After returning from Iraq in late 2004, Ginny Sieben spent years receiving world class care from the Minneapolis VA as she recovered from her combat-related injuries. Despite their incredible care, she still walked with canes due to back pain and leg weakness, was on medication for PTSD, likely for the rest of her life, and had trouble concentrating, focusing, or being around people. She was a shell of her former self – a nurse and attorney. “I could not think clearly, organize my thoughts, or write the simplest email. One time, I was so proud of myself because I was able to go online and buy a plane ticket. The only problem was I bought it for the wrong day and month. I could feel my body and brain wasting away, on the road to an early death.”
Then one day, someone recommended homeopathy for an ill pet her veterinarian could not help. “What’s that?” Having received her undergraduate degree in nursing, she scoffed, “I figured that if it worked, I would have heard of it in school.” But, still her pet needed help. The homeopath came, got almost immediate results with the remedy (Stramonium) and that emboldened her to try alternative medicine for her own health issues. Acupuncture had helped with the leg weakness and pain but not completely. With homeopathy, the results were “amazing.” Gradually, the muscle spasms declined, pain disappeared and mental clarity returned. Her doctor worked with her to stop the PTSD medications. All that remains is the constant high pitched tone in her ears caused by the medicine.
That was not the end of her health care journey. Ginny enrolled in the Homeopathy School International to learn more. Through the constant mentorship of Barbara and Dorothy, she learned, gaining a greater appreciation for homeopathy.
After graduating, she founded a non-profit, HomeoSource.org, to educate lay people and professionals about homeopathy. “I could not find one consolidated source of information on how to use homeopathy to treat common complaints and the science behind it on the internet. This is such an important health care option – it should be easy for people to access information on how to treat themselves for acute illness.” She found the internet “littered” with false and misleading information about homeopathy with clear bias toward maintaining the status quo. “It’s no wonder doctors worry about what their patients are taking – some of these authors portray homeopathy as the next weapon of mass destruction.”
HomeoSource recently launched its website to educate consumers and health care professionals on homeopathy. “Ours is a free guide on how to select individualized remedies for minor conditions. We consolidate the science explaining homeopathy and provide concise articles on safety, effectiveness and placebo effect for patients to share with health care providers who want to know more about what their patients are taking.” Importantly, all information and remedy recommendations are referenced to published MDs, NDs, PhD researchers, peer-reviewed published science and acclaimed homeopaths.
“We hope to foster conversations between patients and providers about using homeopathy for minor illness where possible, leaving heavy duty drugs with a risk of side effects for more dire conditions.” HomeoSource hopes its web presence will help people understand the incredible power of these natural medicines and give conventionally trained health care providers a glimpse into other tools available in their laudable desire to end drug addiction, side effects, death due to adverse drug reaction, and antibiotic resistance. So far, HomeoSource has an audience in the US, England, Germany, India, Canada and Switzerland.
“Please visit HomeoSource.org and take advantage of the wealth of information available in one location. We just started a Facebook group where we hope seasoned homeopaths, naturopaths, and students will join to mentor people new to homeopathy. We’d be grateful if you would share our website, like us on Facebook, join our Facebook Group and share with family and friends. If you are with a health care organization looking for ways to educate on integrative medicine, we are happy to be that link.”
