210 - Roddy Schrock - Old Medicine for a New World: Is It Time to Revisit Homeopathy?

I talk with board-certified homeopath Roddy Schrock about what homeopathy is and why it can appeal to people recovery from Long Covid, ME/CFS and other complex, hard-to-explain symptoms. We dig into symptoms as messages, the power of deep listening, and how homeopathy can sit alongside Western medicine as one piece of a bigger recovery puzzle. 

• Roddy’s path from chronic pain and insomnia to studying classical homeopathy 
• Homeopathy as an energetic intervention and why the full symptom picture matters 
• Dilution and succussion and what “gentle” treatment means in practice 
• Using how you feel as a primary marker of progress 
• Creating space to be heard as part of healing 
• Working alongside GPs and specialists rather than replacing them 
• A real-world case example with fatigue, migraines, cycle disruption and inflammation markers 
• Avoiding protocol-driven Facebook advice and choosing a trained practitioner 
• First steps including research and trusted sources like the Homeopathic Research Institute 

Links:

Homeopathy Research Institute: https://www.hri-research.org

Find Roddy's website at: ultradilute.com

And his substack at: https://ultradilute.substack.com

For more information about Long Covid Breathing courses & workshops, please check out LongCovidBreathing.com

(music credit - Brock Hewitt, Rule of Life)

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

Jackie Baxter 0:56

Hello and welcome to this episode of the Long COVID podcast. I'm delighted to be joined today by Roddy Schrock, who is here to talk about the slightly mysterious modality of homeopathy. So I was just saying before we hit record that I'm going to learn a lot today, I think. And I think what I would love to do is to get a bit of clarity on what this actually is and how it can potentially be helpful. So we'll get into all of that in a moment. Roddy, it's so nice to have you here. Thank you for giving up your time to come and chat to me.

Roddy Schrock 1:29

Thank you. I really appreciate you having me on. And I'm very happy to speak about homeopathy and hopefully um make it a little less mysterious. Um that's my goal today.

Roddy’s Health Story And Why

Jackie Baxter 1:40

Amazing. I feel like we're going on a little bit of a sort of magical adventure journey. So uh I love it. Uh before we kind of dive into that, can you say a little bit about yourself and kind of what you do and maybe what brought you to here?

Roddy Schrock 1:54

Yeah, absolutely. So I um am a board certified homeopath through the North American Homeopathy Examiners. And um, that's my my modality practice. Um, my background is in arts management and fundraising, uh, working in New York City for about 15, 20 years. Um and before that, I worked as an artist uh in a in a previous life myself. Um living in New York, acting as a fundraiser, um, and going through everything that that requires, um, it it took a toll on me after a while. And I think I had to be honest with myself that I was facing some health challenges that um doctors didn't understand, I didn't understand. I would have um symptoms of pretty severe pains that would sort of move around um within my body in different places, different times. Um I was facing pretty severe chronic insomnia that felt like it was related intuitively to some of the physical symptoms I was having, but all my tests were coming back uh normal. Um, everything seemed fine. Um, and I guess, you know, it was about eight or so years ago I started learning about homeopathy, and I was I was drawn to it because it treated the mind and the body as truly interdependent entities that that would influence one another and that could be uh used in conjunction to heal in a more holistic way. And you know, we use the word holistic in a lot of different ways and it gets tossed around a lot. But to me, it felt that it brought a kind of concrete theory and practice to how you could unite those worlds. Um, and I just I became very interested and just happened to uh listen to a podcast uh that had a homeopath uh and um heard him speak about it further and just wrote to him uh to to ask if he would see me as a client. Um and I began um uh I began seeing him as as my homeopath and over time started noticing that I was feeling better and that the uh some of the markers of symptoms that I was facing were were improving. Um the pain was better. And you know, I literally remember the first night I took the remedy, I slept fully for the first time in in a long time. And, you know, that it was a process, and I'm I'm I'm certainly not claiming it's some sort of miracle, but it's it it got the healing process started, and I think that's just continued to unfold in a very positive way. And um I became just kind of so fascinated by homeopathy that I was like, I've I've got to study this. Like, what what is this kind of you know thing that I I thought I understood, but maybe I didn't fully understand? And um I I ended up going to a great school in Philadelphia and um and uh now uh have my own practice um and find it to be um a very elegant form of medicine that um has so much potential, I think, in the world as more and more people face highly complex autoimmune challenges in particular, along with a whole host of other interconnected forms of um health challenges that that are just becoming more and more um, you know, just as as as you talk about on your podcast regularly, are just becoming more and more common. Um, and I think there's a role for homeopathy to play in conjunction with other holistic healing methodologies that that can uh address these as a uh mind-body issue rather than kind of a broken machine issue. And that's that's what attracts me to homeopathy.

