Milwaukee Magazine recognizes Dr. Bruce Semon as one of the best Homeopaths!
For its February 2011 issue, Milwaukee Magazine surveyed “more than 500 practitioners in the five-county metropolitan area,” Dr. Bruce Semon was named by his peers as one of the three best homeopaths in the area. To read the entire article, click here.
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is effective for many patients in Dr. Semon’s practice. What is homeopathy? Briefly, it is a different system of medicine than modern medicine. Homeopathy is based on the principle that the body should be helped to heal itself. Modern medicine is based on the principle that we should kill invading disease with drugs. Homeopathy is very powerful, yet is relatively inexpensive (much less expensive than conventional prescription drugs!), has no side effects and can be used to treat problems ranging from acute ear infections to cancer. For a description of homeopathy and its use in cancer, please click here. For a more complete explanation of homeopathy, please click here.
The most common conditions for which Dr. Semon uses homeopathy for treatment are:
- Autism
- Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Ear Infection
- Colds, Flu, Sore Throats, Strep Throat
- Muscular Pain
- Back Pain
- Skin Problems
- Sports Injuries
- Adolescent Mood Swings
Homeopathy: An Introduction (updated May 17, 2009)
This page is based on Dr. Bruce Semon’s clinical experience and research. This page discusses how homeopathy can be used to treat many medical conditions.
Dr. Semon is available to see patients and for consultation. For more information about his medical practice, call 1-877-332-7899, or click here.
The information on this page is an introduction to homeopathy. For more specific information on using homeopathy for treating ear infections, click here. For more information on using homeopathy to treat cancer, click here.
What is Homeopathy? A short history.
Homeopathy is a form of medicine which was discovered and developed by a doctor in Europe named Samuel Hahnemann starting in about the year 1800.
This doctor was experimenting with quinine, a treatment for malaria. He took quinine and found that in him, who did not have malaria, quinine caused fevers. He thought this result to be very interesting because malaria is a disease of fevers. He restated what other medical philosphers had hinted at before, a law, “like cures like.” In other words, something which causes a symptom in a healthy person, can knock that same symptom out of someone sick with that symptom. This concept is totally opposite to the concepts of western medicine, which is called “allopathic medicine.” In allopathic medicine, we generally take medication to treat something inside our body. The medicine we take is different from the disease we are trying to treat.
Dr. Hahnemann took his research further. He diluted and shook and diluted and shook the quinine. He was hoping to get rid of the bad parts of the quinine and preserve the good parts. He found that not only did he get rid of the bad parts but the resulting dilutions were actually more powerful than the original quinine. In fact, he diluted and shook the quinine so much that nothing was left of the original material. Yet, the mixture was still more powerful.
Dr. Hahnemann and others after him investigated other compounds found in nature. He found what symptoms these other compounds and natural materials might produce in healthy people. These investigations were called “provings.” Then he would know which natural substances to use when he was treating a sick person. He would match the symptoms of the sick person to the symptoms he knew the natural substances could produce in healthy people. He treated many disorders this way.
No one in regular medical circles believed him, but some people learned his methods and developed his insights and knowledge further.
One of the main people was Dr. James Kent, in the United States. Although relatively little homeopathy is practiced now, homeopathy was very strong at one time in the US. Homeopathic physicians were drafted on both sides in the civil war. Such major medical schools as the University of Michigan were homeopathic medical schools. However, when antibiotics came out, academic medicine organized to eliminate homeopathic medical schools. In the United States, all such schools closed or became traditional medical schools and very little homeopathy was taught.
Treating Medical Conditions Using Homeopathy
In modern medicine, we use medicines to treat illnesses. In homeopathic medicine, we use “remedies” to treat illnesses. There are more than 2000 known remedies in homeopathy. One must consult a homeopath to determine which remedy is the correct one to take in any circumstance. For information on Dr. Semon’s homeopathic practice, click here. The preparation of remedies is discussed below.
One of the main difficulties in understanding homeopathy is knowing how to distinguish between chronic problems and acute problems and yet to integrate the treatment of both. Chronic problems are long term; acute problems are problems that arise suddenly.
