I Like to Know What’s Happening: Change, Uncertainty & Homeopathy

Alex Kay

Jul 2

3 min read

Updated: Aug 26

I originally wrote this article when my son started secondary school. Looking back, I realise I wasn’t really writing about him changing schools at all.

I was writing about uncertainty.

I’ve noticed over the years that I don’t necessarily struggle with change itself. Once the new thing has happened, I can usually adapt pretty well. It’s the unsettled bit before and around it that gets me.

When familiar routines disappear, I can become more tired and reactive. Decisions feel harder, sleep can become unsettled and my already fairly active imagination gets considerably busier.

And after a while, it isn’t only happening in my head.

My imagination runs ahead… and then my body follows.

That’s usually my cue to stop trying to think my way out of it and look at what might actually help.

Remedies I Think of During Times of Change

There isn’t really a homeopathic remedy for change. What interests me more is how somebody responds to it.

A few remedies and supports come up repeatedly for me.

Kali phos tissue salt:

This is often my first thought when uncertainty has become exhausting.

Think tired but wired: lots going on mentally, difficulty switching off, sleep affected, noise and information becoming too much, perhaps butterflies in the stomach, but underneath it all, you’re totally worn out.

I tend to use Kali phos tissue salt during particularly demanding periods.

Bach flower essences:

Walnut

Walnut comes to mind when the change itself seems significant; starting or leaving something, moving house, changing schools, a new stage of life. Particularly when you feel sensitive to everything happening around you while you’re trying to adjust.

White Chestnut

This is the one I think about when the problem is the mental loop, thoughts circling around and around when the brain doesn’t seem to have received the memo that we’re finished thinking for the day.

Red Chestnut

A different picture again.

Sometimes the uncertainty isn’t primarily about us. We’re worrying about someone we love and mentally following their experience into every possible future.

I recognise this one particularly well as a parent.

Cherry Plum

I think of Cherry Plum when the internal pressure is building and there’s a fear of losing control of thoughts, feelings or behaviour. There can be this feeling of being right at the edge of what you can comfortably contain.

My Favourite Combination:

I particularly like White Chestnut alongside Kali phos when I’m mentally overloaded but still need to function. One of my favourite simple combinations is to add Kali phos tissue salt and White Chestnut to my water and sip it through the day when I need a clearer head and rest isn’t really an option.

Homeopathic Remedies When Anticipation Becomes Physical

This is where some of the homeopathic remedy pictures become particularly interesting.

Argentum nitricum can have that combination of racing ahead mentally and reacting physically, hurriedness, nervousness, digestive upset and apprehension about what might happen.

Gelsemium looks very different. Anticipation can bring weakness, trembling and heaviness; instead of speeding up, everything can feel as though it’s a monumental effort.

And then there’s Aconite, where fear can arrive suddenly and intensely, with a racing heart, breathlessness, tingling or an overwhelming sense of panic.

Same impending event.

Completely different responses.

That distinction is more useful than looking for a remedy labelled anxiety.

I also keep Buddleia in mind when there has been one disruption after another and the overall picture feels less like ordinary anticipation and more as though the whole system has become overwhelmed by repeated shocks or upheaval.

Perhaps It Isn’t Change After All

I still like routines. I still like knowing what’s happening. And my brain would absolutely prefer a detailed itinerary for life delivered several weeks in advance!

But I’ve become much better at recognising the point where uncertainty has stopped being merely uncomfortable and started costing me something physically.

That’s when I’ll simplify things, get outside, rest where I can, and reach for whichever remedy or Bach essence actually matches the pattern I’m experiencing.

I don’t think the aim is to become brilliantly unfazed by change.

For me, it’s just become easier to recognise when I’m in the uncertain bit and respond to what’s actually happening, rather than battling with the fact that I’m finding it difficult.

Warmly,