Removing Roadblocks – 7 Ways to Support the Homeopathic Healing Process
We all know that homeopathic treatment can bring about very effective results when it comes to many different conditions, especially with ear infections, ADHD, depression, and GIT issues such as irritable bowel. There are also some very promising homeopathy studies coming out about supporting women in menopause and women’s menstrual issues. Despite these great results, sometimes it’s very frustrating as a homeopath because there are times in between the straightforward cases where things just don’t quite go to plan.
When I was a relatively new homeopath, I just blamed myself, that I got the remedy wrong, or used the wrong potency. Sometimes that would have been true, since classical homeopathy can be one of the most challenging modalities to master. However, I could also see that there were other factors at play, even back then. Now, over twenty years later, I still make occasional mistakes, and I don’t know any homeopath who could claim to have a 100% correct remedy rate. I am also more aware of how some of these complex cases present, and how to recognise and adjust my expectations accordingly.
Luckily, there are ways that many of these situations can be supported using various homeopathic, herbal and nutritional hacks that we long-time praccies have added to our toolboxes along the way. So, if you recognise that you fall into any of these categories (aside from the lifestyle/allergy/intolerance category which seems to have a much greater impact if it’s not stopped), take heart! There are often ways around them if these can’t be avoided.
Here is a list of some of the most commonly occurring scenarios that I see often in my practice
1. Gluten, dairy and other food/beverage allergens/gut irritants and bad diet/lifestyle
The most common obstacle to progressing in a person’s healing journey is the consumption of foods and beverages that do not agree with them. Foods such as bread and milk/cheese/yoghurt used to actually be quite healthy. Before the advent of pesticides such as glyphosate and other heavy metal/toxin containing sprays, GMO manipulation, refining of flours, leaching of nutrients from the soils and processing of dairy products such as homogenisation and toxic additives that sneak in to prolong shelf life, those foods used to have a lot to offer. Now, the gluten molecule is very different from the way it used to be – it’s big and gluggy and like a bull in a china shop when it comes to the way it treats our delicate gut mucous membranes. The same goes for casein, which is the main protein in dairy products.
As for lactose, I’ve had parents think they’re doing the right thing by giving their child lactose free dairy instead of normal (lactose is the main carbohydrate appearing in dairy which can cause diarrhoea in some people missing the lactase enzyme), but lactose is not the only potential irritant appearing in these foods.
Even though well-chosen homeopathic remedies can often reduce a person’s sensitivity to allergens and irritants, sometimes it’s just not enough.
Many people think that allergies are the only reason to avoid certain foods, and if they do allergy testing and nothing shows up, it’s a free-for-all indication that they can eat anything. Unfortunately, there are other ways aside from the classic allergy pathway that cause damage and inflammation to the body and may not show up in classical allergy testing. These include intolerances (a different immune cascade than the allergy cascade), autoimmune processes (such as with gluten in coeliac disease) and outright poisoning such as with alcohol, sugary foods or pesticide laden beverages. This is an example of some of the testing that is available to try and test for a wider scope of intolerances than just the allergies.
Lifestyle and diet are also in this category because, out of many of the potential obstacles, what we eat, how much we party, how much alcohol we consume, our exercise habits and our sleep hygiene can all be changed most of the time unless you’re a mum of a very clingy and fussy toddler, for example.
A very small list of examples that I’ve seen in clinic include:
- Enlarged tonsils and glue ear that remain stubbornly enlarged and gluey no matter what treatments are given until all dairy is removed.
- Chest infections that persist and gradually worsen, often developing into secondary infections and lasting for weeks on end no matter what herbs and homeopathic remedies we give, which disappear once all dairy is removed.
- Raging outbursts which appear out of seemingly nowhere that occur after the tiniest of triggers, persisting no matter what treatment is given and while the person felt better all round, the outbursts continued. Until giving up gluten, then they disappeared. After eating one particularly tempting pastry at the bakery, the outbursts returned the next day.
- ADHD behaviours which would not budge despite many layers of treatment, disappearing the moment gluten was removed.
- A child who had strong behavioural issues, tantrums and waking crying in the night, whose symptoms were much improved with homeopathic remedies but it wasn’t until dairy was removed that the sleep and behaviour improved.
- Throat clearing and mucous build up, chronically blocked sinuses which would not clear with any treatment until gluten was removed. It was discovered later that the gluten was causing reflux which then brought about irritation in the back of the throat and the mucous production was triggered by this.
