The ABC Homeopathy Forum
A question about Homeopathy
Hi,I have seen that homeopaths take a case study which is very long and sometimes even the patient doesnt remember incidents or things that may be relevant and are settled at the back of their subconcious yet it is said that those questions are important like 'one incident that you remember often etc' my question is-- A persons entire case study may give out a remedy similar to his case but the state of a patient is never the same always, as once he can develop a migraine, after sometime a kidney stone, later sometime constipation, later hair loss or anything else, different problems can occur at different times, so when the whole case is taken how is the remedy prescribed when different troubles happen as the particular symptom may not necessarily match the remedy that was selected based completely on the physical and mental constitution?samur420 on 2011-01-19
This is just a forum. Assume posts are not from medical professionals.
To simplify the question above- When a particular person matches a particular remedy as per his case and constitution for e:g Lycopodium, but if the person develops problems which are not relevant to lycopodium, in such case is lycopodium given always (as it is the overall remedy or is a remedy given based specifically for the problem whether it matches the nature of the person or not but matches the exact problem that person has that time.
samur420 last decade
This is actually quite a complex question.
First not all patients present with the same patterns. Some patients can be in one state for years on end, while others might change states several times, or alternate between particular states. A practitioner must be alert to this in any individual, flexible enough to resond to this variability in people, and perceptive enough to tell the difference between a true change of state and a different presentation of the same state.
It is important to understand what is meant by 'state'. Your specific pathology or named disease is not the same as your state. You can be in the same state for a long time and display many different named diseases, which are ultimately all part of your chronic disease (this is related to the concept of miasm). The state will tend to be the same despite the change in location of the symptoms.
A Rhus-tox patient may show Stiffness, aggravation from Cold and Wet, amelioration from movement in every complaint they have over their lifetime. So while in their 20s they have migraines, and in their 30s they have arthritis, the state (and the remedy) is the same.
In the same vein, the pathology may appear to stay the same ie. migraines in the 20s have those Rhus-tox qualities, but after a few years instead the person becomes much worse for Movement, wishes to lay perfectly still, and becomes worse for Heat - thus showing a change of state to Bryonia.
It is also important not to misunderstand the purpose of looking at mental/general symptoms - this is not to imply that the local symptoms are not important. What you are always looking for are the themes and patterns that connect up all the different forms of suffering the person experiences. This should be reflected on all levels. However when determining what is looked at, primarily it is the peculiar things that help us choose a deep acting remedy, and peculiarity is most easily seen in the mental state *IF* the practitioner understands mental symptoms (what is peculiar in a human being). Just because a symptom is mental, does not make it more important. There must be individuality, peculiarity, strangeness.
To answer your second post - if a patient developed symptoms that clearly lead you away from your first prescription, and there are enough peculiar symptoms to lead you instead to a different one, then you would indeed consider changing your prescription. In fact, under good curative treatment this will eventually happen anyway, as the original state is cured. The new complaints must be less serious, less chronic, less painful, less dangerous, of course. New more serious symptoms usually mean the medicine has suppressed the original disease or has at least allowed it to keep evolving.
There has been a tendency amongst homoeopaths who do not have a good grasp of the philosophy, to prescribe 'allopathically' using mentals. That is they assume some unseen underlying cause (abuse or grief for instance) and aim their treatments at that despite what the other symptoms are showing them. This is almost a sure way to fail.
I hope that has answered your questions.
First not all patients present with the same patterns. Some patients can be in one state for years on end, while others might change states several times, or alternate between particular states. A practitioner must be alert to this in any individual, flexible enough to resond to this variability in people, and perceptive enough to tell the difference between a true change of state and a different presentation of the same state.
It is important to understand what is meant by 'state'. Your specific pathology or named disease is not the same as your state. You can be in the same state for a long time and display many different named diseases, which are ultimately all part of your chronic disease (this is related to the concept of miasm). The state will tend to be the same despite the change in location of the symptoms.
A Rhus-tox patient may show Stiffness, aggravation from Cold and Wet, amelioration from movement in every complaint they have over their lifetime. So while in their 20s they have migraines, and in their 30s they have arthritis, the state (and the remedy) is the same.
In the same vein, the pathology may appear to stay the same ie. migraines in the 20s have those Rhus-tox qualities, but after a few years instead the person becomes much worse for Movement, wishes to lay perfectly still, and becomes worse for Heat - thus showing a change of state to Bryonia.
It is also important not to misunderstand the purpose of looking at mental/general symptoms - this is not to imply that the local symptoms are not important. What you are always looking for are the themes and patterns that connect up all the different forms of suffering the person experiences. This should be reflected on all levels. However when determining what is looked at, primarily it is the peculiar things that help us choose a deep acting remedy, and peculiarity is most easily seen in the mental state *IF* the practitioner understands mental symptoms (what is peculiar in a human being). Just because a symptom is mental, does not make it more important. There must be individuality, peculiarity, strangeness.
To answer your second post - if a patient developed symptoms that clearly lead you away from your first prescription, and there are enough peculiar symptoms to lead you instead to a different one, then you would indeed consider changing your prescription. In fact, under good curative treatment this will eventually happen anyway, as the original state is cured. The new complaints must be less serious, less chronic, less painful, less dangerous, of course. New more serious symptoms usually mean the medicine has suppressed the original disease or has at least allowed it to keep evolving.
There has been a tendency amongst homoeopaths who do not have a good grasp of the philosophy, to prescribe 'allopathically' using mentals. That is they assume some unseen underlying cause (abuse or grief for instance) and aim their treatments at that despite what the other symptoms are showing them. This is almost a sure way to fail.
I hope that has answered your questions.
♡ brisbanehomoeopath last decade
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