What Homeopathy Actually Is

Jackie Baxter 5:49

Yeah, and as you're describing your kind of you know, experience with your own illness, I'm thinking, you know, everything you were saying is stuff that I either have experienced myself in terms of, you know, it just my body stopped working. I didn't know what it was. No one could tell me what was going on, no one could give me anything that was helpful, you know. And I'm I'm sure everyone listening is probably thinking, yep, I can relate to that too. And and that drew you into this world, which um, you know, down that particular rabbit hole, which really helped you. And I love what you said about it not being like a miracle cure, because I think that's what we have come to find. That's what I experienced, that what is what I hear from every person I know who's finding improvement in their their condition, people who have recovered. You know, it's not one thing. Yeah, there's one thing usually that sort of gets the ball rolling. You know, that first thing we find has a huge amount of power, doesn't it? But you know, for me it was breathing, for you it was homeopathy, for person X it was something else. Um, but you know, it's it kind of you know, we we find this kind of jigsaw puzzle of things, don't we? Yes, and um, and they work together in order to support the body. And you know, from what I'm hearing from you, is that homeopathy could be part of this puzzle um that could help to support the body, um, whether it's a smaller piece or a larger piece. And that's I suppose going to be different for every person. Um what I would love for you to do would be to kind of explain what homeopathy is.

Roddy Schrock 7:34

Yeah, that that question usually comes up pretty early on in in conversations. Um, and um, and I'm always glad when people ask rather than um maybe uh telling me what they have assumed it is um in some cases, because I I think, and I don't mean that to be, you know, whatever, but I I think some people hear homeopathy and they might think of herbalism or they might think of um other forms of of holistic healing. And and um, but in actuality, homeopathy is um, as one of my uh favorite teachers says, um, homeopathy is a thing and it's its own thing, you know, and it's it's been around for about 250 years. Um, and it was a form of medicine that uh it I think of it as an energetic intervention, and I think there are a lot of different ways to talk about it, but I think that that is a good way to get into homeopathy. Um, and it was started by a uh medical doctor in Germany um who was very active in the early uh 19th century. Um, and the idea is that um if we can identify an element in nature that corresponds to the particular and highly unique symptom picture that we are facing, that element in nature can introduce energy into the body that will help our energetic flow return to a normal state. And and I think when we think about it in those terms, we might see overlaps even with traditional Chinese medicine or acupuncture or jigong or other forms of breathing practice. Um and so I think that's a good way to start to think about homeopathy. Um, but I think what makes it somewhat unique is that uh the the role of the homeopath is to to first of all listen very, very deeply uh to what the symptoms are telling and what the story is that that's being presented. So we don't see symptoms as um the thing that have to be stopped above all costs. We see them as a way of the vital energy of the body uh communicating. And then once we can get that full picture, uh we have uh a repertory of of medicine or remedies, we call them, even though it sounds a little antiquated. Uh, but that we we have the repertory of of remedies um and we try to match that remedy that most closely fits the symptom picture presented by the client. Um and then if we can get close to that, the energy of that remedy will start to nudge the body into a healing process. So it's very gentle. Um, and it was conceived to be uh a very gentle form of medicine. That was one of the goals was that it would be gentle, swift, and effective. Those are kind of the three elements that that um Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, uh set forth as his goal. And um and that's that's the idea behind it. There's a lot more to dig into there, but the I that is the general idea is is that we want to introduce an element from nature uh that has an energetic uh relationship to the symptom picture that the client is presenting. Um, and that's done through provings of different uh remedies. We on we can actually track how a remedy affects a healthy person, and we use that to inform our repertories, and then we match that to the symptom picture of of the client.

