Prescription

https://hpathy.com/organon-philosophy/archived-articles-on-posology

[Jo Evan] GUIDELINES TO PRESCRIBING SMALLER SEA REMEDIES

[Hahnemann, 5^th Edition of Organon]

Patient is very excitable and weak, the application of a remedy by olfaction is more efficacious and safe than the administration of a substantial dose of homoeopathic medicine, however fine and highly potentiated. This is done by holding the mouth of the vial, containing one small globule moistened with the medicine, first to one nostril, and if the dose is to be still more efficacious, also to the other nostril of the patient, who takes a momentary inspiration. This process of olfaction is not to be repeated at shorter intervals, than if the medicine had been given in substantial form.

[Jacqueline Smith]

Contra-indication Against Administering Simillimum

In a patient, whose disease is terminal and which may be in its final stages, namely where the life force is hopelessly overwhelmed by the forces of disease, or in many emergencies, it is absolutely contra-indicated to prescribe the individual’s simillimum, which would, in these circumstances, only be able to produce an aggravation hastening death. In such an instance functiotropic, organotropic or pathotropic remedies ought to be the homoeopathic drugs of choice, with the intention of inducing a measure of improvement for the limited period remaining to the patient. Therefore, the remedies identified by using predominantly common, general and particular symptoms which have no modalities, will be sufficient when given at the appropriate phase in the disease process and may reflect more the nature of the Genus Epidemicus rather than the simillimum of the individual patient.

Extensive investigative studies of recorded pathogenetic experiments were carried out by Henri Voisin to assess the time passed before particular reactions happened in provers and also to confirm what had already been established by clinical usage. His results were that, in general:

Low potencies are best suited to organic disease; Medium potencies are most effective for influencing function; High potencies produce the best response in mental & emotional symptoms.

It is sufficient to assert that it has become accepted practice that lower potencies are often given in repeated doses when prescribing on the basis of morbid anatomy (as recommended by Richard Hughes, 1836-1902) and in some acute diseases provided there is no irreversible tissue destruction. But it should also be remembered that a remedy, if well indicated in terms of the law of similars, would be homoeopathic even without recourse to a potency thereof, as exemplified by the occasional use of mother tinctures, whenever one of these happens to be the most appropriate form of the remedy for the particular case.

[Ruth Heather Hull]

Until his death in 1843 H. continually worked on refining homoeopathy and developing its definitive laws and principles. One of these principles was that for a true cure

to take place, a single remedy that matches the entire picture of the patient should be administered. This remedy is called the simillimum and many modern day classical

homoeopaths believe that if you cannot clearly see the simillimum by the end of the consultation then you should not prescribe a remedy at all, for “it is safer to do nothing than to do wrong” (De Schepper, 2006: 169).

Hahnemann (cited in O’Reilly, 2010: 151) declared:

“The medicines upon which the life and death, the disease and health of human beings depend must be exactly, painstakingly distinguished from one another”. Finding the true essence of a remedy, and hence the simillimum, can be a painstaking process especially if the remedy is poorly presented in homoeopathic materia medica.

Until his death in 1843 H. continually worked on refining homoeopathy and developing its definitive laws and principles. One of these principles was that for a true cure

to take place, a single remedy that matches the entire picture of the patient should be administered. This remedy is called the simillimum and many modern-day classical

How Does a Homoeopath Chooses a Remedy and how can Group Analysis Help?

De Schepper (2006: 170) there are now several thousand remedies available to a homoeopath and this number is continually increasing with the increase in homoeopathic research and provings. In order to successfully choose one remedy out of the thousands available, homoeopaths use books or computer software called repertories. These list symptoms that have been elicited during provings or clinical cases (Bloch and Lewis, 2003: 30): These symptoms are referred to as rubrics.

After taking a patient’s case, a homoeopath chooses the most significant rubrics and looks these up in a repertory. The repertory gives a number of different remedies and then,

using a materia medica, the homoeopath further explores the remedies before deciding on the most appropriate remedy for the patient. Using a repertory and materia medica

provides a logical system which a homoeopath can use in order to choose a remedy. By relying solely on rubrics and repertories and looking only at the isolated symptoms or

details of the case rather than the ‘bigger picture’ a homoeopath may fail to see the intrinsic nature of the case and hence choose the wrong remedy.

Candegabe (1997: xvi): it is difficult for a homoeopath to apply his or her knowledge of remedies to clinical practice and that often the pictures of remedies described in the

materia medica actually bear no resemblance to a patient in clinical practice. He states that each remedy has an “essential living being” which pervades it and that it is only when one stops looking at isolated symptoms and considers all the pieces of information together that one can see a remedy as a “unified whole”, and hence be “able to catch a glimpse of the main theme around which all the symptoms would obediently gather in a logical sequence, like subtle notes in some strange symphony”.

Sobraske (2010: xviii) also argues that the essence of a remedy is being lost in an excess of data, in rubrics that are often simply short phrases and in repertories that “essentially

flatten the meaning of the remedy, making it more one-dimensional and more difficult to differentiate from the other (similarly flattened) remedies in the same rubric”.

