Poppy Altmann BA (hons) LCPH RSHom
Welcome to my website.
I am a homeopath currently practising from
Kew Osteopaths, which is located very near to Kew Gardens station and is easily accessible from other parts of south and west London by bus, London Overground, District line tube and mainline train (via Richmond). Kew Osteopaths is a stone's throw from the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.
Map You can see me in Kew on Tuesdays 2-7pm and Thursdays 9am-2pm. Please note that I cannot accept credit or debit cards so please bring cash or a cheque. There are cash machines next to Kew Gardens station.
I am also a marker and supervisor of students from the College of Practical Homeopathy. I often have students observing me but if you would prefer not to have them please let me know. If you are a student interested in supervision or evening tutorials (once a month) please give me a call or email me.
What is Homeopathy?Homeopathy is a gentle, non-invasive, holistic and comprehensive form of medicine. We are all born with an innate healing ability, which is how the human race has survived for thousands of years.
In the late 18th Century, Samuel Hahnemann, a practicing physician, became dissatisfied with the toxic effects of certain drugs that were prescribed. He resolved to find a safer way of curing patients, and thus became the founding father of homeopathy. The word homeopathy comes from the Greek root words which mean “like cures like”, in other words, something that causes a healthy person to become sick, will cure the similar disease in a sick person.
Hahnemann treated patients with potentised substances, that is to say he prepared medicines through a process of dilution and succussion, as he realised that a cure could be more effective and have less side effects this way.
Why see a Homeopath? Homeopaths have observed that traumas and shocks such as injuries, grief and emotional shocks or poisonings can make us become “stuck” in a poor state of health as our energy becomes focussed on getting over the trauma and releasing the toxins which have built up in our system as a result. This is when we get ill.
Our philosophy is that homeopathy stimulates the body’s own healing mechanism, or the immune system, in order for you to heal yourself. We believe that all symptoms are an expression of the body’s attempt to heal itself. Therefore, suppressing symptoms with antibiotics or anti-inflammatories seems unwise in the long term. The body in its innate wisdom will keep bringing back symptoms to be cured. Discharges (catarrh, coughs, inflammation, rashes) are the body’s attempt to expel toxins from “used up” white blood cells and bacteria. If those discharges are repeatedly suppressed, the body will try to find a place to safely store those toxins. The ideal place from which to expel toxins is the bowel. If the bowel is not efficient enough, another system of elimination will come into action – the skin, the lungs, the genito-urinary system.
What Conditions Can it Help? Homeopaths treat the individual, not just the part of the body which is unwell. Homeopathy does not interfere with other medical treatments. It is safe to use in pregnancy, and is particularly effective for children.
Because homeopathy treats the whole person, almost anybody with any illness can be helped. A homeopath will help people with chronic or acute illnesses, and people's mental/ emotional states as well as physical ailments. I always recommend that you get diagnoses and medical advice from your doctor and that you inform your GP when you are using homeopathy.
