Latest / Motherhood Alliance Podcast / A Beginner's Guide to Homeopathy w/ Beth Bundy | fieldwork homeopathy
Transcript
- Britney Suttner: Hi, this is Brittany from motherhoodalliance.com and I'm excited to welcome you to a new four episode series with Beth Bundy, a certified classical homeopath, registered nurse, public health nurse, and co-founder of Fieldwork Homeopathy. With experience in both conventional healthcare and homeopathic medicine, Beth brings a unique perspective to healing that considers the full picture, mind, body, emotions, environment, and family dynamics. Through her virtual practice, she works with children and adults experiencing a wide range of challenges with a special focus on mental and emotional health, including anxiety, depression, grief, mood swings, anger and rage, perfectionism, concentration difficulties, learning challenges, hypersensitivities of all kinds, birth trauma, generational trauma, and many other things. Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. I'm excited to introduce you to Beth. Welcome, Beth. Beth: Thank you, I'm so thrilled to be here. Britney Suttner: We are so thrilled to have you. Now, as our listeners know, we always love to get to know a new guest a little bit on a personal level so we can understand who you are and the fun things you do and some maybe some quirks about you. But we always ask for a fun fact and you shared that you can walk on stilts. So how did you develop this skill and why? Beth: Yes, I think as a kid I should have been in the circus, perhaps, because my parents also were incredibly lovely and supportive and also purchased a unicycle for me. I'm not sure that I could do that now, but I just love doing challenging physical feats, I guess. But walking on stilts is very fun. I think I could still do that now. Britney Suttner: When was the last time you were on stilts? Beth: You know it was only a few years ago actually. So in your 40s you can still do it. Britney Suttner: Okay, did you just do this like in your driveway or did you do this like for parties or when did you use this skill? Beth: Yeah, just on my own to have fun at home, but I would do laps around my, all around my driveway and up and down the road. And I'm not sure what the neighbors were thinking, but at least it was probably free entertainment. Britney Suttner: Yeah, that's so fun. I actually have a funny story. I'm not going to share the whole thing on here, but my uncle rides a unicycle or can ride a unicycle as well. And so we were at a bike shop when I was living with him in Idaho back in college. And I just remember us going to this bike store and he's like, I haven't been on a unicycle in like a decade. I just, kind of want to try it. So we took it out in the parking lot and he like jumped right on it. It's riding a bike, a single wheel bike. Right. So yeah, it's so fun. I love that question about fun facts, because we all have such unique things that nobody would know about unless we ask. So getting Beth: it's true. Britney Suttner: a little bit into your story, childhood sounds like it was fun. And maybe you should have gone into the circus, but you didn't you went into nursing is my understanding. So you went through classic nursing school, right? But now you're in homeopathy. So tell us about your journey, your story and how you found yourself where you are today. Beth: Yes, I was always interested in health, always. And I was always curious about what health meant, what it felt like, and how that varies from person to person. I wanted to have a baseline in Western medicine that was important to me to understand that system and to see where it really shines. where it's really life-saving and remarkable and where it really struggles. So went to nursing school, I worked in a bunch of different areas after that, several hospitals, acute, know, trauma, neuroscience, all these things, clinics. And I saw where it really shines and... I saw where it does so much good. And I also saw where it's really limited. And where that is, is with chronic conditions and things that are kind of ongoing, kind of slow, kind of just that move people in this more and more, you know, decompensating in their health over time. I just saw that and was like, well, the only tools that are really available are medication and surgery, which sometimes and often are necessary and good. So this is not at all to say not to do those things, right? Safety first always. But I would find myself, like I would be on my hospital unit at 2 a.m. Everyone was finally asleep. I'd done all of the cares and everything and talked to everybody and listened to everyone's story. And it would be really quiet and I would think to myself. How did these people land here? What actually do they need? What actually is going on in their life? What happened leading up to this situation that they're in? And then I started to think, well, if our bodies are producing symptoms, what's actually happening there? Like in the hospital, we're just trying to... you know, bring the volume down on an acute situation, which is important in a life-threatening situation, of course, right? But like in general for kind of these low-level, annoying, you know, things that we deal with in our bodies and in our minds, it's like, what is our body trying to do? What is our mind trying to do? What is it communicating? and why is it doing it? And then I would think, so if the body's producing these communications with symptoms, What is possible as far as how the body can reorient and come back to center on its own? Like what does it need to actually heal something? Britney Suttner: So at this time, were you even aware of homeopathy or you were just kind of stirring these questions in the pot of your own head? Beth: I was just stirring the pot. Yeah. But I wanted to do my, my long-term goal was to do something more holistic. I wanted to work for myself and I wanted to actually see what's the potential of what our bodies can do. Right? Like what can they actually do when we give them the proper resources? So I was like, well, should I be a chiropractor or should I be a naturopath? Like what, where am I headed? And it