AFter much improvement, my homeopath seems to be giving up after a year. I am less depressed and off of 400mg of antidepressants within a year. My sleep is still turned around and I still cannot make bowel movements, and just today he said that he asked someone about my plight and the only thing he can think of is to give me a higher potency or refer me to a student hyponotist!
IS THIS NORMAL?

Hi Hope,

I don't know about "normal", but if he feels just out of ideas, or unable to see your case any differently, then you are better off that he's up-front about it. But (huh?) why a "student hypnotist"?!?!?!

Where are you? Are there other homeopaths in the area?

Shannon

Hi Hope,

Great that you have made *some* progress. A few strategies for homeopaths for difficult cases--

--first be sure rx has been used long enough and in proper potency

--rule out antidoting from substances; antidoting from unusual geopathic issue/sensitivity in the home or bed (which can also be actual or maintaining cause).

--rule out maintaining cause of family or job situation

--complementary remedy/see Rehman relationships of remedies book

--If mineral rx type pt, use Scholten periodic chart x and y method

--If plant rx type pt, try Sankaran triangulation method

--study remedies for cases in which carefully selected rx fail to act (nosodes, bowel nosodes, sulphur, etc) Op is a big one for constipation and after trauma.

========================
GENERALITIES; REMEDIES; fail to act, when well selected (11) : acon., alum., ambra, arn., bowel nosode; camph., carb-v., carc (2)., laur(4)., mosch (4)., Op(4)., psor.(3), stram., sulph., syph, teucr., ther., thuj, tub., x-ray, valerian.

Fail to act in acute diseases: sulph (3)

Fail to act during coryza: am-c(2), Calc(2), caust, gels(2), hep, lach(3), nat-m, nux-v(3), sulph(2)
=========================

GENERALITIES; REMEDIES; fail to act, when well selected (11) : alum., camph., carb-v., carc (2)., laur(4)., mosch (4)., Op(4)., psor., stram., sulph., teucr., ther., tub., valerian.

Fail to act in acute diseases: sulph (3)
Fail to act during coryza: am-c(2), Calc(2), caust, gels(2), hep, lach(3), nat-m, nux-v(3), sulph(2)

Expanded with a search:
GENERALITIES; REMEDIES; fail to act, when well selected: acon., alum., ambr., am-c., arn., ars., bac-sv., calc., calc-s., camph., carb-an., carb-v., carc., caust., coff., ergot., gaert., gels., hep., lach., laur., lyss., med., morg., mosch., nat-m., nux-m., nux-v., op., phos., psor., pyrog., sep., stram., sulph., syph., tet., teucr., ther., thuj., thyr., tub., x-ray., valer., zinc-val.


--use boenninghausen method with Roger Van-Z's Rep universale.
(sleeplessness/sadness/constipation elimination repertorization to identify candidates, for example)

>>>>>>smaller example with Hope case (using complete 2000): Sadness crossed with constipation crossed with sleeplessness, crossed with basic rubric of rx when carefully selected fail (smaller rubric of the latter symptom):

Elimination: alum., carb-v., carc., laur., mosch., Op., Psor., Stram., Sulph., teucr., tub.

--look for "hidden" etiology which in some cases may be during nonverbal life (early life) e.g. possible shock or trauma which can lead to a very focused etiological remedy for an issue below consciousness. Can go to a psychologist or hynosis, or rebirthing and identify hidden psychological issue that you did not know about and THEN return to homeopath if the hypnotic revisiting or reframing does not begin to resolve.

--train the repertorization to a smaller focus on one or more of the chief complaints e.g. constipation/sleeplessness separately if they appeared at different times, choose the most recent of the complaints, and use modality to select remedy

--look for issues which create the constipation, depression, sleeplessness that are obstacles which homeopathy cannot fully penetrate (change diet)

--written homeopathic questionnaire for pt (make up your own special comprehensive homeopathic questionnnaire that catches any details); AND second different questionnaire for two close friends or partner of pt independently returned) OR have the homeopath speak with your friends, relatives, or partner about you (third party information). Enneagram personality inventory for additional info

--Go to a practitioner of bach or other flower essences and use them until new symptoms appear or the case becomes clearer (this method used by Cornelia Richardson-Boedler).

--visit a chinese medicine prac to identify what the disease is by pulse and five elements diagnosis, and THEN return to the homeopath with new information (Chinese med can help on its own or cure (acupuncture or herbs), but may not be constitutional and permanent)--have chinese practitioner write down and give the pt the chinese dx and what organ meridians and points involved and the condition of the organs and pt overall and these may be helpful esp if certain points are indicated). Can see De Grootes weihe points for ideas...

--other ideas from people on this list_____________

--Below is a post from a while back on this issue

Hope helpful,
A
PS see parts 2 and 3 for more info

==============================
>From a previous post:
GENERALITIES; REMEDIES; fail to act, when well selected (11) : acon., alum., ambr., arn. bowel nosode; camph., carb-v., carc (2)., laur(4)., mosch (4)., Op(4)., psor.(3), stram., sulph.,syph, teucr., ther., thuj, tub., x-ray, valerian.

Fail to act in acute diseases: sulph (3)
Fail to act during coryza: am-c(2), Calc(2), caust, gels(2), hep, lach(3), nat-m, nux-v(3), sulph(2)

Also:
--Ambr- Nervous affections when the supposedly properly selected remedy fails to act (Pulford)

--ang,-Podarthrocace, Abscess of the Ankle-Joint:
Angustura:In a case where none of the very carefully selected remedies seemed to have any effect, this remedy at once arrested the morbid process and brought it to a perfect cure. In this case, the condyles of the tibia were quiteseriously involved, and it was on account of a remark of Aegidi, "Angustura acts especially upon the long bones, " that this remedy was given with so happy a result. (Raue)

--arn-chief remedy for the chronic after-effects of injuries and concussions, which occasionally persist for years; and it may be given for such with the positive assurance that it will afford relief, provided, of course, that the symptoms are not better covered by some other drug. It may be needed as an intercurrent remedy, for defective reaction, under such circumstances, when some other remedy seemingly well indicated fails to act. (The Medical Advance, Vol. XLIX, July, 1911, page 343. "Arnica Montana," by W.H. Freeman, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica, New York Homeopathic Medical College.)

