thanks for your help and input, kkrista and divina.

i suppose i complicated matters by asking two somewhat unrelated questions at the same time.

when i went to my homeopath for the very first time, it was for cold sores, she took my entire history and decided upon Nat-M. it helped tremendously to reduce the frequency of their occurence as well as their severity when they did arise. and as you note, divina, in the rare instances when i do get cold sores again, taking the Nat-M not only get's rid of the cold sore even quicker (it used to take 2 weeks, then 3 days after Nat-M, and now 2 days) i feel like it's very much reducing the symptoms. ie, a year after taking Nat-M, if i got a cold sore, it'd dry up in a day as opposed to 4 or 5, and then would heal up in another 2 days, but now, after taking Nat-M each time a cold sore pops up, i don't even see any cold sore 'bubbles', the little pus-like thing that used to take a week or so before it would dry up. anyways, lengthy description aside, i feel like it's helping to make future breakouts even less symptomatic. is it bad to use homeopathic remedies that way? i'm following directions, not self-medicating. i asked this question initially because i had a cold sore again, my homeopath suggested i take 200c and then 30c, but i didn't have 200c on hand at the time, so i was worried that it was bad to take 30c and then 200c and then 30c again.

during my most recent visit, i went in regards to a few seperate problems, and that is where the apis / graphities were recommended. the apis is for finger swelling in my right hand, and the graphities is for my reoccuring throat/tonsil issues, extremely flaky scalp (not dandruff), bad memory, and a few other issues. my homeopath suggested, after i called her, that i stop the apis until i finish the graphities.

i understand that it's possible to give one remedy at any one time, but is it typical for a patient to come in with say 5 to 6 different symptoms / problems? and in that case, would it still always be likely that you could cover all of the symptoms with one remedy?

thanks again everyone for your time and input.