wasn't until, so I was having really painful periods and I was having, I started to develop really profound anxiety about going to work in the hospital. So yeah, I'm like, okay, something isn't congruent here. My mind and body are communicating something. So I saw a homeopath. just on a recommendation from a friend who was going to school for it. And what I experienced was so moving for me. I immediately knew like this is what I need to do in my life. Like we sat down for a two hour conversation and he listened to my whole story. He was curious about how I experienced things in my body, my mind. And then he sent me a homeopathic remedy and I couldn't believe. It's quite profound when you get one that matches your state and helps you move through something. It's remarkable and I felt immediately so much better. So, and I'm like, I have to go to school. This is what I meant to do. Britney Suttner: Wow, that is, that's incredible that you were put on that path that ultimately leads you to where you are now. So now you are a business owner and you're helping people naturally, which is incredible. So let's dive into a little bit about what is homeopathy. So you just mentioned like a remedy that he sent to you and it matched you. Like, what does all of this mean? So let's just start high level with what is homeopathy, kind of a definition of it. And then what is a remedy? Beth: Perfect, okay. So homeopathy is, it's its own system of medicine on its own. So as a professional practitioner, that's all that I work with. We use what we call homeopathic remedies. So I have a couple here to show. So if you go to Fresh Time or the Co-op or any, you know, natural food store, they usually carry them. This, if you've seen these little funny little blue tubes with the white pellets in them at the store. This is a homeopathic remedy. So it either will show up in this blue tube or this green one. So these are the two most common brands you'll see at the store. So in a nutshell, homeopathy What it really is, is it's a holistic system of medicine that stimulates your own healing capacity to help you move through and out of kind of a stuck, stressed state. So it's leveraging your body's own intelligence to do what it already is doing. And we do that by working with the principle of like treats like. So the word homeopathy means similar suffering. Homeo is similar and pathy means suffering. So we have similar suffering. Well, why on earth would we want to similarly suffer? Right? What does that even mean? Well, it means that When your body and mind are producing symptoms, Symptoms are actually adaptations. So in homeopathic medicine, we consider what the body is attempting to do and what it's communicating as the body's best efforts to move through a stress. So it kind of flips. our modern, know, our dominant medical system thinking and how most of us have been like conditioned to think about health kind of on its head. Because in this way, we're seeing symptoms as actually the way through something. Symptoms are purposeful, they're meaningful, they're precise, they're necessary, because they're actually the what the body's using as a mechanism to correct distress. So when we actually pause and pay attention to what is happening with a sick person, and we look at all of the ways their mind and body are communicating and then we match that with a remedy that has a similar symptom picture. So you're really essentially being a matchmaker. You're saying, okay, body, everything you're doing is important. We're going to match this with a mirror that's going to give the body like some oomph, give it a nudge to help move it through and facilitate what it's already trying to do. Britney Suttner: that's a beautiful description. I feel like we're almost in a fairy tale right now of how the body should work and how healing should work. But from a logistical standpoint, you just talked about these little pellets are the remedies. And so if I have a headache and then there's a remedy that's known to help with headaches, these remedies come from... plants, I guess, is that right? So maybe just kind of help us understand what are they made from? And then if it's made from a plant, a plant doesn't have a headache. So how is it actually like treating the light first light? Beth: Yes, thank you. Okay, so yes, remedies are made from plants, minerals, and animal sources. They are prepared in specific homeopathic pharmacies following a precise method of production. They are regulated and overseen by the FDA for purity, consistency, all of those things, safety. And so really what that means is any substance in nature can be made into a remedy. So for example, this blue guy I have here, Apis molyphica, this remedy is made from the honeybee. And this remedy we use for food poisoning, we use for bee stings, of course, we use for hives, kind of that kind of symptom. picture. This guy, cafea cruda, is made from coffee. Guess what? We use this for insomnia, actually. Right? So we're giving what would produce insomnia in someone in a homeopathic way. can help someone go to sleep. So when Britney Suttner: interesting. Beth: Yeah, so when they're made in the pharmacy, so for example, they take for example, let's say a remedy made from Arnica Montana, the VIP homeopathic remedy that most people probably know and use. So they'll take a tincture of the flower. And then to make the remedy, they'll dilute it and then shake it or succuss it, we call it succusion. and they'll dilute and saccass and dilute and saccass over and over and over again. So the end result is this highly, highly dilute yet very potentized. end result of this that's what started with an arnica flower but ends being still arnica but it's like dynamic and because of the chemistry of water it holds the information of the arnica but it's highly dilute and highly potent actually more potent than the material substance it started with Britney Suttner: Now, as you're talking about that, I know that I've seen different numbers and letters on these different remedies. Beth: Mm-hmm. Britney Suttner: So walk us through what that is, because I believe that's almost like strength, but I don't