Hello everyone,

I am completely new to this very interesting site and am currently training to be a homeopath.

My question is, in this time of relative freedom in purchasing homeopathic remedies anywhere, is there any danger in it?

Recently I gave my sister Ignatia 30c because it matched her emotional symptoms perfectly, however immediatly after she got an intense headache that matched the 'Ignatia' headache.. her emotional symptoms went, but she felt it was like 'from the frying pan.. ' and is now reluctant to try homeopathy again. Can anyone explain this. The same thing happened to me with a different remedy too.

As most of the remedies that are available from the chemists are 30c or 6c, and the person really required a higher dose, would that affect the higher dose if the person was administered it at a later time?

Hope someone can help my confusion

Morven Brown BRCP

It is precisely because homeopathic remedies have the power to cure that they also have the power to cause harm. That is why they must be used judiciously, according to strict and unwavering methodology (The Organon of Medicine), and with as much care and responsibility as possible.

It is true that homeopathic remedies are available everywhere, but that makes the necessity to be well trained in their use even greater. If you are a new student to Homeopathy, then you already know that it takes quite a bit of in-depth study to prescribe even for a first aid or acute care situation (that is, for something as simple as a minor flu, or a cut finger, or a sprained back from too much snow shovelling). Perhaps in attempting to treat your sister, you've made the first learning error in your studies: you prescribed on her emotional state, without consideration for the totality of her symptoms. So, yes, perhaps her emotional state improved, but she suffered an unnecessary headache--a proving symptom of the remedy she was given. This is not a desirable outcome but it is one that a practitioner learns to avoid with continued study, supervised clinical training, and practice.

Homeopathic remedies are not candy. They are serious medicines which can create a lot of pain and suffering and physical change--but they can also cure. It is great that they are widely available and inexpensive, but people really ought to pay attention to homeopaths who routinely advise that they must be used properly and with caution. Unfortunately, health food store proprietors and drug store pharmacists stock them solely with profit in mind, and don't bother to learn anything about them. They feel that they can be effectively sold with just some rote prescribing information...then people will spend their money on them, go off and take them, experience maybe a little improvement, maybe nothing (after all, its just like taking supplements or herbs, right? Most people don't feel much improvement, especially not right away...so the consumer is used to this effect), the shopkeeper has his money and isn't on the hook for looking after the customer's reactions to the drug in any way.

But treatment with homeopathy involves individualized case taking and continued, individualised case management. Only then is the procedure "safe".

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Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.<br />C.G.Jung

When treated with homeopathy, it's important to understand Hering's Law. It states that cure occurs from the top town, from the center to the perifery, from the more important organs to the less important organs and funtions, i.e., from the mental to the emotional to the physical, and in reverse chronological order. So if her emotional state improved and she got a headache, then the remedy was working. It was probably given in the wrong dose to create such an intense response.

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Shirley Reischman

A hallmark of the correct remedy is that the patient has "a feeling of well-being", a feeling of calm and peace after taking the remedy, eventhough physical discomfort may remain. You often hear patients say, "I still had the headache, etc. but I was able to cope, I was relaxed."

If a person takes a remedy and they become distressed and agitated, it's either the wrong remedy or the right remedy given in too high a potency. If it's too distressing to wait for this discomfort to go away, one can take a dose of the same remedy in a lower potency, or a dose of the exact same potency that caused the problem and it will often cancel itself out. I've done this myself 3 or 4 times; 2 of them were accidents where I thought that by repeating the remedy I'd get better faster, only to discover I had cancelled the remedy out.

Most people can take a 30C of a remedy and either get a good result or nothing at all; but there are those exceptions where something bad seems to happen, and it's good to know how to undo these mistakes, and it's also a good rule of thumb to start an acute case with a 30C as opposed to a higher potency, and if the need for repetitions arises, put the remedy in water so you're not repeating the same exact potency, and succuss 10 times (shake or stir vigorously, in other words) to slightly alter each additional dose in order to prevent a "proving" of the remedy, or a cancellation of the remedy.

Sorry to hear about the Ignatia debacle. Did she have this sense of calm despite the headache? How long did it take for the headache to wear off and how did she feel then?

Snoopy

Doctor Shirley, are you there? I'll try to answer.

