Renita Herrmann,
Classical Homeopath, CCH,
RsHom(NA), MS

What is Homeopathy?

Homeopathy is an energy medicine. A medicine repeatedly taken by a healthy person causes symptoms; but in a sick person with those symptoms, that remedy makes the symptoms disappear. In order to find the correct remedy, a homeopath gets at the essence, finding the most similar remedy.

Why aren't you in perfect health? Your life is a balance, and to maintain that balance, your flow of energy must remain intact. You have a life force energy that is very strong when you're born healthy. You may have lots of energy when young, and if everything went well, you would not get sick. But you may become susceptible to an illness for various reasons (heredity, faulty nutrition, poor diet, exposure to toxins, etc). Your life may tip between disease and health often. As we get older, our balance may become increasingly compromised. In homeopathy, we find the imbalance through signs or signals your body expresses and use it to find your specific remedy.

The homeopath looks at the signals from the whole being, not individual parts. You are considered synergistically, and every part of the body is considered when coming to the correct remedy. We treat the person, not the disease; we don't often look for tests and allopathic considerations. In my practice, I often rely on my training in Natural Health to adjust lifestyle and diet to make immediate improvements, or to avoid dangerous or unhealthy activities of which the client may not be aware.

If you have hay fever, simply stopping cow's milk and its products may alleviate the problem. If not, a remedy may greatly improve and eliminate the hay fever. This is a very common ailment easily dispatched with homeopathy.

Your allergic reaction is not the same as your best friend; she may have sneezing and itchy red nose, and you may have itchy eyes and headache. This calls for a different remedy, unlike conventional medicine. Each person is an individual and the reaction to a remedy will also be individual. The state of disarray is reflected in signs or signals of an organism; we call them symptoms. In homeopathy, we don't suppress symptoms, we use them to find your remedy. Symptoms help us perceive imbalance of life force. Your own life force energy is also what cures you, with the help of your carefully selected remedy.

Disease and cure work from innermost to outermost; if you suppress your symptoms, you may drive them inward. Skin is less vital than lungs; having eczema is healthier than asthma. The weaker the life force energy, the deeper it goes; thus the skin disease shows a stronger life force than the lung cancer (from inner to outer). Symptoms soothe life force energy, they give it a vent, a way to temporarily relax the imbalance. We aid the life force, completing the process already begun. Your carefully selected remedy will now reestablish harmony throughout the organism, free to express itself once again. In order to do this, we use scientific provings, done on healthy individuals to find the symptoms they cause.

Remedies are energetic medicines that are now thought to employ quantum physics. The essence of the remedy is transferred in potentizing it. I generally give a remedy for a chronic condition less often than an acute disease, and only one remedy at a time. This is a principle of classical homeopathy.

There is no contra-indication for pharmaceutical drugs, but it may make it more difficult for a homeopath to find the totality of the disease, and to determine the effectiveness of the remedy. Totality is very important. You may have 30 remedies that reflect chilly people, love spicy food and ice cold drinks, but only 5 that love the fog, and only 1 is a person that thrives in the morning. This is the elimination method we use to find your remedy.

What Should I Expect?

I've had my first appointment, now what?

When you receive the first remedy, follow the instructions given. Some people have a reaction, some do not. Homeopathy is an individual event, no two people react the same. I encourage people to call in the first few days or week to let me know what has happened. If your first remedy is not correct, it is usually the second remedy you need, and it is just not the right time. As I like to explain, the remedy is like a tuning fork; you hit the tines, and hold up the fork (the remedy). If there is no reaction in the opposite fork (the individual), it is not the correct remedy because there is no resonance. The great thing about homeopathy, is that there is no side effect!

What happens during the first month?

Once you've taken the first remedy, always keep in touch. I may not always answer the phone or call back right away, but it doesn't mean I haven't heard you. Little pieces of information you leave are important, and are noted on your chart. If there is nothing we can do but wait, you may not hear back from me right away. If you are forgetful, I encourage you to write down something you think is important, or call and leave a message if possible. If you tend to make long lists, don't worry, it's not THAT important. I ask that clients see me again within 4 to 6 weeks so that they do remember when a symptom disappeared or came back. If the remedy helps your sleep but isn't strong enough, it may be better for 3 weeks then worse. This would mean you need another, stronger dose. But if you don't remember this information, we're both groping in the dark. How long the remedy works is very individual, and there is no way for anyone to know. There is no charge in the first 4-6 weeks for phone calls. SO keep in touch!

The Program Overview:

During the first phase of your program, you will be speaking with the homeopath in what is called an initial intake, lasting anywhere from 2 to 5 hours. During and after this time, all the relevant information is gathered, classified, and sorted. The most important characteristics will be put into a hierarchy, and many other bits of information will be analyzed. The key is you; the more information about what makes you who you are, the more likely your remedy will be found quickly and easily. During the second phase of the program, after you have taken your remedy, you will be scheduling follow-up appointments about one month in advance. These follow-up appointments may last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and a half. You will be asked a series of approximately two dozen questions about your health and well-being during the last month. Often, mental worries and sleep improve very quickly.

Testimonials:

My experience with Renita demonstrates the many advantages of homeopathic care in the hands of a skilled practitioner. It makes it easy to choose between homeopathy and any other medical care. I had pneumonia five years ago. After waiting two hours to see my GP, an MD, he looked at me and told me to go to the hospital, he couldn't help me. I spent the rest of the day in the local ER where they gave me antibiotics through IV, chest X-rays, and a prescription for more antibiotics. I recovered a week later. I got pneumonia again in Texas on a business trip a year and a half later. It was late at night, my lungs had filled with fluid, and I thought I'd suffocate if I fell asleep. Far from home, I expected I'd have to go to a hospital emergency room, and I'd miss giving my presentation the next day.

I did have a homeopathic emergency kit from Renita, but I only know the basics in how to use it. I called her. She asked me questions, and then told me what to take. She said if the remedy was right, I would know within 15 minutes, otherwise call her back. It was the right remedy, the wheezing stopped and I fell asleep. The next day I was my old self! Renita gave me almost immediate resolution of a serious condition (without an appointment). I can only imagine the toll the alternative would have taken. And also consider, my initial hospital visit to the emergency room for pneumonia cost $3500.    ~Alfred Stolken

For over 35 years I had semi-annual bronchitis attacks which were a result of my allergies. My doctor gave me allergy shots but my bronchitis attacks never subsided. Then Renita helped me through classical homeopathy… Not only are my allergies are 98% better but I cannot remember the last time I had bronchitis. Renita also helped me with other issues as well. I think she can successfully treat almost anything!    ~Lee

I had recurrent skin rashes that itched for months. I went to different doctors, starting with a dermatologist. The first wanted to prescribe drugs that can damage the liver, but I declined. I did buy expensive prescription ointments that didn't help. The other doctors were not as symptom oriented, but the rashes returned. I had taken a seminar on homeopathy 20 years earlier, and I thought I should give it a try, and not call an MD out of habit. I got Renita to take my case. It took months to cure this chronic problem, but it has been three years now, and I am relieved to say the rashes are just a bad memory, and I have no other health issues.    ~Ann Heron

We are grateful for the compassionate volunteer work that Renita offers to our homeless patients at the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center. It is wonderful to know that there are practitioners of homeopathy who bring their healing to those in need.    ~Ricardo Alvarez, MD, Medical Director, Mission Neighborhood Health Center