In the last few years there has been a real shift in the way people view mental health and its importance in our lives. As little as 10 years ago, going to see a therapist about mental health issues might have raised an eyebrow with some, whereas now, people would rightly say, ‘that’s great you’re looking after your mental health just as you would your physical health. Good on you.’ 

 

While self awareness on a mental and emotional level has increased, I still think we have some way to come with self awareness of physical health. Many of us were brought up to see pain as a bad thing which you wanted to get rid of. You have a headache, quick, take a paracetamol so that you can carry on with whatever you were doing. Your back’s aching, your throat’s sore, your shoulder’s feeling really tense… whatever it is, quick, take something to numb the pain! 

 

Conventional medicine often works by suppressing symptoms so that they’re not there on the surface and bothering us anymore. But the likelihood is, once you stop taking the medicine, symptoms will simply return. Either that or the symptoms will appear somewhere else, needing further medication. 

 

In homeopathy, we see body pain as body language for ‘something’s not right here, take notice of me!’. Symptoms are a good thing; they’re an important signal that needs some thought and attention. So now it’s “I’ve got a headache… hmmm… what’s that trying to tell me? Why might I have that headache? What’s the cause?” You’re not treating the pain with disregard anymore, you’re seeing it as a helpful message that something’s not quite right, or that something’s going on. 

 

Homeopathy looks in detail at what these pains feel like: is it like a nail being driven into the skull? (hopefully not!), is it a throbbing, piercing, or dull pain? What exactly makes it better or worse? Where is the pain – your right ear, your left ear, or one small spot behind the ear? Or maybe it wanders from one side to the other? What caused the pain is also essential and when it started. Why did it start then? What was going on both on a physical and mental level? This helps us to then pinpoint which remedy would be best for you, based on minute detail such as this. 

 

By noticing these pains not only does this help me as the homeopath find the right remedy for patients, this also helps us all to take more responsibility for our own health. This is essential in the current times of uncertainty when we don’t know what will happen next week let alone where we’ll be for Christmas.

 

Listening to the messages given to us by our bodies and taking the time to work out where that has come from is a really empowering and important part of any healing journey. So often we see physical symptoms caused by mental issues. By noticing these physical symptoms and what might have caused them, as homeopaths we can find the right remedy to deal with the root cause. As the patient we can use our observations of these symptoms as an opportunity to identify what the real underlying issue is and work out how to resolve it.

 

Contact me to find out more or book an appointment.