Homeopathy as old as nature

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Advertiser

Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine, treating patients with heavily diluted preparations thought to cause effects similar to the symptoms that are presented.

Some call it quackery.

Others contend homeopathy offers nothing but placebos. Sarah Trask, an honours graduate of the three-year program at the Toronto School of Homeopathic Medicine, begs to differ.

Her discovery of homeopathic medicine began as a patient herself, and culminated in her becoming a homeopathic doctor. “My admiration for homeopathy was born six years ago when I saw a homeopath for yearly recurring sinus and throat infections. After a single remedy, I was completely cured.”

Not only that, she says, the remedies made her feel completely balanced.

Having completed a kinesiology degree at Acadia, she began further study. “I am now dedicated to practicing the art of homeopathy with only one goal: to work towards restoring the health of my patients in the most gentle, rapid and permanent way.”

Trask counters the comments about placebos by pointing out she has children and animals as patients: they would hardly be affected by a placebo.

Trask, who practices in Wolfville but visits Yarmouth and Barrington on a monthly basis, is currently working on post graduate studies with renowned homeopath, naturopath and chiropractor Dr. Joseph Kellerstein.

Currently a member of the Canadian Society of Homeopaths, she says homeopathic medicines are essentially based on established by German physician Samuel Hahnemann’s discoveries in 1796: natural substances are capable of curing the same symptoms as they cause if given in minute doses. The practice is effective, she says, because each remedy is carefully tailored to the individual and their unique symptoms. “I love what I do,” Trask says.

Her Wolfville practice has grown largely through word of mouth. Many of her patients are frustrated by drugs that don’t help or cause side effects.

When the human body cannot bring about healing, Trask contends, homeopathic medicine “has an incredible way of stimulating a healing response in a rapid and gentle way without the risk of side effects.”

She points out the queen’s primary physician is a homeopath. “A hundred years ago, one out of five doctors were homeopaths.”

A homeopathic doctor takes a lengthy health history for each new patient, which requires about two hours, and then chooses from among 4,000 remedies for the best results. “They come from nature, so they are very safe and effective. You can’t mass market them.”

Flu hype and homeopathic help

These days, Trask is wondering if the current mainstream media isn’t prompting the entire population to get the H1N1 vaccine in order to take the public’s mind off the economy. She recommends a winter preparation, Influenzinum, available in some health food stores. A flu preventative, it is the only homeopathic flu product updated each year based on the flu strains predicted by the World Health Organization.

WEBLINKS

http://www.homeopathichealing.ca/