--Bowel Nosodes--Indications and Choice of the Nosode
Bowel nosodes are particularly applicable to the treatment of chronic diseases.
The bowel nosodes can be prescribed on any one of the following indications.
1) Symptom - similarity:
By virtue of symptom similarity between the patient's picture and the nosode picture just as is done in every - day homoeopathic practice. As has already been mentioned, the materia medica of these nosode remedies has been built up by carefully observing the symptoms exhibited by thousands of patients in whom each type of organism was found in the stool, And this materia medica picture can provide the basis for symptom matching and prescription.
2) When the apparently indicated remedy fails:
In a case where the apparently indicated remedy fails to act or there is a lack of response to a previously effective remedy, an intercurrent dose of the appropriate nosode can be prescribed e. g. Morgan (Bach) where Sulph. seems indicatedbut fails to act, Gaertner for Phos., Bacillus No. '7' for Kali c., and so on. The corresponding nosode for each remedy can be looked up from the table ofcollateral remedies given at the end of this booklet. Later the original remedy may be repeated, this time with beneficial response.
3) No remedy clearly indicated:
In a case where several remedies seem indicated but none of them clearly and outstandingly, a nosode can be selected which is related to the majority of these drugs. If a remedy comes out from the "taking of the case" the rule is to give that remedy, but in many cases the choice is difficult and lies within a group of possible remedies. Here, the homoeopath can make use of the published list of remedies associated with the bowel nosodes, and repertorise the group of possibles.
If the majority of remedies which repertorise out appear in any one of the nosode groups that is the nosode of choice in that case. For instance, if a patient exhibits symptoms of Sulph., Calc. carb., Medo., and Nat c., we can prescribe for him Morgan (Pure). In a case where Merc., Phos., and Sil., all seem indicated, Gaertner (Bach) can be selected. Within the Morgan (Bach) group one may even be able to select Morgan (Pure) or Morgan - Gaertner, but again if there is doubt, then the broader type of nosode - Morgan (Bach) should be used.
Extending this principle, if there is no outstanding group of remedies which would decide the choice of a particular nosode, you may start the case off with `Poly bowel (Bach) ' formerly called "P. B. V. " which is the broadest of all the nosodes since it was made from all the non - lactose fermenting bowel
organisms, excepting the Sycotic Co. (Paterson) (P Sankaran)

AMENDED LIST (SEPTEMBER, 1949).

(A) Morgan-Pure (Paterson)

Alumina
Baryta carb.
Calc. carb.
Calc. sulph.
Carbo veg.
Carbo sulph.
Digitalis
Ferrum carb.
Medorrhinum
Graphites
Kali. carb.
Mag carb.
Nat. carb.
Petroleum
Psorinum
Sepia
SULPHUR
Tuberc. bov.

(B) Morgan-Gaertner(Paterson)

Chelidonium
Chenopodium
Hellebor. nig.
Hepar. sulph.
Lachesis
LYCOPODIUM
Merc. sulph.
Sanguinaria
Taraxacum

PROTEUS(Bach)

Ac. mur.
Amon. mur.
Aurum mur.
Apis
Baryta mur.
Borax
Conium
Cuprum met.
Calc. mur.
Ferr. mur.
Ignatia
Kali. mur.
Mag. mur.
NATRUM MUR.
Secale

MUTABILE(Bach)

Ferrum phos.
Kali phos.
Kali. sulph.
PULSATILLA

BACILLUS No. "7" (Paterson)

Arsen. iod.
Bromium
Calc iod.
Ferrum iod.
IODUM
Kali. bich.
Kali. brom.
KALI. CARB.
Kali. nit.
Merc. iod.
Nat. iod.

GAERTNER(Bach)

Calc. fluor.
Calc. hypophos.
Calc. phos.
Calc. sil.
Kali. phos.
MERC. VIV.
Nat. phos.
Nat. Sil. Fluor.
PHOSPHORUS
Phytolacca
Pulsatilla
SILICEA
Syphilinum
Zinc. phos.

Dys. Co. (Bach)

Anacardium
Argentum nit.
ARSENICUM ALB.
Cadmium met.
Kalmia
Veratrum album
Veratrum viride

SYCOTIC Co.(Paterson)

Ac. nit.
Antim. tart.
Bacillinum
Calc. metal.
Ferrum met.
Natrum sulph.
Rhus. tox.
Thuja

FAECALIS (Bach)

SEPIA

Remedies when carefully selected fail to act (continued)

--calc-o-t-Should be thought of when Calc. fails to act though apparently well indicated. Useful in frail constitutions with weakened immune systems: after vaccine damage: after long illnesses of childhood: after any of the childhood diseases that prove particularly severe (& in spite of vaccines). Also of service in the treatment of children born after artificial insemination or hormone therapy - many such children do not respond well to indicated remedies or present confused symptom pictures. (Prometheus)

---Carbo-v-- Sepia, Sulphur and Natrum carbonicum have an all gone sensation at the pit of the stomach worse at eleven AM. The pains of Arsenic are burning, and the dyspepsia of Pulsatilla is especially after rich and fat food. Waterbrash is more characteristic of Nux, while heartburn is more
characteristic of Pulsatilla. Atonic dyspepsia with a putrid taste in the mouth in the morning compelling the patient to rinse out the mouth, with a desire for beer and bitters, and an aversion to coffee will strongly indicate Nux, and when Nux fails to act perhaps the best remedy is Carbo vegetabilis. The tongue of Nux is coated, white usually, and this coating is more on the posterior part; the front half of the tongue may be clean.(Dewey)

--Chamomilla is not a remedy to suggest itself in abscess, yet has proved valuable in promoting the formation of pus in chronic abscesses where Hepar has failed to act promptly, and in making the pains more bearable.(Dewey)

--Chel -I have often cured with Chel. when Lyc. was apparently indicated and failed to act well. (Clarke)

--Diph- When the patient from the first seems doomed, and the most carefully selected remedies fail to relieve or permanently improve.
RELATIONSHIP-SIMILAR TO: Ars., Bapt., Brom., Carb-Ac., Caust., Chlor., Gels., Lach., Mur-Ac., Phos., Sulph.(Lippe)

