Page 12 - Autumn 24

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1 Many of us will have multiple cases where the wrong prescription was given, yet subsequent prescriptions have clearly been successful in treating the patient to a deep level, resulting in a cure which would have been totally beyond the potential capability of conventional medicine alone.
2 Everyone starts off as an inexperienced practitioner. Are we all meant to withhold practicing until we have reached the level of expertise which George Vithoulkas feels can only be achieved following advanced Classical Homeopathic training by teachers he considers to be suitably qualified?
3 Homeopathy does, indeed, face an existential threat. This threat is mainly due to the continual negative bombardment from the conventional medical community, who are fed sponsored mis- and partial-truths by big pharmaceutical companies with differing priorities. This results in a major shortage of new students; we all know the not inconsiderable time and financial commitment it takes to study homeopathy if we are to reach a level of reasonable competence, a commitment which is hard enough even were the potential students not working full-time in busy practices, and reliant on funding by unsympathetic bosses - or practice owners in today’s changed, business- oriented, veterinary world.
4 If a potential new student, with a curiosity for homeopathy, were to hear the views of George Vithoulkas before making a decision, would he/she be more or less likely to embark on the long and
VetMFHom, this put the proverbial fear of God into me. My passion was getting my patients better, a passion which initially was the catalyst for my learning acupuncture some years previously, so I could try to help the ever-increasing numbers of ageing patients with poor mobility and pain, without simultaneously wrecking their stomachs with PLT or their livers with phenylbutazone - yes, I am that old, and that is all that was around in those days! His rant against other teachers, and his dire warnings of the consequences of our lack of knowledge in poor prescribing, created an atmosphere of distrust within me, both in the teachers and schools he was derogating, and in my own prescribing ability, making me question whether my lack of knowledge and experience could actually result in more harm being done to my patients than good.
The trip, then, was one of polar extremes; positively fired with enthusiasm by the unique experience of our group discussions, and the sharing of our limitless enthusiasm and boundless imagination, yet also negatively impacted by the ominous portents of doom should we, in our state of inferior ignorance, give the wrong remedy, thus condemning a patient to a lifetime of avoidable suffering, as suggested by George Vithoulkas. My confidence was so impacted that I pretty much decided at that time not to take the VetMFHom. I will be forever grateful to my dear friend Sue Armstrong, who was one of the group who shared these special days, and who single-handedly persuaded me to not only take the exam, but to do so that autumn. I (reluctantly and with considerable trepidation) did so, passed (to become one of only 13 VetMFHoms in the UK at that time), and the rest is history. It would be remiss of me not to also acknowledge the huge part played by Pete Gregory in this achievement; with his role in the Alonissos experience, with his teaching and guidance on
...what George Vithoulkas said today could be dangerous. He claims that the future of homeopathy is being threatened by poor education, and the giving of a wrong medicine.
the two courses I had done, and his reassurance leading up to the exam. He even phoned me the evening before the exam to wish me luck, and gave me the best advice he could have given at that time – “stop bloody working and get down the pub!”.
In 1997, George Vithoulkas nearly stopped me from taking my studies further. Now, I make no claims to be a great homeopath, and many of my contemporaries have left me far behind as they make enormous contributions to the advancement of our homeopathic understanding, but I can say that I successfully integrated homeopathy into my busy small animal practice, often against considerable opposition, also seeing referrals and second opinions from a wide area, and I was able to help many hundreds of patients on the way. None of these would have benefited had I allowed the bringer of gloom to shape my future, rather than those spreading a more vibrant energy.
I believe that what George Vithoulkas said today could be dangerous. He claims that the future of homeopathy is being threatened by poor education, and the giving of a wrong medicine. Let us look at the arguments against this viewpoint, and why I felt the need to write this response:
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