Choosing a Potency

[Gaby Rottler]

Hi Shannon, all,

You said:

The quote (case of the washer-woman, treated by Hahnemann) had been:
Important is the foot-note:
* "According to the newest perfections of our new healing art taking a
single, finest globule, moistened with the decillionth
force-development, would have been at the same time quicker and totally
sufficient for complete restoring; as well, in the same way certain,
only smelling of a mustard-seed size globule moistened with the same
potency, so that the drop of raw juice akways given by me then to a
robust person in that case may not serve any more for imitation."

About the dates:

The case of the washer-woman was written down in the article
'Vorerinnerung' in the 2nd Vol of the MMP in 1816 (1st ed.).
The footnote as mentioned was added in 1833.

You asked:

Because in term of 'strength' you have to think in terms of
potentization.
The full drop is the undivided part, so strong (depedning of the
substance could even be toxic).
The millionth, the decillionth part sure are less strong (concerning the
toxicity of substance), but of course not weaker (concerning the
effect).

Best,

Gaby

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaby Rottler
Germany
rottler@curantur.de

http://www.curantur.de
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[David Little]

At 04:21 AM 6/7/2005, you wrote:

Hello,

If the case has clear characteristic and one has confidence in the
remedy one can more higher "within reason". That is because this assessment
is based on our understanding and confidence not the sensitivity of the
patient, the nature and stage of the disease state, nor the condition of
the vital force. For example, One can be completely confidence in Ignatia
in a case of hysteria caused by grief but if the patient is a 1000++++
sensitivity and has an unstable vital force, one would not want to use a
higher and highest potencies. All these posology factors have to be assess
as a whole as they are all relative to the patient, disease, time and
circumstances.

Some persons say go high when treating the mind and low when treating
the body. Although this may have some relevance it is too simplistic by
itself. There is mental as well as physical pathology. Hypersensitivity and
over reaction are often an integral part of mental pathology. Many persons
have suffered difficult mental aggravations for long periods when given the
200c, 1M or 10M on the basis of the idea that in mental symptoms one should
use higher potencies. On the other hand, sometimes one-sided non reactive
physical pathology does require moderate to higher potencies.So all these
factors are relative rather than absolute and depend on the patient and
totality of the condition one is treating.

Another important factor in moderate to advanced pathological
conditions is the state of the vital organs and the organs of elimination.
If the patient is suffering for a dysfunctional heart, liver, kidney or
lung one must always be careful not to stress that organ through excessive
aggravations. If the skin, bowels and lymphatic channels are congested it
may lead to unnecessary crises and surrogate conditions such as serious
eruptions, boils, ulcers, pus formations, painful discharges from mucus
membranes and other conditions related to a forced cleansing
crisis. Diseases like tuberculosis cannot be approached safely without
understanding all the ramifications of its treatment, which is closely
related to the stage of the disease and amount of vitality, etc.

The repetition of the remedy should never be based on a preconceived
schedule. As was said, one should not over repeat low potencies, especially
of some remedies, in certain advanced pathological states. The repetition
of the remedy MUST be based on the reaction of the patient regardless of
whether it is a low, medium or high potency. I have seen 6c cause
strikingly increasing ameliorations that lasts for long periods of time. I
have seen a single dose of the LM 0/1 cure long lasting chronic diseases
without repetition. I have also seen where a higher potency C or LM may
have to be given quite often at the start of the treatment. It all depends
on the time and circumstances.

In the end it is not only us but the patient that is really in the spot!
That is why each and every prescription must be individualized according to
the predisposition and sensitivity of the patient, the nature and stage of
the disease, the state of the vital force and vitality, and the condition
of the vital organs and systems, as wells as any special factors relevant
to the case. It is always better to be safe rather than sorry. That is why
Hippocrates' first maxim is "Do no harm!".

Thank you expanding on the subject of posology,
Sincerely, David Little
---------------
"It is the life-force which cures diseases because a dead man needs no more
medicines."

Samuel Hahnemann

Visit our website on Hahnemannian Homoeopathy and Cyberspace Homoeopathic
Academy at
http://www.simillimum.com
David Little © 2000

[Shannon Nelson]

Thanks, Gaby, that makes sense!

Shannon
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[muthu kumar]

Exactly- Ultimately it boils down to the individual patient. usually
it is not just in homeopathy but in any form of holistic medicine -
it is the reaction of the patient that guides the next step in the
treatment. This goes for properly practised Acupuncture, Ayurveda or
anything else... Because we are helping the vital force- we are not
doing anything else....
And that is why we have had so much trouble in doing double blind
trials kind of stuff. Homeopathy is not about patients symptoms -
neither is it about medicinal potencies or whatever in vacuum. It is
how these factors INTERACT in a living body. Interaction is the
most important concept in this whole affair. All guidelines are only
observations of this INTERACTION in different environments - masters
are " clearly observing physicians" as Hahnemann would have it...As
patients sensitivity can vary from 1- 1000 even with all our
calculations of the various factors we still would end up surprised-
is it not the same with even selecting the medicine despite so much
computerization and repertories still the patient surprises us by
not responding the way we want?

Not being sure of our selection is the price we pay for not using
RAW power like the allopathic medicines and instead using subtle
power. When you use raw power like using a truck to crush an ant to
save our fruits from it we know the ant would crush but along with
that we crush a thousand other things including our fruits
sometimes... By being subtle we try to achieve subtle manipulations,
but we cannot be sure whether we are getting that ant we are looking
for...

Try and see is what we can do... and as I say that is where the
beauty lies.... As long as we take reasonable precautions we do not
have to be obsessive about potency selection, Usually the first
reaction would tell us and guide us from there on... As you
said "Not to harm" would be a good guideline esp. since if I do harm
I might not get the patient to come back and pay me

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, David Little wrote:
we
we
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wrote:
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needs no more
Homoeopathic

[David Little]

At 05:18 AM 6/8/2005, you wrote:
You quite right to start that individualization is the key in all the
true healing arts. In acupuncture there are no major schools, the
mechanistic (modernist) and vitalist (Taoists). The mechanistic tend to use
as many needles and treatments as possible while the vitalists use as few
needles and treatments as possible. The its is the same in Ayurveda. Many
modern allopathicoid type practitioners give the patient many medicines and
mixtures by disease names while true traditionalist use only what they
think is absolutely necessary to the individual patients by their
constitution and condition of the vata, pitta and kapha.
Interaction is a very good keyword. Very few states actually have an
absolute single cause. Most are based on interdependent origin and time and
circumstances. Everything is relative. All we can do is make up workable
hypotheses, apply our principles, and then work with reality as best we can.
No one can tell what will happen in advance even with our best analysis
taking in all the factors we can observe. The "uncertainty principle" is
still an underlying reality in physics and the healing arts. That is why
we must test our remedy, the size of the dose, and the potency at the start
of treatment and be careful with repetitions. Ultimately, the true test is
the action of the medicine on the patient.
Reasonable precaution are well chosen words.
Thanks again, I guess we have had our say?

Sincerely, David Little
---------------
"It is the life-force which cures diseases because a dead man needs no more
medicines."

Samuel Hahnemann

Visit our website on Hahnemannian Homoeopathy and Cyberspace Homoeopathic
Academy at
http://www.simillimum.com
David Little © 2000