--Myrica-We can say that all conditions of the liver are secondary to some affection of the heart. Here is the group as I have found it; liver enlarged, tender, sore; stools light - colored; skin jaundiced; pulse irregularly intermittent; ascites; dropsy; nausea and vomiting; the patient is drowsy, dull, sluggish in all his actions.
I want to speak of Myrica in this connection. It is a remedy which has most of the liver symptoms of Digitalis, but it acts primarily upon the liver. In two cases when Digitalis failed to act Myrica the 3rd cleared up the case. This is the only mention I will make of Myrica as I have never used it for any other
condition. (Royal)

--Follic--Overwhelming pressure or self-imposed expectations in domestic, professional, spiritual, religious, or family life can lead to "over-tiredness, with a conflict of loyalties resulting in excessive stress."1 Foubister suggests that if well indicated remedies fail to act for a patient undergoing extreme pressure, Folliculinum may be indicated, at least until the pressures are past. (Foubister, in Inez)

--Gels--A splendid remedy for dysfunctional labor with failure to dilate, GELSEMIUM will usually be suggested by generalized exhaustion with trembling, shivering, or nervous or emotional excitement in anticipation of all that is still to come. In all these respects, its actions on the female reproductive system resemble
CAULOPHYLLUM in every detail and indeed may be even more striking and easier to recognize. When the clinical picture of generalized fatigue and
nervousness is fully developed, or CAULOPHYLLUM seems indicated but fails to act, GELSEMIUM is very likely to be effective. In such cases, GELSEMIUM 30 may be given up to every 15 to 30 minutes as needed. (Moskowitz)

--hep--Acute and chronic colds when Mercurius is indicated but fails to act, or where the patient has been overdosed with mercury formerly.(Clarke)

-- iod-- Endocarditis: Iodium. According to Kafka, if Spigel. has failed to act favorably during twenty - four to thirty - six hours.(Raue)

--kali-i-Individuals with this susceptibility to colds and sore throats and weather changes, that is, from the effects of Mercury, who have been led into a Mercurial state, run two ways. Those who are invariably shivering and cold, and want to hover around the fire, and cannot keep warm, will need Hepar, and those that are always too warm, that want the covers off, and want to be in constant motion, extreme restlessness, very tired when keeping still, will have their Mercury antidoted by Kali iod. The Mercurial state will be antidoted, but it some times takes several prescriptions and sometimes a series of carefully selected remedies. The psora, that is, his chronic state, will not manifest itself until you have lifted off this miasmatic state, which has been caused by Mercurius. It is astonishing what a great number of men, women and children are bowed down by the miasm that Mercury produces, and yet those prescribers go on giving this form of Mercury and say it is practicing Homeopathy. I am led to remark that there is yet much to be learned about the art of prescribing. (kent)

--Lac-c-- Follows well when Nitric Ac. seems indicated, but fails to act.(Swan)

--Lap-a--The BONES develop caries and a particular specific symptom is suppurative otitis media when Silica is indicated but fails to act. (Wright, van der Zwaag)

--Med--For any complaints in either sex where indicated remedies fail to act. and where a history of gonorrhoea can be traced. (Wood)

--Merc--It is good for ulceration of the mouth and gums, tooth decay, rheumatoid arthritis, trembling, foul excretions, colds with ulcerated nostrils, pains in the bones, enlargement of the liver and skin disorders associated with itching. Mercurius may be tried when the more usual remedies fail to act. An irritated state of the veins may call for this remedy. (Powell)

--Morg.-- I have had too much experience of this disease in children and proved again and again the undoubted value of remedies, such as lycopodium, sulphur, phosphorus, antim. tart., and many others, to ask you to discard any remedy, but it is just where the seemingly well - chosen remedy fails to act that use is to be found for the nosode, Morgan co. Kent advised a dose of sulphur under such circumstances, but as already indicated Morgan co. is a much more complex sulphur compound with a greater width
of action. A single dose of high potency of Morgan co. (pure) will often turn the tide in a case of bronchopneumonia, where the child's life is despaired of owning to lack of response to the usual homoeopathic remedy. Not only in the acute attack is this action valuable, but it may be applied where from the clinical history, ill - health is found to have commenced from an attack of bronchopneumonia, or where there is a history of repeated attacks. (Paterson)

--Mur-ac-- Muriatic acid is frequently indicated when Bryonia or Rhus has failed to act. (H. Farrington)

--ph-ac--Irritability: physical, excessive: medicine has produced an over-sensitive state and remedies fail to act, when too much. (Complete 2000)

--Quinhydrone--Quinhydrone should always be used when well-selected remedies fail to act, in disorders of accommodation, in cataract, in otosclerosis and tinnitus, diminution of sense of smell, disturbances of coordination, in hyperactive children (in combination with Stramonium and Hyoscyamus), and in vaccination damage to small children, affecting the sensory organs. Good results have also been obtained from a combination of Vitamin B12, 12x, with Quinhydrone 12x or 6x, e.g. in anxiety sates in darkness, the striking pallor always being typical in critical stages of disease. Coupled with Hydroquinone and Fumaricum Acidum 12x, Quinhydrone is indicated in vascular diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa, arteriosclerotic dementia, intermittent claudication ("smoker's leg"), thromboses, and thrombophlebitis where the affected parts are snowy-white and ice-cold (not purple), and also in shock following myocardial infarction. Quinhydrone also facilitates rapid resorption of hemorrhages following to and contusions In migraines, frequent doses are needed, whilst para-Benzoquinone and Hydroquinone require frequent doses initially and should then later on be injected at longer intervals. (Reckeweg)

--Rhododendron--Rhododendron: once again such an unpretentious plant, endowed with so little self-confidence (from a hom¦opathic viewpoint: with
so few useful symptoms), happy to be overlooked and grows in the shadow of larger plants! - At best a "rheumatism remedy" with sensitivity to wind or a
"testicle remedy', and used mostly then, when other remedies have failed to act...(Konig and Santos)

--Rhus radicans-- Characteristics of Rhus Radicans:
It is a long, deep acting remedy. It has developed suppressed eruptions, demonstrating its claim to be an antipsoric. It has cured eczema and dermatitis exfoliata after Rhus tox., and the most carefully selected remedies failed. Persons not susceptible to the effects of Rhus tox are often easily poisoned by Rhus radicans. Periodicity is well marked; it is one of the few remedies in the materia medica which has an annual return of the diseased condition or paroxysm.

