Miasms
Inherited Weakness and India
Samuel Hahnemann wrote extensively on miasms. He proposed that the three main miasms were Psora, Sycosis and Syphilitic. The theory, confirmed clinically a million times over, literally, states that if someone in our family tree had had one of these miasms it is likely that this unharmonious vibration or frequency is transmitted to the offspring. It is analogous to the 'sins of the father', in theory, but has been observed in treatment for 200 years. Miasms, untreated, keep well-indicated remedies for acute ailments, and constitutional remedies, from working properly. They block the well-intentioned prescriptions of well-intentioned Homeopaths. Hahnemann came to this conclusion after wondering why carefully chosen remedies were failing. He would then treat with remedies that relate, in their symptom picture, to the dis-eases resulting from skin suppression (psora), gonorrhea (psychosis) and syphilis (syphilitic), the three main ailments represented by the three main miasms. A patient could benefit from treatment of one or more miasms depending on how many they inherited.
The miasm of Psora results from the maltreatment of the itch. Hahnemann maintained that an itch is the skin's first manifestation of an attempt to rid a substance from the body, by way of the skin, the largest organ of our body. When the skin is suppressed Psora, the miasm, results and it can be transferred by impregnation to the offspring of the person affected by the Psoric miasm. Several remedies were noted by Hahnemann as being able to alleviate symptoms of Psora and to cure the miasm.
Sycosis is the gonorrheal miasm. Several remedies can treat this miasm. One of them is made from gonorrhea itself. (Remember, none of the original substance remains in the potentized dilution).
The miasm of Syphilitis has several remedies associated with it too. In fact, each remedy can be graded as to how much it fits into each miasm.
Each miasm has many physical characteristics associated with them.
Psora has functional dis-ease. It is pathology free, usually, and ailments falling under this category are neurological in origin…the body is not functioning properly. Hypo- states are Psoric.
Sycosis has over abundance associated with it. Tissues are produced in excess of need. Tumors, warts, moles, polyps, bone spurs, any growth in excess. Hyper- states are Sycotic, as in hypertrophy. Sycosis is restless and results in hypertension i.e. high blood pressure.
The syphilitic miasm has the disappearance of tissue associated with its miasm, such as dental cavities, tumors that create voids, any infection that eats away at surrounding tissues and bone tumors that leave holes. This is the most destructive miasm and often results in open ulcers and irregular blood pressure.
Each miasm has personality characteristics assigned to it as well:
Psora is timid and sensitive. They can be full of ideas with no tendency to materialize. They condemn themselves and have fears that manifest as anxiety.
Sycosis is restless and expressive; they are adventurers and can be ostentatious with fixed ideas. They can be suspicious, jealous and mischievous, as well as cruel.
The Syphilitic miasm has fears manifested by anguish, forgetfulness and mental paralysis. They hide their depression and can quietly commit suicide. Dr. Banerjea, a great Homeopath from India, says that all fascists, anarchists and exploiters of the world are the product of the syphilitic miasm.
Hahnemann said that a 4th miasm of Tuberculosis might be the combination of the other three.
Tubercular types have the theme of freedom in their make-up. They are often dissatisfied. They can be very artistic. Catherine Coulter thought most great classical music was the result of this miasm. Like everything in our dualistic world, dis-ease carries a beneficial side as well. (Subject for another book!) Tubercular types can be careless and fearless and very changeable. They can be so careless as to become vagabonds. They move their residences a lot and appear as the most creative people on the planet.
The best time to treat miasmatically, according to some India Homeopaths, is at the beginning of a case. A minority of Homeopaths, worldwide, view miasms as an inharmonious frequency that must be un-blocked from the outset. Most American and European Homeopaths prefer to wait until some Homeopathic unlayering has taking place beforehand.
