The Homeopath

Whether we venture to a new part of our province or embark on a trip to a distant corner of the world, traveling offers a gamut of new experiences and learning most of us are eager to enjoy.  One part of travel preparation that is often overlooked, however, is how to stay healthy during your trip.  Nothing is less enjoyable than getting sick when far away from home and good travel preparation includes addressing this concern.  Whether you are heading to the beach in Tofino, are on a driving holiday to the Rockies or off to more exotic destinations, homeopathy can be a source of support both before and during your travels.

When Anna Sienicka was growing up in Poland, she developed acne on her face which persisted through her teen years and as she entered her twenties, spread to her back.  The lesions became painful, interconnected, and began to leave scars.  She was medically diagnosed with Acne Conglobata, the most severe form of acne vulgaris.  Anna’s face and back were covered with blackheads and painful, huge boil-like pimples which wouldn’t heal for a long time, causing her both physical pain and great emotional hardship due to such disfiguration.

Early in the process of trying to heal the acne, she changed her diet and began a round of dermatologist-prescribed treatments, none of which helped.  When she moved to Canada in her early twenties, the condition worsened and she tried various alternative therapies, herbs, oils and creams.  Although some may have temporarily created an improvement, the condition continued to relapse.  Eventually her doctor gave her a number of different topical prescription creams to try but with each one, the only effects were to dry out her skin and then the condition became even worse. 

During the four years of homeopathic training, I consulted with a gifted and compassionate homeopath to try and find a curative remedy for the episodes of trigeminal pain that continued to tear through my face.  I was the kind of patient that would discourage most practitioners – one after another, no remedy touched the pain.  Other things improved, I’d feel better emotionally, my homeopathic education was enhanced and I learned a great deal, but despite a number of well thought out homeopathic prescriptions, I would still be forced to resort to pharmaceuticals in ever higher doses for months on end.  At times I wondered if my TGN was incurable – even homeopathy cannot cure everything, although a good remedy should still bring some kind of improvement in the person’s well-being.

I was 31; married to a devoted husband, mother to an adorable toddler, we had recently moved from New York City where I had spent 7 years training as an opera singer, to my husband's home town of Vancouver.  We were building a house in West Vancouver and living with my in-laws during the construction.  Outwardly everything had the appearance of a charmed life when I began to experience episodes of excruciating pains shooting through the right side of my face.  This was the beginning of a 16 year ordeal of despair, discovery and healing from a torturous condition called Trigeminal Neuralgia.