Sankaran (2005a) and Scholten (1993)

In order to develop a deeper insight into homoeopathic remedies, established the group analysis approach. An approach to case taking and prescribing that differs from

straightforward repertorization of a case. Its aim is to find symptoms, sensations and pathological tendencies that are common to all the remedies within a group and hence enable a homoeopath to more accurately see a remedy’s ‘picture’ as well as to gain deeper insight into the family’s smaller, less well presented remedies. In group analysis, remedies are understood as belonging to a group/family with common characteristics and a common theme. This method explores the main theme in a group of remedies and then compares the remedies within that group in order to see what unites them and what distinguishes them from one another. It prevents the ‘flattening’ of remedies that Sobraske (2010: xviii) referred to and can help a homoeopath extract the essence of a remedy to match the essence of a person.

Sankaran (2006: 3): Describes the need for group analysis as follows: “For the same patient, different homoeopaths prescribe entirely different remedies. I had thought initially

that this was due to differences in case taking. But even in seminars where I took cases in front of the audience, and all could observe the same, there were at least twenty

different suggestions for the same case. Which meant to me that we were still prescribing on symptoms; each would take some symptoms or some idea and come up with some

remedy. There had to be a way, I felt, whereby all could arrive at a small group of closely related remedies, if not the same one.

There was a need for a map to chart our way in this ocean of drugs and disease”.

[Mangliavori]

Basic Frame:

In our growth as human beings, we need to cross several steps in our evolution from the beginning of childhood when we leave the uterus to growing as adults.

More or less, we all have a solid structure to our growing. If there is a serious damage in this sense and the evolution is not growing in a proper way, you don’t only have

a problem in your personality as a structure of the self, but also in your physical structure.

(A fundamental theme can be seen on both mental and physical levels.)

Basic frame means that the basic needs of survival are provided and they are OK.

You don’t see anything more sophisticated than what is needed for survival.

You can see this in their relationship to other people, their own understanding, their attitude to getting a good insight, their relationship to food, money & their house.

Everything has to be sure, clear, basic. They need a clear sense of being supported, whatever it is.

If they don’t have the support, they’ll replace it as soon as possible. They may cut off the emotional side of a relationship and only live because they need the support.

It’s like the infant state of a baby who is unable to survive by himself.

Spongia is blocked in this state. Completely dependent on somebody else. Becoming an adult means being able to live on your own.

They don’t set up relationships using emotions. “I need someone, that’s it!” This is acted in a very, very childish way. When they are really bad, they will ask the wife

or the husband to go with them to the hairdresser!

They cannot stand at all to be alone, in any moment of their existence. This need is essential.

Distance: In a compulsory way, they must not get in emotional contact with another person. Between them and the others, there is always a kind of safety distance

which will prevent them from being injured, touched, invaded. In some way this could appear as a kind of contradiction to the dependency.

They have to keep the right distance to use the support in a safe way. It’s an emotional distance, rather than a physical distance. They look emotionally dependent but

because of the basic frame are completely dependent. They won’t allow anyone closer than that. It’s like when you need milk from the mother to be fed, but on the other

side, you are almost unable to have an emotional relationship with the person – you just need the milk, warm environment and to be protected. Beyond that, there is no

connection.

Dependency: The idea of living by themselves is almost impossible. There must be the physical presence of somebody to guarantee the protection that they survive.

Whenever there is a lack of this support, for any reason, they are in panic.

If someone who was one of the most important people, dies or has to leave, there is a very serious state of de-compensation.

Seek out the relationship. Often, they will find somebody who is happy to exist in this kind of relationship – like a kind of nurse!

Even if you try to understand what’s going on in this person, because of such a basic frame, almost as if they are unable to make a clear connection that takes a minimum insight.

You can be quite astonished that the person is not able to understand the connection.

You sense a clear feeling of being disconnected. There is such a lack of organisation in the basic frame.

Immaturity: This is very strong in Spong. The person is clearly not able to be independent.

It is clear that they need somebody else, even to survive. They suffer tremendously if there is a loss, but it’s not an emotional suffering. It’s related more to them than the person that dies.

They will panic – “What can I do now without this person?” Their programme will be to replace him or her as soon as possible with another who is stronger.

They must have close to them what they perceive as a strong personality.

A stable house, stable finances, enough food and good life insurance!

Safe environment: This is like the Sea.

What is important in life is to be safe, to be protected, to be stable. Not to change their mind, not to face new things.

Not to move out from common habits. Not to face problems with food, work, etc.

Guaranteed work: Very basic needs and wants – to have something sure and safe.

You get a clear feeling that they are not ambitious at all. There is no ambition at all.

It’s essential to survive and stay in a place that is safe. It’s as if everything in life points to this – to have something safe and sure.

Alternation: From a clinical point of view, a common observation in cases of Spongia, is that they always think something in the external environment makes them sick.

Whatever they’re complaining about is something that comes and goes away.

It is as if they try in some way to get rid of ‘my problem’ but it comes and comes and comes.

They are either good or not good, constantly. In every patient, we should look at the relationship they have with the external world and the relationship they have with their

internal world. They live somewhere where the external world can affect them as little as possible. It’s as if the constant fight against something that they perceive as something that makes them sick, is a strategy to help them try to overcome the problem.

Whenever you try to give a context to their suffering (a modality or causation), you often have a very poor result.

It is as if their problem surrounds them. It overwhelms them and there is nothing that they can do except to try to avoid it and compensate for it.

From the point of view of the physical translation of this suffering, you often see alternating symptoms. The problem comes and goes.

Spasmodic retraction: The tendency of developing different kinds of spasms is common to many remedies.

However, the intensity of the spasm in the case of Spongia are almost paroxysmal and out of control.

