Ask a Homeopath: Can I Take More Than One Remedy?

What happens when you mix remedies and when it might actually be okay

Dear Cailee,

Something that confuses me about homeopathy is that some homeopaths use protocols where they prescribe more than one remedy at a time, while others use classical homeopathy and only give one remedy to match the whole picture.

Whenever I look up remedies for myself, I’m tempted to take one thing for headaches, another for period cramps, and something else for my joint pain.

Can you explain why some homeopaths use only one remedy at a time, and whether it’s ever okay to take more than one with success?

Signed,
Curious & Confused

Dear Curious & Confused,

I totally hear you. When I was first getting into homeopathy, I remember doing the same thing - Googling *homeopathy for menstrual cramps* or *homeopathy for acid reflux*. I treated homeopathy like a supplement or an herb because it was something I was already familiar with. If something hurt or felt off, I looked up a remedy and gave it a try.

And honestly, I got really mixed results. Sometimes it helped a lot, sometimes a little, and sometimes it didn’t do literally anything. I didn’t know what potency to use, how often to take it, or even what I was actually asking the remedy to do. I almost gave up on homeopathy right then and there!

It wasn’t until going to homeopathy school that I realized the ways in which I was missing the mark and confusing the heck out of my body.

It makes complete sense why you’d want to take a different remedy for every symptom you’re experiencing. That’s how we’ve been trained to think - especially if you’ve used herbs or supplements before. But to really understand why we typically use *one* homeopathic remedy at a time, we need to zoom out and look at how homeopathy works.

Unlike a supplement or herb, which adds something to the body—like calcium, B12, or burdock root - homeopathy doesn’t add anything material. It’s not giving you a nutrient or blocking a pathway. A remedy is energetic in nature. It’s offering the body a message - a nudge - asking it to self-correct. When the remedy is well-chosen and matched to your whole picture, that nudge is usually enough to set healing into motion.

You can think of the remedy like flicking the first domino. When you flick the right one, the rest fall into place on their own. The body does the healing.

Now here’s where we get into your actual question - using one remedy at a time vs. taking multiple. You can imagine that if you're sending a very specific signal to the body with a well-matched remedy, you want the body to clearly receive that message. If you start giving multiple remedies at once, that signal can get distorted or even muted.

The body might not know what to prioritize. Should it help with liver function? Migraines? Depression? Fatigue? Anxiety? The remedies might even contradict each other. Not all remedies work synergistically. When you take more than one remedy at once, you're giving the body a mixed message - and it shows in the results. You might feel a little better, or you might not feel anything. It becomes harder to know what worked, what didn’t, and what to do next.

When I’m working with someone constitutionally, I’m always looking for the common thread running through their entire experience. That thread leads me to the core of the imbalance their body is expressing. And if I can find a remedy that touches that core, a lot of the other symptoms just start falling away - without needing separate remedies for each one. That’s the beauty of using one well-matched remedy at a time. It does more with less.

That said, I also meet my clients where they’re at.

There are definitely times where I’ll prescribe a second remedy alongside a constitutional one. Usually this happens when something chronic also feels acute - like intense pain, a flare-up, or a strong emotional or physical stressor.

I’ll give one remedy for the deeper pattern, and then offer a second one to take as needed for support. This can be especially helpful if someone is on medication or navigating something overwhelming and needs extra relief along the way.

Other times, instead of a second remedy, I’ll offer a cell salt. Cell salts are gentle, low-potency mineral supports that often play beautifully with a constitutional remedy. They can round out the case without overloading the system.

In acute situations—say someone breaks a bone—I’ll sometimes use more than one remedy too. Maybe Symphytum to help the bone knit, Hypericum for nerve pain, and Bryonia if the pain worsens with movement. In these cases, the remedies are addressing very localized and specific needs, and the body can easily distinguish between them.

So while the classical “one remedy at a time” approach is ideal, it’s not dogma. The goal is always to do the *least* needed to initiate a response - because the body actually tends to respond best when you give it just enough, and no more.

Less is more. But sometimes more than one is called for. It’s all about intention, clarity, and supporting the body’s innate wisdom.

-Cailee

To work with Cailee and book an appointment for homeopathic care please visit www.theripenedheart.com