A good rule of thumb for when to address inherited weakness' is when the case has made a good degree of progress, the playing field has been stagnant for some time, and an old symptom then recurs that points to a miasmatic remedy. When new symptom pictures, new layers, are slow to express themselves or there is no movement in the case, the patient is feeling pretty good and there are no immediate concerns to be dealt with, except for a prominent miasmatic symptom or two, the patient is in a good position to see if a miasmatic remedy will treat at a deeper level. Some Homeopaths consider this approach as sacrilegious to Homeopathic philosophy. Their view is that, unless a symptom picture is making itself present in a prominent and clear way, the patient must wait; the Homeopath must wait with them as well. The only argument against this is that, Homeopaths using the approach of experimenting with a remedy that may act on a deeper level, in spite of the patient not exhibiting a new symptom picture, have found it to be beneficial. My experience is that it is beneficial to perform this approach. We are in a fast moving western society where the pace of life has sped up and this, to some degree, justifies trying to go deeper before the patient has so many symptoms they are uncomfortable.
I have given Homeopathic remedies for the syphilitic miasm on many occasions; three occasions with dramatic results. To illustrate the profound thinking required to properly interpret the progression of healing, let me refer to Mr. M. He was a retired choral conductor, tall, of slight build and handsome. He had never come out of the closet because of the wrath he feared from society. He had strongly repressed his true nature. He presented with a terrible case of psoriasis that covered both his legs. Each morning his sheets had to be washed as his nighttime scratching stained the sheets with blood. Well-indicated remedies were attempted over years of care (other ailments were relieved in the process) and it was time to figure out why well-known remedies for psoriasis had failed. Based on the destructive nature of the syphilitic miasm and how it was destroying this man's life, I gave a miasmatic remedy, Homeopathically prepared. His psoriasis cleared in short order. But that was not the end of his story. Two years later he called telling me that months ago he had been admitted to a hospital for kidney failure and was in line for dialysis. Suddenly, while still in the hospital, his kidneys began to work normally. No one could understand it. He went home! I've often pondered, and will never know: had the dose of indicated remedy not only cured his psoriasis but had the remedy remained intact, as a healing influence that allowed his own body to cure his kidneys two years after the fact? I have often said to patients, "Homeopathy is so far reaching that the ailments you might suffer later in life, but never occur, are likely due to this method of care, but neither you nor I will ever know what you never have to experience!"
Jane, a hypnotist, suffered from a degenerated femur head. She refused surgery. On x-ray examination there was no ball left at the top of the femur to ride in the socket of the hip joint. She walked in a most peculiar fashion; her gate was like a Chinese woman whose feet had been bound. She took tiny little steps and even wore high heels! Upon administering a miasmatic remedy she developed a most annoying rash on the side of her lower leg on the same side as the joint deformation. She wanted the rash treated, of course. I gave only a topical Homeopathic cream to put on the rash assuming that since the problem of the femur head may have manifested outward, on the skin, and downward, down to the lower leg, that it was a sign of a healing process. Five years later she was still walking.
Healing occurs from top to bottom, that is to say a malady may disappear in the upper body only to reappear in the lower body as it makes its way out of the person. The same phenomena happens from inside the body to the outside of the body, and from organs of more importance to organs of lesser importance. The most important organs are the brain heart and lungs, and then come the liver, stomach, spleen and pancreas. These rules of the direction of cure are called Herring's laws. The last of them is that symptoms also appear, in a retracing, in the reverse order in which they occurred. Those symptoms that appeared first in life will be the last to leave.
Bill, the handyman for the building I owned, developed, in just a few months time, exostosies on his elbows; large boney masses on the side of each elbow. They were clearly visible on x-ray and where the size of quarters and protruded outward a half inch. Normally one would think of the Sycotic remedies for overgrowth but his nature was destructive, self destructive and paranoid. He once appeared at the door of my home with his ten year old boy, both of them with back packs on, saying he had heard on short-wave radio that the North Koreans had landed and had begun to travel up the Mississippi river with the intent of enslaving all Americans, and did we want to come with him. He and his son lived for a week in the woods before his paranoia had subsided. He later apologized for having bothered me. I gave him a remedy that fit into the syphilitic miasm and the boney masses were gone in a month's time.
