This is the thirteenth episode in a series highlighting homeopathic remedies I carry with me all the time. There are almost 50, so it will take a while to complete, especially since I interrupt the series all the time to tell amazing stories about how homeopathy helps heal people and pets!

It hurts!! Help me now!! Leave me alone!!

If you’ve ever had a toddler in your life, you have probably experienced this sequence of demands. A feverish, teething child will often act just like this. They’re in pain, they need your help, they want to be held… and then they push you away, while screaming bloody murder. If you know anything about homeopathy, you know that this is the best time for a dose of Chamomilla! And you also know that in short order, after a dose or possibly two, the suffering child will be asleep and the affected adult can relax a moment as well.

Homeopathic remedies are never only good for one thing, though, and Chamomilla is no exception. It can be a very effective constitutional remedy when used in the Classical Homeopathy method, and is one of the primary pain remedies in the Practical Homeopathy© method, which is what I practice.

For example, in 2024, nearly 3 years after I broke my right ankle, I suffered a series of sudden episodes of extreme pain in that leg, making it difficult for me to drive and ultimately sending me to the emergency room for X-rays and a follow-up with the orthopedic surgeon. Between the ER visit and the follow-up, some of my homeopathy classmates reminded me that Chamomilla 200c taken every 15 minutes for an hour (a total of four doses) can often be helpful in extreme pain. I took their advice, and the next time the pain hit me I grabbed my vial of Chamomilla. By the second dose, the pain was noticeably less, and about 5 minutes after the fourth dose it was gone. Not even sore – gone. Later that day it threatened to return, so I got ready to repeat the sequence. It only took one dose and the pain left. At the scheduled follow-up, the surgeon was intrigued by my experience and told me to keep doing whatever worked. The pain was likely due to the cord that was installed to draw my tibia and fibula back together, which sometimes causes patients issues later on. The surgery to remove it is the same as the surgery to install it – not something I want to go through again. The pain has not returned.

Chamomilla also shines when there’s an ear infection. Similar to teething, an ear infection puts the sufferer in extreme pain, the area is usually hot to the touch, there are often tears and even screaming due to the discomfort, and the person tends to be quite restless. Sometimes just one dose is enough, and other times the series I used for my ankle pain is better. The use of homeopathy requires close observation on the part of the caregiver in order to achieve the best results. (insert shameless plug for my classes here – you’ll learn all about observation in those!)

I’ll end this post with a strong recommendation for Chamomilla when someone has a fever. I could go on and on about Chamomilla AND about fevers, but I won’t…this time. We have a few all-star fever remedies in our homeopathic arsenal, and Chamomilla is one of the best when the feverish person is also restless, demanding, fractious, and sensitive to pain. If your feverish sufferer is listless and quiet, Chamomilla is not likely to be your best remedy. Check out my blog on Belladonna if that’s the case! Or register for my next Gateway 1 course and learn about ALL of our favorite fever remedies.

I never leave home without Chamomilla and hopefully now you know why. I chose the 200c potency for my “everyday kit,” but Chamomilla 30c is also very effective, especially when you notice the symptoms early and can address them right away. Depending on your needs, you might rather have that potency instead. Remember when ordering products from Boiron, use the code “Joette” at checkout for a nice discount!

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, I’d be honored to help you in any way I can.

As always, please subscribe, email, or comment to keep the conversation going.

This is the twelfth episode in a series highlighting homeopathic remedies I carry with me all the time. There are almost 50, so it will take a while to complete, especially since I interrupt the series all the time to tell amazing stories about how homeopathy helps heal people and pets!

Ouch! It burns!!

How many times in our lives have we heard (or said) that phrase? Probably too many to count. But if you know homeopathy and if you have Cantharis around, you’ll have a ready response to the situation, making it less and less likely that you’ll hear the phrase again anytime soon. Let’s look at a few scenarios.