They happen in a strong way and are overwhelming. Like a whooping cough that keeps on going and they don’t know what to do. The reaction of anything to something

that makes them sick is that they retract. This is a kind of symbolic picture evident in Spongia.

If they come across something that makes them sick, they immediately jump back into their safe environment. Whatever happens, the retraction is immediate.

It is spasmodic and blocking.

It is something in a clinical way where the result is a kind of paralysis. A symbolic, rather than muscular paralysis.

They are stuck and cannot move. They can’t do anything to react against what’s going on rather than retract straightaway into their little house.

They often have problems affecting the muscles – paralytic pains, something that blocks the motion, makes them unable to move. Think in terms of what is indispensable

to our system. You can live without eating and drinking for a few days.

You can live without breathing for a few minutes. This is the most basic need and the most common use of Spongia. They block the first act of existing.

[Luc de Schepper]

Wet dose of any Homeopathic remedy, mentioned in “Sixth Organon of Hahnemann” for Q-potencies, is made as follows:

Order the remedy in the Ethanol pack also referred to as Liquid Dilution in a bottle preferably with a dropper arrangement.

Get a 500ml bottle of Spring Water from the nearest supermarket.

Pour out about 3cm of water from the bottle to leave some airspace.

Insert 3 drops of the remedy into the bottle and shake the bottle 50 - 100x hard before you sip a capfull of the bottle or a large teaspoonful which is the dose.

Shaking the bottle hard is homeopathic succussion and this shaking must be done every time before sipping a capful of the bottle twice daily.

Repeat the dose until an effect is produced better or worse, then stop.

[Dr. Hardy]

If old obscured symptoms, complained of perhaps months or years before the first prescription was made, reappear and trouble the patient, they should be carefully noted,

and their course observed, but these symptoms should not be hastily prescribed for until a picture of the proper remedy is presented. Such conditions frequently appear

and then disappear of themselves, never to return.

[Dr. Arthur Grimmer]

In bad hearts, high potency may give a bad reaction. It may be necessary to use the tincture.

[Dr. Lippe]

If the symptoms for which a remedy is given are removed and a new symptom appears, withhold the hand if you wish the case to go on to recovery.

[C.M. Boger]

Ultimately the constitutional peculiarity is bound to reveal itself in a form pointing to its remedial counterpart. Nature calls for relief in her own language which it behoves

us to learn properly.

It is contained in the symptom picture but many times we are forced to look for it elsewhere.

[J.T. Kent]

Never leave a remedy until you have tested it in a higher potency, if the former has benefited the patient.

Susceptibility exists in the vital force, not in the tissues.

[H.A. Roberts]

Do not dip into a chronic state when dealing with an acute condition, and vice versa.

We have no long acting drugs. The continued favorable condition depends on the quality of the vital force and its harmonious action.

[J.T. Kent]

Sulphur like Silicea is a dangerous drug to give where there is structural disease in vital organs (lungs).

[Ravi Singh]

Hair transmission.

Editor’s Note: Hpathy.com or its editors do not endorse hair-transmission as a way to administer homeopathy remedies. The article has been given space at Hpathy to share with the community one of the non-prescribed ways in which homeopathy remedies are being used.

1. Action of remedy is quick if your selection of remedy is correct, be it by any method like classical, therapeutic, pathological, mental or theme based.

2. Homeopathy is also effective in genetically determined diseases.

3. The method for remedy administration as in all my cases/ clinical practice is Drug Transmission through hair of “Sahni Effect”. This is just another way of administration of a homoeopathic remedy, such as oral, olfaction and touch. This method was discovered by the late Dr. B. Sahni of Patna in 1967. In this method the remedy is not administered by mouth. The dynamic remedy is selected individually, and then one of the patient’s hairs is placed into the remedy solution. By this method the patient receives the effect of the remedy anywhere in the world.

Methodology adopted is as follow:

Patients is informed of the method.

Case history is collected from the patients as per the case taking in classical Homoeopathy.

• Each case history is then analyzed for selection of proper rubrics for the selection of the homoeopathic medicines.

• Each case is then repertorized using the RADAR software available at the centre and a medicine is selected.

• A strand of hair is taken, either cut or uprooted, from the head of the patient.

• The selected medicine is used in the 50 millesimal potency (or other potency) and diluted in water in a 5ml vial and ten strokes are given.

• A strand of hair from the patient is inserted in the vial containing the remedy. This is termed “Transmitting set”. It is put in a safe cupboard after labeling it with the name of

the medicine, date and patient’s name OR code number allotted to the patient.

• When the hair is put in the vial of transmitting set, it is termed as Transmission “ON” and when the hair is removed from the vial, it is termed Transmission “OFF”

• The patient is advised to report for progress after fifteen days.

• Follow-up progress is noted when the patient revisits the clinic after fifteen days.

• Homoeopathic observation of the case is followed up and change in medicine is made depending on results.

• If no change in symptoms- ten strokes are given to the transmitting set.

• If results are of positive progress, no change is made in the transmitting set.

• If there is aggravation in symptoms, either the hair is removed from the transmitting set or I wait without any change, depending on the progress noted.

• If there are adverse changes, the Transmission is put OFF and I wait for change.

• When there is need to change the remedy, either due to wrong selection or for use of a complementary remedy, the hair is removed from the first transmitting set, properly

cleansed and then inserted in a new transmitting set containing a new medicine.

Remedies used for transmission are selected from the general pool of the Homeopathic medicines in 50 millesimal potency.

