Why Old Symptoms Come Back: Understanding the Homeopathic Healing Process with Abby

What happens when you start feeling better… but an old symptom suddenly comes back? Does it mean your healing isn’t working - or could your body be working through something it never fully resolved?

In this episode of HEY YOU’RE GONNA BE OK, Elizabeth sits down with Hey Hey Mae lead practitioner and resident homeopathic wise woman Abby to talk about one of the most fascinating - and sometimes confusing - parts of healing with homeopathy: healing doesn’t always happen in a straight line.

Together, they unpack why homeopathy can look and feel so different from the symptom-suppression model most of us are accustomed to. Rather than simply asking, “How do we make this symptom stop?” homeopathy invites us to consider what the body is communicating, what may have interrupted its ability to resolve an illness in the past, and how we can support it toward better regulation and function.

They explore the homeopathic concept of “never well since” - those moments when someone can look back and say, I was never quite the same after that. Maybe it was mono, mold exposure, childbirth, a major infection, antibiotics, COVID, a tick bite, an emotional trauma, or another significant event. Elizabeth connects this idea with the functional immunology lens used every day at Hey Hey Mae: strong interactions with the immune system can sometimes leave it functioning differently long after the original event has passed.

Abby also explains why old symptoms may temporarily reappear during homeopathic care, from eczema resurfacing to a body finally mounting a fever again after years without one. They dig into Hering’s Law and the traditional homeopathic idea that healing may move in recognizable directions—including from deeper, more vital systems outward and in reverse order of previous symptoms.

If you’ve ever been in the middle of a healing process and wondered, Why is THIS showing up now?, this conversation will give you a completely different framework for understanding what your body may be doing.

In this episode: homeopathy vs. symptom suppression, “never well since” and triggering events, functional immunology and unresolved immune responses, the return of old symptoms, fevers and immune responsiveness, Hering’s Law, and why getting better doesn’t always look like symptoms simply disappearing one by one.

And stay tuned for Part 2: Abby and Elizabeth go deeper into obstacles to cure, miasms, homeopathic detoxification, and the things that can keep a body from moving forward.

Please note that transcripts may contain minor errors or inaccuracies. We hope you enjoy reading them and find them helpful.

Welcome back to part two of my conversation with Abby about what healing can look like. what it actually looks like through the lens of homeopathy. In part one, we talked a lot about never well since moments, the return of old symptoms, triggering events. We even covered Herring's Law and the direction of how someone gets better with homeopathy in the picture. We also talked about why something a symptom showing back up doesn't automatically mean your body's going backwards. Today we're going to go a little deeper. We're going to talk about what keeps the body from getting well in the first place. We're talking about homeopathy.

what it calls obstacles to cure. things like chronic infections, mold, ongoing stress, when your nervous system is dysregulated. environmental exposures to chemicals or other toxins, and even deeper inherited patterns. We're going to give you an introduction to miasms and talk about the connection between emotional and physical healing and unpack why homeopathic detox and drainage can look really different from the aggressive detox culture that is in and all over the wellness world.

ultimately our goal is not to force the body to do something and that's really where we saw homeopathy come in and change the game for our clients we're always asking what's keeping this body from functioning the way it was designed to function and how can we encourage it to move in the direction of resolving its own problems because your body was designed to heal itself. so

Let's get into it. We're talking about obstacles to cure first, Abby. Can you kind of give me like ah just an overview of like what are obstacles to cure in homeopathy? and How can someone have these things? in their picture. but they're blocking maybe progress.

no Yep. And so really like an obstacle to cure is exactly that. It's a block. you know and so when we are you know giving remedies that we think should should move things in the right direction they seem to match what's going on really well you know even when we're giving

you know, supplements, anything like that, that's matching what, you know, the the client has going on, but they they they just don't seem to be moving, you know, in that positive direction. You know, I'm always like, what what is the block? What is stopping that progression? And so we can, once again, you know, that timeline, that that that health history, like looking back in that is so helpful to see. And so what we can see as, you know, some of the, you know, blocks to to consider are past medications, You know, when we talked about, we've talked about suppression, a lot of those suppressing medications um can be a block. You know, did they suppress the immune system to the point that it's not coming out of that suppression? So we can see that with... antibiotics We can see that with steroids. You know, there's a lot of immune modulating medications out there that people are, you know, getting, you know, injected with now as well.