If a person has both chronic and acute problems, it turns out that the chronic problem cannot be treated successfully until the acute problem is taken care of. The symptoms must be listed as either chronic or acute, and usually there are separate remedies for both. For example, a person may present with influenza symptoms such as aches, chilliness, and being tired, as an acute problem and at the same time may be suffering from a grief, which is causing sleep problems. The acute problem of the influenza, which may need the remedy gelsimium, needs to be treated before the problem of the grief, which may require the remedy called natrum muriaticum. If we give the natrum muriaticum before the influenza is treated, the natrum muriaticum will not work while the influenza symptoms are present.
The best way to understand treatment of acute problems is to know that over the 200 years homeopathy has been in existence, there are known to be certain remedies for certain conditions. For example two remedies for earaches in children are Pulsatilla and Chamomilla. One need not start with all the 2000 remedies and try to take an entire case and find the one out of 2000 which fits all the symptoms. Instead one starts with the acute problem and asks about all the symptoms of the acute problem and about all the modalities such as whether the pain is better or worse with time of day, with cold or hot, with people around or not. Then one looks through the list of remedies known to be useful for that acute condition and tries to figure out which one is best. If the first remedy does not work, another remedy should be tried.
In regular medicine, a sore throat, worse on the right than the left is the same as a sore throat worse on the left than the right. However, in homeopathy such distinctions as right versus left, and time of day, whether motion or swallowing helps or hurts, are of major importance. Such distinctions, called modalities, tell us how the vital force is acting. The remedies act on the vital force and in healthy people, show their own modalities in provings. If we then match the remedy to the vital force of the person, as shown through symptoms and modalities, the energy of the remedy will add to the vital force of the person, to cure or improve the problem.
We can look at the body as having a vital force which keeps our body processes going but which may be weakened by anything from a grief to a vaccination. Then the vital force may be weakened, and diseases may occur. These disorders can be thought of as energy leaks of the vital force, which is now resulting in a person who is not feeling as well as he or she might. A child with an ear infection has a disturbance of the vital force. Treatment of the ear infection will result in restoring the vital force and stopping of the energy leak. For more information on homeopathy and ear infections, click here.
All disorders may be thought of this way. Cancer patients may have acute energy leaks, such as diarrhea, which may or may not be part of the cancer, and the cancer itself and the patient may have deeper layers such as a grief which occurred before the cancer began. First, the most acute problem is treated. The most acute problem is where the initially most important energy leak is. Then the remedies for the specific cancer may be given. Then the remedy for the grief which started the problem may be given. If we treat in layers this way and see the problems as a series of energy leaks, each with its own remedies, we are more likely to be successful in treatment. For more information on homeopathy and cancer treatment, click here.
Colds may be viewed the same way, as a series of energy leaks, or colds may be viewed by looking at where the energy started to leak from. If the cold began with a sore throat, then start with the sore throat remedies. If the cold began in the nose, start with remedies for nasal discharge. If the cold starts to look rapidly like influenza, with fever and cough, there are remedies for influenza.
Energy leaks can also be viewed as having occurred in the past. For example, if someone had a flu which totally knocked them out resulting in chronic fatigue ever since, one way to treat is to treat the symptoms at the time the energy leak began, in this case when the flu symptoms were present.
Ear Infections and Homeopathy
One of the best ways to treat chronic ear infection, in addition to anti-yeast intervention, which is explained in Ear Infections is to prevent colds and other upper respiratory infections from becoming ear infections.
I have found, in my practice, that treating colds homeopathically can reduce the severity of the colds and prevent ear infections. Homeopathic treatment is inexpensive and relatively safe.
However, there are numerous remedies for each medical condition that we usually think of as one illness, such as a cold, so it is best to consult a homeopathic practitioner or doctor to determine which remedy might be beneficial for you or your child at a certain time. If one treats the beginning symptoms of a cold immediately with homeopathic medications, the cold usually does not develop into an ear infections, and antibiotics are not needed.
