Patients or caregivers, often ask this question: “What remedy is needed for so and so condition?”. I think this is the most frequently asked question to me.

The most hilarious part, I get this question every now and then, practically in places where I am most unprepared to provide any answer – in a casual meet-up over a cup of tea/coffee, a brief meeting in a park, a common social gathering, a family dinner, a chance encounter in a mall, over a phone call, in a WhatsApp message and…

I feel an urgent need to share with individuals how differently homeopathic remedies and treatment work. Here the entire difference in homeopathic prescribing also comes into play. And an appointment with your homeopath in a formal set-up is like that last piece in the jigsaw puzzle in getting to your right remedy.

Homeopathic remedies are not selected from a drop-down menu and prescribed. Rather, each case requires time, detailed history, discussion and understanding before finally prescribing a treatment plan.

Remedies are chosen to benefit you inside-out, from head-toe and from all major to minor organs. Consequently, homeopathic treatment is highly personalized and does not follow standardized prescribing.

Let me share about a patient, a Business Development professional in his mid-30s. He approached me for homeopathic treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). He had frequent bowel movements, especially before every key meeting during the day. When I interacted with him to know more about him, he kept repeating, he wanted treatment for IBS only and that he did not suffer from any other condition. However, diving deeper into his case, I figured out, how he was suffering from insomnia and had been taking sleeping pills over these past years. He also had anxiety issues that caused him much distress in his job, which required him to meet and interact with people every day. He rarely ate home cooked food, largely took non-veg diet and was regular user of alcohol. He had a difficult childhood. His family history and other aspects were also considered.

In another case, a patient of similar age and a retail industry professional consulted me for IBS treatment. He had frequent bowel movements, especially after every meal. Although his case specifics were much different from the earlier one. Apart from IBS, he was suffering from psoriasis and had been trying different treatments for it. His temperament was calm but he constantly compared himself to his peers; he liked amassing money but found it extremely difficult to spend. He usually, preferred home cooked food, but his job involved lot of travelling so he rarely consumed his meals on time and mostly on-the-go. He occasionally consumed alcohol and non-veg.

There are many more specifics to the above two cases but in short, their prescribed remedies and treatment plans were completely different, although they both came for IBS treatment.

A homeopath treats a person, not the disease or disease symptoms alone. Also, there are usually a bunch of remedies that are available to treat any condition, that well suit the unique needs of different individuals.

If your friend went to your homeopath and got a prescription for her headache, it may not be necessarily the same one as yours. Your treatment is uniquely tailored to suit your individual needs. Let us delve into this aspect now.

• Person A – with headache may have a throbbing ache behind the head, which worsens on lying down.
• Person B – with headache may have pulsating ache on both sides of the head which gets better with lying down.
• Person C – with ache in the forehead, that worsens with exposure to light.
• Person D – reports ache in the entire head which gets better after a walk,
• Person E – reports headache on right side which improves after food intake.
• Person F – along with headache may have dizziness, finds difficult to sit and walk, and only feels better after lying down.
• Person G – reports headache with nausea feeling which doesn’t get better with anything.

Besides the symptoms, frequency and cause of headache may vary from person to person. That means, if 7 different people come for headache treatment, each will be prescribed remedy unique to his/her individual symptoms and response.

Having said that, there may be many people suffering from same condition but a homeopath may consider each individual as a unique case with unique specifics, identifying most suited remedy or remedies and prescribing uniquely the potency, dosage, frequency, duration along with care points for each one.

So, the question, which remedy can I take for my so and so condition is inappropriate and incomplete.

For best outcomes, reach out to and consult a homeopath and take remedies only as prescribed.