RANDOM NOTES ON SOME REMEDIES

[krishna murthy]

After having selected one or a few remedies for a patient,

knowledge of a certain symptom in each remedy would enable us

to think of that remedy first and thus either confirm the one

selected, or to eliminate others in case of getting a few remedies.

Such rare-strange-peculiar-uncommon symptoms are listed below

and practitioner would do well to memorise them.

In many cases such a symptom when told by the patient had

directly led us to the remedy and even without repertorising the

case further, we had confirmed that remedy by putting a few

questions to the patient along the picture of that remedy.

Ammonium-mur.: Periods of aggravation are peculiarly divided

according to the bodily region affected; thus the head and chest

symptoms are worse in the mornings, the abdominal, in the

afternoon, pain in the limbs, skin and febrile symptoms, in the

evenings.

Ammonium-carb.: (1) Unreasonable; (2) lack of reaction in skin

diseases.
Muriatic Acid: Mouth and anus chiefly affected.
Nitric acid: (1) Selects for its special seat of action the outlets of

the body where the mucous membrane and skin meet; mouth,

nose, eyes, ear, anus and urethra. (2) pain as from splinters.

Sticking pains. (3) Syphilis past middle life; (4) Prone to

frequent catching cold and diarrhea (5) Cachexia; (6)

Intermittency of complaints. (Ignatia: Spasmodic and

intermittency of symptoms.)
Ignatia: (1) Great contradictions; (2) Superficial and erratic

(shifting) characteristic of symptoms. Perpetual burden of

sorrow. (3) Silently brooding; after shocks, grief,

disappointment. Effect of disappointed love.13
Theridion: < jar, left side. Noises seem to strike on painful spots

over the body.
Sulphur: Worse standing. Urging to stool on waking in the

morning.
Hamamelis: Wants "the respect due to me" shown. Rapid

swelling after burns and injuries.
Nux-vom.: (1) Afraid he may not have enough to live on. Fiery

zealous temperament. (2) Anxious reflections about his

complaints—describes his complaints in chronological order in

the past-present language. (3) Incomplete stool. (4) Stubborness

and obstinate resistence. (Lycopodium: obstinate)
Aur-met: Woeful and dejected. (Woe=great sorrow or distress)
Belladonna: The inflammation spreads in radii as it extends to

adjacent parts. [See case No.10 on page 17 of Bulletin No.1

Longstanding fear.]
Opium: Increased excitability and action in voluntary muscles,

with diminution of it in involuntary muscles. (See case No.8 on

page 16). For constipation with convulsions this remedy is

almost a specific. The object of fear remains before the mind's

eye long after the incident.
Phytolacca: Indifference. Indifference to exposure of her person.

(Compare Phosphorus and Hyoscyamus also. Shamelessness is

Phosphorus. ‘Wants to be naked’ is Hyoscyamus.)
Helleborus: (1) Coma starts at 2-30 p.m. then hospitalized and in

a few days dies. (2) An old woman having been accused of

death by the women around took it so much to heart that she

hanged herself. This suicide produced such an effect on the

women of the village that one after another accused herself of

having caused the death of the old women. [See Kent’s Lectures

on Hom. Mat. Medica.]14
Aethusa: Diarrhoea starts 2 to 5 a.m. By 6 or 7 patient dies. In

the case of children around six months convulsions starts at 2 -

5 a.m. and by 6 a.m. patient dies. Death is marked on the face

from the beginning. You must keep these remedies in your

finger tip. [Read this remedy as well as Helleborus, Phosphorus

and Tuberculinum in Kent's Lectures on Materia Medica.]
Spigelia: (1) Feels to run away somewhere to escape from the

domestic problems. (2) When a patient is shunted from one eye

specialist to another and no glasses fit it. Visual axis constantly

changing. (See Kent’s Lectures on Hom. Mat. Med.)
Cuprum met.: (1) Lack of reaction in colic. Colic violent and

intermittent. Probably intussusception of intestines, wrongly

treated for acidity. (2) Symptoms disposed to appear

periodically and in groups.- (3) In the case of children crying intermittently.
Probably it did somersault or the child was lifted by someone

who does not know how to handle or lift children. In the case

of adults sudden pain in abdomen after they climb up the ladder

and with stretched hands holds a heavy object from the slab and

carrying that with stretched arms climbs down the ladder. This

causes intussusception and colic starts that very night.
Carbo veg.: (1) Complaints from revelling3. (2) Persona who

have not recovered completely from some previous illness or

injury. (3) Organic detritions without reaction. (3If you do not

know the meaning of any word refer to the dictunary)
Laurocerasus: Lack of reaction, especially in chest and heart

affections. Child places its hands upon chest in heart complaints

with cycnosis.
Agaricus: (1) Cross-wise affection. (2) In the case of school boys

they fall down while walking. (In Nux-vomica they trip while

walking.)15
Stillingia: Deplorably downhearted (bone pains etc.) Will give

you even half of his wealth worth several multimillions to any

one if only his complaint (headache?) is cured.
Selenium: (1) "Bone and teeth" should at once bring this remedy

to your mind. (2) Abject despair, uncompromising melancholy.