think that's how you refer to it, right? So help us understand what are people actually looking at if they're standing in an aisle at these different remedy options. Beth: Yes. So when you're at Fresh Time looking at their set of, they have, I think they have the blue, these blue guys, the Boyron brand. So you're looking at the whole set. This APIS says 30C. That's generally the potent C that most stores will carry. Sometimes you'll see 6C, sometimes you'll see 200C, but generally 30C is the most common. These are the remedies that you're going to use at home and for acute things and we'll talk about that a little bit later. But what this means is actually this remedy made from the honeybee started as an initial tincture of a crushed honeybee that they serially diluted 30 times in a row. So they would take one drop of the honeybee tincture into 99 drops of water and alcohol, pound it, then take one drop of that into 99 parts of water and alcohol and pound that 30 times. So this is... Britney Suttner: It seems like it seems like there would be almost none left of the actual original piece that was used Beth: Yes, and you're absolutely correct about that. That is true. So once we are beyond 12C... It mathematically, do you remember Avogadro's number from high school algebra? Britney Suttner: Please don't quiz me. Beth: So Avogadro's number is the point at which you reach a dilution where there is really no mathematical possibility that there is even one molecule left of the original substance because of the dilutions. And this is where there is controversy around how homeopathy works because it actually works more like quantum physics than chemistry. We're talking about dynamic energy because we are all energy before we are chemistry and before we are biology. So that's how they can go very deeply into somebody's mental emotional space and in their body. Yeah. Britney Suttner: What would you say to someone though that maybe has heard of homeopathy? Let's say that they came from the mainstream medical system like you, right? You came with traditional medical background, but their eyes, especially since COVID have been open to maybe exploring more natural options. They come across homeopathy, but they're hearing even conversations like this and they're skeptical, So how do you help people overcome that skepticism? Is it just kind of a try it? kind of thing? Or is it more of more education? How would you walk someone through understanding this to a level that it can release their skepticism? Beth: Mm-hmm. I think a healthy amount of skepticism with anything is good. I even had that when I first heard about it in my nursing Western medical brain, thought, how can that possibly work? How can something so dilute actually do anything? So I started in the same place, but I just, there was something, there was something that was true, that felt true to me that was compelling enough for me to try it because I didn't want to take medication. didn't, you know, I just, I wanted to experience what my body could actually do. And I just have an intuitive feeling that this, that that's what homeopathy would do. And that's what it did indeed do. Recently, there is a much more research coming out about homeopathy, possibly its mechanism of action that is really exciting and really excellently done. So. There are resources out there that are clinically focused. have placebo controlled trials happening that are really exciting and showing actually in following the method of trials that the Western medicine uses, working within that framework and showing it's extraordinary benefit. the other piece too is like when I work with newborns, babies, toddlers, kids, animals who they can't, they don't know, right? They don't consciously know that they're taking something. Britney Suttner: They're not skeptical, yeah. Beth: Yes, and it's brilliant. It works so beautifully. And it's like, when you see that and there's, I mean, you just see it work. It just works. Yeah. Britney Suttner: So, okay, so we're gonna talk a little bit more about specific ailments or challenges that people might be going through and then remedies that can help support them. So I'm excited to dive into our next episodes, but just staying high level here, there are a couple different types of care, if I understand correctly. There's constitutional care, which is gonna be more like long-term care that you are seeing where you're like people in the hospital system, like why are they here? There's underlying things where they're gonna need support and care over time. versus acute, which would be like short term of like oops, I fell and I scraped my leg and now it hurts and it's going to heal in a couple days, but I'd really like something to help me in the meantime. Can you walk us kind of through maybe elaborate on those different types of care and then what realistically, especially for those who are skeptics to hear, maybe more so on the acute side, but I guess touching on both, what's the reality of like speed of noticing that this is working? Beth: Love this. Okay, so there are many ways to practice homeopathy, but the two main ways that you just spoke to are working with acute self-limiting illnesses and injuries, and then working with more complex, persistent, recurrent problems. So these beauties that you can buy at the store or you can buy a remedy kit that comes with 20 or 30 or 40 remedies in it for your home. You can use those as a parent just for yourself, for your kids, for your family in a brilliantly skillful, effective way for acute situations that are self-limiting. So really, you can do so much with homeopathy at home with a kit or with the remedies that you buy at the store. It does require some learning. So there are really beautiful classes out there that you can take to learn how to even just start with first aid is a really great place to start. And then moving on to cold cough flu kind of things like that, but you can do so much with it. There are beautiful books you can you can purchase you can get them through your library. I mean, there's resources everywhere. it's kind of like When you learn about the remedies, it's kind