What to expect before and after treatment

• Appointment
• The first consultation
• Follow up consultations
• Acute complaints
• Other important information

Appointment

I prefer to work by appointments. Of course it is possible for acute complaints to see me on short notice but for chronic complaints you need to make an appointment by calling the practice. By calling the practice you also have the chance to ask further questions and I have the opportunity to find out about your complaints and determine if homeopathy is the correct option for you or if you have to go to another therapist. On the contact page all relevant information for contacting me is provided. After the appointment is made you will receive a confirmation per post. This confirmation also contains the most important information regarding treatment and the way things work at the practice.

The first consultation

The first consultation is different from the other consultations. It is a first acquaintance between me and you and your complaints. During the first consultation it is important to get a good idea about the complaints and issues at hand. Not only the medical but also the personal aspects are important. We will discus the chief complaint, its origin, factors that aggravate or alleviate it, etc. But also other complaints, important aspects of circumstances, typical features, etc. will be discussed. Besides the objective complaints, I value how you experience your complaints. You will probably understand that this is not done in 30minutes, the first consultation takes about 60-90 minutes on average.

It is a good idea to consider your medical history in general and history of present illnesses, as well as the health of parents and important events during your life. These can all be of influence in the prognosis.

After the consultation I will give or send you the homeopathic remedy. You will also receive instructions on how to take the remedy. I may also advise you to seek other medical advice if I think this is necessary. We will also make an appointment for the follow up consultation. Payment after the consultation in cash is greatly appreciated because this will save me a lot of effort.

There is a possibility for students to do internship at my practice. This is however clearly separated from the patients that seek treatment within my practice. Students who do internship at the practice bring along their own patients.

Follow up consultations

The follow up consultation is necessary to see if the treatment needs adjustment. Perhaps a higher potency (“stronger remedy”) of the remedy is necessary, another remedy is needed or we have to wait a while. The effect of the remedy will be discussed and according to this I can decide what we do next. So it is very important to be aware of changes in you complaints, changes of your general state and changes of the mind. It is not a matter of the complaints being there or not, but especially if the complaints have been alleviated for a while but came back, if the complaints have been ameliorated only a bit, if there has been an aggravation after taking the remedy, etc. Al this can indicate a change of remedy, potency or other adjustment of the homeopathic therapy.

During the follow-up we focus on the changes of the complaints and changes to your state of health that were initially discussed during the first consultation. We therefore need less time during the follow up consultations (about 30-60 minutes). The amount of time between your scheduled consultations depends on the severity and type of complaints. In chronic complaints the time between consultations can be about 3-5 weeks, in semi-acute complaints the time period is much shorter and can be a matter of days before we would schedule a follow-up.

Acute complaints

Of course it is possible that you develop acute complaints during the normal treatment of chronic complaints. It is always possible to ask for advise for these conditions. Please call the practice for more information and possibly come to the practice. In certain cases it is possible for me to do house calls.

Many people think homeopathy works very slowly and is therefore not suitable for treating acute complaints. This is however not true. When you give the correct remedy it can act in hours or even minutes. The speed in which a remedy works depends mainly on the duration and kind of illness.

If you decide not to have your acute problems treated with homeopathy then please let me know as soon as possible what happened and what treatment you got. This is important so I can adjust the homeopathic treatment accordingly.

Other important information

It is not possible to get homeopathic treatment by phone. The reason for this is discussed in the article about Diagnosis [Dutch], email consultations [Dutch] and self-care products [Dutch].

Some other remarks:

• When too late or not present at the consultation then I will have to charge a fee (see fees).
• Appointments cannot be cancelled by email or text message.
• It is prohibited to smoke in the practice.
• For all patients I will make and maintain a dossier. You can rely on the fact that I treat this dossier confidentially and discreetly and according to Dutch laws and regulations of the homeopathic associations of which I am member of.

If something is not clear of if you have further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.