The Homeopathic Interview

It’s helpful to know what to expect before taking your child to his initial homeopathic appointment. Be prepared to spend two hours with your homeopathic practitioner. Exact times may vary, but this is a typical average. Allow plenty of time to arrive a bit early to take care of paperwork with the office staff.

We urge you to bring another family member or caregiver so you can devote your full, undivided attention to the appointment. This is true for phone consultations as well as in-person appointments. The first visit is a unique and vital opportunity for your homeopath to get to know you and your child. You are investing precious time, money, and trust in your child’s treatment. Make the most of it.

Usually, we spend the first hour with the parent(s) alone. The child is either in the waiting room or, in the case of phone consultations, in a separate area of the house, preferably with another adult looking after him. It is essential that you, as parents, have the ability to speak freely about your child without being overheard. Before the visit, you will be asked to fill out a medical history form, which will help your practitioner gain an overview of your child’s issues that may not come up spontaneously during the interview.

During the actual interview, the homeopath will be most interested in the following points:

• physical, mental, and emotional symptoms
• behavior
• how your child gets along in the family, at school, and in other settings
• communication and speech
• words, phrases, expressions, or images that your child uses often
• special interests and favorite activities
• any particular sensitivities
• strong food and drink preferences or aversions
• relevant family history
• significant information regarding pregnancy and birth
• precipitating events or suspected causative factors related to your child’s condition
• reports from teachers or school personnel, such as speech and language pathologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, paraprofessionals, and other caregivers
• fears
• dreams
• anything that you can think of that is unique or unusual about your child.

During the interview, your homeopath will mainly be listening and gathering information. Practitioners use a variety of styles when conducting the initial interview. Some homeopaths primarily listen, while others more actively question you and your child. Still others engage in a process of free association based on the precise words of the patient. All of these approaches help the homeopath assemble the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that make up your child.

After gathering initial information from the parent(s), your homeopath will attempt to interview your child, depending on the child’s ability to communicate. A great deal of useful information may be gleaned from talking with and observing more verbal children, but observation of nonverbal gestures and behavior it are equally important in finding the correct medicine for your child. Even though observation is important, we have found equal success, in most cases, in interviews based upon telephone consultation with the help of an observant parent. Whenever possible, though, we encourage parents to bring their child for the initial appointment and follow up visits. If that’s not possible, we ask them to provide photographs or even video clips of characteristic behaviors, to help us get a better view of the “whole picture.”

Once both the parents and the child have been interviewed, it is time for the homeopath to analyze the case and prescribe. If the pattern of symptoms in the case obviously indicates a particular homeopathic medicine, your homeopath will administer it right there in the office (or send it by mail if the child isn’t present). If more study is needed to determine the correct medicine, your homeopath has homework to do. He may call you with additional questions, schedule additional time, or ask you to submit more information that would be helpful in choosing the right medicine.

The homeopathic medicine will be in a powdered, pellet, or liquid form, administered in either a single or sometimes in a daily dose. Read any instructions or recommendations carefully; they will be very different from those given with pharmaceutical drugs.

What Happens Next?
During the first week or so after your child takes the homeopathic medicine, you may notice some changes. You may simply find that your child’s symptoms steadily improve. This immediate improvement may mean that the correct remedy was found, and the child is beginning to heal.

Sometimes within the first days or first week, existing symptoms may temporarily worsen. This is called “aggravation” and generally only occurs when the correct medicine has been given. Aggravation is a positive sign! This temporary worsening will promptly be followed by an improvement of symptoms, sometimes a dramatic change for the better.

If the medicine given is not the correct one for that patient, there is typically no response at all. If there is only a brief positive response, the medicine may either be on the mark but simply not strong enough, another dose may be needed, or a different medicine may be indicated.

Another possible response, which occurs only when the correct medicine has been given, is a fleeting return of symptoms from the past, usually lasting three to four days. This is also a very good sign. By the five- to six-week point, it should be clear to both you and your homeopath whether the medicine has acted and your child is improving.

Follow-up Visits
You will be instructed to make a follow-up appointment for about six weeks after your child begins treatment. In the weeks leading up to that visit, observe and record any changes that you or others notice. A small notebook to jot down comments each day can be helpful. Over time, it’s easy to forget changes in like sleep disturbances, good (or bad) days at school, sensitivity to textures and smells etc. You are your homeopath’s eyes and ears, and your notes will help him help your child. At the first follow-up visit, all of the concerns raised in the first interview will be assessed to determine what, if anything, has changed, and significantly.

If no changes are evident, and the action of the medicine was not interrupted prematurely, then the homeopath will gather more information, ask more questions, and probably prescribe a different medicine. Do not be concerned if the correct medicine is not found during the first visit. Homeopaths choose from over two thousand medicines, some of them quite similar but subtly different. Understanding a child in depth can take time, so finding the perfect match sometimes takes more than one try. Some parents become impatient when there is no change after two to three weeks, wanting to try a different medicine right away, but your homeopath must wait long enough to make sure the medicine has been given sufficient time to act. If your child responded very well initially, then the medicine seemed to stop acting, a repetition of the original dose or a stronger dose may be required.

Sometimes additional interview time may be needed to help your homeopath understand your child more completely. In some cases, it may take several tries over three to six months to find the correct homeopathic medicine. The odds are that if you continue treatment for a year, your homeopath will very likely find a medicine that gives you results, even if some trial and error is needed.

The more your homeopath knows about your child, the better the chances are of finding the correct medicine. Some of the medicines for children with ASD are relatively rare and may not be obvious to your homeopath in the beginning of treatment. If you can keep observing your child at every opportunity, and report those observations accurately, you may say something that provides your homeopath with just the clue that is needed to find the right prescription.

Once the correct medicine has been found, appointments will be scheduled every two to three months until progress is stable and predictable. Repetition of the medicine will depend on the type of dosing being used. Your homeopath will determine the frequency of dosing based on your child’s response to the medicine. Steady improvement should occur with proper repetition of the medicine in the correct strength or potency. Very positive changes take place rapidly in some cases, but more slowly in others. The trend of improvement is more important than the pace. The most profound effects in homeopathy occur over months and years, as the state of body and mind that created the imbalance is reduced or eliminated. With regular treatment, improvements will likely continue and stabilize. This stabilization process occurs over one to two years. Patients who leave treatment before they are stable may lose some, or all, of the benefits they have gained. Gradually, the frequency of visits will be reduced until the desired treatment goals are met.