Let me first apologise to Sheri, in case she has taken my email in the wrong way. And let me apologise to all you others who may be wincing at my emails!
I wrote:
Shannon (wincingly?
) askedAnd Sheri wanted to know what I meant by that passage.
Sheri- You see, I mostly self-trained and didn't get much contact with other homeopaths. Also I didn't even know there were so many conflicting debates before I started meeting our volunteers and maturing in my reading, history etc.
What I meant was -- A number of volunteers have come from all corners (all very very very good people, by the way. The volunteers do such a wonderful work. All have contributed to the growth of homeopathy in Africa.).
However, a few of them have outright told me that they are "classical" and
they don't know how, *nor were willing*, to treat "any other way". Then they proceeded to take lengthy cases, trying to dig up the mentals, emotionals, histories, delusions and dreams on what were essentially acute type cases.
That is what they know, that is what they did. Some were, apparently, never even trained in "acute" style casetaking & prescribing techniques. Those patients may or may not have benefited, it appeared to be a hit and miss success rate to me.
On another occasion, a USA college wrote me in response to my advert for volunteers. Their question was "Before we send you our students, do you follow classical homeopathy of Hahnemann?" I gave an answer which told the truth - not too different from what all you've read from me over this network time to time, and they didn't even give the courtesy of a rejection reply.
So I only know "classical" by the way others have defined it to me. My impression is that it appears to encompass strict rules of adherance to higher potencies, single wait-and-see doses, "constitutional" (sic) only with high emphasis on the mentals, emotionals, family history, delusions and little importance for the physicals. Hmmm, and now that you mention that the term is a recent invention from our respected colleague, Vithoulkas, I understand better.
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TRUE CONFESSIONS FROM THE PAST.....
In my earliest days, i was lacking confidence in my own knowledge (and rightfully so - I was just so so green) and I simply watched others and learned. Ahhh, so we grow.
There was a case in my first year. In fact, Cinnabar may remember it because she advised me on it tho, by then, it was too late to help. I was quite a newbie & inexperienced then.
The 2 visiting volunteers (certainly inexperienced for the Africa situation) professed themselves as strictly "classical" and "Kentian". A long case was taken with family history, sensations etc. None of us realised what we were looking at. So, as far as it goes, Sheri, this case was certainly taken without any consideration to the parasite involved, we didn't even understand it was an infection. We thought it some kind of cancer or what. In fact, it was leishmaniasis, a parasitic infection of the blood.
There was a truly indescribable expanding growth on the man's nose, plus other skin lesions. Horrifying to look at, with a very bad smell.
In the vol's "classical" casetaking the patient was asked what he emotionally felt about having such a disfigurement, what dreams he had, what he liked to eat and drink, how did he sleep, what relationship he had with his mother, etc. (what would you feel with a painful "toad" growing off the side of your nose and inside your head, how would you eat or sleep?)
None of us could find the right description of the growth suitable to repertorise. (and later I realised that "horny growths: ant c" would have been appropriate) Our collective gross inexperience, no doubt. We spent hours pouring over this case. I remember the first prescription was a single dose of silica, then a series of unfortunately useless remedies, I don't remember what. I remember that later, I even tried, in desparation, to make an isode-nosode from the growth itself. It only palliated for a day.
The volunteers left. I continued struggling with the case until finally the man could get an appointment at the gov't hospital for diagnosis. (despite the horror of his nose, the hospital took 3+ months to give an appt & results!) By then it was too late to effectively apply the possibly appropriate medicine (Ant-c or Ant-t, antimonium is the allopathic treatment) and he passed away.
I don't know if, with more experience, homeopathy could have ever been victorious over this virulent disease. But I know that the volunteers' narrowly defined, so-called "classical" approach was inappropriate to the life& death seriousness of the condition and certainly didn't take into account the acuteness of the infection.
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In another time- another "strictly classical" volunteer visited a long tiresome hour on a malaria patient and prescribed a single dose of remedy I would never have applied to malaria based on his interpretive take on the high-fever delirium state. The patient passed away within a day or two. I didn't learn about it until long after. (the volunteer was with other homeopaths at the time, there was some mis-communications that let this patient slip.)
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This and other early similar experiences were terrible lessons for ALF. Because of it we now supervise & orient even the most experienced volunteers until they are "up to speed" with the African environment. Any dearly-held, narrow dogmas are not encouraged here.
----- A little classic humour.
I had one occasion when we arrived at a particularly well advertised mobile in a remote village. 300 patients waiting to be treated in 2 days.
2 young "classic" volunteers, 2 students and me. One volunteer came down with swollen glands. That left 4 of us to handle the growing chaos and myself as the only one with experience.
My first order of the day was to help the sick volunteer with the swollen paratids. She freaked out when I wanted to give her Merc. because "she's not syphilic" and didn't want the Merc to interfere with her vital force. (which delusion is that, eh?) So we spent some time backing and forthing until she accepted a remedy from the hand of her vol. friend, not me. (oh yes, her friend gave her the Merc and told her it was Bella.). In the meantime the crowd was growing.
The healthy vol. friend in the meantime freaked out seeing so many people, because she had no training whatsoever in acute style casetaking. But she tried her best. She passed on to me a grandmother suffocating in an asthma attack, we all thought she would keel over in front of us. (*Our* fear of death?) In any case, I gave the remedy, told the grandmother to wait, and started on the next patient. The hapless vol got a surprise to see Ars. 30 smoothe out the attack in about 4 minutes.
Unfortunately she burned out quickly and like a circuit overloaded, simply cut out. Her "classical" training didn't leave room for 5 &10 minute cases. She decided she just had to take her friend immediately back to Nairobi and care for her ....somehow true...but, ahhh... that left me and 2 inexperienced students. I called in one of my grads who came the next day. Rx's were flying, sx's were ameliorating, px's were throwing down their canes and walking. Mx (miracles) abounded left and right. We managed to see about 230 px.
Don't you just love homeopathy?
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Sincerely,
Didi Ananda Ruchira
Director, Abha Light
visit: www.abhalight.org
tel: +254 20 445-0181 / cells: 0733-895466 / 0723-869133