Symptomatology comparison:
Rhus radicans.
1. Affects most prominently, muscles, tendons, skin and mucous membranes.
2. The ulcer is deep with clean cut edge and is very obstinate and difficult to heal.
3. Pains most violent on beginning to move, worse from motion, most marked.
4. Restless, sleepless after midnight; unrefreshing, restless sleep; sleepy by day.
5. Dreams are amorous, voluptuous; seminal emissions toward morning.
Rhus toxicodendron.
1. Affects prominently, ligaments, attachment of tendons and fibrous tissues.
2. The ulcer is broad, more superficial and erysipelatous.
3. Pains most violent during rest.
4. Restless before midnight, unrefreshing, restless sleep; spasmodic yawning; tossing about, cannot stay in bed.
5. Dreams are laborious; of rowing, climbing, swimming; frightful of fire. (HC Allen)

--Sanic--I had given Belladonna, Calcarea, Graphites, Cina, Mercurius, Rhus Tox., Sulphur, Hepar Sul. and Silicea; but despite my best selected remedies, she would return as bad as ever. For about two or three weeks she suffered from ulcer of the cornea. Both eyes were terribly photophobic, attended with
severe pain. She would improve for a time, and then on would come the inevitable relapse.. Each remedy had been carefully selected, and allowed a proper time to act., before repetition of the dose, but without avail. From a proving of Sanicula which appeared in the Advance in January, 1885, and a careful correspondence of the symptoms, especially the tendency to relapse, which Sulphur had failed to prevent, I determined to give it a trial. Sanicula 50m. (Skinner) was accordingly prescribed, with very gratifying results. Improvements began at once, and continued without any more relapses. The bloated and enlarged stomach and abdomen, the profuse sweating of the head so that the pillow was wet while sleeping, for which Calc. and Silic. had been given with only temporary relief, gradually but permanently disappeared. There is no doubt but that Sanicula will become one of the best remedies, rivaling some of our valuable antisorics. (Sherbino)

--Sec-- Suppose there is oozing of blood, which does not coagulate, and the remedy seems clearly indicated, but it doesn't act. You will be apt to say, I have tried Homeopathy for the symptoms and it doesn't act. I will give a big dose of Ergot and stop it that way. But a big dose won't always stop it, no matter how big the dose.
You must give Sulphur if Secale fails to act. It is an intercurrent. If your hemorrhage stops, as it often does under the Sulphur itself, you needn't feel that Sulphur has cured. The Sulphur has simply permitted the indicated
remedy to act ‹ the cure by Ergot has been hastened by Sulphur. You sometimes have to change from Ergot to Sulphur; after having given Sulphur you sometimes have to change, and then in about twenty-four hours you can give the indicated remedy again. (Kent)

--Syph-- Also when Sulph. fails to act, or aggravates, we should think of Syphilinum. (P Sankaran)

--Therid.--Poison of this orange spider produces hypersensitiveness of NERvES; esp. to NOISE; which PENETRATES THE BODY; affects the teeth; causes nausea, chills and pains all over; strikes the painful parts etc. It causes spinal irritation, and affects the bones causing caries, necrosis.
Tubercular diathesis. When the best remedy fails to act; esp. in caries and necrosis. Rachitis. Bones feel broken. Phthisis. Water feels too cold. Bounding internally; as of a child. Burning pains. Seasickness. Sense of duality. Effects of sunstroke. Hysteria; during puberty and at climaxis. Infantile atrophy; glands enlarged; with marasmus. Nodes on various parts esp. buttocks. (Phatak)

--Tub bov--This remedy seems better adapted to blondes than to brunettes; to the thin, slender individuals rather than the fleshy; and to the mentally
active, rather than those of sluggish dispositions. It is allied to Sulphur, Psorinum, and Carbo-veg., in being useful where the indicated remedy fails to act. It has the power of reviving the vital force, so that indicated remedies may regain an action, and good authority says an occasional dose of Tuberculinum is not interfered with by the intercurrent use of other remedies. (Holmes)

--X-Ray-- - I consider X-ray to be a "deeper" Thuja with its own characteristic mental state ‹ with more irritability than Thuja, suicidal impulses, and characteristics suggesting the signature of X-ray. It is definitely a remedy to consider when Thuja fails to act in a case. (Klein)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hope AFter much improvement, my homeopath seems to be giving up after a year. I am less depressed and off of 400mg of antidepressants within a year. My sleep is still turned around and I still cannot make bowel movements, and just today he said that he asked someone about my plight and the only thing he can think of is to give me a higher potency or refer me to a student hyponotist! IS THIS NORMAL?

Well, if a homeopath feels stuck, he/she should admit it so that is good It sounds like he has helped you but doesn't know how to go on. I don't know that referring you to a hypnotist is the answer, but I don't know your case.

Where do you live?
Sheri

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hope AFter much improvement, my homeopath seems to be giving up after a year. I am less depressed and off of 400mg of antidepressants within a year. My sleep is still turned around and I still cannot make bowel movements, and just today he said that he asked someone about my plight and the only thing he can think of is to give me a higher potency or refer me to a student hyponotist! IS THIS NORMAL?

Yes, it is entirely normal that a homeopath cannot cure all the cases in his practice. And it is good that your homeopath is up front about this. There is, however, not enough information in your email to suggest that homeopathy in general can't help you or what remedy would be best to choose.
I have found it extremely helpful in cases where I was forced to throw the towel to arrange for a trusted colleague to conduct a patient inverview with myself just listening in. Having the luxury to just listen without any pressure to be smart, creative and insightful is sometimes already enough to give you the right idea. Often, when the interview is conducted by a different homeopath, I saw a completely different part of the case, previously hidden to me. And if those two points aren't enough, the discussion with my homeopathic colleague will frequently put a better idea for a fitting remedy in my mind.

-- Chris.

Hi Hope.

The way your mind symptoms have improved it seems that the remedy or remedies have worked.

A stop of action might indeed point to a higher potency of the same remedy.

So why does he hesitate to give it?

