, having body work, having a massage, being aware of  your feelings and thoughts, getting enough sleep, and eating well.

Homeopathy To Heal

Are you or a loved one feeling anxious or having panic attacks? I invite you to see how homeopathy can be of help to you. You can contact me here on my blog or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com. I see patients in the San Diego area, and also outside the San Diego area via Skype/Facetime.

 

Are You Feeling Run Down? Homeopathy Can Help

We lead very busy lives. Work, family, commitments, responsibilities, even leisure activities. We live a fast paced life. Always busy, always having things that need to be done, going non-stop. And we experience a constant bombardment of information from the media.

Taking a break, resting, taking a day off is often a very good idea. Sometimes though, we don’t do this on our own, and our body says we  need to. We need to rest; we need to take time off. What happens is that we may start to not feel well. We feel tired. We come down with something – a flu, a cold, a headache, a stomachache, a sore throat. We may experience a flare-up of an ongoing health issue, such as with our digestion, asthmatic symptoms, fatigue, anxiety, depression, skin eruptions and more. Our body is saying, hey, if you don’t take time off and slow down, I will make it so you have to take time off and slow down.

Does this sound a little familiar?

Being Run Down

I am writing this blog after the holiday season. At this time of the year, we have been so busy with family and friends, traveling, making preparations, shopping, going to and hosting parties, fulfilling expectations, eating, and more. And we may have not taken time to be quiet, and have down time. We have become run down.

It is very common to feel run down at this time of the year. It is good to take a day off, to take time for ourselves. And it is always good to listen to our bodies and to our inner voice on how we feel. To honor when we need to take time for ourselves.

Healing With Homeopathy

If this is happening very often to you, and you are feeling run down, becoming sick, and/or having flare-ups of a chronic condition on a regular basis, I invite you to schedule time for yourself, and to see how homeopathy can be of help to you in your health.

I would be very happy to talk with you further about your particular health concern. You can contact me here on this blog, or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com.  I have a 15 minute Get Acquainted Call.

 

 

 

How Would You Answer These Four Questions?

How are you not feeling well?

How long have you not been feeling well?

How does this not feeling well affect your life?

How would you like to feel differently?

What would your answers be to these four questions? What would you say?

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What Some People Have Said

We are all different in what we say is bothering us. And we are all different in how we experience “not feeling well”. Here is what a few people have said when answering these questions:

• I am so exhausted. I can’t even vacuum my house. I am so tired. I get up in the morning, and then I need to take a nap very soon afterwards. I would like to have the energy I used to have.
• I have these skin eruptions. It is eczema. I have always had this. It is always itching and is all over my body. I want this eczema gone!
• I have had this cough for the last 3 months. Sometimes I have a coughing fit, and then I feel so tired afterwards. I can’t talk too much because I will start coughing. I would like to feel better. I would settle with just not coughing as much.
• My child goes to school for only half a day. He becomes so upset with himself if he doesn’t do an assignment right, or the way he feels it needs to be done. He will get mad at himself, and sometimes throw things or run away and hide. He takes medication daily, but he still feels this way. I would like him to be happy – to not be so upset with himself, to enjoy school and to have friends.
• I always have to watch the kinds of foods I eat, otherwise, I have severe stomach pains and diarrhea. I feel so limited in what I can eat. I have to know where all the bathrooms are located when I go out. I would like to be able to eat like everyone else.
• I have allergies. Every spring I am so congested, and it is difficult to breath. To breath all year round would be great!
• I have hot flashes at night. I wake up in the middle of the night, feeling very anxious, and then the hot flashes come. I sweat so much. And during the day I feel so anxious too.  No more sweats and hot flashes, that is what I would like.
• I feel so emotional about things that are happening in my life. I cry all the time. To not be so emotional, or to understand it better.
• I just don’t feel well. I am tired all the time, and have this cold that just won’t go away. My doctor says, I am fine, but I feel as though I am not fine. To feel well and not be tired would be good.

This Is A Start

What each person said about themselves is a start in learning about them. If they choose to come in for homeopathy, together we go deeper to understand more fully what this “not feeling well” is like for them. We are all different in how we experience “not feeling well”, whether it is a physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual complaint.

I invite you to think about these four questions. How would you answer them? Mull them over. Maybe write down what comes to you. And, after you have done that, and you are wanting to feel better, contact me here on this blog, or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com, and let’s get you feeling better.