• Standard homeopathic principles of complementary remedies, follow-up, inimicals, antidotes etc. are followed.

• After treatment is finished or if the patient is not reporting properly, the hair is removed, cleansed and hence drug transmission is stopped.

Advantages of this method are following:

Distance of patient to therapeut is no obstacle for patient either in first or subsequent consultations.

• In case of aggravation, simply detaching the hair will check the aggravation.

• It is a continuous process, since the patient receives the remedy as long as the vial contains his hair.

• It is the quickest method of obtaining effects by homoeopathy that I have witnessed in my practice.

• Change of medicine is simple. After washing the hair, it is put it in another medicated vial.

• Patient need not to come our office; he has only to inform us by telephone or message.

• It is a method that can be used in religious fasting like VRAT of Hindus and RAMJAN of Muslims without contradicting religious sentiments of patients

[Dr. Luc de Schepper]

ALWAYS (for acute as well as Chronic diseases) put the remedy into water!

The dose (how much needs to be given) is just as much part of the rightfully selected remedy as the name of the remedy

Do not accept similar aggravations (an aggravation of your existing symptoms). The watery solutions allow the homeopath to minimize and even avoid such similar aggravation.

The smallness of the dose is a very much neglected part in homeopathic circles. Many aggravations are due to giving a too large dose rather than a too high potency. Always start with a cautious small dose!

Treatment for Acute diseases (colds, to lower back pains, to ear infections, etc./not talking URGENT medical care).

The potency choice for acute diseases (less than 3-4 months old) is simple: use at least a potency from 30C upwards to 200C and 1000C. Always use the watery method by putting two pellets of your chosen remedy and potency in an 8 oz bottle (Remedy Solution Bottle or RSB), stir well and take one teaspoon directly from the RSB. Do not repeat earlier than two hours after first dose.

When you see a similar aggravation in the first hour (= aggravation of symptoms during the first hour) this first dose will cure and no further dose will be needed. If symptoms are not entirely gone after 2 hours, you can repeat the same procedure every two hours after succussing each successive dose (hitting RSB against your palm) 8x.

Chronic Disease treatment: existing > than 3-4 months existing is very different. The potency selection (how strong?) will depend on the reactivity of the patient (the reactivity of the Vital Force, Qi in Chinese medicine and to some extent the immune system in allopathy). If the reactivity is good, a stronger potency can be applied. Here are some general guidelines.

ALWAYS Low potencies (starting with 6C and not higher than 30C) are indicated and a must in the following conditions (these 3 conditions supersede any other indications following further!):

A hypersensitive patient: such patient reacts to perfumes, environmental factors like carpets, bleach, newspaper, etc.) or people who react strongly to regular doses of medication and vitamins as

well as those that reacted strongly to anesthesia

The patient has strong pathology: this usually means, he already has received a medical diagnosis and there is extensive pathology involved like destruction of tissues (M.S., Parkinson), formation

of tumors, deficiency of factors like in diabetes, hyperthyroidy or Basedow disease, autoimmune disorders with destruction, asthma, etc. Also in chronic diseases affecting the heart, brain, eyes,

pancreas, lungs.

The patient has a chronic skin disease (when treated in past with cortisone: chronic eczema from young age on and psoriasis), just to name two common diseases. Often the symptoms were controlled

by cortisone intake/creams and in this case the dose should be minimal (drops instead of tsp) and definitely not higher than 6C potency to start

Elderly patients: rather start with low potency

Higher Potencies (starting with 30C, then 200C, 1000C, etc.) are indicated in the following conditions:

In young children (babies included) as long as the 3 previous conditions are not present; the choice of high potency includes ASD, ADHD, ADD, OCD, etc.

Patients under stress (worries at work, home, in relationships, etc.)

[Elizabeth Wright Hubbard] Lack of Reaction: Bry. Laur. Op. Sulph.

Part Two: the repetition of the Dose (How often), in chronic diseases

The most important thing to remember is that the repetition of a dose is determined on an individual basis. This is quite different than when we take allopathic drugs where your physician tells you

to take the drug at a certain time (3x daily, every evening, etc.), usually based on weight and age of patient.

Test dose with the watery solutions. This works as follows:

“The homeopath (who tried to adjust potency and dose individually at the first consultation) tells you to take the first dose in the evening (most of the time) and should ask you the third day how you reacted to this first dose. There are three possibilities:

1. Great reaction with better sleep, better emotional feeling, a sense of well being, more positive outlook, etc (A256), even remembering dreams and dreams with a better theme. At this point do not repeat and see how long this dose gives you these good feelings/reactions. Let’s say it last for 2 days and the third day your original symptoms come back, then you need to take the dose changed only by the amount of succussions, every third day!

2. Bad reaction with an aggravation of your existing symptoms: this is called a similar aggravation: no repetition of the remedy!! You must wait till this aggravation goes away (usually fast after 1-2 days without any harm), then you get the benefit from it and only when then the original symptoms come back should the remedy be repeated, this time in a smaller dose and/or potency, to be determined by your homeopath!

3. No reaction: the homeopath can now decide to either adjust dose/potency or simply with the watery dose method to take the dose every other evening and check back with him the tenth day to see if the patient is on track!

Notes:

This method is only possible with the 5th and 6th edition watery methods, not the 4th dry edition Organon method.

Never take your dose from the bottle in a mechanical way: do not trust the homeopath that gives you a bottle with the remedy and tells you to take it every day and to come back to him when the bottle is finished. Much damage can be done! A test dose and further guidance is a must!