A 30C is not an unreasonable potency to begin an acute case. If you gave a 6C, it would have to be repeated often, maybe even every 15 minutes, in water, with succussions, depending on how intense the acute was; and as improvement began, you would begin to back off the repetitions; whereas with a 30C, one dose is often all one would need.

But there are definitely sensitive people out there, and you never really know when you're going to be dealing with one. I always say, "If you get worse, stop the remedy. Call me."

If you're truly concerned about aggravations and provings, starting the case with a 6C in water would probably be the most prudent course, and if there is no reaction, a 12C could then be tried and ultimately a 30C, if the problem is not life-theatening and there's time to try all these potencies.

Snoopy

To digress...I took a 6x nux vomica for an amaurosis type incident where I had to see as I was working on a client giving a massage. I've had several nasty aggravations from this particular dosage...severe constipation(not normally my problem) plus a very bad backache. SNoopy, would you suggest that I take another dose? Its been around five or six days. The backache came after I drank some red wine.

I've seen both success without aggravation and aggravation at all potencies. By dose, I meant both the potency and the quantity. Hahnemann started going up in potency because of the aggravations he got with the lower potencies, but I have seen it both ways. It's an art to match the potency and the quantity (the dose) to the person's state.

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Shirley Reischman

I have gotten aggravations at low potencies. Both followed by ameliioration and not. An aggravation is an increase in presenting symptoms, while a side effect is a new symptom that is part of the remedy picture. I've experienced that, too. But what I wanted to convey was that I have seen aggravations occur at all potencies, high & low. In low potencies, they merely last a shorter length of time. If there is an aggravation without an amelioration, I consider that the person is merely getting worse and it was the wrong remedy. The aggravation at a low potency is especially noticeable in acutes. I tend to not give lows constitutionally unless there is some specific reason why I'm not comfortable with the highs, e.g., someone on dialysis.

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Shirley Reischman

An aggravation frequently happens as part of the curative process - as Shirley has said, any potency can do this, as any potency can cure. I have also observed that higher potencies, have a longer duration of action, both in a postive and negative way. A wrongly prescribed 6c definitely lasts less time than a wrongly prescribed 1M. A good effect from a 6c definitely does not last as long as a 1M though (in chronic cases).This too, however, is dependent on the person's own vitality.

It is important to remember that a remedy has NO POWER except when it interacts with a person's vital force. It is the vital force that produces the reaction, not the remedy.

Potency selection is not made according to the position of the illness. It is made according to the power of the disease (remedy must have greater power) and similarity to the disease (higher potency the greater the similarity). A disease affecting the skin and joints, may still need a 1M or 10M potency, if the case has many peculiars or single symptoms, or it is very intense. A depression may need a 12c if the symptoms are very vague or it is very mild, or the person's vital force is low.

Potency selection may also be made according to your confidence in the remedy (the higher you go, the more certain you are).

Morvan, in response to your question, I have often seen this exact response using Ignatia - the headache comes and the grief goes. Was it grief you were treating, or something else? Does your sister feel it was a fair exchange - would she prefer the emotional symptoms back?

Had she ever had the headache before? If so, the remedy may have cured the tendency to those headaches. If not, then it was a proving symptom - an extra symptom related to the remedy - this happens as a remedy may not fit over her case as a glove does, but was slightly different. Are you aware that the remedy creates an artificial disease state similar to the one the patient has, but stronger, in order to irradicated the natural disease?

One way to avoid this problem, is to warn the patient that this is what happens with homoeopathy. It is normal, to be expected, and in some cases desirable.

[ 29. December 2002, 23:03: Message edited by: DavidJK ]

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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 Carol,

I must admit, taking a poison like Nux Vomica in a 6X would kind of scare me. All of my bad reactions from low potencies have been on potencies lower than 6C; 3X being the worst, and they weren't poisons (Equisetum, for instance), but after the 2nd aggravation on 3X I decided not to use that potency again, whether right or wrong, and maybe this is what Hahnemann was referring to when he talked about aggravations in low potencies; maybe you can go too low! But what were you saying? You took Nux v. 6X for loss of sight? What caused it and why Nux v., had it worked before?

What are your symptoms now that you want to get rid of?

Snoopy