Everybody loves a cheat sheet, right? Especially a mama with a sick family that needs care! Having a quick reference guide at your finger tips is so helpful when trying to narrow down which homeopathic remedies are a good match for your health condition. Below I’ll share the top 5 cheat sheets that I’ve found online. I recommend printing these out and keeping in your family’s medical binder. Stick around to the end and I’ll touch on how you can pair these cheat sheets with your Materia Medica to REALLY help select the right remedy for your sick patient.
(Before I begin, let me remind you that I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice. I’m simply a mom sharing tips and ideas that have helped my family. Consider this a conversation between 2 friends. Do your own research. Consult a medical professional when it makes sense to do so.)
When I cover each reference tool, I’ll point out whether it is arranged in a Repertory-Style (meaning it is organized by symptom, such a cough or headache) or a Materia Medica-Style (meaning it is organized by remedy name, such as Arnica or Hepar Sulph). Understanding the differences between a Repertory and a Materia Medica is very important when you are using homeopathy reference tools. One is not better than the other…you’ll need both to select the best homeopathic treatment plan for your sick patient.
- Americans for Homeopathic Choice (Repertory-Style)– Americans for Homeopathic Choice offers an easy-to-use Homeopathic Remedy Cheat Sheet that is VERY helpful. Since it’s only 2 pages long and organizes remedy suggestions under bold, eye-catching symptom headers, even a homeopathy newbie will find it approachable. I also like that it has wide margins so I can add my own notes over time. If you don’t print anything else out, be sure to print this one. You’ll refer to it over and over again. Find it here: https://homeopathychoice.org/homeopathic-remedy-cheat-sheet/
- Homeopathic Associates (Materia Medica-Style)– Homeopathic Associates offers a free downloadable Materia Medica. If you are trying to learn more about each remedy, this is the cheat sheet for you! It is long (25 pages), but that is still very condensed compared to a typical Materia Medica which is typically 500+ pages. It takes the names of remedies and spells them out like an acrostic poem. Then it uses each letter in the name to tell you one keynote symptom to look for to see if that remedy would be a good match. For a beginner, this is gold! Getting familiar with the remedies so you aren’t starting at square one every time you open your homeopathy kit is SO helpful. It will build your confidence in yourself and help you make better decisions. Bonus for this cheat sheet…it also tells you the substance from which each remedy is made, which is another good tidbit for beginners to tuck away. Find it here: https://homeopathicassociates.com/homeopathic-acute-materia-medica/
- Homeopathy Plus (Materia Medica-Style list followed by a Repertory-Style List)- Homeopathy Plus offers a list of their top 20 homeopathic remedies for first-aid. The top half of the list includes 20 common remedies and a sentence or two about each one. The bottom half of the list offers a quick list of first-aid type complaints and a few remedy suggestions to consider for each complaint. Find it here: https://homeopathyplus.com/homeopathy-made-simple-first-steps-to-first-aid/
- Homeopathy-Healing (Repertory-Style)- Homeopathy Healing shares copies of 2 helpful flow charts related to Coughs and Cold/Flu. You answer yes/no type questions related to the symptom picture of the sick patient, and the flow chart guides you to remedy suggestions. Find them here: https://www.homeopathy-healing.com/colds-coughs-flu-flow-charts-homeopathic-prescribing/
- Headache Graphic (Repertory-Style)– This handy graphic can be found in multiple places on the internet, and I’ve looked it up many times! It simply uses pictures to show locations of different types of headaches, which can help you select the right remedy fast. Here is one place you can find it: https://www.musingsofamodernhippie.com/post/homeopathy-headaches
*Bonus Resource #1: Homeopathy at Home App (Repertory-Style)– There are a lot of homeopathy apps out there, and I had just about given up on finding one that worked for me. But a friend recently introduced me to the Homeopathy at Home App that is available for about $3 in the App Store. It is very easy to use, and it would be a great resource to have at your fingertips, especially when you are away from home and trying to select homeopathic medicines for an acute problem.
*Bonus Resource #2: Homeopathy for Children and Infants book (Repertory-Style and Materia Medica-Style)- While this resource can’t help you if you’re in the middle of a crisis right now, I still suggest you check out this book. If I could only own one book to help me choose remedies for my family, this one would be it. Prices change often, but at the time I’m writing this, Amazon is selling this book for about $14. It’s so easy to use, and it covers a wide-range of acute conditions that you are likely to encounter with children. From bee stings to poison ivy to coughs to nosebleeds, there is so much helpful info. I wouldn’t call it a comprehensive guide to homeopathy, but instead it’s a great set of homeopathy cheat sheets to help you make decisions about home medical treatment.
If you’ve looked at all of these cheat sheets, and you still don’t feel like you know what you’re doing, it’s okay. The good news is that with homeopathy’s exceptional safety record (source), most professionals agree that using homeopathic remedies for first-aid and basic, acute conditions at home is safe.
I personally believe that using homeopathic remedies is a safer option for my family than Tylenol (also known as acetaminophen), which most mothers give without a second thought. Side note- Did you know that Tylenol is responsible for over 56,000 emergency room visits and 26,000 hospitalizations EACH YEAR? It’s also responsible for about 450 DEATHS each year. See this study for more on Tylenol. When I compare Tylenol’s statistics to homeopathy’s record, it makes my choice easy.
Want to increase your chances of landing on the right remedy fast? You need to pair the recommendations in the cheat sheets above with your Materia Medica. I love having a hard copy of a Materia Medica on hand (here’s mine), but if you don’t have one, there are plenty available for free online. Check out this one and this one. Here’s how that pairing could work.
- Step 1- Find a possible remedy associated with the symptom or complaint you are hoping to treat.
- Step 2- Look that remedy up in your Materia Medica.
- Step 3- Read the whole symptom picture. Homeopathy considers the whole person so you would read the description of the eyes, mouth, respiratory state, what makes the symptoms better or worse, etc. You are looking for details that match what you are seeing in your sick patient. If you find 3-4 good matches, there is a good chance you’ve found the right remedy! If not, go back to your cheat sheet, select a different remedy, and repeat with your Materia Medica.
So, that’s it, 5 cheat sheets and some bonus resources to help you select homeopathic remedies! I recommend going ahead and printing out your favorite cheat sheets and putting them in your family’s medical binder. It’s so much easier to reference them that way than hoping you can remember where to find them on on the great-big internet!
Want to know more about natural remedies, homeopathy, and helping your family through illness without pharmaceutical drugs? You’ll love my Remedy with Diligence page!
