What Happens at Your First Homeopathy Consultation?

Your first homeopathy consultation is an unhurried conversation, by phone or video, in which I ask about your main complaint and then about everything around it: your history, your sleep, your appetite, your moods, and what makes your symptoms better or worse. Afterward I study the case, select a single remedy, and mail it to your door with written instructions. The fee is $300, and the first follow-up usually comes four to six weeks later.

Why the first appointment is mostly talking

Classical homeopathy matches one remedy to one person. It does not match a product to a diagnosis. Two people with eczema may need entirely different remedies, because one itches worst after a hot shower and the other wakes scratching at two in the morning, one is restless and irritable with it and the other goes quiet and wants to be left alone. Those details decide the remedy, and the only way to find them is to ask, and then to listen without hurrying.

This is also why there is no exam table. I do not need to palpate an abdomen or look in an ear to do my work, which is the reason my practice is fully virtual, by phone or video. People call me from beachside condos in Ormond Beach, from DeLand, from Palm Coast, and from well outside Florida, and the consultation is the same wherever they are sitting.

The questions I will ask

Every case is different, but the ground I cover is fairly consistent.

• The main complaint, in your own words. When it started, what was happening in your life at the time, how it has changed since, and what you have already tried.
• What makes it better or worse. Heat and cold, damp weather, time of day, movement or rest, particular foods, being around people or being alone. In early March that often includes the oak pollen dusting every car on Granada Boulevard, and whether the air conditioning helps or makes things drier.
• Your general health. Sleep and dreams, appetite, thirst, cravings and aversions, digestion, energy through the day, how you tolerate the summer heat, how you get on in a cold snap.
• Your history. Past illnesses, surgeries, pregnancies, medications past and present, and illnesses that run in the family.
• Temperament. How you handle stress, grief and criticism, what worries you at night, what you enjoy. This is not a personality test. The remedies are described in these terms in the homeopathic literature, so I need the same kind of information about you.

Some of these questions feel far from the reason you called. A woman who books about constipation may not expect to be asked about her dreams. I ask anyway, because the whole picture is what points to the remedy.

What to have ready

1. A list of every medication and supplement you take, with doses. Do not stop any of them.
2. A rough timeline of the complaint. Dates do not need to be exact; the order of events matters more.
3. Any recent lab results or specialist letters, if you have them. These are optional.
4. A quiet room where you can speak freely, a glass of water, and something to write on.
5. If we are meeting by video, a charged device and a quick test of the camera beforehand.

Book a time when you will not be interrupted. Taking a case in a parked car between errands does not work well for either of us.

After we hang up

I do not hand over a remedy at the end of the call. I take time to sit with the case, compare it against the remedy literature, and choose both the remedy and the potency. Then it goes into the mail with written instructions on how to take it and what to pay attention to over the following weeks. Most people have it in hand within a few days.

Between the first appointment and the follow-up, the useful thing you can do is notice. Keep a few lines a week on sleep, energy, and the main complaint. Changes in homeopathy are often quiet at first, and people who write things down tend to spot them.

The first follow-up

The first follow-up is usually four to six weeks after the initial consultation. It is a 30-minute appointment, and the fee is $75. We go through what has shifted and what has not. Sometimes the first remedy is clearly right and we simply wait. Sometimes it was close but not exact, and the follow-up is where I correct it. That is a normal part of the process.

Acute complaints can move within days. Long-standing ones, such as allergies that have run for twenty springs or eczema since childhood, generally take months and several follow-ups. I will tell you at the outset what I expect, and roughly how long it should take.

Fees, plainly

The initial consultation is $300. Follow-up appointments are $75 for 30 minutes. The remedy itself typically adds about $40. Insurance rarely covers homeopathy, but I provide detailed receipts for anyone who wants to try for reimbursement or to submit to a health savings account.

Keep your doctor

Homeopathy is complementary care. It runs in parallel with your physician's care and does not replace it. If you have a fever with back pain, blood where it should not be, chest pain, or a sudden dizziness with weakness or slurred speech, that is a same-day call to your doctor or to 911, not a message to me. I am a board-certified classical homeopath, and I am not a medical doctor.

If you would like to begin, the contact page has a short form, or you can call (754) 484-7988 Monday through Thursday between 10 and 6. Choose a time when the house will be quiet.