NEVER stop your allopathic medication when starting homeopathic treatment with your chronic patient. Cooperation with your allopathic physician is a must!

[Constantine Hering]

There are often several causes, and one remedy is not suitable for them all. In this case give one remedy after another; select first one for the worst symptoms, or still better, for the symptoms which appeared last, or the cause which acted last. Always give but one remedy, and only when this does no more good, another one.

[Thomas Blasig-Jäger/Peter Vint]

Arzneimittelbeziehungen

Komplementärmittel ist ein Mittel, das in vielen Krankheitsfällen die Behandlung zum Abschluß gebracht hat.

Echte Komplementärbeziehungen sind selten, weswegen die in manchen Büchern auftauchende Inflation dieser Mittel mit Vorsicht zu betrachten ist und diese Beziehungen erst noch der Bestätigung in der Praxis bedürfen.

Arzneimittelzyklen sind in der Praxis häufig beobachtete Abfolgen von mehreren Arzneimitteln.

Darmnosoden

Die Darmnosoden von Bach/Paterson sind in der homöopathischen Literatur und in der täglichen Praxis unterrepräsentiert.

Die dem Mittel vergleichbare Darmnosode wurde hier mit angegeben um in der täglichen Praxis den Blick wieder etwas darauf zu lenken, auch wenn sonst keine Vergleichsmittel angegeben werden.

Antidote

Nach der Gabe eines Arzneimittels kann im Prinzip jeder starke Einfluß auf den Patienten die Wirkung dieses Mittels stören oder es antidotieren.

Abhängig ist das von der Höhe der vorher verabreichten Potenz, der Empfindlichkeit des Patienten, der Einwirkungszeit und der Häufigkeit der Wiederholung.

Als Antidote können hierbei ätherische Öle, Elektrosmog, Fernsehen genauso wie Drogen oder Kaffee wirken.

Abzugrenzen sind hier stets vorübergehende Aussetzungen der Arzneimittelwirkung durch äußere Einflüsse oder Abschwächungen der Erstwirkung des Mittels (durch Kampfer).

Die Antidote eines Mittels können zu verschiedenen Gelegenheiten nützlich werden.

Bei Vergiftungen mit dieser Substanz. Hier wurden die modernen schulmedizinischen Antidote mit aufgeführt. Diese Art Antidote sind besonders dann wichtig, wenn für das

entsprechend Gift kaum eine natürliche Ausscheidungsfähgkeit besteht (z.B. bei Quecksilber) oder die Vergiftung akut lebensgefährlich ist

Ein weiterer Grund, die schulmedizinische Behandlung der Vergiftungen mit aufzuführen, ist, daß homöopathische Behandlung nach den bisherigen Antidotlisten bei Vergiftungen

nicht unbedingt up to date, geschweige denn lege artis ist. Wer würde heute noch einem Cannabisvergifteten Strychnin geben?

Zu beachten ist, daß es bei Angaben insbesondere bei den Antidota oft unklar ist, ob nun die materielle Substanz zwecks chemischer Antidotierung gemeint ist oder der potenzierte Stoff.

Chemische Antidotierung (Säuren gegen Laugen) ist heutzutage obsolet, da lebensgefährlich. Moderne Vergiftungstherapie heißt: Verdünnen, Entfernen, symptomatische Behandlung

und dann erst, wenn vorhanden, ein Antidot.

Bei Überdosierung des potenzierten Mittels durch Behandler oder Patient. Wer täglich mehrere Kügelchen, als Einmalgabe 3 - 6 Globuli oder ähnlich große Dosierungen zu verabreichen

pflegt, tut gut daran, aus Gründen der Rationalität die Antidotliste gleich auswendig zu lernen. Bei Hahnemann’schen Dosierungen, ein Globuli von Mohnsamengröße u. U. verdünnt

über mehrere Tassen Wasser, wird man als Behandler kaum je in die Verlegenheit kommen, das Mittel antidotieren zu müssen. “Einbehutsamer Arzt hat aber fast nie der Antidote nötig.” (Hahnemann, chronische Krankheiten 3. Bd., S. 230-231.)

Wenn ein Patient zur Folgekonsultation kommt und als Mittel das Antidot des zuletzt verabreichten Mittels herauskommt.

Dann sollte man daran denken, daß der Patient eine Arzneimittelprüfung durchmacht. Dies herauszufinden erleichtert die Rubrik: Antidotiert von.

Unverträglich sind die Mittel, die in Folge gegeben häufig starke Erstverschlimmerungen hervorgerufen haben. Mittel, die hier stehen, können aber durchaus auch in den anderen Rubriken vertreten sein und können dann im Einzelfall auch mit bestem Erfolg in Folge gegeben werden. Eventuell ist es aber ratsam, erst einmal ein Zwischenmittel zu geben, da es danach weitaus ungefährlicher

ist, das an sich unverträgliche Mittel folgen zu lassen.

Folgt gut

Jedes Mittel kann im einzelnen Fall gut folgen.

Vergleichsmittel

Vergleichsmittel sind bisweilen eine nützliche Rubrik (Darmnosoden). Nützlich deshalb, weil man über das Vergleichsmittel gelegentlich ein Mittel finden kann, an das man nie gedacht hätte;

und zum anderen, da ein Mittel, das ähnliche Symptome hervorruft, gerade durch diese Symptomenähnlichkeit ein Antidot sein kann.

