This is the first in our new series, Stories of Homeopathy. To read the rest of the stories in the series, click here.
By Tiffany Bloomingdale, ND.
On March 28, 2013, my mom’s back pain led to her having back surgery due to a herniated lumbar disc. Soon thereafter, in mid-2014, she had a return of symptoms: primarily pain and numbness throughout her left leg. This caused her to be out of work, on disability, unable to sit or stand for extended periods of time, and on multiple pain prescriptions. Though she received steroid injections and went to physical therapy, nothing helped her significantly. By late 2014, my mom was scheduled for a second surgery – this time a spinal fusion.
Homeopathy was first introduced to me when I was beginning naturopathic medical school at the National University of Natural Medicine nearly 15 years ago. When treating my patients, clients, and loved ones, I commonly explain that I expect homeopathy to help them get more benefit out of other healthy habits they’re already doing. Homeopathy also gives me great confidence, being safe and effective, regardless of one’s age, health condition, or pharmaceutical regimen. While my training and practice revolves around constitutional homeopathic prescribing, I unexpectedly had an experience with my mother’s back pain that introduced me to a different approach to the power of homeopathy.
Having learned that homeopaths can be biased when it comes to treating our own family members, following my mom’s second surgery being scheduled, I referred her to a seasoned constitutional provider. I wanted her to have homeopathy on board to help with healing post-surgery and to support her overall health.
After the first appointment, I recall anticipating what my mom’s single constitutional remedy would be. When it was suggested she begin a handful of remedies all at once, I chose to stay in the lane of the supportive daughter only – allowing my mom to follow her regimen without my two cents.
We were out to lunch a few weeks after her initial consultation and she began crying. I quickly learned these were happy tears! She explained that she had been able to reduce and completely discontinue the use of her pain medications since beginning the homeopathic remedies. In addition to the remedies they had her take, her provider had also suggested she eat a diet rich in healthy fats and low in gluten. She also reminded my mom about how essential proper hydration was for healing her musculoskeletal system. These were small changes, though, to an already established healthy lifestyle. We feel homeopathy played a central role in transforming her back issues and allowing her to cancel that second spinal surgery.
I’m elated and grateful to report that my mom is a vital, healthy, and retired sixty-something! She is cautious about hiking steep inclines and no longer goes bowling, but she walks several miles each week, sits for cross-country drives, and leads an adventurous life. She has some residual left-sided numbness in her leg and infrequent episodes of mild back pain that come and go after a few days. However, prior to homeopathy, the pharmaceutical medications weren’t giving her complete pain relief and they came with side effects that negatively impacted her sense of mental and emotional wellness. The chronic pain itself also impacted her sense of mental and emotional wellness – which so many folks in similar situations report. While the homeopathic remedies were aimed at her physical body, they ultimately provided long-lasting relief, not just for her back pain, but on all levels.