Jackie Baxter 11:13

Yeah, and I I like what you're saying about it being gentle. And I imagine that maybe using natural stuff, for want of a better word, is is something that helps that to be more gentle. Because if we're introducing kind of you know, foreign, un more unnatural stuff, then it's harder for the body to break down, I think, isn't it? Whereas the more natural and the more completely natural, I think, from what you're saying, um, that's going to be much easier for the body to deal with. And therefore, you know, in terms of our nervous system, it's going to help the body to do it better, for want of a better word.

Dilution Energy And Research Questions

Roddy Schrock 11:53

Yeah, yeah. And in fact, with homeopathic remedies, the um they're so highly diluted uh that they're the idea is that they're actually activated through a succussion and dilution process in their preparation. Um, so that it's primarily the um energy of the remedy that is is the actual thing that you take uh through typically through water or a dry pill. Um and so there's very little in terms of like chemical interference in the body at that point. Um, and there's a lot of research that's been done about how remedies have that effect. There are people you know that are doing fantastic research right now. I was just at a conference in Connecticut uh late last year uh with people doing research on agricultural homeopathy and where remedies would be introduced and plants would grow better. Um, we see that you know with veterinary homeopathy as well. I think particularly in the UK, um there are a number of cattle farmers that use homeopathic remedies that uh help their their livestock uh retain health. And there's a lot of research in some of these other areas that are trying to explore how that that actually you know works. Um and at the same time, we can see that um it does work. And I think that's that's what keeps that's what excites me is that we we can see the results of it uh very clearly when people begin taking a good remedy. And that's what I keep coming back to. And I think in many ways, that's that's the element that just propels my interest and and passion for homeopathy, is because we can clearly see how a symptom begins to resolve uh when taking a remedy, or how people regain energy, or just just feel better, um, which is something that uh I think is very important to consider in the healing process is just literally how do you feel on the inside? Are you feeling better? And we all have unique definitions of health. Um and I think as long as we're looking at that and using that as a guide to healing, um, that can be a great way to move forward as well. And I feel like homeopathy holds all of those potentials.

Jackie Baxter 14:54

Yeah. And I think, I mean, I I find this in the work that I do is, you know, the most important marker of whether something is working is do you feel better? You can't always say exactly what it is that's make you feel better. Sometimes you just, as you kind of described, just feel slightly better in yourself. And you can't say, well, my breathing is slightly better, my heart rate's slightly better, my headache is gone. You know, there's there's not so much a metric. Sometimes there is, often there is, but sometimes it's it's not. And I think that has to be the most important thing. You know, how do you feel? Do you feel slightly better? Okay, great. You know, that's an amazing sign. Um, and and I think you know, we often do chase those metrics, don't we? But actually they're not the most important thing here.

Symptoms As Messages And Deep Listening

Roddy Schrock 15:42

I think that's so crucial to remember, and I really appreciate the way that you're talking about it because I think that we for some people health just means forgetting. And I kind of like that definition sometimes, but everyone has a different definition. But some I think for many people, health can just mean forgetting about your symptoms or forgetting that you that you were feeling bad or that you had this bad feeling, and kind of the ability to just sort of move beyond that and get to a point where that isn't the thing that's like dragging you down or distracting you, or um, or that's keeping you from doing what you want to do. And that knowing that you're feeling better day by day or week by week or month by month, um, that to me is is so crucial in a in a long-term healing process. And it's just it's it's something that I feel like um a lot of allopathic medicine doesn't take into consideration in the way that that it deserves.

Jackie Baxter 16:43

You know, you were talking about the um, I can't remember the exact word you used, but you know, though seeing symptoms as messages rather than problems to be fixed, I think is is something that I talk about a lot as well. You know, what what is my body trying to tell me and what I get from what you're saying, and you can correct me if I've completely got the wrong end of the stick here. Um, but I kind of see what you're talking about as giving the body what it needs, supporting the body in its own healing rather than trying to fix things.