[Joop van Dam]

‡ In order to better understand how remedies from the three kingdoms of nature affect the human organism, I'll first discuss the general processes of digestion. Foods from the animal kingdom are relatively easy to digest, because animals are developmentally closest to us. It is only since atlantean times that mammals have split off from the human being in the course of evolution. In consuming animal food, (beef, pork, etc.) our physiology is not challenged much; we consequently become metabolically "lazy". The inner movements of the human organism slow down — the movement of the intestines becomes sluggish; kidney and gall bladder stones form; blood vessels lose their flexibility, sclerosis develops, etc.

he lower animals are further removed from us. The three-foldness of the human organism is no longer present here. Their physical substance is quite different from that of humans, especially in those animals that do not possess an inner skeleton. For example, in shellfish there is a clear differentiation between the formation of the outer shell and inner protein.

In eating this protein, the digestive tract can protest due to the more distantly related and difficult to digest shellfish. Plant food is even more challenging to human physiology. In animals that are pure herbivores, a longer intestinal tract and more sophisticated metabolic system is needed, compared to the relatively short digestive tract of pure carnivores. Lastly,

the digestion of minerals is of greatest complexity.

Until the age of 21/2 years of age, the development of the head is such that ego-organization, astral body and ether body work apart from the physical body. After the 3rd year, the ego-organization, the astral body and in large measure the ether body are active only in consciousness and not in the physical organization of the head. Looking at the rhythmic system,

here the ego-organization and astral body are separate from ether body and physical body half of the time. They connect upon inspiration and they separate upon expiration in a regular rhythmic fashion. Finally, in the metabolic-limb system, all four members of man are united.

The human organism resembles mineral substance in the head organization, plant substance in the rhythmic system, and animal in the metabolic system. Rudolf Steiner states that in consuming a mineral substance, the ego organization is called upon to digest it; with plant substances, the astral body is engaged; and with animal substances, the ether body is active. That member of the human organism which resembles the substance to be digested will digest it. Like digests like.

The metabolic system digests animal substance. The animal has already astralized its substance; we only have to humanize it, and can do that by bringing it to life again after it has been totally 'conquered' stripped of its animal astrality. This is done by the human ether body. Animal substance will act upon the digestive system, that part of the human being where we are most animal-like. If you eat much pork, restlessness develops just like in the pig; you become a bit "pig-like." In the white-fleshed chicken or goose, incarnation is not as deep, but while beef with its red flesh, is very deeply incarnated.

Legumes are a bit more animal-like in quality as other plants and engage the digestive system more than most other plant foods. (In certain mystery schools it is written one shouldn't partake of legumes, because it produces dullness, sleepiness; the head or heart is not engaged as much as the digestive system.) With plant substances, ether forces dominate. These in turn have to be astralized. This is accomplished by that part of the human organism where the astral body comes in from outside. Therefore plant substances act upon the rhythmic system.

Mineral substances are the most difficult to digest; they are the farthest away from the human. Mineral substance has to be brought back to warmth, to the etheric realm. Warmth is intimately related to the ego-organization. Just as the astral body is engaged with plant substance in the middle region of the human organism, so too the ego-organization is called upon to digest mineral substance in the head organization. Mineral substances can increase wakefulness as they are digested by that part of the human organism where the warmth is freed

and works externally.

Animal substance as nourishment or as a medicament, can be unfavorable for inner life. This is because only that part of the ether body which is engaged in the human metabolic-limb system (having to do with the earth where the animal lived) and not those part of the ether body which are engaged in the rhythmic system or in the head region, is affected. Mineral substances don't help the inner life either, but leave you in a little better condition overall. In using plant substances, you work with that part in yourself which is like the plant – conversing, talking with the surroundings. The plant talks with the water, the air and the warmth; it is listens to the movements of the sun; it harmonizes with the moon and the other planets. Likewise, our being is affected by alternation of expiration and inspiration, systole and diastole, and feelings which move between antipathy and sympathy. Plant substances bring you to a relationship with the whole world of the planets. Mineral substances are substances which have their formative forces outside in the realm of the zodiac. That realm reaches our senses and builds our head. That is why Steiner says animal substance engages the etheric body, plant substance engages the astral body, mineral substance engages the ego organization.

Although animals engage the ether body, there is a difference between the therapeutic use of mammals, those animals that are nearest to us developmentally, and the lower animals.

With mammals one organ is used, for example, pancreas, cerebellum or hypophysis, to strengthen the forces of the corresponding human organ. Bovine pancreas is used to heighten human pancreatic forces. Like the human pancreas, the pancreas of an animal has an astral body, an ether body and a physical body. It has a much stronger ether body than the human pancreas because the ether body of the animal is not needed for higher consciousness. The human being uses part of his ether body for consciousness. Because this is not the case with

a cow, for example, you can use a cow pancreas to strengthen the forces which reside in the human pancreas. Steiner discussed the use of numerous organ remedies from the cow, including pancreas, cerebellum, hypophysis and iris, to strengthen the forces of one specific organ.

Another way of using an organ from the mammalian realm is to use it to direct another substance to that particular organ. When using a preparation to help guide a remedy to the right spot, give the remedy and the organ together; let them enter by the same door, not one from behind and one from the front, e.g. not one by injection, the other topically. You put the guide into the injection and let them have the same route. If you use it not as a guide but as itself, then you can have different potencies, especially with the lower animals. With the mammals you mostly use lower potencies because you are nourishing, you are not giving form. You strengthen vitality. This is always done through a low potency.