Differences in Treatment Strategies between Homeopathic Writers
The method described above is based primarily on the writings of Dr. Hahnemann. Other homeopaths have treated using different methods. The approach of Kent was to try to find one remedy to fit all. This approach works best for psychological problems but does not work well for chronic problems. Kent was both American and he was a dominant figure in homeopathy, so he is followed by many people. The other approach was given by the founder of homeopathy, Hahnemann, who believed in treating problems as a series of problems, each requiring its own remedy.
Kent used high potency remedies, given only once and repeated only as indicated. This approach results all too often in aggravations. Hahnemann used low potency remedies given frequently. This approach does not result in aggravations. If a remedy does not work in low potencies, we simply try a new one.
Preparation of Homeopathic Remedies
Homeopathic remedies are prepared from the natural substance, usually first in alcohol. This is called the mother tincture. Then further dilutions are made. The usual way is by diluting 1/100. The first such dilution is called 1C. The next 1/100 dilution is 2C and the next is 3C. With each dilution, there is shaking and hitting of the glass container the solution is in against something about as hard as a leather book. This is called succussion. This combination of dilution and succussion brings out the energy of the remedy. The provings were made with the C potencies, so the C potencies are preferred by most homeopaths. There are also X potencies, which are 1/10 dilutions. These may be used but they were not tested in the same way as the C potencies.
Selection of the Right Potencies
The following comes from the teachings of Dr. Robin Murphy. Kent recommended using high potencies, which is usually 200C. Hahnemann recommended using much lower potencies such as 6C. For a chronic problem, the starting dose is 6C given three times per day but if people feel that they are very sensitive, the 6C can be started at once per day or even once per week. 6C works gradually but gently. Use of 200C may result in aggravations, that is things get worse before they get better. Acute problems may be treated with higher potencies briefly such as one or two doses of 200 C, or repeated doses of 30C. 30C should be adequate for acute problems.
For example, if someone has asthma, there may be a chronic remedy for the asthma, given at 6C three times per day, per Dr. Murphy. If an acute asthma attack develops, the attack may be treated acutely with a higher potency of the same remedy, such as 30C or with a different remedy temporarily, probably also at 30C. Once the attack is over, we go back to the chronic remedy at 6C three times per day.
There are also remedies which may be used to help children after the acute illnesses to improve their vitality and make them less susceptible to acute illnesses. These are mainly the calcarea remedies.
Caution in Self-Prescribing from Books!
Often, homeopathy appears to be so simple that people attempt to treat themselves using books as guides. However, this can lead to ineffective treatment. It is much better to consult an experienced homeopath. For self-prescribers, I would advise that when looking at symptoms in homeopathy books, try to stay with the main symptoms of the acute problem. If the book mentions a confirmatory symptom but it is not related directly to the acute problem, be careful in using that confirmatory symptom. For example, patients needing gelsimium may have the symptom better from profuse urination. The symptom of better by profuse urination is not helpful if the other symptoms of gelsimium such as drowsiness, prostration, tiredness and dizziness (in influenza) are not present.
Breaking New Information May 17, 2009!
The above description of homeopathy is largely based on the teachings of Dr. Robin Murphy.
Since writing the above, I have had the opportunity to study with Dr. Luc DeSchepper, who has written a number of excellent teaching books on homeopathy. His first book, Hahnemann Revisited, is an excellent book for anyone who is trying to learn the fundamentals of homeopathy. Dr. DeSchepper follows the teachings of Dr. Hahnemann, especially those in the later editions of Dr. Hahnemann’s works. He emphasizes how to give the remedies, per Dr. Hahnemann.
There are two main tasks in helping a patient homeopathically. The first task is to find the right remedy and the second task is give the proper amount of the remedy at the right time. One can take the right remedy but take the wrong dose at the wrong times and then the remedy will seem not to work. Why is this?
The problem of finding the right remedy will be discussed below. For the moment, assume that we think that we have the right remedy. How do we know that we have the right remedy?