I have given Medhorrhinum many times for the adventurous type who tends towards urinary tract conditions (notice I did not say 'infections'). It is a famous sycotic[sh3] remedy and works beautifully.
Psorinum, the remedy made from scabies, is helpful in functional disorders (where no pathology is present) like chronic fatigue, MS, emotional disorders and cases of skin ailments.
Tuberculinum, phosphorous, and the many remedies that have phosphorous as part of their makeup, such as calcarea phosphorica, kali phosphorica etc, all Tubercular remedies, are most indicated in individuals who experience respiratory complaints. These remedies can unlock a case of asthma or chronic recurring bronchitis' that is not responding to remedies that repertorize well.
A study of miasms requires much study and research. Ortega, a noted Mexican Homeopath, wrote a beautiful book about the miasms called 'Notes on the Miasms'. Banerjea wrote 'Miasmatic Diagnosis'.
The First Consult
Two hours is a long time to sit and talk with someone, especially when you have not known them before. The Homeopath will put you at ease though, not only because he or she has done this process hundreds if not thousands of time but because they know what you feel. They'll first ask you why you are interested in being treated. You'll tell them your complaints. They may ask a few questions to clarify what you meant. Then a good bit of time will be spent on what all your physical ailments are at present. After, you'll talk about your ailments since birth, your parents' and grandparents' health as well. By the time all of this has occurred you will already be comfortable with the process. In fact you may really enjoy the process and start talking about yourself with increased interest. The Homeopath may have to slow you down!
You'll be asked about things in your past that may have been traumatic or what occurrences were turning points for you. Your regrets and disappointments will be listed. Then you will be asked what kind of a person you are and how others describe you. This is where people really begin to enjoy the process, as most of us do not get an opportunity to talk about ourselves at length.
During the process, the Homeopath will begin to see a trend in successive suppressions. The Homeopath will create a time line from birth to the present; a map of the clues of how illness' from birth were successively suppressed. This is the time line that will be reversed and proceed backwards in the process of un-suppressing. This time becomes a momentous occasion in the patient's health care. For this is the first time the truth about the ailments that have plagued them has come to light. It is a turning point in the care of the individual. For now, for the first time, ailments will begin to be cured, one after another. Retracing, although sometimes uncomfortable, is reassurance that the process is proceeding.
The Homeopath will also begin to see your constitutional layers: the layers of personality types that make up your character. If we say there are 20 different types, and a person can be a composite of, possibly, three different types, the combination of different types comes to 6840 types of people. A person having two layers will have 280 combinations. We do find single layer people. They are a pleasure to treat as the case is easier to manage and it is a real joy to perceive a remedy type in its purist portrayal.
Many good books have been written on constitutional remedies. Catherine Coulter wrote three volumes called 'Portraits of Homeopathic Types'. Bailey wrote 'Homeopathic Psychology'. George Vithoulkas has many works on the topic. Kent, Tyler, Smits and Blackie describe types in detail in their works as well. There are 2000 books on Homeopathy and the vast majority talk about personality types to some degree. May I recommend Homeopathic Educational Resources, in Berkeley California, as a great place to obtain books? Dana Ullman, owner and author, has dedicated his life to American Homeopathy and needs your support. (Tel: 510-649-0294) If you want to know how Homeopathy works, beyond this writing, I recommend George Vithoulkas', 'The Science of Homeopathy'. For an understanding of what might be your own personality types read 'Homeopathic Psychology' by Bailey.
