I am a student homeopath and I have been also seeing a homeopath for several months. The doctor diagnosed me as having IBS and I have had various symptoms over the last 2 years. (I will not go into my symptoms at this point.)

My homeopath has tried various remedies so far (Puls, Sepia, Carcinosin, and Thuja among others) - none of which seem to have helped. Sepia seemed to make me a tiny bit better for a short while but then quickly went back to usual.

I felt that Lycopodium was a possibility as it seems quite a good constitutional fit (I have a fear of doing new things, failing in public etc) and also it fits the symptom picture quite well.

However, I have taken Lyc 200c a few days ago and have had a headache on and off, sore throat, terrible memory and my legs feel like I have pulled something at the gym!?! (I have done nothing in the last few days which could have caused this).

I had read before that Lyc can cause severe aggravations but dismissed it because I am taking it myself and not giving it to a patient.

I did a bit more research on Lycopodium from different sources today and found that feeling of stretched hamstings were in the provings along with the other things I am suffering.

Anyway, to get to the point, I would appreciate opinions on the following questions:

1 Is this me proving the remedy or just an aggravation?
2 If it is a proving do I need to Anti-dote the remedy now - will it mix the case up further if I dont?
3 I really want to ride the symptoms out and wait to see how the picture looks in a month or two (because the aggravation is managable and I am sure this is the correct remedy)- but is this advisable
4 If this is an aggravation, might that be a good sign (although obviously, not the ideal situation)

Help would be much appreciated

Kind Regards

Lou

hello lou,
it's either the right remedy too high or the wrong remedy.
you need to wait it out, since you say it's not so bad you need an antidote, to see how things settle. the best outcome is that all the aggravations pass and your pre-existing symptoms are ameliorated.
do not redose.

I agree with Anna, though maybe it will give you pause the next time you automatically go for a high potency in a chronic case.

A 12C once a day, a 6C three times a day, a 9C twice a day, even an LM for those who know how, it all works just as well--especially in water with succussions before each dose as stated in the Organon--and the great thing is that if it's a mistake, the wrong remedy, etc., it is easily corrected without putting the patient through suffering and uncertainty.

Snoopy

You have a good point Snoopy. I have noted your method of prescribing before and will certainly try that method. I think I need to try different things and see which works for me.

At the moment I am just at the start of my journey and have learnt alot from this lycopodium incident (in future I will not automatically think, chronic, lets start with 200c) - lucky I am not let loose on patients just yet!!

Dear Louise,

you are proving the remedy if the symptoms are new. You are aggravating if the symptoms are old or current ones.

An aggravation may mean the remedy is right,and it is attempting to cure. It may have been too strong, but there is no way to tell that will happen until you use it. Aggravations are nothing to worry about if they naturally run their course and are curative.

An aggravation can happen in sensitive patients even when the remedy is not curative. You may be sensitive, and the aggravation may have no beneficial result. It still should not be interfered with, as there is no way to know until some time passes (a week or two).

A proving is of less use to you physically, but of great use educationally. I have taken lots of remedies I did not need, and learned much from the (unpleasant) experience.

It is important not to antidote the symptoms if there is a possibilty they are acting to cure you.

Also, do not fear the 200c - I often start with them, and get no more aggravation than I do with 30c or 1M. It is a superstition that Lyc 200 aggravates more than other remedies.

__________________
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.

Dear David,
I have been following this post with interest as I happened to be treating one of our cats with Lyc. The cat has been in serious kidney failure for about a year and it became very critical this last month. After giving 2 other prescribed remedies, we gave Lyc 30 and it pulled her right back into the land of the living (nothing short of miraculas!). Anyway she started to slip (increased thirst and urination, although her diarhea did not come back) so I followed with Lyc 200, in the following 2 days she developed a constant hicough. When I went back to the materia medica, it did list this symptom (in my books anyways) so I assumed that it was (from your definition) a "proving" and sure enough it went away after 48 hours. However after reading:
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A proving is of less use to you physically, but of great use educationally. I have taken lots of remedies I did not need, and learned much from the (unpleasant) experience.
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I'm a little confused as to whether or not we are on the right track afterall. I had originally assummed that the 200 potency was too strong for her. Clarification would be most appreciated.
Thanks, Krista

Krista,

I think David just means that he learned a lot every time he took the wrong remedy and got proving symptoms. He made careful note of them so that he'd be able to prescribe them in their proper context in the future. Did that answer your question, or did I miss the point?

Snoopy

Krista,

With regard to your cat, when all you got out of the 200C was a hiccup, did you go back to the 30?

Snoopy

David

I agree that taking remedies to get provings from them might be good for the practitioner to gain better insight into remedies.

However, if I am not in a healthy state, then I dont think I can really learn anything from these symptoms can I??

Lou

Snoopy,
After the hicoughs disappearred, her appetite increased and her thirst / urine output lessoned, so she did improve back to where the lyc 30 originally had taken her before it began to slip. I guess I'm confussed because she is not 100%, if the lyc 200 doesn't finish the cure I assume I need to go somewhere else instead of going even higher (redo the case?). I guess maybe I've answered my original question to David in this post, or not?
Thanks, Krista