i don't think it all need be doom and gloom about a homoeopathic mistake if only there is a good practitioner available. particulary when it is not a history of repeated bungling, just a one-remedy error.
i was just reading a couple of cases by boenninghausen in which he made mistakes at potency 2m that aggravated the patients - one with pulmonary tuberculosis - but he sorted them out with the next prescription and resolved the cases without further trouble.

Snoopy,

I'm really confused as to why anyone would think it's suitable to use high potencies when the Organon is so specific about the perils of overdosing. Of course, in my husband's case it was a mistake that he was given the 1M dose, but obviously this dr uses it or he wouldn't have it on hand.

I found a number of sections of the Organon that specifically warn against the dangers of overdosing. I want to include them here just to find out if I'm misunderstanding them or not.

Sec. 275
If we give too strong a dose of a medicine which may have been even quite homœopathically chosen for the morbid state before us, it must, notwithstanding the inherent beneficial character of its nature, prove injurious by its mere magnitude, and by the unnecessary, too strong impression which, by virtue of its homœopathic similarity of action, it makes upon the vital force which it attacks and, through the vital force, upon those parts of the organism which are the most sensitive, and are already most affected by the natural disease.

Sec. 276
For this reason, a medicine, even though it may be homœopathically suited to the case of disease, does harm in every dose that is too large, the more harm the larger the dose, and by the magnitude of the dose it does more harm the greater its homœopathicity and the higher the potency selected, and it does much more injury than any equally large dose of a medicine that is unhomœopathic, and in no respect adapted (allopathic) to the morbid state; for in the former case the so-called homœopathic aggravation that is to say, the very analogous medicinal disease produced by the vital force stirred up by the excessively large dose of medicine, in the parts of the organism that are most suffering and most irritated by the original disease - which medicinal disease, had it been of appropriate intensity, would have gently effected a cure - rises to an injurious height;2 the patient, to be sure, no longer suffers from the original disease, for that has been homœopathically eradicated, but he suffers all the more from the excessive medicinal disease and from useless exhaustion of his strength.

I'm also concerned about using the 6C ars 3x/day now after reading this:

Sec. 246 Fifth Ed.

Thus, increasing the strength of the single doses of the homœopathic medicine with the view of effecting the degree of pathogenic excitation of the vital force necessary to produce satisfactory salutary reaction, fails altogether, as experience teaches, to accomplish the desired object. This vital force is thereby too violent and too suddenly assailed and excited to allow it time to exercise a gradual equable, salutary reaction, to adapt itself to the modification effected in it; hence it strives to repel, as if it were an enemy, the medicine attacking it in excessive force, by means of vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, perspiration, and so forth, and thus in a great measure it diverts and renders nugatory the aim of the incautious physician - little or no good towards curing the disease will be thereby accomplished; on the contrary, the patient will be thereby perceptibly weakened and, for a long time, the administration of even the smallest dose of the same remedy must not be thought of if we would not wish it to injure the patient.

But it happens, moreover, that a number of the smallest doses given for the same object in quick succession accumulate in the organism into a kind of excessively large dose, with (a few cases excepted) similar bad results; in this case the vital force, not being able to recover itself betwixt every dose, though it be but small, becomes oppressed and overwhelmed, and thus being incapable of reacting in a salutary manner, it is necessitated passively to allow involuntary the continuance of the over-strong medicinal disease that has thus been forced upon it, just in the same manner as we may every day observe from the allopathic abuse of large cumulative doses of one and the same medicine, to the lasting injury of the patient.

Please let me know what you think about this.

Shirl

Being a high dose prescriber I would like to point out that in the paragraph quoted the reference is to overdosing!!!! One dose of a remedy in a high dose e.g. 1M which has been prescibed homeopathically for the totality of the symptoms does not amount to overdosing!! Overdosing is what takes place when the hogh dose remedy is repeated.

<<Excessively large doses of an accurately selected homeopathic medicine, especially if frequently repeated, are, as a rule, very destructive.>>

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RSHom - Registered Homeopath

i'm in agreement with david's comment that in the hands of a competent practitioner this is "a necessary step in the curative process rather than a cause for panic."

the case looks treatable but it is too heavy a situation to treat responsibly via the bb. it's a lot to take responsibility for at a distance and without control over the case.

Hahnemann was pretty specific about the dose being the quantity. Too big a dose of a high potency will cause more problems than too big a dose of a low potency. What's important is matching the potency to the disease process, the sensitivity of the person and the strength of the vital force; and even more importantly, having the correct remedy.

__________________
Shirley Reischman

I'm in complete agreement with David on the potency issue, too.

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Shirley Reischman

THANKYOU David! Denise

If suppression is a possibility, this case really needs to be seen in person, not guessed at on the internet - particularly when the patient hasn't been interviewed.

I think its great that this BB can offer help and advice to people in need, and that there is such enthusiastic and compassionate people here, but perhaps there is a need to acknowledge when something is beyond our scope.

Felix,

You're absolutely right in what you say, but the patient (my husband) refuses to see anyone at this point, so I'm trying to figure out if there's any way to help him get through this.

Shirl

Perhaps you could explain to him that, although a homoeopath's mistake caused him harm, it is only a careful homoeopath's eye who will be able to cure that mistake, especially if the Arsenicum was suppressive. And it's pretty hard to see clearly online.

It might be good even if you can just get him to start an email conversation with Dr Leela, or David, or whoever has the experience. They would be able to explain things for him, at least. It must be very difficult for him, being ill and not really knowing how to get well.