Roddy Schrock 17:19

Yes, that's right. And and I think that's what I keep coming back to as well, is our bodies know typically our bodies know what they need to do to get better. Um, and they are able to heal themselves. And I think if we can just help that process um and empower immune regulation to come back into a normal relationship to the body, or if we can empower our mental state to improve over time through a holistic approach, like these are all components of a larger system that can work together and symbiotically increase your health. And I think that that is so crucial. Um, and it and also just works. You know, it's it sounds great, but it but it actually is the what I've come to see as the most realistic positive path to actual healing is taking that kind of approach. Um and um so I think that we all have that potential and just kind of reminding ourselves of of that potential as unique um individuals is is already um a start to the process. And I've heard some of your previous guests talk a little bit of the about the importance of the act of listening to another person describe their state of health as a component of healing. And that's something that homeopathy also takes very seriously is ensuring that we are giving space for the client, the patient, to like truly describe what's happening in their body. And and what I've seen happen is that that can often kickstart the healing process for them is just actually having that space of just being able to describe like what's happening, you know, over the course of in in my practice of two hours to just talk about how did this start? What was happening in your life at that time, what were you feeling, what were you thinking, what what has changed, where did this come from for you? You know, these are things that most people don't have an opportunity to talk about in our society. And I think just actually creating a space of empathy and um, you know, homeopathy means shared suffering. I think the importance of of sharing that suffering of the person that you're working with, uh that alone can be hugely beneficial in even just the client connecting the dots for themselves and beginning to think a little bit differently or from a slightly different angle about their own health. Um so I um these are things that that that don't get enough attention in in Western medicine, in my opinion. But I think that in essence they speak to the way that humans have healed themselves um in times past. And in many ways, we can learn from that and and use that as a contemporary mode um for the present and I hopefully as we go into the future uh as a very meaningful way of healing ourselves because that's really the goal. Um, I hope. Should be the goal of medicine anyway.

Homeopathy Alongside Western Medicine

Jackie Baxter 20:36

Um yeah, yeah, it I absolutely. And I think you know that that value in being heard, I think is it's it's one of the most important things. And as you just said, you know, actually can, you know, sitting down, being heard and being accepted is medicine in itself. You know, it's it's that feeling of being safe in the presence of that person that you're sitting with. And, you know, I mean, I'm not here to label blame onto you know doctors and and people because you know they're working your voices off in an impossible situation. But you know, you go to see your GP and you have 10 minutes max, you know, and if you're someone with long COVID, for example, you know, you go in with a list of 25 different things you want to discuss, and even the best doctor in the world is is not got time to do that whole thing. And again, that's not their fault, but you know, you go into your doctor, and even if you even if they are a really great doctor who does have empathy, and there are many of them out there, you know, and and maybe you do feel listened to on some degree, but you still aren't going to have that kind of feeling of this person is really truly listening to everything I have to say because they just don't have the time. And um, I think the sad thing is that you know there are people out there that are able to do that, but you know, the financial thing is often the barrier there because it's not available widely, you know, without people having to pay themselves. And you know, that that is that is the world we live in, isn't it? And it's it's terrible that people can't experience what they need.

Roddy Schrock 22:21

I completely agree, and and you know, and I just want to say too that I I absolutely share your feelings about the um the value of Western medicine and the importance of ensuring that people are um engaging with medicine in as we know it is allopathic medicine. I and I'm I think that in a in the ideal world, um modalities like homeopathy can work in conjunction with that, and that there can be a complementary relationship. And um, you know, that's sort of my dream is uh to to see these worlds kind of reunite uh so that um there can be more overlap and and mutual support. Um, because I think that you know all every form of medicine that we have available to us is is valuable and we should we should utilize it. Um so I I hear you. And it it is unfortunate that the the kind of the structures, I think especially around um financing medical care, uh they're they're they're not set up to support the kind of deep listening that that we're talking about. But but you know, maybe that'll change. Nothing's written in stone. And there are a lot of green shoots, I think. Um, and I mentioned this conference that I went to in November that was. At Yukon Health, which is a major medical school here in New England, was dedicated fully to homeopathic research. And there were many general practitioners and scientists who were presenting and in the audience and curious and in conversation. So, you know, I I think things can get better. I think things can change. And that would be the ideal world, as far as I can see it, would be for these worlds of breath work, uh complementary medicine, uh, traditional medicine, and contemporary Western medicine to to really come together and and to uh be mutually supportive. And um and we you know maybe we'll get there.

