When clients meet a homeopath for the first time, they could be surprised by the insistence on the first time symptoms, changes in the body, emotions, reactions manifested or first came to be identified as changes. Most likely, the treating professional homeopath would be looking for a “Never Well Since” event.
In homeopathy, the concept of “Never Well Since” (NWS) refers to a pivotal moment in health history where a specific event—a trauma, illness, emotional shock, injury, medical procedure, miscarriage, grief—marks the onset of a chronic symptom. Professional homeopaths explore the timeline of the complaint, digging into the triggers to the energy imbalance that manifested in the currently observed symptoms.
One of my clients came back from her trip to the Grand Canyon with a runny nose, a symptom already in its 4th year. She had to blow her nose 50 times a day. It was a clear NWS symptom. Another client fell from a concrete staircase in her house at age 32 and she was consulting at age 50 about nausea, memory problems, and wanted to be out of antidepressants. Strikingly, she was unable to recognize her work coworkers if she met them outside of the office! Another NWS that could be tracked to the staircase accident.
James Tyler Kent, one of the founders of classical homeopathy underlines NWS as a key indicator in the hierarchy of symptoms. It is even superseding mental symptoms in the selection of remedies. A NWS symptom takes the highest priority in finding a remedy.
In homeopathic parlance, the symptoms are brought into a rubric analysis, and may translate as, for example:
Generals – convalescence; ailments during – [Event], Never well Since
Generals – History; Personal – [Event]
But usually tracking personal history turns out more convoluted. A single event may not be the cause of the ailment. Take hormonal changes, starting a new diet, a new medication, or never fully recovering from a strep infection. The presenting symptoms can be subtle, appear in different shapes and forms, result in irritability, forgetfulness, putting on weight, onset of new fears (e.g., when driving), back pain, disorientation. The homeopath needs to find how the timeline of symptoms, possibly uncovering what the patient herself forgot.
One of my patients complained of a gradual slowing down, needing to sleep more and more often during the day, inability to take her 2-mile daily walks, mental fog, and heaviness in the legs. In the interview, nothing appeared to have happened. Could it be a tick bite on your long walks? “No”, and no new medication, no dental, no medical procedure, no accident, no grief, no new food, no hormonal change (at 78 years old). 20 minutes into the detailed interview, her daughter reminded her that the family had adopted a stray kitten, found full of fleas. We headed towards insect bite remedies, which solved the puzzle.
Often unknown to the wider public, the Never Well Since concept is a precious analytical tool that professional homeopaths rely on to select a priority remedy.