Regards

Luise

To the list,

Regarding the post of yesterday on methods for difficult cases, to which additions are welcome: It was designed to be helpful to Hope to provide what she might give to her homeopath to help move through the impasse as an solution-oriented answer to the question "is this normal"? In Hope's case, of course, we have been told only common symptoms of large category--sadness, sleeplessness night, and constipation. The case needs peculiars.

==============
As well in that post, at the same time I hoped it might be useful for other members of the list as well as myself as an exercise in approaches to stubborn cases.

One glaring item left off that list as the third or so item on it:

--rule out iatrogenic use or past drug use as a blocking layer OR address that layer with isode or other remedy

There are other methods, certainly. having to do with dealing with difficult or scanty-symptom cases that were not covered in the post. I would appreciate the posting by colleagues of any other ideas.

===============
A question was asked privately about my calling Sankaran's overall method which he uses with plants "triangulation". I call the sankaran plants method (which he is extending to animals and minerals as time goes on) triangulation* because it uses three elements:

1. --Kingdom by Sankaran criteria (Mineral, Animal (multicellular or unicellular (nosode)), Plant, Fungus);
2. --*sensation* identified by Sankaran by deduction using repertorial analysis which leads to taxon or more specific grouping within the postulated kingdom
3. --dominant miasm posited a priori by Sankaran for that remedy (on his theory that each remedy has one primary miasmatic thrust in an absolute sense), and based on his extended miasmatic system determined by hypothesis and empiricism. The miasm distinguishes between members of a taxon, at least in his system as applied to plants which have many related members of a common grouping.

Each hypothesis is triangulated to end up with a calculated result that does not totally depend on what is known literally about the pathogenesis of the remedy--information which may be scant or nearly absent. As such, it is an inferential method that resembles navigation in a sense. The "Line of Position" method in celestial navigation takes three sextant sights resulting in three lines drawn on the chart from calculation. The derived position of the ship lies in the triangle created by the intersection of those lines. The error between actual and calculated position depends on the accuracy of each of the three star observations . In the same way, the accuracy of Sankaran's assumptions arbits how effective his method here will be. Each of the concepts used depends on the one before, which makes it different than three star sights of the same type. If we assume three different stars are sighted on, then the analogy is better.

Sankaran's method is valuable because it extends the materia medica by indirect methodology. Sankaran (and Scholten) have created other semiological categories besides Hahnemannian symptoms to use as proxy "legs of the stool" in a case. In the case of Sankaran, these categories are the characteristics of kingdom, taxon/"vital sensation" and an extended set of miasmatic categories. These proxy legs are derived by a combination of theory and empiricism-thus they remain proxy, and not completely objective. But they can lead to a successful prescription because as we know we can use many proxy indications together to reach a result that is not possible when the objective information about a medicine is not as solid as we would like. The *pattern* is an entity which may become more important to successful remedy similarity than the bedrock certainty of each individual symptom. *If* there is enough information available to see a *pattern* of --peculiar, if quite subtle-- symptoms it may lead to a prescription when otherwise the case is insoluble.

We can thus use remedies we would never find otherwise because of deficiencies in their materia medica, and/or lack of specificity in objective symptoms in the case at hand. We can then learn more about the remedies by cured cases (proving by similarity), and move forward that way instead of *only* by provings by dissimilarity. Provings by dissimilarity is a vast undertaking when considering that 2/3 of our materia medica has no proving whatsoever and people do not get paid to do provings. Hahnemannian provings by forced dissimilarity are the gold standard. But they are only the beginning, usually, and are moreover not the only way to obtain information about remedies.

All regards,
Andy

--calc-o-t-Should be thought of when Calc. fails to act though apparently
well indicated. Useful in frail constitutions with weakened immune systems:
after vaccine
damage: after long illnesses of childhood: after any of the childhood
diseases that prove particularly severe (& in spite of vaccines). Also of
service in the treatment
of children born after artificial insemination or hormone therapy - many
such children do not respond well to indicated remedies or present confused
symptom
pictures. (Prometheus)

---Carbo-v-- Sepia, Sulphur and Natrum carbonicum have an all gone sensation
at the pit of the stomach worse at eleven AM. The pains of Arsenic are
burning, and
the dyspepsia of Pulsatilla is especially after rich and fat food.
Waterbrash is more characteristic of Nux, while heartburn is more
characteristic of Pulsatilla. Atonic
dyspepsia with a putrid taste in the mouth in the morning compelling the
patient to rinse out the mouth, with a desire for beer and bitters, and an
aversion to coffee
will strongly indicate Nux, and when Nux fails to act perhaps the best
remedy is Carbo vegetabilis. The tongue of Nux is coated, white usually, and
this coating is
more on the posterior part; the front half of the tongue may be
clean.(Dewey)

--Chamomilla is not a remedy to suggest itself in abscess, yet has proved
valuable in promoting the formation of pus in chronic abscesses where Hepar
has failed to
act promptly, and in making the pains more bearable.(Dewey)

--Chel -I have often cured with Chel. when Lyc. was apparently indicated and
failed to act well. (Clarke)

--Diph- When the patient from the first seems doomed, and the most
carefully selected remedies fail to relieve or permanently improve.
RELATIONSHIP-SIMILAR TO: Ars., Bapt., Brom., Carb-Ac., Caust., Chlor.,
Gels., Lach., Mur-Ac., Phos., Sulph.(Lippe)

--Myrica-We can say that all conditions of the liver are secondary to some
affection of the heart. Here is the group as I have found it; liver
enlarged, tender, sore;
stools light - colored; skin jaundiced; pulse irregularly intermittent;
ascites; dropsy; nausea and vomiting; the patient is drowsy, dull, sluggish
in all his actions.
I want to speak of Myrica in this connection. It is a remedy which has
most of the liver symptoms of Digitalis, but it acts primarily upon the
liver. In two cases
when Digitalis failed to act Myrica the 3rd cleared up the case. This is the
only mention I will make of Myrica as I have never used it for any other
condition.
(Royal)

--Follic--Overwhelming pressure or self-imposed expectations in domestic,
professional, spiritual, religious, or family life can lead to
"over-tiredness, with a conflict
of loyalties resulting in excessive stress."1 Foubister suggests that if
well indicated remedies fail to act for a patient undergoing extreme
pressure, Folliculinum may
be indicated, at least until the pressures are past. (Foubister, in Inez)