Of course, we see vaccines being part of that picture. You know, it does you know it is made, um you know, so our immune system does not have the typical response, you know, as it would to a normal pathogen coming in.


So there can be a shift there. We can also see. a chronic stress you know in somebody's life or a traumatic event you know that didn't you know that we've not maybe addressed with the homeopathic being a block mold we see mold being a huge block When we think about that, it's once again, it's ah an immune suppressant.

like It does suppress that immune system often, and so it's not resolving things and it's not moving and in the way that it should, or it's an overreaction you know to it as well.

Toxic environments, you know, definitely see, you know, ah people living near heavily sprayed farms or golf courses, those kind of things, you know, can add a layer, you know, and maybe the body isn't recognizing those toxins and not, you know, draining while not not sure how to move those things things out. So all of those things can be a block, you know, and then, of course, you know, which will we'll move on to this, but, you know, just to throw it out there. like a miasm which is more of a generational block we can see somebody

um not feeling well since birth and so we do want to look you know if it is something along those lines we do want to go back and look like well what happened you know how was the pregnancy was medication given during that time was that the block was um you know is it something more of a family line and so you know we can definitely talk on that a little bit more but yeah i mean that's really a lot of what we see you know really trying to discern what is preventing the movement forward with healing.

Yeah, so kind of what I hear you saying is like these really cross over even with triggering events like obstacles to cure often things that are the thing that come in and really limit a body's vitality. Like if you're living in mold, all of a sudden your body slowly starts to really struggle to live through that toxicity and processing of the mold and mycotoxins every day. If you have a season of really poor sleep after we've had a baby, for example, and you're not sleeping, your body primarily detoxes when you're sleeping. If that stacks up over time, it becomes kind of this never well since thing or just a basic obstacle to cure. There can be a season where we're all tired and run down and doing a million things. I think about moms at Christmas. How many moms do we see? at or right after christmas who were like busted because they just made that whole magical season happen and it wasn't that like their lack of sleep has been this chronic ongoing thing forever

But gosh, their lack of sleep and like go-go for a couple months came back and was like a little bit of obstacle for them to be feeling good all the time. And so it kind of crosses over a lot with that never will sense, but it doesn't have to be so big and dramatic. but those things that are contributing to a loss of vitality. So you mentioned miasms, and these are like those deeper energetic patterns underneath chronic illness. And I think this is something that homeopathy does. really beautifully. really wonderfully and like gives us tools that other spaces do not give us. So what are miasms and homeopathy? Go into that a bit more for our listeners.

Yeah. So a lot of times they're described as like an inherited taint. And so really it's that energetic susceptibility for passing down disease. And so what we see is that we can look up a family line. We might see a client come to us with, for example, like Hashimoto's. And then they'll say, yeah, my mom had Hashimoto's, my aunt had Hashimoto's, my grandma had Hashimoto's, you know. And so like you can kind of see this, you know, this kind of disease kind of passing down through that family line, um you know. And so that's really what it is where we can actually, you know, see where it wasn't maybe in their lifetime. Now, there might have been something that kind of triggered that or set it off for them. But there was this susceptibility that was already there, you know, from birth. from that family line. And so often we do, like our our timeline isn't just looking at their life, but it is going back and looking at grandparents, you know, and really, you know, as far as what they know. You know, we can see this even with like... you know even some mental health things where we see you know where maybe there wasn't a diagnosis or anything like that but we can see like yeah when i went to grandma she was she didn't she was always sad or you know we might see those things and so now we have a child that's presenting

perhaps with some depression and we don't know where it came from. And so a lot of times when we're like, okay, we don't see like a really solid, like in this lifetime triggering event that, you know, shifted it. Now we we do want to go up that family line and see, you know, is is this something that they're just more susceptible? And so homeopathy can actually use different, you know, remedies to help work on those things as well, which is absolutely amazing.