Ouch! It burns!! It’s a bright and beautiful day in July and your family decided to have a picnic at the local park. Later that evening, you notice that everyone has the telltale red nose, cheekbones, and shoulders of a burgeoning sunburn. That’s a great time to give everyone a dose of Cantharis – either 30c or 200c, whichever you have on hand (see my notes on potency below). Another dose may be in order at bedtime if anyone seems redder or more uncomfortable, and if burns tend to be an issue in your family, you might need to have two or three more doses ready for the following day. I also love Calendula cream or Calendula burn ointment for sunburn – it’s incredibly soothing and is a great partner with homeopathic burn remedies. There are several other remedies that are amazing for sun exposure, and I promise to do a blog about that sometime. But for now, back to…

Ouch! It burns!! The delightful aroma of frying bacon is too often accompanied by the uncomfortable experience of a pop in the skillet and a splatter of hot fat on the arm of the poor cook. That’s another great time to have Cantharis at the ready! I have personally seen kitchen burns fizzle and amount to absolutely nothing after a single dose of this amazing remedy.

Ouch! It burns!! It’s a rare person who isn’t familiar with the burning sensation that can accompany certain bathroom functions. Whether it’s a UTI or diarrhea or vomiting that burns as it exits, Cantharis borders on miraculous for its ability to set things right. In our culture, we’re programmed to think we absolutely must run and get an antibiotic every time we might have a UTI, but I’d encourage you to do more research on that. The things our grandmas and great grandmas did to treat and prevent UTIs are still as relevant today as they were back then, and Cantharis has been part of that picture for over 200 years. Our bodies are exceptionally able to isolate and eradicate illnesses, especially with some gentle help from the natural world. I have found that a single dose of Cantharis 200c at the first “twinge” of a possible UTI will stop it in its tracks, though for some people another dose or two is needed. Certainly in the case of chronic UTIs it’s best to contact a homeopath who can help you regain a healthy balance. Cantharis isn’t my first choice for helping to stop vomiting and diarrhea, but it is definitely my first choice to help ease any burning that accompanies it. Check out my blog, “The Dreaded Stomach Bug” for some suggestions to calm an upset digestive system.

Ouch! It burns!! A common reality in our house is my husband eating a food he loves, such as raw onions and tomatoes drizzled in olive oil, and suffering later with heartburn. There are ways that we can usually prevent that with Nat phos (read about that here), but sometimes it happens anyway, and that’s when we grab the Cantharis. Usually one dose will kick the heartburn to the curb, and if it tries to come crawling back in the middle of the night, one more dose is all it takes.

I carry Cantharis 200c in my kit because I can’t carry ALL my remedies in my purse or car (as much as I would love to). I also have Cantharis 30c at home, and I would choose that potency if any of the burn issues I needed to address were moderate to light and I had the option of repeating the doses every few hours until the issue was resolved. In our Practical Homeopathy^© method, we tend to use 200c when things are a little more severe or when we’re not able to repeat the dose as often. Remember when ordering products from Boiron, use the code “Joette” at checkout for a nice discount!

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, I’d be honored to help you in any way I can.

As always, please subscribe, email, or comment to keep the conversation going.

This is the eleventh episode in a series highlighting homeopathic remedies I carry with me all the time. There are almost 50, so it will take a while to complete, especially since I interrupt the series all the time to tell amazing stories about how homeopathy helps heal people and pets!

What do YOU carry with you that you hope you’ll never have to use?

One of my top answers to that question is C-Seps, a homeopathic remedy carefully manufactured by Helios Homeopathic Pharmacy in England, that combines three heavy-hitting substances to combat deep, septic wounds.

There’s a saying that when a partnership really comes together it turns into “more than the sum of its parts” and that’s what happens with this, and other, combination remedies made by our incredible homeopathic pharmacies around the world. Let me tell you a little about each of the three remedies that make up C-Seps.

First, there’s Pyrogenium, brought to homeopathic use by Dr. John Drysdale and Dr. James Compton Burnett in the 1880’s. They found it to be very successful in addressing fevers as well as sobering illnesses of the period such as typhoid, malaria, purpureal fever, and diphtheria. Today’s homeopaths don’t see much of those diseases, but we still use Pyrogenium for difficult infections, wounds that won’t heal, blood poisoning, and general septic states or conditions. My mentor, Joette Calabrese, has great blog about why we should all be carrying Pyrogenium around.