You Say You Are Anxious. What Is The Anxiety Like For You?

Anxiety.

I had a patient say to me that she is so anxious. Jittery. Once she sits down, she says, she can’t, and doesn’t get up and do anything.

I have heard of teenagers being so anxious  And not necessarily having ways to cope with it.                                                

I have had parents tell me their child is anxious in school. The child feels bad about themselves when they don’t do an assignment well.

I have heard a woman say I have anxiety.

And I have heard people saying that they anxiety attacks.

What Is This Anxiety?

What is this anxiety that they are all talking about? All of these people are using the word anxious to describe something of what they are feeling and experiencing. And each person as they are speaking describe this something, this anxiousness, differently. The word anxious is a generic term. It really doesn’t say what THIS person is experiencing.

As a homeopath, I am finding out how the person experiences what bothers them. The word anxiety really doesn’t tell me what the person is experiencing. There IS something that is bothering them, and they have used the word anxious. I want to know what this anxiousness is like for the person. What do they mean by it? How do they feel it in their body? How do they experience it? My understanding of what is bothering them is going deeper than the anxiety. It is going to the disturbance or the core problem. And this is where the healing occurs.

The anxiety is a symptom, just as a headache, a stomach ache, a rash, a terrible fear, and difficulty sleeping are symptoms. The symptoms are all expressions of the disturbance. With the healing of the disturbance, the symptoms, and the anxiety, which is one of the symptoms, is experienced less and less and less.

What Is The Anxiety Like For You

What is the anxiety like for you? It as a sign that something needs to be addressed. There are modalities that are helpful, such as counseling, having a support group, doing physical activities, doing an activity that you enjoy and nourishes you, and being nice to yourself.

I invite you to see how homeopathy can be of help for your health, for your anxiety. I would love to hear from you. Contact me here through the blog post or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com I have a 15 minute complimentary Get Acquainted Call.

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I have written about anxiety in a previous blog post. You can read it here, by clicking on this link.

Acute Illnesses and Chronic Conditions – Homeopathy Heals

People say they are sick, with a cold, a flu, asthma, eczema, for example. In this blog post, I want to differentiate between an acute and a chronic illness. Homeopathy is helpful in both of these types of illnesses.

Acute

An acute illness is defined as being one of a sudden onset, lasting for a short period of time. Either the person recovers, or dies. It is a one time occurrence. Some acutes are:

• Colds
• Influenzas
• Viruses
• Infections
• Childhood diseases

 

 

 

With homeopathic care, these acute illnesses don’t last as long, and symptoms don’t linger. Often, in a flu season, there are several homeopathic remedies that are healing for that particular flu strain that year.  If you are not moving through an acute illness, then homeopathy will be very helpful.

Sometimes an acute illness can develop into a chronic condition, such as with earaches, stomachaches, sore throats, and swollen glands. We hear this a lot with children, having one earache after another. Having earaches has become a chronic condition.

Chronic

Chronic conditions are ongoing health concerns. There are flare ups of the symptoms, and at other times the person may feel well. It is not necessarily life threatening, but it is ongoing. Often, at the onset, it might not have been noticed, but over time, it has gotten progressively worse, lowering the person’s immune system.  The person tends to live with the chronic health concern the best way they can. And perhaps, the person is using medication to help ease or to palliate the symptoms, pains, or discomforts, but the medication is not truly healing the health concern. Some chronic health concerns are:

• Arthritis
• Auto immune diseases
• Asthma
• Breathing difficulties
• Coughs
• Depression, anxiety, panic attacks
• Insomnia
• Skin eruptions – eczema, psoriasis
• Digestive issues
• Headaches and migraines
• Menstrual difficulties
• Fertility issues
• Men’s issues
• Behavioral challenges
• Fears
• Chronic earaches, stomachaches, sore throats, swollen glands
• Just don’t feel well
• A health concern developed after an accident or injury, such as chronic pain
• A health concern that developed after an emotional loss or trauma

Homeopathy Heals Acute and Chronic Health Concerns

Homeopathy is wonderful for both acute and chronic health concerns. With each of these health concerns, the homeopath listens, observes, and uncovers, with the aim to understand what this person’s suffering is like. Then a homeopathic remedy is given that is similar to what the person is experiencing in their health concern. The homeopathic remedy stimulates the person’s own healing process, their immune system, and heals at the core of where the symptoms, discomfort and pain stem from.

