by David M. Shein, CCH, LHP
The majority of clients coming into my practice are already familiar with the principles behind homeopathy and how it works.
BUT HOW DID THEY LEARN?
Usually they're moms, moms with sick kids. The story usually goes like this: one day the mom sees a Hyland's homeopathic polypharmacy (a combination of different homeopathic medicines) remedy at the grocery store or at a health food store. A box something like this:
Most regular medications, even OTC medications, have side effects, but homeopathic medicines do not.
They're super safe. In fact everything about homeopathy is geared towards safety. Homeopathic remedies do not come with side effects. None. And they're effective.
So the mom tries these remedies with her kids, and they work. She wants to know more about them. The names are weird -- Arnica, Allium, Nux Vomica, Apis. She's never seen them before. Maybe she finds a Boiron or Ollois (two homeopathic pharmaceutical companies) display of single remedies at the health food store, and starts reading the labels. Or she goes online and finds a Facebook group like Mary Aspinwall's Homeopathy Discussion Group on Facebook, and starts asking questions there.
The mom starts buying remedies piecemeal, one or two at a time, but it's frustrating. She has to keep going back to the store. It's kind of like buying tools one at a time, when what you need is a tool box with some basics at least.
That's what a remedy kit is, a toolbox.
Each homeopathic remedy has specific applications for different acute conditions, sometimes multiple conditions, sometimes not. Apis is most often used for bee stings, but is has other uses in fevers, in some types local swelling and in other insect bites as well.
This is the first kit that I bought almost 20 years ago. It's a 50 remedy, 30C kit from Washington Homeopathic products in West Virginia. They are the oldest homeopathic pharmacy in the US (since 1873!). A 30C kit is a very good place to start. 30C describes the potency of the medicines in the kit and it is a very safe potency for folks to practice homeopathy at home. It's also a very effective potency. This kit can be used to treat acute issues from bee stings to muscle sprains, to earaches, safely, at home. Another reason to get a kit is that most of the time when an issue requires a homeopathic remedy, the issue has some urgency, like a kid who's hit her thumb with a hammer. She's screaming. You need to have the right remedy, right there with you, right now. Driving to the store is not an option.
You can get kits at other places as well. Go look at my list of homeopathic pharmacies. Start with a 30C kit. Helios has a few, as does Hahnemann Labs, and I & E Organics.
After some practice, when you feel as though you have some idea about what you are doing, maybe buy a few higher potency remedies for specific situations. By that time you will know which ones.
Most kits come with a list of things each remedy is good for, but these lists are not very comprehensive, nor are they always sufficiently accurate. If you have nothing else, use this list, but for a lot of conditions, like colds and upper respiratory issues, it's not likely to be wildly helpful. But one thing to remember about using homeopathy, if you give a remedy, particularly a lower potency remedy like 30C, you're not going to hurt a child (or an adult for that matter). These medicines are very safe. If the remedy is wrong for the condition, the medicine just won't act, i.e. nothing will happen. Then you can try again. How soon? It depends. You need a book.
There are a lot of good homeopathy books. You need at least one good one. I know a number of moms who are as good as I am (and some better!) at handling kids' acutes. Here are a couple of my favorites.
If you just want a brief book t0 can give you the basic concepts behind homeopathy and how to use it, I would go for Patricia Medder's Homeopathy Basics. I send a copy of this to each new client coming into my practice who is new to homeopathy. Homeopathy Basics will give you some basic homeopathic literacy. It's a short read, less than 100 pages, and it will give you a solid understanding of how homeopathy works and how you can use it.
But if you have been poking around for awhile and feel like you have a good idea already about what homeopathy is and how it works, you might be ready for a good acute therapeutics book.
Today there are a ton of resources out there on the internet, but when I've got a crying, sick kid in front of me, the last thing I want to doing is fiddle around on my phone or laptop. A reliable, well-thumbed, reference book that let's you figure out the remedy quickly and accurately, is your best pal when it's 2AM and you have a vomiting 3-year-old.
After many years, one that I still use regularly is Homeopathic Self-Care by Robert Ullman and Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman.
This book has sections on the different conditions and situations you can manage with homeopathy and has concise reference tables to find remedies easily and fast.
There are a lot of other books for treating acutes homeopathically, first aid books, and many others. I will look at these in more depth in another post.
If you want to see ten homeopathic acute remedies, check out my other blog post.
-- by Dave Shein, 2/2025
*Polypharmacy -- i.e. multiple remedies combined into one product.
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