A Complex Case And What Changed

Jackie Baxter 24:44

Yeah, I love that. You know, it's it's not it's not that it's one way. It's like it's it's that it's that puzzle piece again to use that analogy, isn't it? You know, it no no person is going to find one thing that is the one, the one thing, the one true thing that helps them. You know, that there's it's that it's that kind of you know toolbox of all sorts of different things. And you know, it doesn't have to be just one world or the other. You know, I I I love this idea of everything coming together in this, well, truly holistic way, I guess to use that word again. You know, that that's that's literally what that means, isn't it? Um, you know, and and I think um, yeah, I I would love for for that to be more of a thing, uh, whether it's breath work and nervous system work, whether it's homeopathy, whether it's acupuncture and you know Chinese medicine and uh and of course Western medicine as well. You know, I think it is you know, that there is there is a world where that could all exist together. And actually it would be a much better system, I think, if that did actually happen. Um who knows, who knows?

Speaker 1 25:53

Yeah.

Jackie Baxter 25:53

Um I would I would love to hear a little bit more about um how you would approach someone with lung COVID, with CFS, with sort of unexplained, um, I'm putting that in hefty quotation marks, um, kind of um complex or you know, unexplained symptoms. Um and you know, what what would you kind of look at with somebody like that? And what would your approach be?

Roddy Schrock 26:22

Yeah, yeah, that's a good that's a good question. So I I um I'm working with a a client right now who it's it's not long COVID per se, but it it's an interesting kind of um she has a complex set of interrelated issues um from Berger syndrome to uh POS, which um has strong autoimmune links, um uh and a number of other um inflammation issues and um and and lab tests that come back uh showing um kidney inflammation in particular. Um and you know, she's seen doctors, um she's she's working with a doctor, which is is good, of course. And um, but she hasn't been seeing a lot of progress in terms of some of the symptoms she's facing, like fatigue in particular, um, and and and really extraordinary um migraine headaches. And um so uh so working with her, I think is a um maybe I can just kind of tell that story a little bit because I think it gives a sense of of how a homeopath would would approach uh these kind of interrelated um issues. So um, so you know, uh I I took her case, uh, I think I started working with her last year, and um this kind of goes back to uh how in homeopathy we ground our work in in the physical symptoms, but we also want to take into consideration the mental and emotional history of the client as well. And um, so in her case, um she came from a background of uh growing up on a Pacific Island, um, and then moving to the Midwest when she was young. Um her family, there's a lot of bipolar disorder and and other issues with with her family that she was really struggling with. Um when she was younger, always sort of scanning for threats, scanning for dangers. Um she um her cycles didn't begin until she was 17. And then she's had a lifetime of um irregular periods, and um that has uh kind of come and gone over throughout her life. Now she's in her mid-30s. Um, but uh in the last few years, some of the the really more kind of uh presenting symptoms, uh like the extreme migraines and and just the kind of ongoing fatigue kind of coupled with uh sort of extreme irritability. And when she when her cycle uh does happen, she has um physical symptoms that come with that as well. That's just been kind of getting worse over time. In her case, um, and listening to her story, I tried to take into consideration both these specific unique mental uh issues that that she has struggled with and is struggling with, alongside um the very specific uh physical symptoms that she's facing. And um in choosing a remedy and working with her. And then we have follow-ups where we check in and just see how things are changing. If, you know, is there no change? Are things getting better? Are they getting worse? You know, look, how do we adjust potency, dosage, that kind of thing? Um, so the the remedy that they I ended up recommending to her uh seemed as though it encapsulated that that what we would call her symptom picture in the most full way. And um since she's been taking that remedy um every other day, uh once a day, um her migraines have majorly decreased in their frequency and their intensity. Um, she's now had a regular cycle for about three months in a row, which is the longest she's had, you know, for some time. And she's seeing that she is starting to feel more energy. Um, and um, and we're just waiting now to um get the lab tests done to see if we can actually see markers and some of the protein levels and so forth, um, and how she's you know doing in that way. Uh, but you know, I think that's a case where it's a it's a good case to kind of think about how these interrelated issues um from a homeopathic perspective uh can make a lot of sense um in a in in a very unique way. And I think that's where homeopathy kind of shines is that it it always is taking these uh specific symptoms and thinking about how they fit into the whole picture. And and I think especially with autoimmune issues, that that's actually really helpful, like to be able to come to it with that sort of theory behind it. Um, and in her case, we're now starting to see that you know she's she's seeing improvement and we're still working together and we'll continue to work together. But, you know, a little bit like we were saying before, if we can just get that trend moving in the right direction, and if we can just start getting things to improve over a longer period of time, then that to me is gold. Like that's really that's what I want to see. Um, and and if and because I know once that starts to get traction and it starts those roots starting to get start to get healthier, uh, then it's just gonna keep going. And then, you know, down the road, there might be uh a slightly you know different set of symptoms that we would then look at to um to refine and maybe move to a different remedy or something along those lines. But if we can get through this kind of deeper layer of initial, you know, challenge that she's facing and just get things moving, um, that uh is is uh that that to me is is the start of a successful case. And um that's that's how we would approach it as homeopaths, is that we wouldn't say it's only this thing or that thing. We would say what's what's the bigger picture here, what's the history, and identify that remedy based on that. And then um uh hopefully that will get things moving. Um, and uh and then we track it and and go from there.