Should a person see an Allopath, to make sure a condition isn't serious before attempting non-Allopathic approaches? There are certain procedures done in Allopathic offices, hospitals and imaging centers that are valuable. These are not Allopathic procedures, they are shared by all branches of medicine. Allopathy is the prescribing of suppressive pharmaceuticals, nothing more. All Homeopathic hospitals and Acupuncture clinics would love to have an MRI machine, Homeopathic hospitals in India are full of technical equipment. Blood drawing is done around the world by non-Allopathic practitioners on a daily basis. In America these technical advances are lumped into the term 'modern medicine' but they should not be confused with drug prescribing. A friend asked me today, "If you are against western medicine why do you wear glasses?" He was equating the technology of vision enhancement with modern medicine. This individual takes 15 medicines a day and in spite of having read an article in Scientific American, the magazine he puts all his faith in, about the danger of statin drugs and how good oils, butter and animal fats actually reduce cholesterol to reasonable levels, he is having difficulty finding the courage to reduce his statin medication! A faith in Allopathy and all that we associate with Allopathy ie. The advances in imaging, surgery and prosthetics, is almost a religion for people. It takes a lot of reading to pull oneself out the mire. Television today is inundated with programs on emergency and forensic medicine. Neither of these types of medicine is Allopathic. What would the public think if they saw programs of Allopaths going from one room to another writing prescriptions for pharmaceuticals all day long? This is 95% of what occurs in the sum total of all 'western' medical practices but it is not what is shown to the public.
Seeing an Allopathic practitioner to obtain a diagnosis and to honor the doctrine of believing that an early diagnosis is the safe thing to do may often have its benefits. But usually, once the person has been impressed with all the technology used to obtain the diagnosis, and the ailment has been objectified, it is hard to believe that the solution Allopathy offers for ailments could possibly be faulty. After all, since pharmaceutical corporations, insurance companies, and hospital owners make 95% of all the money in health care, they can afford the large buildings, the modern equipment and the surgery rooms. Why wouldn't they be the practitioners at the top of the field? And also, the patient has just seen a specialist. Non-Allopathic practitioners are not specialists in areas of the body; they are specialists in their modality. Allopathic specialists specialize only within the context of Allopathic treatment, one modality only, and one branch of medicine out of seven. If they were specialists, in say, stomach disorders, they would know all the different modalities available on the planet to deal with stomach ailments. But they only know one modality, Allopathy.
Regarding how well Allopaths are trained to diagnose, one study showed that the Mayo Clinic was only correct in its diagnosis 40% of the time.
The battle for Wholistic health was lost in this country in the 1920's. The only challenge to pharmacology has been lead by the Chiropractic Physicians, 65,000 of them. They won battles in all 50 states to be included in insurance but then with the advent of PPOs and HMOs they were again excluded, for the most part.
There are many times surgery is a sensible option. But this is not Allopathy. Melanomas should be removed quickly upon their discovery. Brain tumors should be removed to alleviate pressure on the brain from an expanding tumor. Hips should be replaced when the patient has ignored their health so long that they have passed the point of no return. Organ transplants are good for those not willing to make life style changes and revamp their entire diet and nutrition. Spinal discs, however, should usually not be removed. Chiropractic has prevented millions of disc surgeries. Heart surgeries almost never have to be performed if the patient is willing to make dramatic changes. The above examples represent a small fraction of all the money made in health care. 90% or more is spent on pharmaceuticals. After all, people take drugs daily for years on end and usually life long. Not including pharmaceutical sales, 50% of health care dollars are spent in the last two weeks of life. This is commonly referred to as 'heroic medicine'. Hospital owners benefit greatly and the family of the dying are encouraged to be relieved of any guilt they may have felt had not 'everything been done to save the life'. These are very sensitive topics to debate.
Your Homeopath may already be an MD. Often these Homeopaths succumb to using pharmaceuticals as it is easier for them to practice that way…a prescription for pharmaceuticals can be written in minutes whereas Homeopathic remedies take ten times longer to determine. And just because a Homeopathic MD gave you a pharmaceutical does not mean that a remedy would not have worked…it's usually a mater of inconvenience. If your MD is a Homeopath, make sure he or she gives you a remedy!
So, should a patient see an Allopath first? No. Allow the non-Allopathic practitioner to help you make that decision.
Follow-Ups. The most important interpretations
The most important prescriptions
Earlier I said the practitioner, upon starting a case, has four big questions to pose to him or herself on the first visit:
Do you treat the acute ailment they may have at the time?