Joette’s blog on blood poisoning also mentions Hepar sulph – the second of the three remedies in the C-Seps combo. Hepar sulph is one of my all-time favorite remedies, but that’s the subject of a later blog post. The use of Hepar sulph in a remedy for sepsis highlights its ability to uproot infection and inflammation in any area of the body. Dr. Ramakrishnan, one of Joette’s mentors, referred to Hepar sulph as the homeopathic antibiotic, which gives you an idea of its importance in our arsenal of great medicines.

Finally, C-Seps also includes Gunpowder – a homeopathic remedy made from, you guessed it, gunpowder. Some of our remedies are made from weird stuff, and this is definitely one of those! But because of the complex and precise process of potentization that homeopathic remedies go through, even a substance like gunpowder can become a powerful agent of cure. How cool is that??? Anyway, gunpowder was heavily used by homeopaths on the battlefields of the American Civil War, treating countless young men with wounds that had become septic. It’s a fantastic remedy for blood poisoning and conditions that ultimately result in sepsis. If you’re super intrigued by the use of gunpowder as medicine, there’s a very informative article by early American homeopath, John Henry Clarke, that elaborates on its virtues with some pretty cool case stories.

As a combo remedy, C-Seps is a strong ally to anyone who is addressing a deep and possibly dirty wound. Whether a pathogen has been introduced via a needle, a blade, the environment, or another object altogether, C-Seps has a solid track record of helping the body mount an appropriate response and avoid sepsis or worse. Of course when there’s a significant wound it’s imperative to engage professional first responders and medical personnel, but C-Seps might make their jobs much easier when given immediately and as needed until other interventions arrive. Sometimes it has even made those later interventions unnecessary.

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, just send me an email and we’ll get the process started.

As always, please subscribe, email, or comment to keep the conversation going.

This is the tenth episode in a series highlighting homeopathic remedies I carry with me all the time. There are almost 50, so it will take a while to complete, especially since I interrupt the series all the time to tell amazing stories about how homeopathy helps heal people and pets!

What can you do with wild hops other than make beer?

It turns out that you can help heal an inflamed lung, ease the pain of mastitis, soften abdominal cramping, and address pericarditis… when you make wild hops into a homeopathic medicine through ultra-dilution and succussion! Bryonia alba 30c is one of our absolute best remedies for anything that is worse from movement and better from pressure.

It should come as no surprise that one of my favorite courses at the Academy of Practical Homeopathy was “History of Homeopathy.” It was incredible to read primary source accounts of treatments and cures from the great homeopaths of the past.

James Tyler Kent (1849-1916), whose reference books are still considered the standard today, was “converted” from practicing conventional medicine to homeopathy when he suffered a particularly difficult case of pleurisy that wouldn’t respond to any of his normal treatments, but was quickly and completely cured with a dose of Bryonia.

Dr. Dorothy Shepherd (1885-1952) received her medical training in Europe and joined many colleagues in treating the wounded during the first World War. By World War II she had switched her focus to practicing entirely homeopathically, and her books are inspiring to read. She wrote, “I must admit, homeopathy has never failed me.” Bryonia was Dr. Shepherd’s favorite medicine for pneumonia.

My mentor, Joette Calabrese, studied under modern homeopath, Dr. Ramakrishnan who said to her, “Seventy percent of appendicitis cases could be cured by Bryonia.” That’s a big claim, but he has the experience to back it up.

Many homeopaths in current practice found Bryonia to be the best and most successful medicine they used for Covid.

Bryonia truly is one of our most useful remedies, and can offer much-needed relief to sufferers when even moving the tiniest bit provokes excruciating pain. It’s gentle, effective, and yet ruthless in its ability to stimulate healing when it is indicated.

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, just send me an email and we’ll get the process started.

For a very cool story and discussion of Bryonia by my mentor, Joette Calabrese, check out this podcast!

As always, please subscribe, email, or comment to keep the conversation going.