I still have a problem with this concept. In a recent post about lyme disease a poster (Albert, I believe) makes it clear that the common symptoms to a disease (in this case, Lyme) are worthless. I have seen this stated many, many times but it just doesn't register with me. Hahnemann discovered the whole premise behind homeopathy by seeing the common symptoms to the disease(Malaria) when taking the remedy, right? It was the symptoms common to Malaria that he developed and which gave him the idea that like cures like - so where and when did the thinking of throwing out the common symptoms when repping develop?

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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

This is really a tough one! That famous paragraph in the Organon, #153, which is known as
"the strange, rare, and peculiar clause", points out that we'll never find the remedy if we look up symptoms like "headache", "insomnia", etc., because just about every remedy has these things!

However, "Insomnia, wakes at 3 AM", now we've got a remedy! Nux Vomica has this.

OK, now I'm going to give you Steve Messer's speech on common vs. peculiar symptoms:

Farmer Brown has lost his cow. There must be 3,000 cows in this part of Montana! How to find her? Geez, if we only knew what farm she wandered into; because each farm only has, like, 25 cows. Luckily, Gabby Hayes, who sits at the top of the hill and whittles sticks every day, notices everything! So Farmer Brown rushes up to the top of the hill and says, "My cow, I've lost her! Where did she go!" and Gabby says, "I just saw your cow wander into Farmer Bob's farm!"

Now, I ask you, what are the farms? They're the common symptoms! The "diseases": Malaria,
Chicken Pox, Animal bites, etc.

What are the cows? The remedies!

The common symptoms give you the farm.

The strange, rare and peculiars give you the cow!

Farmer Brown goes into Farmer Bob's farm to look for his cow; his choice is now among 25 cows instead of 3,000. How will he know his cow? By a peculiar marking that none of the other cows have.

It's like, your neighbor says, "Barb, do you have anything for insomnia?" You say, "What's the trouble?" He says, "I can't sleep!" (common symptom). "Well, tell me about it." "I wake every night at 3 AM."

Ta-da!

Snoopy

[ 11. June 2003, 03:35: Message edited by: Snoopy ]

In the enuresis case initiated by Dr. Ghazi, the common symptom was appetite and peculiar was bed wetting. The patient also consulted the doctor for his bed wetting problem. The strange and single symptom was bed wetting while dreaming. That was not taken.


If you are trying to understand homeopathic rules then there are no rules except the confused rules.

[ 11. June 2003, 03:46: Message edited by: Khokhar ]

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<b>All the best<br />Khokhar<br />(CAM Expert)</b>

but isn't eating a lot and losing weight peculiar and rare? And more dangerous than wetting the bed while dreaming of it?

Very good, Carol! Yes, eating like a pig and losing weight clearly is peculiar!

Snoopy

Snoopster

Loved your story of the farmer and his cows! Okay, I get the common bring us to a farm that will certainly help us narrow down which cow is our HOWEVER, I so often see homeopaths say that the common symptoms need to completely ignored! That's what i have a problem with.

If we completely ignore the common symptoms then not only do we not get to the right farm and we will then have to check out every cow in the neighborhood, but it also goes against what Hahnemann first did when he discovered this lovely healing modality. I guess that is what drives me nuts. When I see a homeopath say - "oh, fever and fatigue and sore throat are all common symptoms to mononucleosis so we can't use any of these when determining a remedy, we have to find the SRP" I get frusterated. ANyhoo - just drives me banana's farmer Snoopy.

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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

Common symptoms do not need to be ignored: you must be able to glean, from the common symptoms in a case of disease, what is common to the disease. You need to know this information in order to understand the disease process through its expression; you need to know on the homeopathic level what kind of disease you are dealing with (eg. miasmatically); you need to know how this set of common symptoms exemplifies your patient (in other words, they are valuable IN CONTEXT with the rest of the case).

You DO NOT ignore them--but don't waste your time repertorizing them because you will not be choosing relevant rubrics if you do so.

You need to value the disease process/pattern as it occurs throughout the case--that means throughout the patient's extended health history, his own history, the present-day totality of the case, etc. The common symptoms of a named pathology are nice and all, but they will not replace these other important aspects. So be careful to see their value in the context of your case, but don't base your whole case on them, in other words.

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...and deliverance has many faces<br />but grace<br />is an aquaintance of mine

I have a question...when you have lets say a foot problem...and you go to remedies listed under foot...or mind..anxiety...and then you do all the other things..modalities, concos, sensations...does the remedy have to been or should be in the general heading of foot or foot pain, mind..anxiety...and what are those remedies in those rubrics called...in terms of common, general, particulars...I know its not a particular..but you get my drift?

Looking back at han's case...study of mm...he started with head..internal before he went to congestion, etc...so thats the principle that I'm addressing. But what is it called and does the remedy have to be there...can you dismiss any remedy that isn't there...or can rare..etc..supercede this.

Also, general question...when looking up remedies response to heat and cold...in any materia medica...this isn't always clear...is there somewhere where this information is all in one place? Or do you always go the general section...or and also the particular area?

Okay, if the patient's main complaint is a "foot problem", but you take the case and find that the problem started after a particularly defined time or event or occurence, then you would repertorize not on the foot but on the fact that the ailment followed or resulted from this event

eg: ailments from disappointed love
or ailments from mortification
or ailments from anger

or whatever applies

The foot ailment here but only because it resulted from a particular event or circumstance or situation.

Next, think about the type of foot ailment you're seeing in your patient:

eg. foot is swollen, bruised, cold feeling, painful on touch, better with heat and elevation, whatever

or

heel pain, from inflammation in fasciae of heel or from heel spurs; feels very hot to the touch, with marked redness...burning pains.

is there any other occurence of similar symptoms in other locations in the case? Using the second eg.: is there any other example of burning, inflammation, painful soreness anywhere else in the case--perhaps heartburn, or cold sores, or mentally/emotionally (eg. lots of fury or anger, plenty of sensitivity about a person or event)
If so, PAY ATTENTION to the occurences of this theme in the case!
(here's an example, too, where the typical symptoms of a named pathology can still be relevant to your case--someone who suffers from something like plantar fasciitis (inflammation like I described in heel) will suffer burning pains and local heat sensations--these are typical! Yet, if they suffer an emotional "burning/irritability/inflammation/anger as well as other burning pains elsewhere in the body, you would have to think of remedies where this burning sensation is pervasive).

The remedies you choose should include the main complaint pathology somewhere in their proving symptoms. It doesn't have to be high priority in your repertorizing--but it ought to be listed in a rubric which describes the main complaint nonetheless.

[ 11. June 2003, 22:02: Message edited by: Divina ]

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...and deliverance has many faces<br />but grace<br />is an aquaintance of mine