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I would be happy to talk further about how homeopathy can be of help for any acute or chronic health concerns you, or a loved one may be experiencing. I see people of all ages. Either leave a comment below or contact me through my website, http://www.homeopathytoheal.com  I offer a 15 complimentary phone consultation.

Children Who Are “Stressed”, Homeopathy Helps

With two calls this week about potential patients, I thought it was time to write this blog post. I had written a blog post about stress and had mentioned at the end of it (STRESS and Homeopathy) that we don’t often use the word “stress” when talking about children. But children do respond to things happening in their lives, are stressed, and have an automatic response to outside pressures, just as adults do.

Both phone calls were to see if homeopathy would be helpful for a child. One was younger than 5, the other was a preteen. Both children have seen or are seeing a therapist;  neither have started any kind of western medication.  Children do very well with homeopathy. It is a wonderful time to start homeopathy when they are young. I have been saying since these two phone calls that these children are at a fork in the road. If they go down the western medicine road, they will most likely be given medication, and that often snowballs, leading from one medication to another one. These two children are both too young to start this, and why do this to children anyway?

The following are some of the symptoms and behaviors we may see in a child who is having difficulties and is stressed: fears, phobias, depression, oppositional type of behaviors, acting out, bed wetting, PTSD type of symptoms, withdrawal, tantrums, difficulty concentrating, anxiousness, anger, crying, sadness, chronic colds or stomachaches, headaches, difficulty sleeping, nightmares, eating difficulties, digestion issues, skin eruptions and more. Actually anything, and everything. It is just how the child manifests his stress.

In some ways, children don’t have as much control over their environment as adults do. (Although adults may feel that they don’t have any control either, and that may be part of their automatic response).  The child may be responding and reacting to different things or events that are happening in his life.  The event or situation may have triggered the child’s sensitivity, and thus symptoms and behaviors are being expressed, some of them listed above.

I know as parents, we all do our best and want our children to be happy, healthy, safe, to be loved, loving, and develop into their full potential as human beings. With all our good intentions as parents, we sometimes don’t have control over things that do happen to our children, or to us. Things happen in life; changes occur; and we just go with it as best as we can.  Some of these events and situations could be: how a person is being treated, family issues, divorce, separation, financial changes, loss of a family member, poverty, reaction to medications or vaccines, malnutrition, abuse, disability, war, exposure to chemicals or drugs, food sensitivities, a difficult birth or start to life and more.

When someone brings their child to homeopathy, the homeopath is learning about this child’s sensitivity. This is done through observation, listening to both the parents and the child, finding out about dreams, finding out what bothers them, the child’s likes and dislikes, and more. With all of this, the homeopath gives a homeopathic remedy that is similar. The remedy stimulates the child’s healing process, and the sensitivity quiets down, the automatic response lessens, and the symptoms ease off. For example, the bed wetting has stopped, oppositional behavior has eased, fears have quieted down, coughs and breathing difficulties are no longer occurring. The situation may have not changed, but there is a shift in the child, and now he is able to move on, and handle things better in his life, perhaps even changing his situation if he can. A healing has occurred.

 

I Am Feeling SO Anxious – Homeopathy Heals

 ANXIETY – ANXIOUSNESS

 We all experience anxiety, sometime. It is part of life. But when it is present most of the time, or extremely intense, it can get to the point that it restricts and limits how we live our lives. We may use medication, meditation, food, deep breathing, excessive alcohol or drug use, to help calm or distract ourselves. All these may help, at the time, to a point, but they don’t really heal what is going on inside of us.

Some of what we are anxious about could be:

• Performance and how we appear to others – stage fright, presentation, interviews.
• Family members -their health, their financial situation, their safety
• Ourselves – marital status, finances, career, education, success, health, family, safety, aging, moving, having a new baby, becoming a father or mother, loss of a loved one.
• Travel – by air,  going to another country, eating different kinds of food.

Some ways that anxiety could be expressed:

• Physical symptoms -heart palpitations, butterflies in stomach, dry mouth, sweaty palms, diarrhea, antsy, vomiting, insomnia, digestive issues.
• Emotional and mental symptoms – persistent thoughts, paralyzing fears, anticipating – what ifs, worries, phobias, nightmares.