--Gels--A splendid remedy for dysfunctional labor with failure to dilate,
GELSEMIUM will usually be suggested by generalized exhaustion with
trembling,
shivering, or nervous or emotional excitement in anticipation of all that is
still to come. In all these respects, its actions on the female reproductive
system resemble
CAULOPHYLLUM in every detail and indeed may be even more striking and easier
to recognize. When the clinical picture of generalized fatigue and
nervousness
is fully developed, or CAULOPHYLLUM seems indicated but fails to act,
GELSEMIUM is very likely to be effective. In such cases, GELSEMIUM 30 may be
given up to every 15 to 30 minutes as needed. (Moskowitz)

--hep--Acute and chronic colds when Mercurius is indicated but fails to act,
or where the patient has been overdosed with mercury formerly.(Clarke)

-- iod-- Endocarditis: Iodium. According to Kafka, if Spigel. has failed to
act favorably during twenty - four to thirty - six hours.(Raue)

--kali-i-Individuals with this susceptibility to colds and sore throats and
weather changes, that is, from the effects of Mercury, who have been led
into a Mercurial
state, run two ways. Those who are invariably shivering and cold, and want
to hover around the fire, and cannot keep warm, will need Hepar, and those
that are
always too warm, that want the covers off, and want to be in constant
motion, extreme restlessness, very tired when keeping still, will have their
Mercury antidoted
by Kali iod. The Mercurial state will be antidoted, but it some times takes
several prescriptions and sometimes a series of carefully selected remedies..
The psora,
that is, his chronic state, will not manifest itself until you have lifted
off this miasmatic state, which has been caused by Mercurius. It is
astonishing what a great
number of men, women and children are bowed down by the miasm that Mercury
produces, and yet those prescribers go on giving this form of Mercury and
say it
is practicing Homeopathy. I am led to remark that there is yet much to be
learned about the art of prescribing. (kent)

--Lac-c-- Follows well when Nitric Ac. seems indicated, but fails to act..
(Swan)

--Lap-a--The BONES develop caries and a particular specific symptom is
suppurative otitis media when Silica is indicated but fails to act.
(Wright, van der Zwaag)

--Med--For any complaints in either sex where indicated remedies fail to
act. and where a history of gonorrhoea can be traced. (Wood)

--Merc--It is good for ulceration of the mouth and gums, tooth decay,
rheumatoid arthritis, trembling, foul excretions, colds with ulcerated
nostrils, pains in the
bones, enlargement of the liver and skin disorders associated with itching.
Mercurius may be tried when the more usual remedies fail to act. An
irritated state of the
veins may call for this remedy. (Powell)

--Morg.-- I have had too much experience of this disease in children and
proved again and again the undoubted value of remedies, such as lycopodium,
sulphur,
phosphorus, antim. tart., and many others, to ask you to discard any remedy,
but it is just where the seemingly well - chosen remedy fails to act that
use is to be
found for the nosode, Morgan co.
Kent advised a dose of sulphur under such circumstances, but as already
indicated Morgan co. is a much more complex sulphur compound with a greater
width
of action. A single dose of high potency of Morgan co. (pure) will often
turn the tide in a case of bronchopneumonia, where the child's life is
despaired of owning
to lack of response to the usual homoeopathic remedy.
Not only in the acute attack is this action valuable, but it may be
applied where from the clinical history, ill - health is found to have
commenced from an attack of
bronchopneumonia, or where there is a history of repeated attacks.
(Paterson)

--Mur-ac-- Muriatic acid is frequently indicated when Bryonia or Rhus has
failed to act. (H. Farrington)

--ph-ac--Irritability: physical, excessive: medicine has produced an
over-sensitive state and remedies fail to act, when too much. (Complete
2000)

--Quinhydrone--Quinhydrone should always be used when well-selected remedies
fail to act, in disorders of accommodation, in cataract, in otosclerosis and
tinnitus, diminution of sense of smell, disturbances of coordination, in
hyperactive children (in combination with Stramonium and Hyoscyamus), and in
vaccination
damage to small children, affecting the sensory organs.
Good results have also been obtained from a combination of Vitamin B12,
12x, with Quinhydrone 12x or 6x, e.g. in anxiety sates in darkness, the
striking pallor
always being typical in critical stages of disease. Coupled with
Hydroquinone and Fumaricum Acidum 12x, Quinhydrone is indicated in vascular
diseases such as
polyarteritis nodosa, arteriosclerotic dementia, intermittent claudication
("smoker's leg"), thromboses, and thrombophlebitis where the affected parts
are snowy-white
and ice-cold (not purple), and also in shock following myocardial
infarction. Quinhydrone also facilitates rapid resorption of hemorrhages
following to and
contusions In migraines, frequent doses are needed, whilst para-
Benzoquinone and Hydroquinone require frequent doses initially and
should then later on be injected at longer intervals. (Reckeweg)

--Rhododendron--Rhododendron: once again such an unpretentious plant,
endowed with so little self-confidence (from a hom¦opathic viewpoint: with
so few
useful symptoms), happy to be overlooked and grows in the shadow of larger
plants! - At best a "rheumatism remedy" with sensitivity to wind or a
"testicle
remedy', and used mostly then, when other remedies have failed to
act...(Konig and Santos)

--Rhus radicans-- Characteristics of Rhus Radicans:
It is a long, deep acting remedy. It has developed suppressed
eruptions, demonstrating its claim to be an antipsoric.
It has cured eczema and dermatitis exfoliata after Rhus tox., and the
most carefully selected remedies failed. Persons not susceptible to the
effects of Rhus tox
are often easily poisoned by Rhus radicans.
Periodicity is well marked; it is one of the few remedies in the
materia medica which has an annual return of the diseased condition or
paroxysm.
Symptomatology comparison:
Rhus radicans.
1. Affects most prominently, muscles, tendons, skin and mucous
membranes.
2. The ulcer is deep with clean cut edge and is very obstinate and
difficult to heal.
3. Pains most violent on beginning to move, worse from motion, most
marked.
4. Restless, sleepless after midnight; unrefreshing, restless sleep;
sleepy by day.
5. Dreams are amorous, voluptuous; seminal emissions toward morning.
Rhus toxicodendron.
1. Affects prominently, ligaments, attachment of tendons and fibrous
tissues.
2. The ulcer is broad, more superficial and erysipelatous.
3. Pains most violent during rest.
4. Restless before midnight, unrefreshing, restless sleep; spasmodic
yawning; tossing about, cannot stay in bed.
5. Dreams are laborious; of rowing, climbing, swimming; frightful of
fire. (HC Allen)