Jackie Baxter 32:35

So you're able to look quite specifically at what's going on, you know, the you said the history, you know, physical symptoms, patterns, all that sort of stuff that's showing up for this person, but then you're able to kind of take that step back and look at the bigger picture, having understood the more sort of detailed work. And that is then what helps to guide you in what direction you're gonna go and what's gonna help that person.

Roddy Schrock 33:03

Yes, yes, that's right. And that's that's the important part of homeopathy, I think, that really differentiates it. And that's also why I think it's important for listeners to, if they if they would ever consider homeopathy, to make sure that they are looking at a practitioner who has studied that form of you know what we would call classical homeopathy, um, because that's that's that that's homeopathy is is um is that practice of of as you said, like looking at this very specific symptoms and what makes them better or worse, and then but then pulling back and giving um uh looking at the full picture of how these things uh tell you what they are uh as as a collection and what emerges from that rather than just one small symptom or one issue. Um, but yeah, yeah, that's that's uh yeah. So I I think we finally got to the definition of homeopathy there.

Jackie Baxter 34:03

So we're only like I don't know, about 30 minutes in.

unknown 34:07

Yeah.

Jackie Baxter 34:09

But I you know, I I think it it's um it's nice to kind of unravel it because I think it sounds to me like homeopathy is a lot of things. It or it can certainly be a lot of things, which is both really awesome and exciting, but also then quite difficult to define, which I think is possibly what can lead to misconceptions or misunderstandings or just not really knowing what it is.

Roddy Schrock 34:38

Yeah, you're totally right. And I think also because it's so counterintuitive to the way that we think about medicine in in the you know the 21st century and 2026. I think, I think because it it's um, yeah, it's just not it's just a different way of of considering um you know how to approach healing. Um you know, in the 19th century, it was the most popular form of medicine in the United States. Um, it was seen as the new medicine for the new world at that time. Um, so it has it, you know, it has that history, you know, to this day, hundreds of millions of people use it, you know, all over the world. Um, it's included in healthcare systems from Brazil to Switzerland. Um, so it it's uh it's it's still a very active form of medicine, but I think it, you know, I think because it is um, it does present a different model. It it's and it it you know, it it's a challenge to uh kind of material reductionist models of medicine when we start thinking about how the body functions in in a homeopathic or in many you know traditional or complementary or integrative forms of medicine, uh it it some in some ways is seen as um you know, unfortunately, as a challenge to conventional models. But I don't think it has to be, though. I think we kind of going back to what you were saying before, I think there are ways that you can you can bring these worlds together and and see them as all fully valid. Um and and I I think at the end of the day, when it's seen to show safe results, um, that's really the measure that any form of medicine should be going for. So yeah.