No two anxieties are really alike. There could be common experiences, symptoms and reactions, some of which I have mentioned above, but underneath, deep down, each person experiences their anxieties uniquely to them. This is how homeopathy approaches any ill state, by finding out through observation, listening, uncovering what the ill state is like for this person.

I want to tell you about a woman who was extremely anxious, and how homeopathy helped her. She was very concerned about her family and their safety to the point that her teenage children could not be left alone in the house unless she was there, or another adult was in the house with them. This may be appropriate for young children, but not needed for teenagers. She was afraid that someone would break into the house. And if she had a driving trip coming up, and she was the driver, she was very anxious that she would possibly lose control of the car. This anxiousness and anticipation would start several weeks before the trip with her having nightmares. After taking the homeopathic remedy that was similar to what she was experiencing, her anxiety lessened. She was able to leave her teenagers alone in the house, her driving trips become uneventful, and she was no longer anxious before the trip.

Homeopathy heals at the core or root of where the anxiety is coming from. With this deep healing, the other symptoms – physical, emotional and mental – also become less and are healed.

If you see yourself a little bit in this blog post, perhaps it is time to see how homeopathy can be of help to you.

 

STRESS and Homeopathy

Stress is a word we hear and use often in describing how we feel or what is happening in our lives. We say things like:

• I feel stressed.
• That was so stressful.
• I need to get control over the stress in my life.
• This stress will make me sick.
• Stress will kill me.
• Here is how to avoid stress.
• How you can I be stress free?
• You/this stress(es) me out!

These all sound as if stress is outside of us, as if it is its own entity doing something to us. And as long as we take care of this outside source of stress, we won’t have it anymore.

It is true that stress is outside of us. But it isn’t doing something to us. There will always be stress, because stress is living life – things happen.  Loss of a loved one, loss of a job, financial concerns, changes in the family, divorce, illness  – these are just some of the stresses we experience. It could also be an emotional slight. We all have our own sensitivities.

Stress is how we respond to life, to what is happening to us. So it is outside of us. But it is how we are responding to what is happening. This response manifests in symptoms or states of being. In a way, it is our default mechanism, our robotic mode, that we go to when things happen in our lives. It is how we respond when something happens to us. Each person is different in their response.

If you think about, or observe how you are feeling and thinking during stressful times of your life, what comes up? Are there particular physical complaints? Are there emotional symptoms? Mental symptoms ? Do you have the need to fix it right away? Do you go into an avoidance mode? Do you panic? Do you blame others? Blame yourself? Do you become angry? Fearful? Start to cry? This may be your automatic response.

Here are some of the symptoms or responses that people may experience:

Some physical responses could be: headaches, stomachaches, digestive issues, diarrhea, constipation, skin eruptions, eczema, difficulty sleeping, nightmares, no appetite, binge eating, pains in limbs, muscular twitches, frequent colds and infections, breathing difficulties and asthma, styes, cold sores, fatigue, changes in a women’s menstrual cycle, restlessness and more.

Emotional symptoms could be: anxiousness, depression, fears, anger, sadness, revenge, why me?, tearful, dread, loss of confidence, fussiness, irritability, apathy, alienation and isolation, apprehension, worrying, negative thoughts, impulsiveness and more.

Mental symptoms could be: difficulty concentrating, unable to focus, memory loss, difficulty retrieving words, impaired judgment, muddled thinking, indecisiveness, hasty decisions, prone to accidents and more.

Behaviors: changes in ones’ sex drive, drinking more, smoking more, binge eating, using drugs, taking more medication and more.

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With the healing from homeopathy, there is a quieting and lessening of the automatic responses, the symptoms and the reactions.  So when someone again experiences a stressful situation, their responses or symptoms may be less severe, not last as long, or not be there at all. For example, someone who gets headaches, may have milder headaches; someone who gets diarrhea may not have it as often; and someone who gets panic attacks may not feel panicky at all.  The situation will be still happening, and it is stressful, but the person will be able to handle it better, and not experience their automatic responses and symptoms.  This would be a good healing.

 

As a note, we don’t often say that a child is stressed. They are, but we don’t use the word stress when talking about children. There may be situations that they have no control over, such as abuse and mistreatment. The birth may have been difficult and resulted in some physical disability.  Behaviors and symptoms on the autistic spectrum may have developed. I want to say that everything that I  have written in this blog also applies to children. We will see in children physical symptoms, certain behaviors, fears, difficulties in school, learning challenges, nightmares, and more. Homeopathy helps with this.