He has suffered so much in life that it cannot be compensated

even if you make him President of India or U.S.A. but President

of all countries in the world. (3) Old age, bone and teeth

complaints in old age. Most of the Complaints of bone and teeth

are inherent and incidental to old age. Add to this "Easy

exhaustion, mental and physical, in old age. Cannot stand or

walk in hotsun without a cap" and you have no other remedy

than Selenium. Great debility, worse, heat. Call it

osteopoporosus, spondylitis etc. Bone diseases coupled with

teeth complaints in old age, this is the first remedy that should

come to your mind. One more keyword for this remedy is that

his thighs are not large but as thick as upper arm; Emaciated.

—————

A note about the difference in the words used in Kent and this

Final Repertory.
Let us take the symptom 'Talk, indisposed to, desire to be

silent, taciturn'. We find this mind symptom in Kent. But the

following terms would be more sensible:
1. Serious: silent, taciturn mood;
2. Serious — want of disposition to talk
OR
3. Repugnance to society, will not talk
Serious persons will not talk much; so also those who have

repugnance to society (Here we use the word repugnance with the1

meaning 'intense distaste' or 'not suitable or agreeing'. We do not

use 'repugnance' with the meaning 'aversion' which the reader must

note)

Therefore, the classifications at Sl. No. 1, 2 and 3 above are

used in Lilienthal’s HOMOEOPATHIC THERAPEUTICS. Thus it is possible to reduce the list of

remedies for various rubrics.

Again, let us take the rubric 'Company, aversion to or desire

for' as found in Kent.
A person desiring company either 'dreads to be alone' or he

has 'aversion to be alone.' In other words he is comfortable in

company and so does not want loneliness. So also, 'aversion to

company' is found in those who love solitude or desire to be alone

(because the presence of others is a hindrance or nuisance to do

what he likes; he does not want interference or remarks of others

in what he does.) Therefore, we do not use the term 'company,

desire for/aversion to' but, in its place, the reader would find the

following only:
Desire to be alone:
--dreads to be alone:
Solitude, aversion to:
--love of:

The reader would not find the rubric 'Homesick' in this

repertory because 'Restlessness' causes one to leave house and

wander. This is the sensible classification and 'Escape' is not apt.

(The case is different in the case of a person inside a prison who

wants to go out. Here 'escape' may seem to be apt, but here too it

is only the restless persons in a prison who plans or tries to

escape.)
The careful selection of words for various rubrics herein

appeals to reason because they are what we actually see in sick17

persons. Thus this work excels all other works, be it in respect of

Repertory or Materia Medica.
In this Materia Medica of mind symptoms, we are careful in

using words/phrases. They are actually seen in sick patients as such

and, therefore, is practical in all respects, to find the remedy—the

elusive similimum.
Our success rate with Kent was a mere 20 to 40 per cent. But

when we started using the present Final & Sensible Repertory our

success rate jumped to 85 to 100 per cent. It is with great pleasure

and satisfaction that we offer this work to the profession.

—————
If medicine is not prescribed for pathology, then what are the

‘symptoms’ that must be considered for prescribing a homoeo

remedy?
Symptoms not common to pathology of diseases are otherwise

called ‘uncommon-rare-strange-peculiar’ (Section 153 of the

Organon.)
Thus, all dictionaries, encyclopaedic dictionaries and

encyclopaedias hitherto published are totally wrong in saying that

a substance capable of producing a disease (when taken in large

quantity) is capable of curing that disease if the same substance is

given in minute quantity. The correct definition would be: A

substance capable of producing ‘uncommon-rare-strange-

uncommon’ symptom, when given in minute quantity to a patient

with that ‘rare-strange-peculiar-uncommon’ symptom (whatever

may be the disease or pathology) would cure him--cure all diseases

that he may be suffering at that particular time.
2. Apart from ‘uncommon-rare-strange-peculiar-uncommon’

two more symptoms that are considered for selecting a

homoeo remedy are:18
(i) ‘mind symptom’ (Section 213 of the Organon). [When

Section 213 is read with Section 153 we get
“uncommon-rare-strange-peculiar mind symptom.”]
(ii) “general symptoms” (and not “generals” which the

reader must note.)
Now the question is why should we prescribe on “uncommon-

rare...” and/or “mind” and/or “general symptoms?”
To get an answer to this let us go to the next chapter.