Can anyone please explain the following:

Lately I have been reading several cases of the old masters and this one thing comes out loud and clear.

If homeopathy works on similimum then why do we see failures in some remedies working only later to find out that "oh, that one symptom" was missed out and when it is taken into account after retaking the case and the remedy changed, then it works. I am sure practicing homeopaths must have experienced the same at one time or the other.

Doesn't this imply that similimum holds only for that ONE symptom which holds the key to the entire picture or the totality. So if you are able to pinpoint that ONE symptom you don't need anything else at all. This makes homeopathy a "precision science" as it won't have its effect unless the key symptom "ONE" is covered in the remedy of choice.

The way finding out of the similimum and the totality of symptoms is being carried out at the moment is flawed inherently otherwise we would be seeing 100% response to the remedies being prescribed. Cure or no cure, that's a separate issue.

If this assumption is correct, what is that flaw?

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The problem is that "ONE" symptom probably doesn't points to only one remedy. Then you need again to use all symptoms to discover what is really the right remedy.
So, have to go back to the whole picture. Without it you will never find the similimum

Best wishes

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Dinis S Luis (DHom)<br />Classical Homeopathy<br />Diplomaed by "The School of Homeopathy", Devon, U.K.

The totality will refer you to a set of remedies which "might" cover that disease.

How to identify that ONE symptom for a particular patient which satisfies the similimum completely.

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The problem is that the "one symptom" can actually be understood and perceived several different ways. Subsequently they are described in different ways; also, they can be perceived as signs of very different pathological processes--indicating that very different mechanisms in the body can all produce that one symptom.

So in order to truly understand that "one symptom" and its existence and meaning in the case properly, you truly have to understand it properly in its context.

Meaning you have to understand that whole totality in order to pick the right remedy.

[ 28. July 2003, 13:46: Message edited by: ChaChaHeels ]

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There might not be ‘one’ symptom in a given case that is highly decisive, instead there might be any number of par 153/164 (characteristic) symptoms, or there might be none.

It is true that the old masters employed remedies with magnificent precision, because they adhered to the principles; understood what defines disease; employed an order of importance of symptoms, characteristics; & knew their MM, of fewer remedies but with which they were intimately acquainted.

No matter what books you are using, there needs to be a systematic order of importance as to how the disease symptoms are arranged, prior to repertorization, as this is vital to choosing the first rubric correctly, it being what determines the group of remedies to be considered as contenders. Interpretations differ as to what constitutes this importance.

As indeed they differ as to what qualifies as disease.
Until this particularly fundamental job of sorting disease from that which is non-disease can be accomplished with clarity, the chances of finding similitude remains an exercise in ideas about disease , as opposed to that which deals directly with the actuality of disease & to which a precise method can be applied. And I think that is the biggest flaw today.

There are various components that make a good prescription:
1. Knowledge of the materia medica and characteristic indications of remedies.
2. Taking a good case history that obtains all the required characteristic symptoms in terms of location/sensation/modalities and concomittants (which are most often mind symptoms and physical general symptoms).
3. An ability to pick out what is characteristic in the picture presented here for futhur analysis which also includes a correct interpretation of these symptoms for repertorial analysis.
4. MAking the appropriate prescription by refering to the materia medica of the group of remedies presented.

Often good prescribers may falter in one of these steps which results in a partial prescription that does not deal the the problem completely. But even then, that partial remedy brings out furthur what is characteristic, "the ONE" symptom and allows one to then make the right choice of remedy.

Being vigilant, dose by dose to notice whether one is on the right remedy/similimum helps to avoid suppressions and also allows for the second prescription at the appropriate time.

HOpe this give you a clearer idea of the process.

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Hi,

I don't know if this experience is applicable to the thread but passing it along.

Last fall sibling orphaned infant squirrels were brought for rehab. Three died on arrival. The surviving male took formula well but arched his back during feedings and had a head tilt. (Remedies arn and hyp on arrival.) When his eyes opened at about five weeks and movement would normally begin, it was apparent he was suffering some type of paralysis. Symptoms: quivering/shaking, falling to left attempting to stand walk, head bent to left, circling to left, sleepless through night (very rare in a squirrel). Over several months tried bell, caust, lach, both and rhus t with only slight improvement in shaking and head tilt.

