Arnica, was psychosomatic?

[Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD]

Dear Joy,

When you are involved in a trauma situation, from a simple bump to a serious
car accident or worse, my experience shows me that you have to act first and
think later.

So in truth, there are many remedies with bruises, and each one with its
obvious M/E indications and modalities too, but the first phase common to
each trauma is always pain, bruising/bleeding and sometimes but not always
shock.
The *physiological* action of Arnica is exactly that, so why deprive someone
from its use when it can prevent/remove pain, swelling, hematomas, further
and longer suffering? to stay kosher within strict classical homeopathy? I
do not think it is worth it!!!

The last trauma I attended was on myself, a few months ago, falling from a
ladder straight on my face.........as I rose, the first thing I did was to
take one globule of each potency of Arnica I have: the effect, as usual, was
immediate and I could (again) witness the pain leaving me, no bruises,
nothing later on.
My MENTAL state at that time was anger, indignation, how could that happen
to me, I was absolutely furious at myself and of course snapping at anyone
close to me; Nux Vom solved that one.
Do you really think NV would have provided me with pain relief? do you
really think I had time or willingness to sit and reflect about HOW I was
feeling while my face was morphing into an uncooked hamburger? or that I
would have properly answered questions by a colleague?

I agree that automatic prescription is never the best thing to do, but
helping a patient is, and that is what counts for me! so what if I have to
give another remedy later on to cover what was not included in the Arnica
prescription?

I know we already disagreed on that during a previous discussion about
teaching first aid homeopathy.......
Dr. J. Rozencwajg, MD, PhD.
"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"

[Rosemary C Hyde PhD]

Interesting example, Dr R!

Another thing worth considering is that sometimes, if the cause is very strong (like an accident) and external to the person, suceptibility plays a much smaller role in the outcome (the bruises) -- it would happen to anyone, regardless of susceptibility; therefore, as with the genus epidemicus in a major epidemic, the same remedy will work to a great extent in anyone. Obviously the anger you cite in your example does come from susceptibility, and therefore requires an individualized prescription.

Interesting discussion! Rosemary

[Simon King LCPH MARH]

Different people work different ways. Some can take a case for hours,
seeing a few people a day (or a week!) others have queues outside and
have perhaps 10 mins per person if they're lucky. & there is the whole
gamut between
It is not for anyone at one end of the spectrum of practice to dictate
to others the correct means of practice, only to explain advantages and
disadvantages that are directly relevant to the others practice.. i..e
be helpful not impeding.
A person who has ten minutes cannot tell those who take 2 hours that
they take too long nor vica versa.

If a man is drowning, throw him a line, ask how how got in the water
later

kind regards
Simon King


"reverence for life is a state of mind not a set of rules" Albert
Schweitzer
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[J Lucas]

Dear Dr Roz, I hadn¹t realised we had previously disagreed on acute
prescribing

And to be honest I am not sure what this post is in reference to. My main
objection about using Arnica routinely comes from just that but I don¹t ever
think I have said that one should never use it in an emergency. But if there
is time to assess a case, even in an emergency, then the shock factor that
belongs to Arnica is one of indifference which would set it apart from other
rx. If it is a true emergency then watching for that and thus giving the
simillimum would be far more important than routinely giving Arnica and
assuming that all was well.

I have had people react and aggravate badly from the routine prescription of
Arnica and I learnt from this.

You said you needed Nux vomica because you were so angry about the accident
­ who is to know if that also would have prevented any damage from the fall.
Nux does have ailments from high living, how high up the ladder were you
)

Hellebore is another rx to think about in this kind of accident ­ for anyone
whose interested.

Best wishes, Joy

http://www.homeopathicmateriamedica.com
on 3/2/05 8:57 pm, Dr. J. Rozencwajg, MD, PhD. at jroz@ihug.co.nz wrote:
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD]

High living.........speak about low flying............. )
Dr. J. Rozencwajg, MD, PhD.
"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"