All natural substances produce symptoms in healthy people. The right remedy produces in healthy people the same symptoms that the sick patient has. If the sick patient takes the remedy which will produce the same symptoms as the sick patient has, the right remedy will produce an artificial disease which will replace the natural disease. The body’s vital force can then fight against and remove this artificial disease and the patient will become better. The vital force can more easily fight the artificially produced disease than the natural disease. However, if the sick patient takes too strong a dose or potency of the remedy, the remedy will produce an artificial disease which will be strong, perhaps much stronger than the natural disease. The artificial disease will temporarily add to the natural disease, making the disease seem worse. This is called a similar aggravation, not something pleasant for the patient. To avoid these aggravations, Dr. Hahnemann recommended in his later writings, in the fifth and sixth editiions of the Organon to give lower doses of the remedies by diluting them in water. Let me explain further.
Dr. Hahnemann developed his thinking over years. In his fourth edition of the Organon, his main series of books on treating patients with homeopathy, he recommended giving dry doses of remedies in little sugar balls. He modified his thinking in his later editions of the Organon, in the fifth and sixth editions. He addressed the problem of aggravations, which occur when after giving the remedy people seem to get worse first rather then better. Later patients might become better but Dr. Hahnemann did not want these aggravations. He said that even the dry doses were too strong. Instead the patient should dilute the doses in water. Then the doses would be more appropriate and work better. There would be fewer aggravations.
Unforunately many practitioners use the fourth edition. The later editions were not published until well after Dr. Hahnemann’s death. The main American teachers of 100 years ago were not even aware of the later editions. However, diluting the doses in water works much better. It is much easier to give the right dose and avoid or minimize aggavations.
How does this work for patients?
The method of giving a remedy is actually as important as the choosing of the remedy. In the 5th edition, Dr. Hahnemann instructed that the remedy, for example, 30C, should be placed in a cup half full of water. The water is stirred and then a small portion, for example, a teaspoon, is removed from this first cup and placed into a second cup, half full of water. This second cup is stirred and the patient takes a teaspoon from the second cup. The second cup is then discarded. The first cup is kept in the refrigerator.
If the remedy is helpful, then when it starts to wear off and the symptoms begin to come back, the patient takes the first cup. He or she then hits the cup twice, then takes a teaspoonful, puts it into a second cup, as was done the first time. The second cup is then stirred, and a teaspoonful is taken from the second cup.
Each time the remedy seems to wear off, this process is repeated.
The reason the remedy is taken this way is as follows. The remedy produces an artificial disease, which replaces the original disease. The body’s vital force can react against this artificial disease. The next time, that the natural disease asserts itself, the body’s vital force needs to react against a slightly stronger artificial disease. The artificial disease, in the form of the remedy, is made a little stronger, by hitting (or succussing) the cup. The succussing of the cup strengthens the remedy. Each time the body’s vital force has to react against the slightly stronger artificial disease, the body’s vital force can get a little stronger, until health is achieved.
In the earlier versions of Hahnemann’s organon, the remedies were given as dry pellets and then simply repeated. This method of giving the remedy does not work as well as the later way of diluting the remedy in water as described above. Aggravatoions are more likely with the dry dose 4th edition method.
In the last version of the Organon, Hahnemann described a new way of preparing remedies, called the LM potencies. These potencies are actually stronger than the C potencies which were used in the 5th version of the Organon. They were given in the same way. They were diluted in water and a small amount is taken, put into a second cup. The dose the patient takes is from the second cup. When the symptoms come back, the remedy bottle or cup is successed, to make it a little stronger. Then a small amount is taken and put into a second cup and taken as described above. In practice the patient is first given 30 C potency and later is put on the LM potencies.
How do we find remedies for patients? In each person is a vital force. The vital force shows its individuality by the symptoms it produces as it tries to fight disease. Some symptoms are common, such as headache and nausea and do not give us the individuality of the person and the person’s vital force.
There are other symptoms that show us individuality. These are rare and peculiar symptoms. A person might complain of a sinus infection. How does it feel? One person recently described the sinus problem as a feeling of a burning hot wire in her cheek and nose. This peculiar symptom points to the remedy Arsenicum which produces such symptoms in healthy people.
The next most important symptoms are major emotional upsets which may have preceded the beginning of the problem. Major emotions such as fright and grief lead to symptoms which can be treated by remedies for those emotional upsets. The next most important symptoms are the state of mind. So for example, a grief caused by a major betrayal of trust might lead to the remedy natrum muriaticum. A grief caused by feeling that one has let everyone down might lead to the remedy aurum metallicum. Continual night watching and taking care of someone might lead to the remedy cocculus. Other causations include vaccinations, sun exposure, cold winds and more.