Do you treat the constitutional typing?
Do you treat with the remedies famous for the chronic ailment they have?
Do you treat the miasm, the inherited weakness they may have from family lineage?
Once that choice is made at the end of the first consultation, you must now question, on a follow-up visit:
Do you repeat the remedy they received last time?
Do you repeat the same remedy but go up or down in strength, potency?
Do you repeat the remedy but increase how often they take it?
Do you change acute remedies for the same ailment?
Do you switch to a constitutional or miasmatic remedy?
Do you switch to remedies famous for the condition?
Do you wait?
Before deciding what to do, on any follow-up visit, it takes about a half hour to an hour to retrieve enough information with which to make a decision. Retrieving the information is an art form. On the first follow-up visit the patient usually starts off with, 'what was that stuff? It worked like a charm" or "well, nothing happened, what do we do now?". This is the time to slow everything down. The practitioner must verify the name and potency of the remedy taken as sometimes, if the patient purchased the remedy themselves, they may have bought the wrong one. Secondly the total number of times the remedy was taken and the frequency of the dosing must be ascertained. A diligent patient will take notes as to what happened with each dose. Some patients write a book! The Homeopath then encourages the patient to speak freely as this is the time the most pertinent information will be given.
The Homeopath will look over his or her notes written on the first visit. The patient must be questioned about each symptom they had complained about weeks previous. Invariable, some of those symptoms will be gone. The patient will be surprised that they hadn't realized the disappearance of some symptoms. The patient begins to wonder, if they thought no effect had occurred, if maybe the remedy had, in fact, done something. On the contrary, if the patient was pleased with the results, they may be surprised that still a number of their original symptoms remain!
Often on the first visit an acute remedy was used. If it was successful then the first follow-up visit initiates the constitutional prescribing process. The best thing a Homeopath can hear on a follow-up visit is, "I feel like my old self" or "I'm sleeping really well now". These comments indicate a deep action was obtained with the first remedy selected.
During the constitutional prescribing phase, many patients will experience vivid and even lucid dreaming…another indicator of a remedy that has been far reaching in its scope.
If after several visits the constitutional remedies have not proven effective, there is an old adage that comes from India…"if you are having trouble understanding the patient's constitutional, invite them to lunch with you." I'm not sure how often this is done in India. I have done it many times. It means that the patient might act differently outside of the patient/doctor environment when all of the roles we play are stripped away. It also means that the doc might notice peculiar eating habits of the patient, what kinds of food they choose, and often, in casual conversation, truths are revealed.
Often the action of the deep acting remedies is subtle. The patient might say, "the remedy hasn't done anything, but, oh, by the way, I've decided to go back to college for a new career." It is our human nature to feel that every decision we make is the result of ourselves, and not a medicine. Actually, the medicine doesn't make the person want to change careers; it can only open a door to allow the person to do what they have wanted to do all along.
Nevertheless, at this point the Homeopath must wonder if, indeed, the remedy was effective and it should be shared with the patient that this is a common occurrence in constitutional prescribing. Or a patient may say, "I'm divorcing but I don't think it has anything to do with the remedy, I think it's the yoga classes I started taking." Yoga could help a person to feel freer but our remedies do this all the time. We see this happen daily in practice but all possibilities must be entertained…the Homeopath does not want to think a remedy has worked when it may not have.
How Long Will it Take?
Good question! Emergency cases can take seconds to respond. Most acute ailments take hours to a few days.
A person who has experienced a succession of suppressions can take several months, to years, to heal. A psychological case with deep-seated emotional pain can easily require two years. If emotional pain has been suppressed for a long time, five years is not too long to ask.
The old adage of it taking one year for every ten years of suppression is inaccurate. If the patient is willing to make changes in their environment i.e.: moving from a moldy home or workplace, divorcing someone with whom they have no chance of reconciliation, quitting a job, or overcoming an addiction, and, in addition to this if they are willing to incorporate good Nutritional care, the time can be shortened dramatically. A five-year case could become a three-year case or a two-year case could be shortened to a year.
