Hercu Method - a more detailed example
and a response to another posting.

Case Taking Guidelines

Questionnaires can be dangerous but may also be very helpful after you have taken the main case to look for confirming symptoms. However, it is more important to find the true chief complaint and to ask questions of how they deal with it and what it leads them to do. It is the excessive use of energy in response to stress that prevents the body from healing itself. Reduce the responses to stress and the body will heal. The simillimum will restore the imbalance in the vital force by reducing the excessive use of energy as a response to the stress that caused the illness.

Observation: Often times the true chief complaint, what really needs fixed can be observed. Finding the true chief complaint is critical. A patient may come in and shake your hand in a weak way, may not make direct eye contact and when you ask them why are you here they say "I get these terrible headaches and as they say it they laugh and act awkward. It should become obvious while the headache should be analyzed in terms of modalities, etc, the fact the patient acts this way is peculiar and in the end may prove to be a main segment of the case. If this is not an obvious issue upon observation it will come out in questioning as noted below, so you do not have to find key symptoms by observation but I state this to show how important it can be.

Follow the energy and what the worse thing is about the chief complaint. Ask what is the worse thing about the headaches? Then ask why that is so bad for you? Then ask more questions until you have exhausted all possible responses or find similar ones to confirm it is a major issue for the patient.

Then ask what they do when they have a headache, as this will give you their response to the stress of the headache, which the response is one thing that will need fixed. They may say they want to be alone. Ask why and you will find a logical reason to continue to build the case upon.

QUESTIONS YOU WANT TO CONTINUOUSLY ASK ABOUT EACH SYMPTOM:

What is the worse thing about this for you? And why is this so bad for you?

How symptoms make them feel (quality of symptom) and....

What symptoms make them do in their attempt to respond to the stress – the way they use energy to strain is what needs fixed.

And how they get symptoms…

By asking these questions over and over you not only get more symptoms but how the symptoms impact the patient and how one symptom leads to another. This is how you find the deeper state and what needs fixed, and it will form a logical cycle showing the patients response to stress.

SAMPLE CASE TAKING:

40 year old women Chief complaint: Migraines

Lets say a patient comes into your office and says, " I get these terrible headaches and while telling you this she is almost laughing. You realize this person is acting awkward and it is peculiar for a person to think or act like there is something funny about having migraines. Make note of this laughing immoderate and acting awkward or childish, as it is peculiar and very well may be part of the case. But as noted above it is not mandatory that you pick up on this as the case will unfold with proper questioning and this will come out as noted below.

What’s the worse thing about having a headache?

I have to be alone and cannot accomplish things. Why do you have to be alone? Because being around others makes it worse. What’s the worse thing about being around people. I worry how people view me, what they think of me and I get anxious just talking to them. (You can see they are nervous talking to you as well)

They worry how people perceive them and upon asking more questions it is obvious they are (full of cares and worries about many things that build up and eventually (develop migraines, swelling,etc) this leads them to …..

be timid and embarrassed easily around others as it hurts them in some way and you ask questions about in what situations and find out strangers, group meetings, in public, etc, etc so it is a major issue for the patient that leads to make them……

withdraw and constrict or close off (company aggravates, desire to be alone)

So when you are alone how do you feel? They say I feel confused? What’s the worse thing about feeling confused? I don’t feel I know who I am? Why is that so bad? I guess because I start 2nd guessing myself and I do not know how to act. (lack confidence and have confusion of identity) and this leads them to…..ask the question…

What do you do when you feel this way?

I do not like to be alone when I feel this way and need to be in company. Why does that help you? Because talking to others makes me feel I am ok. (They try and do something different to escape this feeling (need to communicate or change- loquacity)

So talking to others helps you but how do you feel talking to others. It helps at first but I feel I can not control myself (loss of inhibition) and it seems I end up feeling awkward and end up saying something wrong/inappropriate and feel stupid (awkward in a forced out shy type way (anxiety talking) )

Question: Well everyone says things they regret, why is this so bad for you?

Answer: it makes me feel like a failure and they become embarrassed again and the worse thing for them as noted above is they have to be alone again and cannot accomplish things and the cycle continues.

At this point you pretty much have the whole case but can now ask questions to find confirmations or supporting symptoms of the grand characteristics or segments above of the main ideas of the patient in terms of their response to stress, how they feel and what it makes them do. Now you ask the questions about how they were raised/family to try and find out why they are timid and act awkward and you will usually find out a logical reason why such as mortification, controlling parent, etc. You can then ask about food cravings, temperatures, family history, sleep and for example stools and sure enough you find yet another key note symptom of the patient and the remedy. When you found out about they are anxious in company and talking to people ask for other times they are anxious. Ask about sex life, stools, etc and in this case you will often find out they have a great deal of anxiety if they have to pass a stool in the presence of others. All of these are keynotes of the patient and the remedy.

This is the summary of the cycle for Ambra Grisea

Awkward or slightly inappropriate behavior > becomes timid and embarrassed >withdraws from state and becomes closed and constricted & (aversion company, anxiety talking) and > becomes confused as to who or what she is and what she wants (lack confidence and confusion of identity) > worries of how people perceive her (full of cares) and worries and things build up inside them (migraines, constipation etc) > tries to do something different to break out of feeling .(desire company and need to communicate but become to loquacious or outgoing ) and eventually says something or does something awkward again and fails in some way.

Once you know the true chief complaint of what really needs fixed, Herscu gives you a method of logical questioning that covers all the standard case taking questions you need to discover such as the etiology, modaliteis, family history, etc and includes new concepts such as the opposite of the chief complaint, the nightmare of the opposite of the chief complaint which are the main reasons or symptoms as to why the patient can not break the cycle and keep doing thinks in response to stress that keep them sick and these are the symptoms that make the case.

I have read in Herscu’s 2 year class and in the “Herscu Letter” 100's of these cycles of remedies and compared to any other materia medica the picture of the remedy becomes crystal clear, includes most of the main symptoms you want to find in order to prescribe with confidence and it is written in modern day terms and symptoms. This gives you an incredible understanding of remedies like nothing else I have read. The logical connection of how one symptom or set of symptoms leads to another in forming a cycle is invaluable and in fact is necessary to find the pattern of the persons response to stress that the patient is stuck in causing chronic illness. The main 4 types of questions to continuously ask as noted above will help find the main symptoms of how the patient uses to much energy in their individual response to stress.

If anyone who knows homeopathy fairly well was to read about 100 remedies and their cycles in terms of what are their true grand characteristics and if a person learns Herscu's method of case taking, not only does there success rate go up, they save a great deal of time in case taking. I cut my time in half as once you find the true chief complaint - what really needs fixed and then build the case around it looking for logical connections of symptoms/main ideas of how the patient is responding to stress on a physical, mental and emotional level. Then, homeopathy becomes almost scientific in case taking and in results! Also his method of compiling symptoms from provings uses this format and again you have a very clear picture of what the newly proved remedy is really about.

Again, I am not an expert at this but have had great success with it and I am only ½ way through Herscu’s, 2 year course. The “Herscu Letter” is invaluable but you have to get through 12-13 letters to really understand what he is doing and all of a sudden it hits you what you are trying to do as a homeopath and it is truly enlightening. Most importantly you will cure many more people quicker and more efficiently.

Sincerely,

John Oljace
Perennial Medicines
HomeopathCuredCases.com