Yeah, it is. It's really interesting because... I really think and believe that like health is a birthright. We're all born, we all get to have health at some point for some period of time our in our lives. But there are people who have struggled since.

birth or since a period of their life and there are so many different patterns and like we look at genetic stuff all the time that was a big part of my early autism work and it can be so helpful for neurodiversity understanding how the body processes different things we look at it for histamine like there there is coding that's in the body for how things work but then there's also this whole series of like how people work you can look at families and see like those people are so nice they're just the nicest people they do everything for everyone but they kind of end up getting walked on they kind of get taken advantage of they're just like the kindest and then their family also tends to have like a lot of cancer and like they're always helping and they're so like

Wonderful. And then they have a kid that's sick all the time and recurrently sick. And we start looking at that pattern and there is actually a threat. Like there are pieces running in and through that. so I think the other one is like women who have poor boundaries who same thing. So kind, really helpful. Like. everybody's girl doing all the things getting everything done never really being unkind or saying no or like these things are patterns that have nothing to do with dna truly but those would we consider them a miasm as well

Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And when you think about... you know, that would fall in that carcinogenic miasm, so that cancer miasm. And so everything you're saying, that lack of boundaries, you know, saying yes all the time, you know, when you think about cancer, what is it it? It is cells that are not, you know, their immune system is not recognizing they do not have boundaries. They are overgrowing. They're proliferating when they shouldn't be. And, you know, and that's where we can see that, you know, in, you know, somebody's behavior as well. You know, they they often are very... you know

They might be perfectionist, perfect, you know. They would be the person where, you know, maybe they have an appointment that they have to get to that day. But their friend calls and says, hey, you know, I need. I need help getting somewhere today can you get me there and rather than saying no I actually am busy, I already have an appointment for myself that day, they would cancel that appointment and they would go and they would take their friend and and help somebody. They do, you know, they they are probably the Mayas in that we most likely see chronic fatigue in. We see, you know, that mononucleosis in their history off often as well that might have kind of like, you know, once again, that susceptibility to, you know, having this more generational thing come on board. So.

Yep, absolutely.

you yeah and myosins are like a lot less about diagnosis and like you know our our Western medicine trained minds are like, oh, well, you have this miasm, you are this. No, it's more about understanding the terrain the body's working through, the patterns. And patterns include emotional things because our bodies are actually primarily not human cells, but they are. you know bacteria and all sorts of things but

The way that we work emotionally teaches our cells how to work. It's a very interesting concept, but functional i mean immunology backs that. The immune system's whole job is to decide what is me and what is not me. That is a boundary. Like what is Elizabeth's body? Then there's a boundary between me and the whole rest of the world. What is Elizabeth's bodily cells that have to be protected? And what's a bacteria that she's eaten on her food or that's gotten overgrown in her body? The immune system's job is to go there and say, no.

this is elizabeth's cell you're not going to hurt herself we're going to kill you the same thing if we blow it up into emotional function like Elizabeth, can you take me to the doctor today when you have a doctor's appointment? No!

Elizabeth has to go to the doctor. She's going to set a boundary and say, I can't do that. I have to take care of myself. And so myosins are so fascinating because they really do follow those emotional patterns. They follow family patterns. They follow kind of the behavior we were taught and homeopathy really offers.

some freedom for that some freedom from those obstacles of cure that fit more of a like this is how my body works this is how I was taught to work emotionally and how does that interact with my physical being and I think learning miasms and the more that we've used and prioritize addressing them and supporting them with clients, the better they get.

the more often they're able to have a before and an after where they are really turned out into a different body and a whole different way of function where their vitality, they don't just get better. They stay better and they continue to gain more life. And that really, for me, starting HeyHey was the holding point. Like, I don't think we should be in care to get a little bit better. I think we should get in care to really circle back to that. idea that health is your birthright. Like we're not born to be sick all the time. We're not born to struggle with physical function and homeopathy. through myosins like really offers a whole lot more vitality to our clients so 

i think that part's really interesting something else homeopathy does really well is detox and drainage This whole chitchat about detox is huge in the wellness world. We see clients all the time come in and they're like, oh, I did this liver cleanse and I was better for a little while. Or I did it and I was awful. I felt terrible. So detox is definitely not always what Instagram says that it is. How does homeopathy approach? detox and drainage differently.