Remembering that suppression of the physical makes symptoms jump to those of an emotional nature, and suppression of emotional issues makes them jump to the mental realm: the more jumping has taken place the longer it will take to reverse the process. Someone might say, 'oh, it's too late now, I might as well stick with Allopathy". Of course they have the right to such a decision but it's never too late to improve the condition.
A person can be so far down the road of suppression that a complete reversal may be impossible, we call them 'incurables', but palliation is always possible. To take a very suppressed person and allow them to live their life to an end without the dramatic drawn-out manifestation of a life-threatening ailment, to allow them to pass on suddenly and without pain, perhaps in their sleep, is an honorable goal. Homeopathy has helped many of these cases.
Patients who think in terms of whether they will allow Homeopathy the chance to treat them for months or years, implies that these patients are giving Homeopathy a chance to prove itself. If the philosophy of Homeopathy, and the evidence of Homeopathy's efficacy appeals to you, consider making Homeopaths your doctors of choice…to work with a Homeopath for the rest of your life. The Homeopath will tell you when to use other modalities such as Acupuncture, Allopathy, surgery and Chiropractic. To have the Homeopath as the base line, the foundation of health, makes absolute sense. It already does for millions in Mexico, South America, India and Europe. The greatest proof of Homeopathy's efficacy would be to evaluate the health of those who have been treated this way since birth. It would be difficult to get any world health organization to do this.
A Homeopath in Florida, an elderly gentleman, once told me he went to the Library of Congress to research how long people of different professions lived. He said he found evidence that Homeopaths lived the longest. I only wish I had his information.
Financial Considerations -- "if no results all is refunded!"
Dr. Srirang Dhole, of Amravati, India, writes on his patient's charts, if he sees they are skeptical and may only give Homeopathy the chance of a visit or two, "if no results in six months all money refunded". He claims he has made no refunds yet in 30 years of practice and boasts a room of hundreds of note books, each containing 100 cases each, of cured cases for ailments; alphabetized from A to Z! He now does 100 follow-up visits a day and has become a millionaire, in American terms, just from the practice of Classical Homeopathy. I have had a standing invitation for 30 years to be the Director of his post graduate college of Homeopathy and to supervise student doctors in the hospital, as well as to have my own private practice. Living in India is a challenge, however. I've worked there and will again, and enjoy it immensely but am not ready to reside there fulltime.
I once asked him what they do at his hospital and free clinic for lumps in the breast? He shrugged his shoulders and said, "What do you mean?". I told him that in America the woman receives a mammogram and usually a needle biopsy. He shrugged again and said, "we treat them and the lump goes away."
If you Google 'needle biopsy' you can read statistics on the danger of spreading malignant cells into the blood stream when the needle is retracted from the lump. Women receiving needle biopsy who already have a malignant tumor are 80% more likely to have metastasis than those who do not. These results have been published in major Allopathic journals. So why is it still being done? I do not know. 19 out of 20 patients I warn about this still get the needle biopsy anyway! Why? They tell me that they and the Allopath both want to know if the tumor is malignant. If it is malignant you certainly do not want to spread it. In either case, the most sensible way to treat it at the early stage is with Homeopathy and Nutrition (when I say 'Nutrition' this can include the modalities of Herbology and Ayurvedic. If the lump continues to grow in size it should be removed surgically without disrupting the tumor's encapsulation. Once it is removed further treatment with Homeopathy and Nutrition should be continued.
Most Homeopaths in the U.S. charge $150 to $350 for the first two hours. Follow-up visits run $85 to $150. These prices still make Homeopathy the least expensive branch of medicine. Imagine curing a lump in the breast for maybe $1000 compared to Allopathy's ten thousand plus. Gandhi once said, and I paraphrase, "Homeopathy is the most complete medical science. It claims the most cures of any branch of medicine and is the most efficacious and economical of all the medical sciences."
Getting on Board…….Success!!