He was unable to stand or walk, learned to drag himself on his back (not on his side as one would think) using the wires of the cage. He ate lying on his side. Since this seemed permanent, he was settled into handicap equipped quarters with several hours a day out of cage exercise periods. (Pretty sad to see but he had great good spirits about it all.)

Used all kinds of rubrics to try to find a remedy to help including not only the physical problems but also the night restlessness, thirtlessness, loved being handled/company, to no avail.

Nine months after his arrival and certain he was permanently paralyzed, I was treating an adult squirrel who came in paralyzed with calc phos and decided to give him a dose at the same time. His homeopathic treatment had been abandoned months before. He was given a few drops of calc phos 12C........and late that day, during his "exercise" period, he pulled his hind legs under him, belly to the floor and tried to stand up! He had never before even attempted to move on his belly, let alone try to push himself up with his hind legs. Absolutely nothing else could have brought about that event other than that one dose of remedy a few hours earlier.

A few days later I read a post on Dr. B's board by an Indian homeopathic doctor about a young boy he treated with hemophilia using calc phos. He prescribed it because the boy was "late reaching his milestones" while growing up (not a direct quote but close). I hadn't understood why calc phos had performed the miracle on the squirrel but reading the Dr.'s post sent me to the file where I found the very first line of entry, the day the little guy arrived, noted he was "emaciated and undersized for his age"! I had forgotten!

I was so busy seeking remedies for his immediate presenting symptoms so obviously caused by trauma, that the first two lines of entry, re size and emaciation, were passed by completely. His entire case and potential for recovery were in those first two lines in his original case notes....minutes after arrival, it seems to me now. The sad part is, I almost routinely give calc phos to orphaned squirrels fearing the formula may not be sufficient. In this case, got carried away with such dramatic symptoms and skipped past the most important.

Long way around the barn, I know. He was changed to calc phos 6x (not cell salt), one dose daily for about a week with continuing improvement. Then dosed only when improvement seems halted for a week or so. He can now climb (half way up a tree trunk...bad, bad boy!), runs and plays (almost) like a normal squirrel.

This is an example of how NOT to do it. As happy as I am about this good turn for the squirrel, it is an example of missing the boat in case taking, or applying properly what is there. Along with the question of what might have been if he had been given calc phos on arrival. Or, if I had gone back to those early records and really *focused* from word one.

(Unfortunately, the adult paralyzed squirrel who was being given calc ph intentionally when the little one got it as an after thought, remains paralyzed.)

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Sometimes on Earth, you can find something that resembles a little piece of Heaven. And sometimes on Earth, a little piece of Heaven can find you.

Thanks for the replies.

How do we learn to "employ an order of importance of symptoms". Which book teaches this with clarity.

How do we get the "ability to pick out the characteristic in the picture". Is this obtained through experience.

Why do I feel that there is a lack of a scientific way of doing it so that following a fixed protocol can lead you down the way with accuracy.

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Don't take life too seriously, it aint permanent.

GPM, that was a great story! I feel humbled because I don't think I ever would have thought to give calc-p.! I'm still not quite sure how you knew, or how you feel you SHOULD have known, given as you said the grotesque symptoms the squirrel was presenting with.

Snoopy

Because these parts of practice--knowing what needs to be cured, knowing what is most important in the case--is the "art" part of medicine.

No matter what medical education you have, this part has to be developed personally, from your own ability to perceive and understand the person before you. This part is not "scientific" in any medicine. That's just the reality. You either have it and can develop it, or you don't.

Hahnemann gives a really good bit of advice to you, however: you have to be unbiased in your observation, and very curious to find out more about the being before you. These are pretty useful words to you if you've "got it" and wish to develop it.

You can develop your ability to observe the patient in case taking. But you have to have the kind of curiosity, analytical thinking, and trustworthiness needed to get the patient to show him/herself to you. Once you have all this information, you will be able to tell what the most important symptoms are in the case, how to find rubrics for them, how to select the best remedies for your patient. It's something you have to learn only via practice, and its something you can learn only if you have the ability to understand the patient as a whole person. You can't simply apply a "set protocol" for it--and this reality isn't, as I said, exclusive to homeopathy. Conventional medical docs have to have it to use in their case taking, too.

[ 29. July 2003, 12:18: Message edited by: ChaChaHeels ]

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