Yeah. So it is very supportive. Once again, it's working with the body. And so, you know, I mean, if somebody has a more sluggish liver, if we can go in there and support gently that liver to function better, you know, to process things better versus, you know, really pushing any kind of.

detox or drainage you know the the client often feels much better with that process um you know once again you know everyone is individual and so we really do like we need to meet their body where it's at

you know We've definitely seen where you know when you push that, they can feel miserable. you can actually They can be more unwell um after that. So we definitely want to just gently support it. And we can do that. you know Homeopathy has what they call organ support where you can just go in with like.

very gentle organ support, but you can also do it on a more constitutional level for, you know, somebody who has, you know, you know, that is just kind of like a longstanding pattern in their life, you know, where they need, you know, a remedy that, that actually has more of an affinity for, you know, maybe potentially the liver or. you know, drainage in that way as well.

Yeah, I think that's so important because I often do even on clarity calls because we see chronically ill people. They're really worried because they've not been able to take things in the past. They've not been able to tolerate supplements, not been able to tolerate herbs. Everything's been too aggressive for them.

And so can you kind of help us understand, like, why does aggressive detox sometimes backfire in those chronically ill clients? And is it different when they're using homeopathy?

Yeah. I think aggressively, yes, it absolutely can backfire for one. if you if ah If a client isn't feeling well, they are much less likely to continue with things, which is not what what we want to see at all. But it also can cause... damage You know, if we are pushing toxins out into the the body and the body is not. able to


release those things and drain those things now we've got all of these this toxicity you know that can potentially get into other less safe spaces to be like your brain you know like obviously like our fat cells are ah you know often in place where we hold a lot of toxicity and so you know if we're really pushing things out or there's rapid weight loss and all of a sudden all of this is running around in the body you know it really can make somebody feel much worse and it actually can cause you know you know


more symptoms for them. And once again, like we want you know. Healing is not always comfortable. So I don't want it also to sound like you know you're never going to feel uncomfortable because sometimes we do need to to move through some things in and it can stir up some things.

But you know once again, with homeopathy, we do have that ability to make things more gentle. We can bring in the supports around that to help make it you know more manageable as well. But really, drainage is such a beautiful piece to start with.

yeah

And sometimes we see we see amazing movement just by letting... letting the body's organs work a little bit better so they naturally do what they were meant to do.

Yeah. And I think too, like.

bridging the understanding of the function of the body and then nutritionally, what supports we have available and how they function. And then just the way drainage works, it really is a funnel and it's systems informed. So if someone's not pooping and we go to push their liver, they're going to feel like trash because the colon is not moving trash out. If we have somebody who has issues in their lymphatic system, because they also have Lyme present, if we're not able to identify that the Lyme is there and we try to push fluid from the lymph. system, but they're not pooping, we're going to get nowhere. If their liver and bile ducts are struggling or full.

Like there has to be an understanding of that and homeopathy offers us really targeted ways to work on draining those different systems. in draining them yes encouraging them to actually like drain and open up and let stuff out but also in like

supporting that organ, like lifting it, adding vitality to a space where maybe an organ or tissue is struggling because there's a localized Lyme infection there. Well, we're going to be able to hop in there and really strategize and support more of that area. And then there's also the whole idea of drain and gene detox using like substances so if we have a client who lives in an area that sprayed a ton i think this is one of the beautiful parts of homeopathy that I don't see mimicked in any other system of medicine supplementation.

is that we can take... the like substance give it to the body in a homeopathic preparation and it will prompt the body to clear that substance from the body and it will teach the body hey This glyphosate that is sprayed every four months in our neighborhood is not Elizabeth's body. Body, you got to get it out. Stop storing in the fat tissue. It is making our body lose vitality, lose health. And so I think that part is really interesting too. and then

when the body is rid of a lot of those things when it's draining well and there's not toxicity the body feels safe and we go back to like basic principles of healing you cannot heal if your body does not feel safe and i mean literally if you're in like an abusive scary home yeah you're running from a tiger all the time in your house Your body can't do all of these healing processes that it does in a rested state. But also the body doesn't feel safe when it's full of trash because there's trash there, pathogen load affecting the body. And sometimes when we're pushing the body towards ideal original function, we have to think about like, how can we get it the most safe? And safe includes drainage and detox. And safe also includes you can do a detox and it can make you feel really unsafe because you feel really crappy. And that part is important to think about too. but