Following the instructions of the Homeopath is crucial. Homeopathic remedies cannot be taken the same way as Allopathic pharmaceuticals. More is not better in Homeopathy.
In Allopathy, when a symptom is made to go away and it comes back you can take the pharmaceutical again and, usually, it will go away again. When repeated attempts result in 'success', with Allopathy, it means the symptom has been suppressed and that the symptom has gone deeper into the being. Not good! In Homeopathy, when a symptom goes away it may stay away. If it does come back a repeated dose is warranted because sometimes a single dose is not enough 'energy' to produce a cure. But, if after repeated doses, the symptoms do stay away, repeated doses are NOT indicated. In fact taking too many doses after the removal of symptoms could cause the original symptoms to recur…and then it becomes harder to cure the case, as there has been a disruption. A disruption requires waiting until the symptom picture changes into another. Waiting is crucial. It could take weeks. No tampering must be done during this period. Once the new picture has emerged Homeopathic treatment can resume, but the case must be re-taken.
If a patient continues to take a remedy for too long after a symptom has gone away, and a new symptom appears, a proving has occurred. A proving is when one actually becomes symptomatic as a result of taking too much of the remedy. But have no fear should this occur, the solution is simple, just stop taking the remedy and in hours to several days, maximum, the symptoms of the proving will go away.
When a Homeopath makes a recommendation as to how often the remedy should be taken, called 'the frequency of dosage', that recommendation should be followed because Homeopaths deal with this on a daily basis and have thousands of examples with which to compare your particular situation. This advice on the part of the Homeopath comes with much previous experience and will contribute to your success.
Sometimes the Homeopath will recommend a high potency remedy to you. And he or she may tell you to take it only one time and to return in three to six weeks. It seems strange for the new comer to Homeopathy to take but one dose and to wait so long. But a high potency remedy acts very deeply and takes longer to resolve issues on a deeper level than it does for physical complaints. Sometimes a high potency dose will have immediate effects on the physical or emotional complaints and, as the days pass on, those complaints may return. This is an important turning point in the prescription. The patient must wait to see if those complaints will again go away. Often complaints come and go during the week(s) one is waiting and eventual go away for good. Intervening with what are called 'intercurrent remedies' can confuse the case and be most detrimental. I remember, to this day, my first Homeopathic instructor, Hu Claybrook, standing at the podium at the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, saying "Homeopathy is like the song about the turtle", he would then begin to sing that song we know…da dump da dump da dump da, dump da dump….
The length of time required to cure is not contrived by Homeopathy, nor is it theoretically derived. It is based purely on observation…that which has worked best for patients over 200 years of use.
Picture a pool table. One hits the cue ball one time, it hits other balls and there is motion on the table; balls are moving in different directions. You wouldn't want to hit the cue ball again until all the balls had stopped. Taking a repeated dose when the case is in, what we call 'flux', is like hitting the cue ball again before all the balls stop, creating chaos!
The time it takes the pool table balls to come to a stop, continuing the analogy, in an acute case where the symptoms are fierce, may be only 30 seconds. A dose can be repeated every 30 seconds if one just received a contusion from hitting an object, or if one were in the throws of vomiting or delirious from fever. Should the symptoms be less fierce, repeating the dose every 30 minutes might be appropriate. If one began taking a remedy a day after a fall, one might take the remedy every few hours for a day or two or until the symptoms were greatly improved. There is little danger in taking the acute and emergency remedies too often. If results have not been achieved in a fierce case, a remedy can be switched out for another if results are not forthcoming in minutes. In a less fierce case where the remedy chosen was incorrect, a switch out can occur within hours.
Chronic cases do not work this way at all. Time has to be allotted to allow for a deep healing. It is unfortunate that when an incorrect remedy (sometimes called a 'near-miss') has been chosen, time will be wasted, as the waiting period has to occur no matter what. But this is the nature of the beast and Homeopaths feel this pressure when prescribing high potency remedies…they want to get it right from the outset so that the patient does not have to suffer for months as they struggle to find the right remedy. It happens in 10% to 20% of cases. Homeopathy is difficult to practice well. Many Homeopathic students will find themselves in another profession at that end of their first year of practice, as the difficulty is daunting to them. But if they persevere the rewards are forthcoming and the gratification of being a channel for true healing is a spiritual benefit for the prescriber.