For example in using Hepar bovis/Taraxacum Stanno culta, you direct the Stannum, Tin, to the liver of the human being so it will work there. I remember a little boy, 5 years old, who developed an osteomyelitis of his left hip. It was discovered late so there was much pus. The orthopedic surgeon said, "He will lose the use of his hip." It was operated on, the pus was drained, and he received postoperative antibiotics. Five years old! We started to treat him with Stannum and then used Articulatio coxae along with Conchae and Formica. He also did curative eurythmy which was the strongest medicament he received, and he is totally cured. You bring the medicament to a specific place. For instance, in neurological diseases, in a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis I've alternated Argentum, Ferrum and Stannum in high potency together with medulla oblongata to direct it there. In myasthenia gravis, especially with ptosis of the eyelids, if you want them to incarnate there again, give levico or another medicament you want to use together with the specific muscles, in a D 6 potency. There are also the whole range of Disci organ-preparations as well as others.

In contrast to the mammals, many lower animals form poisons or venoms. Poison creates the possibility for the spirit or the soul to enter the body. In the higher animal the body is built so that the soul can live therein, but with the lower animals you need a special substance, venom, so the soul can live within. Venoms are, so to speak, spirit collections, or concentrations of soul. In brachialgia nocturna, there are no symptoms during the day; but at night when trying to sleep something starts to tickle, disturbing sleep because of pain here and there.

An X-ray examination of the cervical vertebrae does not reveal anything. It occurs often in people who have a great burden on their shoulders and are like bulls charging into life. In the evening this soul activity is still there, and they are unable to rid themselves of it. I've learned from Otto Wolf that you have to show the soul the way to exit. Give the venom of Crotalus terrificus, the S. American rattlesnake, in a D 30 potency as a subcutaneous injection at the level of C-7. A woman on vacation in Holland once came to me and said, "I've heard you do strange medicine. I have this problem that I don't sleep, even on vacation." I gave her one injection of Crotalus terrificus, and asked her to come back in three days. I repeated it once again. After three days she came back and said, "I don't know why I have to come back because it's gone!" I often give a series of three injections so that the soul 'knows' where it is to go. After two years she was again on holiday and came for another injection because the first injection had lasted for eight months.

A colleague's young daughter had hydroureter due to a dysfunctional ureterovesical valve. She was on chronic antibiotics, which her father did not want. We decided to give ureter or something which is like the ureter together with Equisetum, because Equisetum gives the image of the whole urinary system. I suggested using Equisetum D12. In his "Man As The Symphony of The Creative Word," Steiner describes the ureter as a snake. We gave Lachesis D8, Equisetum D12 only as a liquid,10 drops 3x daily. She never needed antibiotics again. The remedy "showed" the ureter what to do. This was repeated three months on, then a month off, then again three months on for about a year.

If you want to understand remedies, you compare one plant with another, one animal with another, one mineral with another. Steiner once said you will can diagnose by Imagination,

but the relation to medicament you will have through Inspiration. Inspiration is done with your soul, with your astral body. Imagination is done with your ether body. The astral body is constantly making relationships, feeling life, making the relation of you with the world. If you want to come into the Inspirative state of mind, you must be able to go from one thing to another. Meditate on the head; meditate on the heart; meditate on the limb, and you compare them. To conquer them strengthens Inspiration.

If you want to have a relation to medicaments, you must examine relationships. When you look at animals, try to understand the relation between a bee and an ant, for instance.

A bee is warm; it lives in the warm part of the plant; from the beehive bees go out in all directions like the air, the warmth.

An ant is not warm, it is cold, hard and is always at the hard part of the plant, at the roots, the needles, where things have died a bit. If you look at the movement of ants, you see they go along straight lines like crystals. There are "ant streets," and the ant streets go to a tree. If there is something in their way, they go over it because the street will remain straight. It's a different gesture.

The bee takes the warmest part of the plant into itself and transforms it into form. It makes wonderful things in the beehive and where it brings the warm nectar, the honey.

The ant takes the hard part, the needle, and brings it into the heat and hopes it won't become mineral but will remain in the plant kingdom. The ants in the woods care that the wood remains alive. This dry animal keeps the wood alive. It helps those things that tend to fall out of life to be brought back into life again. If you follow the ant trail up the tree, you find the ant comes to the leaves, and there in the leaf are some little fellows, aphids. They are sunk head first into the felt of the leaf, and they drink and drink, eat and eat. Aphids are very fruitful animals. They are so fruitful that if one pair of aphids were to survive frost and birds and other animals for one year, the earth would be covered by these animals who are no bigger than a millimeter. It's thanks to this little animal that the ants have the force to bring that which tends to fall out of life back again.

If you put all these observations together, you find their opposites: on one side warmth, movement, fine, delicate substances; on the other cold, bringing something which tends to fall out of life back into life. One is much life, one is not enough life. Remembering the indications of Apis and ants, you use Apis wherever the warmth organism is in danger, where there is high fever, when the pot is boiling over. Apis brings warmth into form. Apis is for acute illnesses where you have to bring something into form: lymphangitis, tonsillitis, and also where it's getting too cold, as in neuralgia.

Formica (ant) is given where something is chronic, where it is falling out of life, where you have to bring it back into the stream of life again.