of like they become your friends, because they have their own personality. They have their own symptom pictures. So you get to, as you work with them, become familiar. So what we're talking about with acute care at home would be things like an ear infection, a sore throat, a cough, bronchitis. stomach flu, influenza, you know, if you fall off your bike and you have a bad fall, kind of these, these like, you know, sudden onset. kind of acute inflammations that would on their own resolve anyway. So those are things you can absolutely work with at home and using a remedy that's matching the person and what they're going through will do two things. It will reduce the intensity of symptoms and it will shorten the duration that the person is suffering. And who wouldn't want that, right? So it's quite remarkable. And so with acute... situations like if you have a kiddo who wakes up in the middle of the night suddenly with a fever out of the blue, if you give a matching remedy, you should see a response, I mean, quickly, sometimes immediately or within minutes because it matches the pace of the onset. So it came on quickly, you should see a quick resolution. for like a flu that kind of, you know how sometimes it can build over a couple of days, know, like, oh, I don't Britney Suttner: Mm-hmm. Beth: feel good. And then suddenly you feel quite not great. When you introduce a remedy then, because the onset was a bit slower, the recovery is gonna take a bit longer. But within 24 hours, you definitely should see improvement, you know, moving you through that experience. Yeah. Britney Suttner: Okay, and we are going to be, actually our next episode is going to be more so about that constitutional care. So let's save Beth: Mm-hmm. Britney Suttner: talking about that one for the next episode. So a little carrot to dangle in front of our listeners here. We're going to continue that conversation, but I'd love to just finish this one to understand a little bit about what it looks like to actually work with a homeopath. because you serve people virtually, which is great because then you can serve people from all over the place. And if they're sick, like they don't have to come into a clinic and drive places, they can just jump on and chat with you. But what does it look like to work with a homeopath both for acute and chronic, just kind of a high level overview. Beth: Okay, so yes, I have a completely virtual clinic and I love it because people can connect with me from the comfort of their own home when it's convenient for them and not have to drive somewhere and all of that. So we do everything over Zoom, even care for kiddos and babies like everybody. What it looks like, so if someone is seeking care for something chronic, which we'll talk about next, but something complex, chronic, ongoing. The initial intake session is two hours plus. So we do a deep dive into everything that you're experiencing right now. What do your symptoms feel like? How is this affecting you? We look at family history, all of the things. So we do a quite a lengthy intake session because everything is important. And then I take about a week to do an analysis and then I ship out a remedy with instructions. It's just the remedy is taken once a day. It's so easy. We just work with one at a time most of the time. So it's not like bags of supplements, not at all. We're matching the whole person using one. And then about five weeks later, we have a follow-up. session, which is like 50 minutes. We do a full assessment. How are you doing? How can we keep your forward momentum going? Dosing adjustments and then generally speaking, depending on how long a condition has been around, you know, these things more take time to unwind. So follow ups every six to eight weeks. And we just follow, we follow your own life. force intelligence to show us what it needs and where we're headed. So that's kind of what that looks like. And then acute care I provide to anyone, whether you're established with me or not. I have an online intake form, like a symptom questionnaire. And then if we need to hop on the phone, we do that. We can sometimes do things over email. I'm available basically seven days a week. into the evenings, holidays for anybody who needs help. Like if you're at a 4th of July picnic, you know, and suddenly eat some potato salad that isn't agreeing with you or something, you can call me. I'll help you through that. But yeah, acute care is awesome for anything that comes up that you need help with. And if like, if you have a homeopathy remedy kit at home, you've tried a couple of remedies, you're not getting anywhere, I can help so that you can call me then too. Britney Suttner: Cool. That's so awesome. I love that. And your availability. Holy cow. Beth: Yeah. Britney Suttner: Awesome. Well, like I mentioned, this is episode one of four with Beth. So we're going to be just hitting pause on the conversation, but we're going to, hope that that for you listeners, this was a really good kind of high level overview as we head into the next episodes of understanding, what are we actually talking about when we're talking about remedies? Cause our next episode is going to be focusing on some, some constitutional care regarding hyperactivity. If you or your kiddo have a hard time focusing on things, even things like if you're feeling a lot of anger or anger is just something that boils within somebody within your family. If you feel like somebody in your family is wild and excitable all the time, if there's a lot of fear happening, some things that are kind of living within us, Beth is going to help us understand how homeopathy can help that for kids and adults. In our episode after that, we're going to be talking about focusing more so on the emotional first aid kit of things at home that can happen. This can be like sudden fright, injuries, sudden shock, meltdowns, disappointments, things like that. And then in our fourth episode, more so on that everyday living at home with kiddos in the physical realm. So jumping into colds, flus, first aid, So this is going to be a great series. Hang on to the edge of your seat because we're just getting started.