--Sanic--I had given Belladonna, Calcarea, Graphites, Cina, Mercurius, Rhus
Tox., Sulphur, Hepar Sul. and Silicea; but despite my best selected
remedies, she
would return as bad as ever. For about two or three weeks she suffered from
ulcer of the cornea. Both eyes were terribly photophobic, attended with
severe pain.
She would improve for a time, and then on would come the inevitable relapse..
Each remedy had been carefully selected, and allowed a proper time to act.,
before
repetition of the dose, but without avail. From a proving of Sanicula which
appeared in the Advance in January, 1885, and a careful correspondence of
the
symptoms, especially the tendency to relapse, which Sulphur had failed to
prevent, I determined to give it a trial. Sanicula 50m. (Skinner) was
accordingly
prescribed, with very gratifying results. Improvements began at once, and
continued without any more relapses. The bloated and enlarged stomach and
abdomen, the
profuse sweating of the head so that the pillow was wet while sleeping, for
which Calc. and Silic. had been given with only temporary relief, gradually
but
permanently disappeared. There is no doubt but that Sanicula will become one
of the best remedies, rivaling some of our valuable antisorics. (Sherbino)

--Sec-- Suppose there is oozing of blood, which does not coagulate, and the
remedy seems clearly indicated, but it doesn't act. You will be apt to say,
I have tried
Homeopathy for the symptoms and it doesn't act. I will give a big dose of
Ergot and stop it that way. But a big dose won't always stop it, no matter
how big the
dose.
You must give Sulphur if Secale fails to act. It is an intercurrent.
If your hemorrhage stops, as it often does under the Sulphur itself,
you needn't feel that Sulphur has cured. The Sulphur has simply permitted
the indicated
remedy to act ‹ the cure by Ergot has been hastened by Sulphur. You
sometimes have to change from Ergot to Sulphur; after having given Sulphur
you sometimes
have to change, and then in about twenty-four hours you can give the
indicated remedy again. (Kent)

--Syph-- Also when Sulph. fails to act, or aggravates, we should think of
Syphilinum. (P Sankaran)

--Therid.--Poison of this orange spider produces hypersensitiveness of
NERvES; esp. to NOISE; which PENETRATES THE BODY; affects the teeth; causes
nausea, chills and pains all over; strikes the painful parts etc. It causes
spinal irritation, and affects the bones causing caries, necrosis.
Tubercular diathesis. When
the best remedy fails to act; esp. in caries and necrosis. Rachitis. Bones
feel broken. Phthisis. Water feels too cold. Bounding internally; as of a
child. Burning
pains. Seasickness. Sense of duality. Effects of sunstroke. Hysteria; during
puberty and at climaxis. Infantile atrophy; glands enlarged; with marasmus.
Nodes on
various parts esp. buttocks. (Phatak)

--Tub bov--This remedy seems better adapted to blondes than to brunettes; to
the thin, slender individuals rather than the fleshy; and to the mentally
active, rather
than those of sluggish dispositions. It is allied to Sulphur, Psorinum, and
Carbo-veg., in being useful where the indicated remedy fails to act. It has
the power of
reviving the vital force, so that indicated remedies may regain an action,
and good authority says an occasional dose of Tuberculinum is not interfered
with by the
intercurrent use of other remedies. (Holmes)

--X-Ray-- - I consider X-ray to be a "deeper" Thuja with its own
characteristic mental state ‹ with more irritability than Thuja, suicidal
impulses, and
characteristics suggesting the signature of X-ray. It is definitely a remedy
to consider when Thuja fails to act in a case. (Klein)



=================================================
3. a chronic state which bears treatment for a period of time before it
reveals yet another (previous) state. A "layer" may be as a result of being
unable to see the
remedy in the center of the case-- as Merrilee points out--in which case it
is equivalent to a zig-zag and is NOT really a layer. However, the zig-zag
and the layer
may be impossible to differentiate unless in retrospect it was clear that
one missed the rx that was in fact clear at the beginning (i.e. would the
remedy "underneath
the "layer", if it could be perceived, have worked? And not aggravated the
case?). Often this situation means we have not found the center of the
case, and we are
zig-zagging, but there ARE cases with many discrete layers that must each be
treated or it is very difficult to see the deeper pattern which leads
onward. And these
layers may be requisite and thus be "true layers" equivalent to definition
#2. Definition #3 is what is meant by: "Cases with layer presentations
require a linear
march toward the center if the center is not apparent via comprehension of a
matching pattern which reflects what must be cured in the most appropriate
dimension
of totality." What I meant here is the apparent outer layer must be
treated, and later, a complement or some other remedy will appear and must
be treated. Beware
however of situations when this apparent layer remedy should not be used,
and is merely a recapitulation of the past as part of the healing process of
the
WORKING chronic remedy. In such a common situation, waiting and continuing
with the chronic remedy already chosen is appropriate.


The distinction between #2 and #3 above is between an obvious progression
(#3), and one which is very difficult to find, and requires stretching to
tautopathy,
relationships of remedies, or other ways of finding the remedy (#2).

==================================================
Some Material Related to "Layers"

=====
Konig and Santos on questions relating to the concept of "layers"(from
their proving of Berberis):
**The question of which symptoms should lead to a change in remedy (cp.
Hahnemann's Organon [44] §§ 167, 168) and which not (when new symptoms
surface
during hom¦opathic treatment) has in our opinion still not been answered
sufficiently in hom¦opathic theory and teachings.