Common Mistakes And Protocol Pitfalls

Jackie Baxter 36:14

And I was almost just thinking as you were speaking there, that you know, medicine has obviously moved on a lot since the 19th century. Um, and that is absolutely a good thing. You know, there are some absolutely amazing things that medicine can do. But I'm almost thinking, is it that medicine has moved on so much that it's forgotten what came before? And that shouldn't happen. It should, it should build on what came before and include what came before rather than wiping it out.

Roddy Schrock 36:45

I I hear you, I know, and I I feel the same way. I mean, I feel I feel like there's there's a world in which obviously we always want to be making progress, and I think there's everything in every field we should think about what that means. Um, but I I hear you. I do think, you know, there's there's a world in which conventional medicine can incorporate those elements of of things from the past that um you know have shown benefit. Um and um uh so you know, and again, I do I feel like there are green shoots that that could happen. Um but uh uh yeah, I think um I think it's a big world and there's a lot of room for a lot of different approaches, I guess is how I would sort of sum it up at the end of the day. Um yeah.

Jackie Baxter 37:35

Yeah, for sure. So what are the kind of common mistakes that you see people making with this? And um how would people do their best to avoid some of those common mistakes?

Roddy Schrock 37:48

Well, I mean, I think a little bit of what I was saying before is just you know, making sure that you're working with a with a trained homeopath, um, I think is is and you know, really important in ensuring that they're they're meeting um field standards of of some form, you know, whether it's different kinds of certification and so forth. I think that's always a good starting point. Um, and I I I will say I'm I don't spend a whole lot of time on Facebook, but I keep hearing that um there are all these sort of you know homeopathy groups that kind of emerge out of nowhere that um are focused on, you know, uh essentially like protocol approaches to homeopathy where you know you have this symptom, then you should take these three you know remedies and you should take them a lot in some cases. And um, and I think that's actually that that that can be really challenging as a homeopath because um, well, first of all, that's not really homeopathy. Um, but at the same time, it's uh uh it's it's you know, it's introducing changes in the body that can actually be can can make it very complex to kind of figure out you know what is going on from a homeopathic perspective. So I would just encourage people to, you know, do a little research, um, make sure that they are you know understanding uh what homeopathy is and um and and approaching it as a you know as a form of um medicine um that um needs to be you know understood and and and engaged with in a professional manner. I think that's that's what I would would suggest. Um and um yeah, and and also um, you know, I think it's important to kind of reiterate that there's no unicorn remedy, that there's no that there's there's um working with a homeopath is something that that one does over time and that um healing takes time, as we you know, as we've been talking about, and and just ensuring that um you kind of don't go into it with the idea that, oh, I'm just gonna take this remedy and then suddenly everything is just gonna be okay because that's that's often not the case either. You know, if that happens, you know, amazing. But but um but healing is is a process, and I think we're all um, you know, we're we all have our unique ways of of healing, and usually that time is involved in that as well. So those are a few things that that sort of come to mind.

Jackie Baxter 40:15

Yeah. And like, you know, there isn't really anything that's an instant magic cure, is there? Um, you know, you you might have something that makes an impact quite quickly, but it's unlikely to be the sort of magic cure kind of kind of thing in in any modality or or treatment. Um and uh yeah, I I hear what you're saying about the kind of protocols. I mean, I think one of the things that is both frustrating but also beautiful about conditions like long COVID, MECFS, any kind of you know, health challenge in this sort of space is that you know, part of the problem is that protocols don't work because everyone is individual and different, and and even two people who on the surface of it look quite similar, you know, there's still going to be a lot of nuance in there. And certainly in the work that I do, I think that's you know, that's the beauty of it. Um, is that you know, you do look at that one person as an individual. And, you know, coming back to what we were saying earlier about the importance of being heard, that I think is what can help that person to really feel heard. You know, what what is going on for you as a person? Talk to me kind of thing. Um, but it does make it harder to give recommendations or you know, to share things, you know, in the community. Oh, I tried this thing and it helped. Well, okay, great, but um, you know, it's it's it's those nuances that I guess can make the difference between it working and not working. Certainly that's what I find. And it sounds like possibly a similar story for you.