- Eczema which disappeared after removing gluten, soy and dairy.
- Hypothyroid which improved after removal of gluten, dairy, high lectin grains, nightshades and legumes.
- Insomnia and restless legs that would not improve until magnesium, iron, zinc and blood glucose were stabilised. A strict reduction in screen time, and increased exposure to daylight were also strongly suggested.
- A woman who had been drinking a lot of coffee – over six per day – was not seeing much result with her treatment. After cutting down to one per day she noticed a big difference in her general progress. Was it the cutting of the coffee or the remedy? Who knows? But I have also seen other people have long lasting effects after overdoing the coffee that needed to be neutralised by using Coffea the remedy. This is something that Hahnemann (the founder of homeopathy) would have agreed with as he was very against coffee.
2. Moulds, dust allergies, pet dander and exposure to other outer environmental toxins
It’s often impossible for people to move out of their homes if riddled with mould, but if most of the family are constantly sniffly, acting out, mouth breathing, not sleeping and are suffering from back-to-back respiratory infections, then it might be something to do with mould or some other environmental toxin. Lately, after a huge fire left thick smoke hanging around all weekend, there were many more people coming in with coughs and sinus infections. I know we can’t exactly stop breathing, and there are remedies that can help with supporting the symptoms, but if there is a way to avoid these it can go a long way towards resolving long standing and stubborn issues that won’t clear no matter what kind of treatments are given. We do have remedies such as the mould mix to help support people who can’t avoid living in mouldy housing, as well as certain supplements that can reduce the impact of inflammation. It’s a very complex process and not something we would give protocols for without a full case taking.
3. Chronic stress and trauma
Given that I work with a lot of women whose hormones are out of balance and they are exhausted and angry, I see many of them in less-than-ideal circumstances at home. Abusive relationships feature most highly, unfortunately, not to mention being stuck financially after raising children for many years, these women all talk of being the default parent and are stripped to the bone of energy, tolerance and patience. I also occasionally see kids who are in households that have a lot of anger, tension and discord in the background. I don’t have an easy answer here, because it’s a very complex situation when someone can’t leave the conditions that are causing them the most harm. It’s just that I get asked often how they can feel happier in themselves, sleep better, have less gut issues, better blood glucose control and hormone balance. They might also want to lose stubborn weight or crave less sugar (all of these chronic conditions are examples of long-term stress symptoms that I’ve commonly seen in clinic).
Sure, I can give remedies, herbs, nutritional supplements and diet changes, which I do. These will all make a difference to support the person and lay the groundwork for better outcomes.
BUT…
Chronically high stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline will cause a person to feel constantly tense and moody, will hold a person in a weight-gain type situation, will keep blood glucose levels raised, cause digestive problems, lead a person to crave empty carbs and sugar, interrupt sleep and unbalance hormones.
When we give a deep-acting constitutional remedy, we might see a stirring up of the situation that the person has tried their best to suppress, which when you look at it practically, is in the longer term likely to bring change towards healthier circumstances (unless it’s dangerous because they are in an abusive relationship for example). So, for those wanting to feel more content and comfortable in their not-so-great circumstances, maybe expect a remedy to be more helpful and supportive in allowing us to better understand our situation in order to make changes rather than allow us to sit and marinate in it for longer.
Here are some tips for reducing cortisol if you cannot avoid stressful situations in your everyday life: There are also many other individualized supportive techniques for strengthening a person undergoing unavoidable stress. These are better accessed via a trained practitioner, especially in chronic disease or in an unstable situation.
4. Nutritional deficits
If you look at the RDA (recommended dietary allowance) of nutrients, you may find that they’re quite different from what you might see on the side of a supplement bottle. What many nutritionists have found is that the RDA might be very different to the optimal levels of these nutrients.
Let’s take zinc for example. The RDA of this mineral for adult women is 8mg per day and the EAR (estimated average requirement) is 6.5mg per day. This is literally the amount a grown woman needs to survive. There is a big gap, however, between basic survival and the amount needed for optimal health, especially since Australian soils are depleted in many nutrients, zinc especially. Zinc is vital for immune function, healing skin and gut, detoxing and balancing our hormones, keeping copper in check nervous system health and many many more functions. Zinc is also depleted if there is heavy metal toxicity and is one of the most commonly depleted minerals in long term pharmaceutical use.
