Anyone familiar with homeopathy has likely heard that certain substances can antidote or cancel out the effects of a well-chosen and helpful remedy.

I often get questions about this topic and about my clinical experience with this phenomenon. It’s an interesting topic.

What many of my colleagues and I have found is that, in general, only people who are very sensitive to influences in their environment need to worry about the majority of possible remedy antidotes. These are people who are generally highly allergic or who find substances like coffee to be exceedingly stimulative (e.g., if a patient of mine cannot sleep during the night after a cup of coffee consumed at noon – I consider them to be very sensitive to that substance and perhaps sensitive in general).

Here is a list of substances most commonly cited as being homeopathic remedy antidotes:

• Coffee:Regular, decaf, expresso, instant, all types. Interestingly, it is not the caffeine that antidotes but other components of the coffee bean itself.

• Camphor

• Mint

• Mothballs

• Anesthesia

• Alcohol

• Prescription drugs

• Electric blankets

• Geothermal Baths

• Recreational Drugs

• Acupuncture

• Stress

• Vitamins and supplements

Of these, I consider severe stress, anesthesia, recreational drugs, and even brief exposure to strong smelling substances (i.e., essential oils like tea tree or menthol) to be fairly universal antidotes regardless of sensitivity. If you have used or been exposed to any of these “universal antidotes”, a redosing of the remedy is generally in order.

How can you tell if your remedy has been negated/antidoted by some external influence? This question is complicated – but one can often see a resurgence of old symptoms if antidoting has occurred. In all cases where there is a question about this issue – it is best to work with a well-trained homeopath, someone who can objectively evaluate your situation.

About Dr. Lisa Samet:

Dr. Lisa Samet N.D. provides Washington Homeopathic Products with a regular column on using homeopathy for the family. She's a naturopathic physician who specializes in homeopathic medicine and she's a partner with Dr. Andre Saine N.D. Dr. Samet graduated from the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in 1998 and has been practicing in Montreal since then. She was born and raised in New York.

Dr. Samet has chosen to focus on homeopathy because in her experience it is the deepest healing modality available in that it does not just soothe or palliate symptoms but can actually stimulate the body to start to heal itself. Dr. Samet sees patients in her Montreal office as well as long distance using Skype. Learn more here: Dr. Lisa Samet. You can follow her on Facebook as well.

Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn via Foter.com / CC BY