How Did I Get Here?

Hello and welcome to my blog.

Two things patients often want to know are how long I’ve been in practice – easy answer, 12 years – and how I came to be doing this sort of work – not so easy answer, read on…

I’d love to be able to say that doctors, who had tried everything to help me, were confounded when homeopathy cured me of some horrible ailment.  I know several people for whom this is true, but that’s not how it was for me.  Mine was a story of a series of events which gradually worked away at my belief system. Quite ordinary and boring, I’m afraid. 

It began back in the 80's.  I was persuaded to visit a homeopath during pregnancy.  Homeopaths were harder to find then, it cost me a lot of money and, to be honest, I was a bit scared of the unknown.  I was so scared in fact, that I took all of his lovely remedies into the labour room with me and, many long hours later, back out again – unopened.  But oh, how I had needed them!  It’s easy to look back and regret my fear but that’s just the way it was for me.

So, there I was at home with my wonderful baby, later my beautiful toddler.  But at around three years old, after countless episodes of unexplained screaming which clearly didn’t fit any of the usual reason boxes, and some scary tests, he was diagnosed with migraine.  He spent a year under the care of the Royal Free Hospital.  The staff there were wonderful but things didn’t get better and the painkillers were no longer effective.  Finally, he was offered daily preventative medication.  It was all they could do. This was a turning point for both of us.  He was so little, something just told me there had to be a better way.

I did my research, talked to lots of other mums, and he began regular sessions of both cranial osteopathy and homeopathy.  Gradually, the migraines became less frequent and when they did come, we managed them with remedies.  It took a while – a lot of it was due to that labour when I’d been too scared to use remedies.  (As if anyone needs more Mother’s Guilt!)  Gradually, they became less frequent and less severe and now, years later, it’s a very long while since I have thought of him as a migraine sufferer. I often wonder where those daily medications may have taken him.

During that time that I became increasingly interested in homeopathy.  I wasn’t well - woozy and exhausted every day.  After the nursery school drop off, I would go home to bed until pick-up time.  The gp said it was a virus and kind of shrugged her shoulders.  After about six weeks - which is a long time for anyone not to able to function properly, let alone a mum of a young child - at one of my son’s homeopathy appointments, I felt so rough I begged them to see me.  Within a week, I was seeing an improvement and was back to normal in no time after that. 

Slowly, slowly other events chipped away at my convictions about conventional medicine having all the answers.  I began using homeopathy at home instead of a standard first aid kit… stomach bugs cleared, sore throats healed, verrucas disappeared. Eventually, I decided this was where my future lay and I was offered a place at the College of Practical Homeopathy in London.  As fate would have it, I was forced to delay everything for a further two years.  By the end of that time, I knew that if I still wanted to do this thing, I must really be ready for it.  And my journey began.  I've never looked back. I love my job.

Still wary of making that first appointment or wondering about those little remedy pills? You’re just where I was at the beginning of my story. Give it a go now - things can only get better. And who knows where it could take you?