If we are low in nutrients, we may be held back in our recovery and even the most well-chosen remedies, herbs and diets might not quite be enough to fix the issue. After all, our gut doesn’t always absorb well enough and the foods we eat won’t always contain the correct amount of nutrients.
Some of many examples I’ve seen where nutrient supplementation was needed to help a case progress:
- Recurrent infections in a child who had been exposed to lead. The homeopathic remedies were very useful in supporting and assisting the child to clear the infections but didn’t seem to make a difference in the tendency to develop the infections. Lead toxicity depletes zinc as well as interfering with zinc absorption and metabolism, so it makes sense that he was not progressing in his healing. After supplementing zinc and some other nutrients to help support his detoxification processes, he stopped getting back-to-back infections and his autistic-type behaviours markedly improved.
- Skin sloughing from hands in a woman who had done well on various homeopathic remedies for many different health conditions, but nothing would resolve the skin issue. It was found that she was low in vitamin B12, and when she supplemented with this the skin sloughing resolved.
- Eczema that refused to budge until a zinc supplement resolved it.
- Behavioural issues, tics, restless sleep and ADHD symptoms in a child. Homeopathic remedies assisted to a point, but it wasn’t until an iron supplement was given (after testing low in iron) that the bulk of the symptoms resolved. Zinc was also useful here, as well as magnesium and other nutrients together.
- This is where crossover happens – many clients eating gluten and dairy and other potential allergens/foods that cause intolerances, will often experience difficulty in absorbing nutrients. Low stomach acid, caused primarily by stress and low zinc, will also result in a similar situation.
5. Parasites and other low-grade chronic infections that hide from the immune system
This one is a bit of a doozy. These infections cause all kinds of havoc, from interfering with absorption of nutrients, to messing with the cellular DNA such as in the case of Epstein Barr virus which is one of the viruses that cause glandular fever. Covid, Mycoplasmas, Lyme disease (Borrelia), Streptococcus and Influenza are only some on the long list of infectious microbes that can leave a nasty trail of destruction on the gut, lungs, other tissues and immune system which leaves a person feeling “never well since.” These infections exacerbate our underlying vulnerabilities and can cause slow-burning chronic symptoms that will hold a person back from their healing.
Luckily there are many techniques in both homeopathy, herbal medicine and nutrition that can help support the clearance of chronic gut and tissue infections. These methods are very individual and depend on the infection as well as the symptoms of the person.
6. Reactions from pharmaceutical drugs
Two of the most common medications I see causing unpleasant symptoms are antibiotics and certain anaesthetics. I have also seen clients who have many ongoing issues after chemotherapy as well as certain antidepressants, ADHD medications and a plethora of other pharmaceutical interventions.
I’m not advocating for those people to stop their medications, only pointing out that they can add a layer of complexity to the healing journey which then may require extra support. Many of these pharmaceuticals deplete the body of vital nutrients, and as you have seen above, nutrient deficiencies can cause some very debilitating symptoms. Pharmaceuticals can also suppress our natural physiological processes which can bring complications further down the track. This is a very tricky area to tip-toe through, but there are ways that homeopathy and nutrition might be able to support the fallout from long term and short term use of medications. Because of the complex nature of this situation, it is best to see a professional practitioner rather than rely on a one-size-fits-all protocol.
7. Not wanting to heal
This sounds counter-intuitive. You might ask, why would a person not want to heal? One very common example I see often is in a woman who has undergone trauma at the hands of her previous partner and is holding on to her anger. Anger feels safer than vulnerability, terror and isolation. There is usually a reason to cling to onto deeply-held emotional baggage, or even physical symptoms, if they’re protecting us from something or allowing us to feel a kind of benefit from having them. What about the mum of multiple kids who is expected to show up at every bake sale, fundraising event and work dinner, who comes down with the flu just at the worst possible time? Or a child who can’t bear to go to school because there’s a nasty bully or the teacher picks on them, so they have a stomach ache every morning.
With the help of a well-chosen homeopathic remedy, or a good old chat during the consult, these usually-subconscious patterns of resistance can often be gently shifted and cleared, allowing a more straightforward pathway to healing.
Sometimes it takes more than one modality to get to the bottom of a complex case, but if you are willing to put in the effort that may be required to clear it, there is a lot that can be done when you work with an experienced homeopathic/naturopathic practitioner.
- Obstacles to healing – 7 ways to support the homeopathic process - 17/05/2026
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- Homeopathy, glue ear and recurrent ear infections - 30/09/2025