To go through all the symptoms would take books and books, rather than the few pages possible here.
These pages are not intended to be a comprehensive course in homeopathy. Let me give some examples. I recently saw a woman who has myasthenia gravis, a devastating diorder in which eye muscles become paralyzed, causing at the least double vision. I asked her if anything had happened before the problem began. She said she was emotionally stable. However, before the problem had occurred, she had been vaccinated, I think to go on a vacation. One of the main remedies for ailments from or after vaccination is Silica. I asked her to take Silica 30C, diluted in two cups of water as described above. Her first report was that she was having good days.
In the case mentioned above of the woman who described her sinus infection as the pain of a hot wire in her sinus, she took one dose of Arsenicum album 30 C diluted by the two cup method as described above and the pain was gone. She also felt much better overall.
Another woman described to me constant hives, which started after a preparation for a routine colonoscopy. Not much helped from the doctors. The itching was awful but it was worse every night as she went to bed. Psorinum helped some. However she made major improvement from Mercurius 30 C, given by the two cup method two times. The hives stopped. Mercurius has the symptom itching worse from the heat of the bed.
I wish to say a few things about how to arrive at remedies for children and some problems of children. An additional factor to consider in finding remedies for children is the pregnancy of the mother. Somehow the emotional state of the mother can be transferred to the fetus and still be present after birth. I will give two cases here, both using the same remedy. One is of an 8 year old child, who was wild, very restless and aggressive. I asked the mother about the pregnancy. The father was a drug user who had treated her badly and left. Now the mother had this wild restless child. The child was given a few doses of Tarentula hispanica 30 C by the two cup method. His behavior dramatically improved. Why? Tarentula hispanica produces tremendous restlessness but it also has a symptom of being forsaken and a delusion of feeling insulted. So this might be the feeling of a woman with a drug using boyfriend who later abandons her. The restlessness gives us a clue that this state of Tarentula hispanica is still present in the boy and that this boy needs this remedy.
I saw another boy who is verbal but autistic. He was adopted. His mother had also been abandoned during the pregnancy. This child was also very restless but he was much better if he could dance. He was given one dose of Tarentula hispanica and immediately went to sleep, something he never does. He did not wake until the next morning and then he did not seem to need his medications. He was calm for the first time without his medications. I only wish his mother could have stayed with the homeopathy.
These are only a selection of cases. I will be posting more cases as I write them up.
Further References for the Self-Studiers
I don’t advise self-treating. However, if you want to make a study of homeopathy, as I have done over the past 10 years, you can start with the following books. The problem with self-treating is that the books are somewhat contradictory, and you need to be familiar with all of them and others to fully integrate what the treatments would be for any individual, because every individual and every problem is unique. I am available to help you as a physician and homeopath.
The most helpful books are: The best overall book on practicing homeopathy is Dr. Luc De Schepper’s book Hahnemann Revisited. He goes through all the main issues in using homeopathy. The problem with this book is what is not there. Dr. Luc refers often to rare and peculiar symptoms but he gives very few examples. When he first was teaching he taught the remedies and the main uses of each remedy but he never put that material in a book.
The best books on the remedies themselves are Margaret Tyler’s book Homeopathic Drug Pictures and E B Nash’s book Leaders in Homeopathic Therapeutics. These books will teach you something about the remedies. The problem then will be that you need to practice on some cases. I recommend two books here. E B Nash wrote a book of cases called the Testimony of the Clinic. The second book is Some Clinical Experiences of Erastus E. Case, MD. These books contain excellent teaching cases.
A good general reference on the remedies is Robin Murphy’s Nature’s Materia Medica, third edition.
There are two other books that I read when I first started by S. M. Gunavante. The first is Introduction to Homeopathic Prescribing and the second is the“Genius” of homoepathic remedies. These books are based on 4th edition prescribing but they are useful for learning how to use the homeopathic repertory.
Dr. Semon has homeopathy successfully to treat any number of conditions, including Autism and ADHD.