Another technique which is used is called 'pushing until there is a reaction". In this approach it is assumed that the suppression is 'locked into the being'…and must be shaken loose. Often Homeopathic sulphur or nux vomica (the word 'vomica' has nothing to do with vomiting) are used for this purpose. The patient is told to take the remedy once a day or once every 4th or 7th day until a reaction occurs such as a cold, flu, fever, the return of old suppressed symptoms or until there is a clear change in the grouping of symptoms the person had when starting the remedy. Once the reaction occurs, the case is now 'in flux', and the patient is instructed to stop taking the remedy, to take notes on what has changed, in detail, and to wait a few days before calling the Homeopath or, if comfortable enough, to wait until their next appointment. This is one of the most important uses of Homeopathy as the unsuppression of previously wrongly treated symptoms is the key factor to 'unlocking' the case. Progress proceeds forward from this moment on as long as the patient sticks with Homeopathy. A return to the fearful use of suppressive Allopathics will return the case to its original pre-Homeopathy status.
One time a patient complained of terribly annoying encrustations in their nose. The mucous linings of both sides of the inner nose were encrusted over with scabs. The scabs would rip off leaving a raw area of tissue that burned and ached. In taking the case, which took four hours to retrieve the entire history of this patient, it became apparent that a failed surgery for a deviated septum, which was the result of a racket ball accident, had left the patient in this state. The cartilage of the nose had been sewn back to its original position but days after the surgery the stitches broke and the cartilage slid down to its original slipped position. The surgeon refused to redo the surgery at his expense and the patient was a poor student being treated under a state insurance program. The state program would not pay for a second surgery as the surgeon would not admit to failure on is part. The patient was given Homeopathic staphasagria made from a plant. For the first two weeks there was no movement in the case…all remained the same and the patient wanted to try another remedy. I reviewed the case and determined that staphasagria was the correct remedy and instructed the patient to wait…this required a coaching speech! On the next day all the encrustations disappeared and the patient was well from then on. Ten years later one small area of the lining of one nostril began to experience the same symptom but a repeated dose of staphasagria produced no results. It was a tolerable symptom and the patient was able to manage. Other attempts at remedies cured subsequent complaints of this patient but the nose never returned to a 100% cured state. So be it. Sometimes we don't know why some complaints remain stuck. It's easy to chock it up to karma but there comes a time with the practitioner has to stop trying new remedies and let it be. The patient was still quite happy they had used Homeopathy and continues to turn to it to this day for treatment.
To further enhance the opportunity for success, take the nutrients your Homeopath has given you as part of their role as Nutritionist in the case.
Try not to get discouraged. Remember, patience is the key to being a good patient! The Homeopath is not slowing down your cure rate. It is just the rate at which we do heal. Since our physical ailments are tied into our emotions and mental concepts, is it any wonder that deep cure would take some time?
Consider maintenance care three to four times a year. In China there used to be a program of health care called 'the Barefoot Doctor'. The doctor was paid monthly to keep the patient well and was not paid when they came in for a visit involving ailments. It was truly preventive care. It has been eliminated.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if all our doctors were paid regardless of the number of visits? This is close to the HMO principle but the HMOs utilize hardly any non-Allopathic practitioners. HMOs were a way to circumvent having to pay for Chiropractic by Federal Law, and a way to pay Allopaths less per patient. HMOs were called 'Doc in a Box' by disapproving Allopaths. HMOs allowed business people to position themselves between doctors and patients and to be able to keep the savings that used to be paid to the doctor. In paying Allopaths less, HMOs also increased the Allopath's caseload and created an assembly line way of doing pharmaceutical medicine. It is not a good thing.
