Hi! I was told by my homeopath not to drink coffe or to eat mint or to have "energy work" done while on the remedy she prescribed, bc they can interfere. I was also told by a friend that in Europe the homeopaths do not tell people these things, but only warn about camphor and tea tree oil and a few other things. What is correct? Can I do energy work or have coffee or mint? Is it true that there is a difference in Europe? If not, why? Also, are these things proscribed just for the six weeks while the remedy is beginning its' work, or is it for the 9 months or a year that it could be working? Thanks for your time. Winema

This is a very controversial question among homeopaths. Some ban too many things, some nothing. Some of the things that are not allowed with homeopathic treatment do have logic behind them, but can't say that for everything. The basic idea behind this is that one should not take anything of medicinal nature (even probable) while on homeopathic medicines because they can interfere with the action of homeopathic medicine. The books say a lot about coffee and camphor. In some cases they are right because coffee and camphor can antidote 'SOME' homeopathic medicines. But I donot consider issuing a general ban as the right thing to do.

Moreover, Homeopathy medicines act on a dynamic plane. So in my view (and experience too) they are usually not affected by physical substances and articles of diet in general. I have seen patients being given homeopathy medicine 'IN' coffee and the patient getting better. In India the normal diet contains so many condiments, spices and other herbs with medicinal properties that ideally homeopathic medicines should not act at all on indians - But they do. So there is a divide among homeopaths on this - some follow what's written in the books and some do not. And the difference is not just in homeopaths in urope, US and India - but every homeopaths has his own version of this ideology, even in the same country.

lastly, Since the substance to be avoided sometimes depends on the medicine being administered, u may have to chk it out with ur homeopath as to what medicine is being given and what r the generally known antidotes for it - which u can avoid. And whatever u avoid, u should avoid till u r under treatment, not just till ur last dose of medicine.

I hope this helps,
Dr. B