Illness/Disease has its center of gravity on a particular level within the body of a person or an animal. In order to neutralize the force of disease, the homeopathic remedy should correspond to the precise level on which the illness exists (with its particular symptoms/modalities). Different potencies aim the remedies towards a certain level. So the correct potency assures that the selected remedy exerts its optimal effect.

Suppose your horse is suffering from a nasty coryza. Then you can`t simply give a homeopathic remedy based on the fact that your horse has a coryza !

Coryza is an inflammation of the nasal mucous membranes and may arise from exposure to cold or damp and frequently attacks horses that are in poor condition or badly housed. Coryza has a tendency to extend to the laryngeal and lower respiratory area leading to a possible bronchitis or pneumonia.

However, Coryza doesn`t show the same symptoms in each and every case !

The horse may show/have symptoms/modalities such as an acrid discharge or bland and watery or thick and purulent or foul-smelling, swollen eyelids, thirsty or thirst for small quantities, dry,hot mucous membrane of the nose, fever, restless, is worse after midnight, sensitive to pain, resenting cold wind, violent sneezing, crusts inside nose etc. etc.

To be continued....Wim

__________________
Homeopath for people and animals.
(Sorry, Wim no longer works here.)

Suppose the horse has the following symptoms : thin discharge, which is greyish of colour, crusts are forming inside the nose.....then the vet.homeopath starts considering Silicea and looks if there`s possible caries of the nasal septum and neighbouring structures. If so, and with no other presenting symptoms, he will prescribe Silicea and he will know that the potency should be (most likely) the 200c or 200k potency and that this remedy should be given once daily for 6-7 days.

This decision is not only based on his academic or other studies, but is also based on (huge) empirical knowledge gathered by himself over the years, but also gathered by many other prescribers.

Suppose the same horse owner has another horse with coryza with the symptoms : Violent sneezing and a whitish, albuminous-looking discharge. Then he will consider Natrum muriaticum 1M or MK to be given every 2 hours for 4 doses.

So even for the same illness a different remedy and a different potency may each time be indicated depending on the different symptoms/modalities, which holds good for a great many diseases, but fortunately an experienced prescriber knows hundreds of these (clinical) prescriptions by heart !

This is only a very brief and simple explanation, but I hope a few things have become a little clearer now !

Wim

__________________
Homeopath for people and animals.
(Sorry, Wim no longer works here.)

Thank you, Wim! But I don't know enough about homeopathy to understand why in the examples you would recommend 200 in one case and 1M in the other. They both appear to be to be illness occurring on the same level, so is the difference here the remedy rather than the illness? (More examples like this would be great, too!)

Hi Dillweed,

I see what you mean....but the choice of potency for animals, as I already mentioned earlier, is often based on emperical proof, i.e. we choose first of all the remedy + potency of which we know it has proved to be most useful in a large number of animal cases with that particular symtomatology, but other potencies (higher or lower) may often work equally well of course. I`m mainly talking now about clinical and not about constitutional prescribing.

Frankly speaking, the selection of a particular potency is a bit controversional, because there are several views and styles of prescribing and all of them can produce very good results and usually the choice of remedy is far more important/crucial than the choice of potency. Moreover, over the course of treatment more or a full range of potencies may be necessary as one potency ceases to work and a new level needs to targeted.
Prescribers in some countries often prefer to use mainly high(er) potencies, whereas other prescribers in other countries prefer low to medium and occasionally high(er) potencies.

For example the well known German prescriber Willibald Gawlik often used low potencies for all kind of disorders in people and he was quite successful in doing so.

For people the guidelines are perhaps a bit clearer.

I wrote several posts on potency guidelines on the other large forum (on Student`s Corner forum) but unfortunately it`s too much typing for this slow typist to do it again. Perhaps in the (near) future ? I`ll tell a little about the medium potency in my next post though.

to be continued

Wim

__________________
Homeopath for people and animals.
(Sorry, Wim no longer works here.)

Thanks, Wim. I'll check "there" too.

OK Dillweed..... a little more explanation .....as a special service for you.....!

If you are a beginner, a student or not certain how to proceed don`t use higher than a medium potency which usually indicates a 30c or 30k. It will usually work quite well and is usually easy obtainable !

The 30c/30k is particularly indicated in the following situations :

-- If mainly local symptoms indicate the remedy, but there are also other indications on a general constitutional level, use the 30c.

-- When 2 or 3 remedies seem equally suitable a medium potency (30c) should be used for the most indicated remedy.

-- In acute episodes or illnesses that are actually a flare-up of a chronic disease pattern preferably use the 30c.

-- When there are few clear symptoms of any one remedy on which to prescribe use low to medium potencies (e.g. 6c, 12c or 30c).

-- If the patient is an old person with weak vital force, a clear case but frail, use 30 c or lower.


Please bear in mind that a 30c (30k) can affect whole organ systems, e.g. a complex of related organs and tissues such as the respiratory or digestive system or immune system.

Wim

__________________
Homeopath for people and animals.
(Sorry, Wim no longer works here.)

Dillweed.....the topic there is called Potency Comparison on Student`s Corner....21 Oct 06. Also see my last post above !

Wim

__________________
Homeopath for people and animals.
(Sorry, Wim no longer works here.)

Thanks Wim. My inventory is almost entirely 30C, so that works out well!

Dillweed......I simply knew you had many 30c remedies in stock and took that into account....hehe.........translated into Dutch...haha ! By the way....did you find my other posts as well ? Don`t forget to print them out for later use !

Wim

__________________
Homeopath for people and animals.
(Sorry, Wim no longer works here.)

Yes, I did find that thread and other excellent ones by you as well.