The wasp is in between both of these. It also brings form. You can give the wasp when a wound develops a keloid. I once had a patient who had an acute inflammation of one of the vertebrae – a purulent spondylitis. Pus had already formed and a fistula brought it to the surface. A fistula can be a horrible thing that never heals unless you excise it, but that then can take months to heal; so he agreed to try something else. I gave him Argentum D30 and Quarz D30, but more importantly Vespa crabo D6 and Arnica D20. This helped, and in three weeks it closed spontaneously and never returned. How wonderfully the wasp can work to make form. The wasp even makes paper. Of course Vespa crabo D6 and Arnica D20 will not cure every fistula. You find your own relationship to the medicaments, and then they can help you.

In earlier times, during the middle ages there were only plant remedies because healing then had much more to do with the soul and less with the ego. In our time, plant remedies are no longer in the foreground as they once were, and today we look more to the mineral substances. However, plant remedies are still a very important color on our therapeutic palette.

Imagine the earth surrounded a series of successively smaller inter-penetrating spheres, beginning with a sphere of warmth ether, a sphere of light ether, a sphere of chemical ether, and a sphere of life ether. Normally a plant has its roots in life ether, its leaves in chemical and light ether and its flowers in warmth ether. One of the first anthroposophic scientists, Guenther Wachsmuth, found that these four ethers are in movement during the course of the day. At midday they are fully together, but at night the warmth ether and the light ether retreat back into the cosmos while chemical ether and life ether withdraw into the earth. At sunrise they approach each other again, and the birds start to sing as the chemical and ether tones are brought into movement once more.

If you consider all the plant families, you find certain families at their best at certain times of the day or night. The

Labiatae (the mint family) - Thyme, lavender and rosemary — are at their peak at noon when the sun is highest because they are warmth plants. In the Egyptian culture herbs were used to embalm the body. They used seven different Labiatae because this warmth process brought forward the formative forces which could conserve the body. If you put the brothers and sisters of the Labiatae family beside each other, you can go from the one extreme of rosemary to the other, Lamium album. The smaller the leaves the greater the presence of warmth ether in the Labiatae. This is true of other plants as well. Think of the needles of the pine — very small, concentrated warmth — and lavender, thyme and rosemary. From another perspective, the higher the water content of a plant the lower in the body it is related to, e.g. melissa and majorana, related to the pelvic and digestive organs. You go from top to bottom. To develop a relationship with plants you have to know what each has to give. With all the brothers and sisters of the Labiatae you have something for all provinces of the body.

The Cruciferae (mustard family) plants should be known — Capsella bursa pastoris, Cochlearia, cabbage, etc. This family is

very fruitful, every part of the plant can grow and grow. Such growth comes not from warmth or light, but from the light

ether and chemical ether. These plants are very near the earth and can endure the winter. They contain much sulfur, which brings the ether body into connection with the physical body. They are at their peak around 6 h.

Nightshades produce poisonous alkaloids. This is an expression of the fact they are at the end of their evolutionary lives. When they wither away most plants make a bit of poisonous substance. Steiner describes the nightshades as at the end of the biography.

Where does the rose fit in? The rose is at its best in the afternoon. The rose is a very mature plant, it has accomplished something. The rose has come so far that it can make a tree. The rosacea have a relation, a friendship, with the earth.

The rose's time is late in the afternoon between 15 - 16 h.

Lilies are bulb plants. You can put such a bulb in water alone; it will root because it doesn't need the earth at all.

It carries a bit of the earth with it and makes of that its flower. The lily is a rather unearthly plant. The lily is connected with Gabriel, with the unborn, with the innocents, or with death, all conditions where there is a state of excarnation or of coming incarnation. The time of the lilliacea is 0 h.

The same type of relationships exist in the mineral kingdom. When discussing mineral remedies, R.S. never speaks of Silica without mentioning Calcium or Plumbum without comparing it to Argentum. Steiner opens up a whole new area for medical treatment with the metals. The book Fundamentals of Therapy was to have been followed by a second volume on the metals. In mineral nourishment you have to have that part on earth which corresponds to the Zodiac. Rudolf Hauschka has shown how all the elements: Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Sulfur, etc., except for the metals, are connected with the Zodiac. Between the Zodiac and the earth are the metals. The metals mediate between the Zodiac and the earth. The secret of the metals is that they belong to the planetary world, to the middle world. The word 'medicament' represents 'what stands between' 'medi' and there – the region where the metals belong. When the human being breathes, it's between cosmos and earth. He lives for a short time on earth and for a very long time in the cosmos; then he comes back for a short time to earth again. In between he goes through the planetary spheres. This is the sphere of the metals. Bernard Lievegoed has offered this concept of the double planetary process: the incarnating and excarnating of metals. They can help you incarnate; they can help you excarnate.

There are some people who feel they are always a bit "spaced out." They don't fully touch the ground. Those people must get more heaviness, become more grounded. Use Plumbum, the incarnating. metal, in a D20 not D6. However if somebody is far from home because he's always drinking too much and feels, "Where am I? Shut the door so no one can get out", then give him Plumbum or Minium D6.

It is a pity that our lives are not longer so we could learn more. We must always be trying to create new possibilities.

If you look at painters, there are some who paint in characteristic hues. Every doctor has his own palette, and there are certain colors which work well in his paintings. If you have a good relationship with twenty medicaments, you will be a better doctor than if you have a limited relationship with six hundred medicaments. You must have the freedom to be creative with the instruments in your hands and combine them; but you must also do all you can to have the greatest range of possibilities. ‡

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