Frequently Asked Questions

Is it necessary to see a Homeopathic Physician, or can a Homeopathic Practitioner treat my condition?
Homeopathy is a medical subspecialty. It was initially outlined, codified and explored extensively by medically trained physicians. It has been used extensively by medical professionals for over 200 years. The field of medicine depends upon professionals trained in the recognition and diagnosis of medical illness with the skill to determine the medical basis of utilizing one form of treatment over another. Physicians are more frequently entering partnerships with their patients today and sharing responsibility for the management of medical illnesses.

There is a growing number of non medically trained “professional” homeopathic practitioners that has emerged over the last several decades that have begun to fill the niche of homeopathic providers beyond where the medical practitioners have desired to take up the practiced of homeopathy. These practitioners have filled a huge gap between the public desire for homeopathic care and the medical professionals desire to provide it. There are many highly skilled practitioners of homeopathic care who are in practice today in the U.S. and abroad. The decision to select a homeopathic practitioner should include a careful scrutiny of homeopathic training, aptitude and experience. The presence or absence of medical training is an important factor in this decision, but not the only factor. Availability and accessibility are also important factors. One of the most important factors is the level of communication that one is able to maintain with his or her health care provider.

Are there restrictions on diet that must be practiced when taking homeopathic medicines?
There has been a great deal of discussion and controversy among homeopaths regarding this issue. Over the years various substances have been suggested which might either “antidote” or work against homeopathic treatment. Among the long list of these ingredients are: coffee, mint, camphor, chocolate, strong perfumes, certain spices, vegetables, and conventional drugs. At this time, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that any of these substances would cause a uniform antidoting effect upon individuals consuming homeopathic medicines. There may be very good reasons why certain individuals should refrain from use of these products. In many cases individuals may be sensitive to these products or the agents might pose certain health risks due to their underlying medical condition, but not due to any homeopathic reason.

In my practice, I have found certain individuals to be sensitive to products on this list and for those individuals I have recommended that they exercise caution or that we work on selecting a potency of the homeopathic medicine that works best with these other factors.

How does homeopathy work?
The only possible answer to this question, at this time is: we don’t know. But we do know that it does work. It has been shown to be more effective than placebo in many well designed “double blind” studies. It has been used extensively with newborns, infants, children, adults, pregnant women, and the elderly, both when conscious and unconscious. There is an active and thriving field of homeopathy known as veterinary homeopathy.

What should I do after a homeopathic medicine has been prescribed for me?
Basically, one should pay close attention to any and all information that one’s body provides. The body speaks to us in a language all its own. If we choose to ignore our body's symptoms then it’s as if we took to the highway to drive across country, but decided not to look at any of the road signs or maps. The body communicates to us through our physical and emotional symptoms. If we listen carefully enough we can help the body reach an improved state of health. If we choose to ignore the symptoms, or medicate the symptoms till they go away, then we take our chances on regaining lasting improved health.

What conditions can be treated by Homeopathy?
Virtually any condition can be treated using homeopathic means, and a great many of these conditions can be successfully resolved. Homeopaths generally admit that there is anecdotal evidence for the success of homeopathy in a great many conditions, and there is virtually no area that has not shown results. However, this does not mean that all patients will be successfully treated using homeopathic means. The success of homeopathy depends largely on the skill of the practitioner and the vitality (or healing strength ) of the individual. Homeopaths tend to rely heavily upon the symptoms produced by a given illness in each particular individual because it is the symptoms that actually express the vitality of the host. The stronger the symptoms, the stronger the innate immune, healing response is. Homeopathy primarily works by augmenting that healing response, sort of the way an enzyme works in the body. An enzyme catalyses a reaction and is itself unchanged in the process. Homeopathy catalyses the body’s own healing reaction and is itself unaffected. This is one reason why homeopathic medicines can be given so infrequently (ie, monthly or every several months) in many cases. In other cases, where the “vital force” ( a term used extensively in homeopathy, although no one really knows what it is) is low, or if there are factors that work strongly against the body’s own healing response, or if symptoms are weak or absent, homeopathic medicines are sometimes repeated more frequently to try to stimulate more of a reaction in the system.

What is meant by “Classical” Homeopathy?
It seems as if everyone and his brother are using something “homeopathic” or seeing a practitioner who claims to be homeopathic. This can be quite confusing. A number of years ago, a group of homeopaths that practiced homeopathy strictly following the guidelines defined by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in his medical treatise, “The Organon of Medicine” defined the term “Classical”. It means, simply put, that they follow the tenents that Dr. Hahnemann described, including, but not limited to:

• The Law of Similars.
• The minimum dose.
• The totality of symptoms.

In other words, “Classical” Homeopathic Physicians prescribe medicines only after taking a thorough history and performing a focused physical exam. The homeopathic prescription is based upon all the symptoms of the patient (the totality). Generally, a single medicine is used in the lowest strength possible to effect a change. The medicine is given only once or, in some cases, only a few times (minimum dose). The guidelines for selecting a remedy are defined by the “Law of Similars” (see above).

Do you Treat Children in Your Practice?
I treat adults, teenagers, adolescents, children, infants and pregnant women in my practice. I do not, however, treat animals. (There are a number of excellent homeopathic veterinarians who are expert at providing this service.) Children pose a special challenge in homeopathy because it may be particularly difficult to obtain a well-balanced history or symptom description, but when treated with homeopathic medicines they tend to respond vigorously and rapidly.