**When speaking with other hom¦opaths the "timing" of a prescription is
often mentioned. We wonder if it is possible that the very same remedy (in
each case
according to the indicated symptom picture) demonstrates different results
when administered at different times. We're not thinking so much about the
phases of
the moon or circadiane rhythms, but rather the appropriateness of the
subjective timing for the patients in question (or provers) - also similar
to how when travelling
in outer space, in order to achieve a specific objective, only at very
specific times should there be open "windows', and a delay could jeopardize
the completion of a
project.

=====
Konig and Santos on Terminology of related remedies:
**In agreeing with Massimo Mangialavori, Modena, we refer to remedy
relationships or similarities as being vertical when they describe remedies
which are similar
(-collateral) but have no relationship within their system e.g. Helleborus
(as plant) and Aurum (as metal). We allude to horizontal remedy
relationships however
where the similarity of various hom¦opathic remedies is based on systematic
affiliation, e.g. Naja and Elaps (as Elapidae - "snake remedies').


======
>From Georg von Keller, MD The British Homoeopathic Journal, Volume 71,
Number 1, January 1982, pp. 24-30.

Chronic diseases have always presented their own problems. Hahnemann
discusses these problems in P 171 of the Organon: "In... chronic disease we
often
require several antisporic remedies in succession in order to effect a cure..
But each succeeding remedy must be chosen homoeopathically, in consonance
with the
group of symptoms remaining when the preceding remedy has ceased to act."
And in P 182 he says, "Even the imperfect selection of the medicament, in
this case
almost inevitable owing to the limited number of symptoms present,
contributes to the completion of the symptom content of the disease, and
facilitates in this way
the finding of a second, more accurately matched homoeopathic medicament."
P 182 deals with cases having only a limited number of symptoms, with
the "difficulty in the way of the cure that arises from the symptoms of the
disease being
too few", as it is expressed in P 172. Patients often present with only a
limited number of symptoms in this sense, not only because one does not
usually see a large
number of high-grade, violent symptoms, but also because our patients
frequently come to us with a ready-made diagnosis at the beginning of
treatment and are not
yet used to describing their subjective symptoms exactly and completely. For
this reason our cures tend to become "zigzag cures", as Lippe once called
it. Just as a
golf player who does not get his ball into the hole at the first stroke will
approach the hole a little more with each stroke, so we approach our goal a
little more with
each remedy.
In the old days, in the treatment of life-endangering acute diseases,
the distinction between the right and the wrong remedy was unequivocal and
vital. Either the
patient died or he was cured. A mistake in the selection of the remedy could
mean the death of the patient. This fear of giving the wrong remedy has
survived and
even today one may hear opinions like that given by Freeman in 1905:
"It is very important to realize fully the great harm that can result
from a wrong remedy. No matter how similar it may be, if it is not the
similimum, it will often
change an orderly into a very disorderly and puzzling collection of
symptoms...Our object is to cure the patient...and that cannot be done by
involuntary provings of
improperly selected drugs that mix up the case and make the selection of the
truly curative remedy impossible."
As we have heard, Hahnemann's view was different. An imperfectly selected
medicament induces a proving in the patient, that is true, but it does not
make the
selection of the truly curative remedy impossible; on the contrary, the
imperfectly selected medicament serves to complete the display of the
symptoms of the
disease; in this way it help us to reach our object of curing the patient by
facilitating the discovery of a more accurately matched medicament. Now hear
P 181 on
this topic: "Let it not be objected that the secondary and new symptoms of
the disease that now appear should be laid to the account of the medicament
just
employed. They owe their origin to it, certainly, but they are always only
symptoms of such a nature as the disease itself is capable of producing in
this particular
organism; owing to its power to cause symptoms of that kind, the medicine
given has merely evoked them, induced them to appear."
Kent commented on this in 1885. He said that in such cases, where the
number of symptoms is limited, it is necessary to summon forth the old
symptoms again,
and by administering Carbo vegetabilis, Sulphur, Calcium carbonicum,
Psorinum, Lycopodium or Sepia to induce the disease to develop properly
again. This is the
essence of the frequently heard recommendation to give Sulphur or Psorinum,
"if the indicated remedy fails to act." It is also the essence of the
doctrine of
complementary remedies, i.e. remedies which according to experience follow
each other well.

========================================
SOME UNUSUAL USES FOR THE NOSODES by ELIZABETH WRIGHT HUBBARD, M.D.
That most fascinating of books, the dictionary, defines a nosode as "a
disease product used as a remedy". Many of our homoeopathic doctors would
describe
nosodes in opprobrious terms; some use one to open almost every chronic
case; others give them where the miasmatic history is clear and the symptoms
are mixed
or obscure; certain prescribers put them in as "intercurrents"; the French
school combine or alternate the suitable miasmatic nosode with the most
similar remedy
for the top layer or recent symptoms. In cases where no drug stands out
after patient questioning and repertorizing, some give the nosode of the
main miasm in
order to stir up the depths and throw out indications for a curative
prescription. We hear much of the role of the nosode when seemingly well
chosen drugs fail to
act or hold: and in the clearing up of recalcitrant relapses. The strict
homoeopath uses the exanthem nosodes for immunization often, although Merc.
cy., Bell and
Dros. prevail, too.
The list of nosodes in current usage in homoeopathy is sizable; in the
precious fourth volume of Clarke's Dictionary of Materia Medica, the
Clinical Repertory.
we find mention of twenty - two including such a well - known remedy as
Secale. In great Britain Bach developed a new group of the intestinal
variety mostly.
Certain ones from the exanthemata have been added, such as Scarletinum and
Pertussin. Some are rare to many, as Melitagrinum, Skinner's nosode from
eczema
capitis, or Nectrianinum, the tree cancer remedy. The big three,
corresponding to Hahnemann's miasms, Psorinum, Medorrhinum and Syphilinum,
are well known
to all as is Tuberculinum or Bacillinum. H.C. Allen's books, The Nosodes, is
a classic on these; but an adequate knowledge of them must be built up by
study of
J.H. Allen's books on two of the three miasms, as well as modern sources
such as H.A. Roberts' masterly lectures to the American Foundation for
Homoeopathy
Summer School.
The best practice, I believe, gives the nosodes by their definite
symptomatology, like any other remedy: and this truism has led me to make
some brilliant results
in acute cases. While driving on your rounds, ask yourselves the acute uses
of Syphilinum or of Psorinum

==========================================