My husband saw an acupuncturist yesterday...someone we've both seen in the past and think very highly of. The dr found energy blockages and worked to release those. He also took Mike's blood pressure, which was low. He said the acupuncture would get the energy flowing again.

But today Mike feels much worse. He's so exhausted he can hardly move, he's aching all over, and the migraine is trying to come on. I called the acupuncturist and he said that shouldn't be happening after a treatment. He said there was evidence that Mike was detoxing when he examined him yesterday. Is it possible for the remedy to cause a detox reaction? I'm not sure if we should continue the treatments.

I put in a call to my homeopath, and if she seems confident she can treat Mike without making it worse, I'm going to drag him there if I have to.

Just thought I'd let you all know what's happening. I had to leave work early today cause I'm so upset I can't think straight.

Shirl

I just talked to my homeopath and she thinks that what Mike's experiencing is a proving of the arsenicum. She said it's not the correct remedy for him (as many of you have pointed out) and that she needs to retake his case to find the correct remedy. She believes that this whole thing can be turned around in 2-3 weeks after he gets the correct remedy. So I went ahead and set up an appt. Mike seems willing to comply, especially when I told him that she said this could go on for many more months before it plays itself out.

Please...for those of you who pray, would you pray that this works? If Mike doesn't get better soon, he could lose his job as he's not tenured yet. I'm so scared...

Shirl

Dear Shirl,

I think that all of us think that Mike is proving Arsenicum. It's exactly the case as described by Hahnemann in paragraph 276 of the Organon which you quoted earlier.

"LM" is a Roman numeral--50,000. It means there is one drop of substance (e.g. Arsenic) for every 50,000 drops of water at the start of the potentizing process. With the C scale, there would be one drop of Arsenic in 100 drops of water. So, to Hahnemann, this meant the energy in the LM's was spread out and less intense than with the C potencies, gentler, in other words.

Yes, we all hope and pray that your homeopath knows what to do in this situation! David said this debacle has nothing to do with the potency used, it was simply poor case management. I'd like to know what there is to manage when you give one dose high and wait a month for the follow-up? What is to manage? If there's a mistake, a proving, for instance, clearly, no one knows what to do about it!

The safe alternative is to give low daily doses so that the case can be managed; by adding more water, by lowering succussions, by giving more or less often, by stopping, by changing remedies; all of this falls under "management". You can't manage a dose that's been given too high; Mike's doctor didn't even try! We, here, have all been scrambling to come up with something.

Nobody really knows what to do, that's why this is a really bad system. Yes, it does work most of the time, but what do you say to Mike? And "Frostbite" (who says she's been proving a remedy for 12 years), what do you say to them; that they're expendable because they don't fit in? "We're sorry but we can't change our practice because of you." Why not? Many homeopaths have actually done just that. They've decided that they don't want to cause aggravations anymore, people are coming around. Dr. Timothy Dooley, for example, who wrote Beyond Flat Earth Medicine, gives 12C's daily instead of starting every case with 200C or higher. Steve Olsen, a frequent conference presenter, gives a 30C every third day because he gets results without causing aggravations.

I realize you can just as easily aggravate on a low potency, but you can stop them, that's the difference. In other words, you can manage them.

Hahnemann says in the Organon
in #249 b., "There can never be any case in the practice of a well-trained, scrupulously careful physician in which he would have to give an antidote, if he starts--as he should do--with the smallest possible dose of his well chosen medicine because an equally small dose of a better-chosen medicine would correct any mistake he might make."

I write this despairingly, knowing that people will say, as they always do, "Hahnemann wasn't referring to potency when he used the word dose ." People have decided on a narrow definition of "dose" which allows them to go on prescribing as usual. Clearly, Hahnemann was referring to anything that might impact the vitality too forcibly, that was his point. What could be more clear than his paragraph 161: "...but when long-acting medicines are to overcome an old or very old chronic disease, none of these apparent exacerbations of the original disease should be allowed to take place during the treatment." He goes on to say that if your dose is small enough, and put in water, and succussed before each use, you won't get these aggravations. In fact, he says you get the exact opposite, "A sense of greater ease, composure, mental freedom, higher spirits and returning naturalness. The very beginning of aggravation, on the other hand, is indicated by the opposite--a more constrained, helpless, pitiable state." (253) How can Hahnemann be more clear?

Snoopy

[ 18 July 2002, 06:32: Message edited by: Snoopy ]

Yikes!

I hope Mike will go to see your homeopath because this is too much for you to handle alone, and I would hope your homeopath knows about the LM potencies, because I think everyone here would agree that Mike is very hypersensitive, exactly the kind of person Hahnemann developed the LM's for. Since you have a 6th ed. Organon, you can read about the LM's starting at paragraph 270.

I wish I could comment on acupuncture, but I can't. Maybe someone else here will be able to.

I have my fingers crossed!

Snoopy

P.S. Shirl, I noticed yesterday you said his first response to the acupuncture was improvement. Is it possible that the treatment simply wore off? Or do you think he's somehow different than before?

Snoopy

Hi Snoopy,

Actually, Mike did feel what he described as a release of energy when the dr was working on him. But the dr said that his hands and feet were hot and his tongue was red, meaning that he's detoxing something. The dr is a traditional chinese dr and doesn't understand homeopathy, so he sees the remedy as an herb with toxic properties in an overdose. Right now I'm not sure if we should continue the acupuncture or switch to homeopathy, but I guess you can't do both at the same time, right?

Today Mike felt like he had the flu (but he doesn't). He says he's getting little canker sores inside his lip just like he does when he's got a viral infection.

My homeopath says that she's found that people have fewer and less severe aggravations in the medium range potencies. She says that if you go too high or too low, then you tend to have more problems. She gave me a 200C carcinosin on my first visit. Could you explain to me again the LM potencies? I'm too exhausted from all this to do any research at this point.

Thanks,
Shirl

[ 18 July 2002, 00:52: Message edited by: Shirl ]

You've made a good point, Snoopy, in saying that even if an aggravation is caused by a low potency, it won't be as lasting as it will be with a high potency. The higher the potency, the deeper the remedy goes into the system, right? At least that's what I've been reading. This makes it all the more stubborn and difficult to reverse.

On a positive note, Mike said this morning that for the first time his legs didn't feel so weak. He also didn't sleep well last night and he's been sleeping way too much since this whole thing started, so we're thinking that his body is throwing it off finally. I think the acupuncture helped afterall. He's getting an acupressure/reflexology massage this morning too, and then more acupuncture on the weekend so if he seems to be making a definite turn around, we'll cancel the appt with my homeopath. Neither one of us wants to risk it if he's doing better.

Anyway, thanks for the support!

Shirl

I'm coming here in the middle of things...haven't read all the posts but as a massage therapist...its pretty important to drink lots of water after a treatment and the next day if one is detoxifying.

Thanks Carol! My massage therapist is real good about stressing the importance of staying hydrated after treatment. And since Mike is detoxing anyway, it will probably be extra important in his case.

Shirl

Snoopy,
I think the repeated doses with no waiting that resulted in exacerbation of symptoms might be part of what David was referring to... Denise