What about Homeopathic Immunizations?
Whether or not to immunize is a complex and oftentimes difficult decision today. I advise many parents in this regard. As a medical professional and a homeopathic physician these two trainings are not in a great deal of conflict over this issue. There are growing data generated by good studies throughout the world that suggest that the childhood immunizations that are currently recommended may not be without serious harm. There are also good data to suggest that often the committees and organizations that we have trusted to advise us in these matters may have serious conflicts of interest. There is no question that adverse events to vaccines are seriously underreported in this country and that very often a parent's complaints are dismissed offhandedly and sometimes ridiculed by otherwise caring physicians. It is also clear that a great many of the recommended childhood vaccinations do not make good sense. Data from Europe indicate that many of the childhood illnesses may actually impart a benefit to the immune system throughout ones life, and that children who acquire immunity through the actual disease process have significantly lower rates of chronic illnesses later in life, including allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases. It is a well-known fact that natural immunity (that develops after acquiring the illness) tends to be life-long. Immunity that is acquired through immunization is generally of a shorter duration requiring re-immunization only a few years later. The significance of this fact can be profound when one considers that many of these illnesses can be benign when acquired as a child, but can be devastating when acquired as a teenager or an adult.

Homeopathic treatment is highly advisable if one chooses not to immunize one’s children. But homeopathic medicines are not equivalent to immunization. There are no data that indicate, in any way, that homeopathic treatment imparts an immune antibody response similar to aquiring the illness or being immunized conventionally. Any attempt to provide a “Homeopathic Immunization” may be a bogus or sham method of evading state immunization practices. There is no legal or scientific basis for this procedure.

What is the Difference between a Homeopath and a Naturopath?
Naturopathic Physicians (ND) have generally been trained in a variety of natural approaches to health. Their curriculum usually includes disciplines like homeopathy, craniosacral therapies, herbal medicine and nutrition (among others), but they are not necessarily specialists in any of these approaches unless they choose to focus specifically on one or more particular area in depth. A naturopathic degree generally does impart a wide range of knowledge over a breadth of natural therapies, but does not necessarily imply expertise in any of these areas. Questioning each
individual naturopath is important to ascertain this knowledge.

Homeopathy is a field of medicine that, to be practiced well, requires a physician study and dedicate many years of training to attain expertise. A physician who calls himself a “Classical Homeopath” has chosen to focus on homeopathy as a specialty and to study homeopathy in depth.

There are currently several professional organizations that are striving to authoritatively certify homeopathic practitioners in the U.S. and abroad, but there is, not yet, any widespread agreement on the scope of what this certification should encompass. This is an issue that ought to be resolved within the next several years within the homeopathic community.

Finances and Office Matters

Do You Accept My Insurance?
No. I do not accept any insurance payments as fee for my services. My agreement to treat you as a homeopathic physician is between me and my patients. If you have chosen to contract with an insurance company to reimburse you for certain medical expenses, then it is likely that you will be able to secure reimbursement for the services that I provide. I am Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, Licensed to practice Medicine in the State of New York, and my credentials as a physician are acceptable to the insurance carriers that reimburse on this basis.

I will work hard with you to secure the reimbursement that you have contracted for. To assist you in this process my office uses standard CPT codes and ICD-9 procedural codes whenever I bill for service.

What insurance plans do you participate in?
I do not accept or participate in ANY insurance companies. No medicare. No medicaid.

I do generate receipts that allow for easy submission to these companies (but never for medicare/medicaid) for reimbursement.

Patients who see me who have medicare are required, by law, to review and sign what is known as an “opt out agreement” that stipulates that they do understand that I do not participate and that there is no way that they will be reimbursed by medicare for their expenses in seeing me. Supplemental insurance may still pay.

I spend 2 hours with most adults on their first visit.

I spend 90 minutes with adolescents on 1st visit and 60 minutes with kids. These visits are prorated accordingly.

Follow up visits are very important. They generally run 30 - 60 minutes (kids almost always 30 and some adults also, but many adults are 60 because of the nature of the problem and the need to discuss interdisciplinary and integrated approaches to their particular situation. Counseling on lifestyle issues, diet, nutrition, stress reduction, meditation, yoga, etc., etc. is an ongoing process and requires revisiting.)

Medicine cost is usually factored into each visit. Sometimes the medicine that I require is in my office. At other times I might write a prescription for it, and sometimes I will mail it from Rhinebeck. If I do bill for medicines (this might be the case if it is the result of a telephone call) then the fees are always reasonable for a supply that usually lasts several months or more.

Do You Bill For Time Spent Speaking to Me on the Telephone?
Generally, the answer to this question is: “No,” but there may be exceptions. Most of my routine telephone calls may be to follow -up on a particular concern or to discuss an acute condition that may have arisen . In the course of a telephone conversation I may recommend that the conversation might be more appropriately handled in an office visit. But in many cases the telephone works fine. There is usually no charge for this time unless we have agreed that the telephone conversation is really in-lieu of an office visit and extensive questioning, diagnostic and repertorization for a remedy is required. If this is the case then charges are similar to those applied to my time spent in the office together.

What do you charge for your time?
This is a question that I would prefer not to post on this web site. Please contact my office secretary at (845) 876-6323 if you are seriously considering a visit to my office.

Will you communicate with me through email?
Absolutely. Email tends to be a slower form of communication, in my case, because I tend to give priority to those who visit my office and telephone me, but it is generally a sure way of updating me on your condition and providing me with data in your case that can then be printed and filed in your medical chart. Email may take several days and often up to a week to generate a response from me, so it is not a fast way to get information from me (office visits and telephone calls work best here) but it is an excellent way of feeding me information about you.