Why Holistic Medicine?

The holistic perspective views disease as an imbalance of the whole person – and symptoms as the manifestation of this imbalance. Treatment focuses on bringing you back into balance and to your best possible level of health.

Holistic medicine functions gently, in harmony with the body, and with no side effects. It takes you into account as a whole person: your physical, mental and emotional condition as well as your social and physical environment. Certain holistic approaches such as Homeopathy can powerfully stimulate your body’s own healing process to cure illness.

Commonly Asked Questions

  • What is Homeopathy?
  • What is Classical Homeopathy?
  • Why Homeopathy?
  • What does Homeopathy treat?
  • What are Homeopathic Medicines?
  • What Is a Homeopathic session like?
  • How do I know Homeopathy really works?
  • Are Homeopathic medicine’s safe?
  • What is the training of a Naturopathic doctor?
  • What is the training of a skilled Homeopathic practitioner?
  • What is the difference between Naturopathy and Homeopathy?
  • Can I be on other medicines?
  • What does homeopathic treatment cost compared to conventional or allopathic medicine?
  • How long will my treatment last?
  • Does insurance cover my appointments?

Telephone Interview With Dr. Goodman-Herrick

Can you explain to us exactly what homeopathy is?

Homeopathy is a highly systematic method of powerfully stimulating the body’s own healing process to cure illness. It seeks to cure the person so that the person is ultimately medicine free. Minute doses of mixed substances are prescribed specifically based on the totality of the person’s systems. Not just the disease condition, each person is looked at as a whole. How he responds to the environment mentally, emotionally, and physically. Each patient is regarded as an individual. For example, if we take 10 people with asthma or any other diagnosed conditions, each may receive a different remedy because each person is really quite different in how he responds.

One person is chilly, another is very warm. Some crave fats, some sweets, some both. These are all the minute details which help the homeopathic practitioner to prescribe the remedy best suited for the individual.

Tell me a little bit a bout yourself and how you got started in homeopathy.

Two years after graduating from college, I returned to do my pre-medical coursework in preparation for becoming a conventional physician. During the time, my health started to decline. I was exhausted. Possibly I would be diagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome. Unfortunately, conventional medicine seemed to offer no solution. In hopes of healing myself, I studied nutrition and made dietary changes. My health improved to some degree, but it was really a far distance from what I hoped for. At that time, I was living in Rochester, NY and was referred to a naturopathic doctor who worked in Toronto.

I traveled there and was very impressed with the doctor’s caring manner, as well as the thoroughness of the interview. At the end of the visit, the doctor prescribed a homeopathic remedy, which I started taking. Within a short time, much to my surprise, but in a short time my energy and overall sense of well-being improved a great deal. I’m pleased to say that, with homeopathic care, 35 years later, my health is better than it was then.

How do insurance companies treat homeopathic and your business specifically?

I wish I could give you an easy answer to that question, but as we well know the insurance issue in our country are just so complex. Each insurance company, each policy, is so different and provides such different coverage. The best thing to do is to check with your insurance company and to see if your policy covers the office visits of a licensed naturopathic doctor, an ND, and most do, but it’s really important to check. If they do, visits to my office for homeopathy and self services in general will be covered, since I’m a licensed naturopathic doctor.

If the insurance company says they don’t cover the services, you may want to become active to promote for these services. Insurance companies are starting to find out that naturopathic medicine, homeopathy, with its emphasis on preventative healthcare is actually cost-effective and will save them money. This is the big selling point for the insurance companies, and so we should use this as consumers, as well.

Do you think homeopathy makes a good career? Would you recommend young people going in to study it?

I would definitely recommend the practice of homeopathy as a career. I’ve been in practice for 35 years. It’s still a passion and a very satisfying career. One of the best routes is to become a licensed, naturopathic doctor. You get rigorous training in the naturopathic medical schools, in the basic medical sciences conventional diagnostics and therapeutics. The school’s also provide in-depth courses in nutrition and other natural holistic therapeutics, as well as homeopathy. If you’re interested in applying to a naturopathic college, it’s best to contact the colleges recognized by the accrediting association of naturopathic medical colleges. You can learn the admission requirements and go from there.

Tell me a little bit about the problems you can treat homeopathically.

I work as a family doctor. I treat a wide variety of conditions. I work with first aid situations, such as strains, sprains, and burns. I also see acute problems. Colds, flus, bronchitises, pneumonia, ear infections, urinary tract infections, vaginitis, urethritis, shingles. I see a lot of different kinds of problems in my practice but, in addition, I’m really known for work with people with chronic problems. People who are prone to the recurrent, acute problems that I just mentioned. People who want relief from a wide variety of conditions, such as asthma, PMS, menopausal symptoms. I spent at least an hour with each new patient taking a thorough history and then laboratory work is requested as needed.

I look at each person on an individual, holistic basis. I look at what’s going on in their lives mentally, emotionally, as well as physically. I work with patients to make nutritional changes and lifestyle changes as needed, but at a comfortable pace. Then I also prescribe homeopathic remedy based on their [inaudible 00:06:35] picture. My goal is to help patient obtain and maintain the highest possible level of health.