I think it's cool Two of me see you. the body become unencumbered by an issue. So I use the example of Lyme with children. and Most of the time we'll have a swollen joint. we'll be able to kind of see the infection is affecting that joint there needs to be drainage locally here We're not going to get a whole lot of movement on the kid's skin issue until there's drainage of the infection from that location.

homeopathy helps us to be able to work backwards drain the lessors go in and support the specific area but we're really like It's kind of a multi-concept. You're not going to get rid of the joint swelling if we don't identify that Lyme is there.

um but homeopathy gives us so many angles to kind of go in and be more strategic as opposed to Here's your milk thistle and your bio support. Good luck on your liver cleanse. Drink your lemon water in the morning. It's just like so much more strategic and magical. So, anyhow.

we talked to last episode about emotions and how direction to cure means sometimes going into things in the past letting go helping the body resolve it's so easy for our clients to understand like resolving.

whatever physical thing I had before. It's a whole nother thing to understand that resolving like emotionally something that's holding us back. So physical and emotional healing or not.

Two things to be separated. One can hold back the other and vice versa, but why do emotions sometimes shift even dramatically? I can think of a few clients. during homeopathic care.

Yep. Because once again, it it is all connected and we are treating, well, we are supporting the whole body. is what we're doing and obviously you know that emotional landscape plays a huge role in our

our Our symptom load, it really does, you know, balancing out that nervous system, working through things that have been suppressed, you know, and that's where I was saying, you know, it doesn't always. feel good you know sometimes we you know our body has been protective to suppress down an emotion um you know but you know for really true healing we do need to often go in there and you know address those things and and move forward in that way um you know

Letting those. those things truly resolve and we can often see like a symptom load then decrease as well. done. you know, as we we clear some of those emotional things too.

Can you think of a client or a client picture example sort of a thing that helps us to understand like The emotional part of it. Maybe somebody who went through. process using homeopathy and got from feeling unwell physically.

but then also got to feeling more themselves or more emotionally balanced and like What can that person look like before or after? like what emotional box what does it look like

Yeah.

Yeah. So, yeah, thinking of a client I had, there was one where, you know, the physical symptoms were we were seeing a lot of reflux. There was like some tingling that was moving around the body, you know, all of that. And then there was still there was the emotional piece there as well. Some anxiety, you know, a pretty significant anxiety throughout their life. And when we went back and looked at the timeline, there was a point in in their life where they were bullied.

And really that that emotional piece kind of set off all of the physical things after that point. And so by going in and and doing the remedies and moving things.

And within a month, very quickly, they were able to come off of all their anxiety medication. The anxiety had had significantly and decreased. um And truly, often they'll say, like, I didn't even, like, they're so used to what it feels like, they don't even realize that they could feel that good.

You do. Hmm.

And so that anxiety piece really lifted. And then so did the symptoms. You know, those things have really resolved as well. So that's, you know, just one example.

But it's, ah it's amazing, because once again, it's all like, that's like the main thing, like, it is truly all connected. You know, and I always tell people, if there's something that you think is important, please tell me, because, you know, you may think it it doesn't make sense, or it's foolish.

But really, if it's, if it's coming up for you, it's probably a very important piece to to your healing.

Yeah. I think that's so cool. And just learning more about remedies and how they can be used for physical complaints, mental complaints. so a lot of

kiddos I see in adults have neurodiversity challenges whether that's ADHD or ADD or autism and so then there's also like emotional processing things that come in there where there are glitches or like stuck points and it's so fascinating to me like I just think in that mirror all the time when I have clients who are like I'm stuck like I just don't really like don't feel like I have a lot of emotion just kind of like flatline I never really cry like I'm just like I'm good But I kind of feel like I should have more emotion.

i don't know and i was like yeah can we find like original thing that like stopped this did you go through a situation where you couldn't have a emotion or your emotion like you couldn't emotions help us like They're there for us to understand, to be little points. Like you get mad, why? Because something is harmful to you or not good. Anger like helps to recruit our power so that we can take care of ourselves or those we love. But NatMirror is made from salt. It's fascinating. You can also bring it in and get a solid emotional release from somebody. Help them to like let go of that big emotional block just so that emotions will freely flow again. if We think about salt is in our tears. And when we use NatMirror, sometimes we see that someone being able to connect more with.

just their emotions and like letting things go so there's just kind of practical stuff like that but even The very, very nice perfectionist kind person in a miasmatic sort of sense, working through remedies.

