Dear Julie
Welcome to both homeopathy and Minutus.
A very good question that needs detailed consideration of the case being treated and then both the remedy choice and its potency.
The answer depends very much on the course of treatment and what is happening.
In acute cases, you can repeat the remedy within few minutes.
If the remedy and potency is correct, you would expect a reaction quickly.
For example, a few days ago I had a case of little girl of 8 with tonsillitis, pain on swallowing and on drinking and no appetite and going hot and cold. Merc 30 worked within 10 minutes - so a girl who was lying on a settee feeling sorry for herself got up and started to take part in games. She went on to make a full recovery. No need for repeating.
On another occasion with a patient suffering from pneumonia, Ant-t 200C in water had done nothing after 5 minutes. Here we had urgency as patient had a very high pulse and breathing rates. So it was plussed and repeated - again nothing after 5 minutes so plussed again and this time within 1 minute the patient reported that the post nasal flow that had caused all the problems of severe and painful cough and now the lung problems was stopped. As if someone had turned a tap off.
He then slept for a few hours and was on the road to recovery.
(Plussing is where the remedy is added to small quantity of water and is succussed prior to each dose.)
Kent's advice is not to repeat the same dose - so by plussing we increase the potency slightly.
Again in acute cases - and as you say the remedy may last only for a short while so we need to question the choice of remedy and potency. If you are sure of the remedy choice - as I was with the Ant-t case - then increase the potency and for example go from a 30C to a 200C and check to see what happens. If it still does not last long, recheck your remedy.
If one is treating a chronic case, then one must question not only the choice of remedy and it potency but also whether anything is anti-doting the remedy. Kent advises as to never leave a remedy that has done good. So if you are getting good results but it does not last long, you probably need to go into a higher potency and check anti-doting.
Permit me to also give an analogy from a car. If the car's engine is not tuned correctly or if it has 'flooded', it may not start easily.
So we may need to crank the starter repeatedly. But when it starts, it may not run well and be very uneven. But we would immediately stop cranking the starter (continuation would damage the starter motor and the engine) as soon as there is a sign of life in the engine. We then wait until the engine either picks up and clears itself or stops again where we go back to cranking the engine.
The lesson is therefore NOT to repeat the remedy if you see signs of its action in the patient.
I am sure colleagues will add to this and you will have good guidance.
Kind regards
Soroush
From:
minutus@yahoogroups.com [mailto:
minutus@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Julie Armour
Sent: 11 June 2013 21:50
To:
minutus@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Minutus] repeating doses
Hello,
I am a brand new member, but I have been interested in homeopathy for a long time. I have a question about when to repeat a dose. If there is some improvement, but it doesn't last, when and how often do you think a dose should be repeated. Should it be given in a higher dose if after say three doses has a positive effect, but not long lasting one?
thanks,
Julie