How To Start And Trusted Sources

Roddy Schrock 41:54

A hundred percent. I completely agree. And I I appreciate the fact that you use the word beauty, you know, when you're talking about that, because I think as hard as symptoms can be at any given time, you know, I I just um I'd still just come back to this idea that they are they're they're messages and they're we're meant to learn something, dare I say. We're meant to grow and heal and however that might be for us as an individual. And that's gonna be, as you said, that's gonna be very different for each of us. Um, and that um, you know, in the ideal scenario, there can be a deep like healing can be a deep process that that has um an an elegance or a beauty to it. Um, and um, and I by no means mean to romanticize anything, but I just, you know, um I there there is an element of that that I think is is at least sometimes important to to consider or to to to think about as as one enters the healing process.

Jackie Baxter 43:01

So yeah, yeah, and that idea, I suppose, of it being a journey. Um, you know, I I like that because it, you know, when I was unwell, you know, you get that feeling of I'm stuck, I'm hopeless, I'm helpless, am I ever going to get better? Um, you know, and I think everybody in that space has felt that kind of feeling of, you know, utter despair, um, you know, for for some of the time they've been unwell, if not for significant periods. And for me, there was something about the word journey that made me think a journey's in motion, a journey is going somewhere, even if you get really stuck in traffic or your car breaks down halfway there. But you know, you you are still on your journey, even if things feel like they've kind of stalled. So I I love that. Um so I suppose finally, if someone has, you know, heard our conversation and thought, okay, I'm interested in homeopathy being a part of my journey or part of my puzzle, what would be your advice to kind of get someone started? Would it be to get in touch with um with a homeopath or is there research that they could start doing on their own? What what would be those first kind of steps?

Roddy Schrock 44:15

Yeah, I mean, I I think research is always a good, a good start. Um, you know, and and um, but I, you know, I would I would also encourage people to take advantage of um uh kind of free discovery calls that that many homeopaths, you know, offer, you know, myself included, that allow a chance to just see if if you know the the practitioner would be the right um fit for for you know what you're facing. And um, and I also think it's you know interesting for people to just um uh to find if if they have an openness to to homeopathy and to you know to ask themselves that question. And um because I think that can be um a good start is to just kind of you know ask yourself how you feel about um you know energetic interventions, or is that something that that feels like a good fit for you know where you're at in your life and and in your journey? Um because for you know, for some people it's not, and um that's fine, of course. Um, but for for some people they may be at a point where that is something that would feel at least um uh it could provide um some new insights or some new new ways of of growing. So um, so yeah, I would say just you know, kind of asking yourself if it feels like something that is a good fit, and then also sort of you know asking the internet uh to tell you more about homeopathy. Um I you know, there there are some good sources of information. The uh uh the homeopathic research institute um in England is a great resource for peer reviewed uh research into homeopathy, and um it is uh kind of a gold mine of of scientifically validated research. into homeopathy. I I find that to be a great place to refer people to just to get some facts if they're kind of motivated to get the, you know, to get that kind of information about homeopathy. Um so um yeah um and uh uh yeah just look out for those those those face Facebook groups that I keep hearing about um that's uh that would be the other the other advice I suppose but um but yeah that's that's that's where I would where I would recommend people to start thinking about it.

Jackie Baxter 46:34

Yeah so get your information from the right sources rather than getting sucked into the wrong rabbit hole. Yeah yeah yeah well put yeah yeah awesome well thank you so much I feel like I've learned a load today um and I'm really curious myself actually I'm gonna go and check out that website that you mentioned at the end and I will drop that in the show notes as well if anyone else wants to go and check that out. And of course if anyone wants to get in touch with you then I'll make sure that your details go in the show notes as well.

Speaker 1 47:01

Thank you.

Jackie Baxter 47:02

So yeah thank you so much. Thank you for kind of demystifying the whole homeopathy world a little bit. I hope I did I tried I think you've also given me a whole load more questions which I think is a good thing. So um so that's awesome. So yeah thank you so much. It's been amazing.

Roddy Schrock 47:21

I really appreciate you having me on the show for being open to homeopathy yourself and uh for for allowing us to have this conversation. I really enjoyed it. So thank you.

Jackie Baxter 47:30

It's been fun thank you.