Using myself as a guinea pig, I would like to ask...
Working with different Homeopaths I found each likes to work with different potencies.
I once saw a women who used 10M consistantly.
I recently took a 200C of Lycopodium with more aggravation than I would have liked.
I have been told that the higher the potency the more etheric the remedy (works more on emotional/mental/spiritual levels).
I'm curious if one would have less aggravation as well with the higher remedies?
Finally, when do they stop working directly on the physical level?
Curious...
Mark =)

__________________
Peace

Dear Mark,

The thing with high potencies is that you have no control over them. They last for a long time, so an aggravation or a proving of a 10M might feel very frightening to the poor soul who is overly sensitive to the remedy; whereas, a proving symptom on a daily low potency can be controlled by stopping the remedy and taking less often.

I wouldn't hesitate to give a 10M to someone who had just suffered a fright, because the potency will wear off quickly. Someone in a car accident may need repeated doses of
Arnica 10M. But, if you have a chronic disease like arthritis and gave a 10M, I would think that to be a poor match. Starting at a 6C three times a day, or an LM/1 once a day might be gentler and more appropriate.

Snoopy

Mark,

I just read your other thread, and I think you've answered your own question: You took a Lyc. 30C and had an aggravation. You then took a Lyc. 200 and had an even worse aggravation. These remedies get stronger as they go up. That doesn't mean that you won't find the odd exception from time to time, but as a guideline, it would have been a reasonable, safe assumption that if a 30C caused an aggravation, it would not be wise to take a higher potency of the same remedy.

Snoopy

Mark,

I'm sorry to keep writing! I just noticed you asked, "At what potency do the remedies no longer work on the physical plane?" The answer is, a high potency will always cover the physicals. The worry is that it may affect the patient so strongly that he may not have the vitality to mount a curative response to the power of the remedy. A famous homeopath once said he'd be safer in a room full of people fighting with knives than to be in the hands of a high potency prescriber.

Snoopy

[ 22 December 2001: Message edited by: Snoopy ]</p>

Even so, there is always a "right" potency, and experienced homeopaths get a feel for finding it. At the right potency, there is no aggravation. But it can be hard to choose. I knew of a case of a very depressed woman who said she was so depressed because when the sun came up each day her face would begin to burn- even if she kept the blinds shut. The burning was severe. She could not go outside in the daytime hardly. The homeopaths kept giving her Nat m 30 and 200 for the depression for months, but it never helped. She kept saying that the depression was CAUSED by the sun burning her face. So finally I suggested she take a 6c, since Nat m was obviously the remedy, and that worked! The depression lifted when the physical was treated. Why the 30 and 200 didn't help the physical, I don't know, it was just an exasperated last try to use the 6. It was just right in the case. (Sorry nothing about aggravations in this case..........)

__________________
Kescah

Dear Kescah,

You may be right that experienced homeopaths have a feel for these things, but until such time as a person has experience, there have to be guidelines that one can feel confident in following.

I think your example shows what I've believed to be true for a long time, namely that often the remedy is missed because of our prejudice against low potencies.

Snoopy

The remedy must be more precise the higher you go in potency - this is why the wrong remedy stops working as you ascend the potencies. This is also why low potencies tend to work frequently for common conditions (nat-mur for cold sores, all-c for colds, sil for splinters, led for insect bites etc), but not so good once you go to 30c and above.

If I am convinced of the choice of a remedy by many peculiar specific symptoms and the generals confirm this, whether they are mental or physical, then a high potency will work. If the case is full of vague generalised symptoms, once again mental or physical, then a low potency will aid the case. Mental symptoms are the aspect of the case least able to be hidden from us, but have no special intrinsic value when it comes to potency.

Aggravations occur for lots of reasons - potency being only one. I have seen many people aggravate on 6c or LM1. I have seen patients experience no aggravation at all on 1M. The sensitivity of the patient, the reactivity of the illness, the degree of pathology, the number of doses, the age of the patient, the particular remedy that patient needs - are all factors.

The mental/emotional/physical levels are intellectual structures we create to classify and understand cases, but they have no real borders. I have treated depression with 12c, and intense physical conditions with 10M.

Divya, Sankaran's wife, states that the more suppressed the feelings in the case, the higher the potency. The more aware the person is of their feelings, the lower. If someone strongly denies they have a particular problem, which they obviously have, then 1M is appropriate. If the person is very aware of the problem and discusses it frankly and with ease, then 30c is more appropriate. I have only just started to experiment with this approach, and it does seem to have some merit.

__________________
David Kempson.<br />Dip.Homoeopathic Medicine.<br />Lecturer Australian College of Natural Therapies (Brisbane Campus)<br />Member AHA, AROH, HMA<br />Member Australian Homoeopathic Association. Member#0442.

David - that point from Sankarans wife is quite interesting, thanks for sharing.

I am amazed that anyone is ever healed by homeopathy when so many factors have to hit the mark just so in order to cure. The correct remedy, the correct potency all dependant on one persons choice based on anothers description of themselves. Aaargh, how does it ever work?

__________________
Man, do not pride yourself on your superiority to animals. For they are without sin and you in your greatness defile the earth by your appearance on it and leave traces of you foulness after you. Dostoyevsky

Hi Barb, you asked:
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Aaargh, how does it ever work?<hr></blockquote>

Well, either with 'brute force and ignorance' or,

there is always 'skill and cunning'.

But seriously , I ask myself this at times, too...there is heaps to learn and getting qualified isn't the mark of experience is it?

Ahhhhhhh, we trundle on...

Lisa

__________________
"The significance of a fact is measured by the capacity of the observer."
Carroll Dunham

DavidJK

I am curious about what you wrote with regards to the work of Sankaran's wife and the lower potencies being used for cases where the client is quite aware of their illness. In your own practice have you found this to be effective? Have there been times where you had given a 200c or higher and if it didn't work then when with the same remedy in a 30 or 12c? ARe the lower potencies given just once or are they daily doses or does it depend on the case?

Thank you
Barb

__________________
Man, do not pride yourself on your superiority to animals. For they are without sin and you in your greatness defile the earth by your appearance on it and leave traces of you foulness after you. Dostoyevsky