Around that, like we've seen women come in and their health shifts around relational patterns when they're in relationship with this type of person, their health tanks when they're not. prioritizing themselves and prioritizing everyone around them their health tanks and it's kind of logical but like how do you get out of that process as a woman As a woman, period. As a mom, period. There are remedies that like when we use them in care, people will come in and be like, well.

Got rid of the boyfriend. wasn't good for me didn't like it i feel a lot better and we're like okay and then next session legitimately feeling a lot better body really moving towards more cure because they had kind of a shove in the right direction to get rid of that maybe parasitic relationship that was taking a lot from them and holding their body down so the emotional healing piece

i mean it's probably my favorite part of team meetings is when we go through like oh someone so-and-so did this so-and-so's moving this way so-and-so remembered this from their past and was able to kind of work through it and we direct clients all the time to other therapies and to get support around heavier things but it is fascinating where that intersection of like Obstacle cure can often be an emotional thing and homeopathy can really help push the body in a direction of resolving that emotional pattern that wasn't able to be resolved. so

Wrapping up today, I kind of want to just talk about like People listening to this. I know how it is when you're thinking about a new direction for your own care for your own care um there are little hurdles that come up there are things in our spirit they're like I don't know and then there are also things that we feel like This really feels like something that can be helpful to me. It's a part of my process I've been missing. So what do you wish, Abby, that more people thinking about using homeopathy knew?

could know before. jumping in.

Yep. um like a broken record I feel like everything is connected you know and when we are working with the body I mean really homeopathy works with your healing ability it is working with your body and so we are You know, I just want people to understand like they really can experience healing and it's probably going to be even deeper than they. expected.

you know. I mean, just, yeah, we see a lot of things where they didn't think, you know, I didn't think this would shift, you know, or I've had this thing so long. Like, they're okay with just maybe these things shifting, you know, but. Yes. Like we can see just some unbelievable things move.

Okay, you kind of answered my next question, but I'm still going to ask it anyway. So what encouragement would you give somebody who's afraid that their symptoms, their past care, their past like health and wellness? processes or working with practitioners.

means that for the future, it's just like failure. like They're not going to get better. They're not going to heal. It's not. going to be something that they can do healings too much what is homeopathy in that part of our process offer them.

Yep. So there's a saying, you know try everything else. Try homeopathy. And I would say, like, that would be a good thing because, you know, we can, you know, you may have tried everything and you think that you've done it.

Maybe you've even tried homeopathy. And so sometimes you just need a different set of eyes on it.


Sometimes, you know, you just need a different approach with it as well. I mean, and, you know, a lot of people handle things, you know.

differently as far as homeopaths go. And so I just think there are so many remedies out there. You know, it's it's a matter of us finding the right one. And as long as you're willing to kind of stick with it, you know, I do believe you're going to have healing. I believe that you're going to have movement. You know, it it is ah it's often a layer. We deal with a lot of very complex clients, and so it is often a very layered approach. But, you know, I do think.

Everyone has the ability to heal. that That was divinely put in us, and we have that ability. so

Yes, there's a reason your body is all the time trying to reach homeostasis and balance in all systems in all ways. It's not, healing is not. symptoms going away overnight it's your body being able to move back to that normal process that's in all of us to where our bodies can resolve their own issues. They can close the inflammation loop. They can close the emotional. wound that's open and not been resolved.

and homeopathy really helps us Push your body. to moving back to that function after years of being stuck so i totally agree and really i think homeopathy is the thing that it absolutely pivoted our practice to a place where

We see people people get better who couldn't get better and we see people stay well who haven't been well. And that part makes this job a million times more fun because it is heavy when someone's been sick for a long time. But hope homeopathy really has brought back. the hope.

um and hope that delivers in this work because it use in a different way often with layers and multiple parts and consistent observation our team gets so much progress and healing for clients so thank you for sharing with me all these little nuances that we talk about a ton in care

I hope our listeners really can kind of resonate with whether it's never well since or obstacles to cure or just the direction of cure, all these little principle pieces that we know to be true about homeopathy. So thanks for joining me. And I hope you guys will tune in next week for whatever fun thing we're talking about.