Minutus

Chris Gillen wrote
Thankyou Dr Kirushnamoorty for you invitation to join the course.
=========================================================
Hey Chris,
I realized that Rochelle M. had sent me a file of this practitioners study
questions a while back. Here is the answer given to the above and the whole
file she sent me, in case this helps.

Best,
A

4. What is the remedy to be taken once in a month by all practising
homoeopaths? (Just because no homoeopath has been
taking this regularly, they are not able to prosper)

Almost all homoeo doctors are buying and handling potentiesed homoeo medicines
in tinctures (dilutions). When they open
it to give to patients, the smell invariably goes into their nose. (It may be
noted here that to administer a remedy Dr.
Hahnemann just asked his patients to inhale a bottle containing one pill of the
potentised remedy.) Thus, by handling various
medicines (smelling is equal to taking it orally) homoeopatts become much
irritable and oversensitive with the result even
when good things in homoeo are told to them, they do not acept it and become
vehement and reserved. Therefore, all
homoeo pharmacists and doctors should take once a month, a high dose of the
remedy Phosphoric acid or Teucrium Marum
Varum. (See J.T. Kent’s Repertory: Generalities: Irritability, When too much
medicine has produced an over-sensitive state
and remedies fail to act: Ph-ac., Teucr.
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 10:22 AM
Subject: Re: ADVANCED HOMEO PRACTICE
EXACT AND ACCURATE PRACTICE OF HOMEOPATHY
Questions & Answers

1. What is the only one correct remedy to be given to a pregnant woman, when
the foetus (baby in uterus) stops growing?

Answer to Qn. no.1: Secale is almost a specific when the growth of foetus is
arrested. (See page 698 of
Repertory by Dr. Calvin B. Knerr: Pregnancy, foetus: arrests development,
Secale.)

2. During epidemic encephalitis (brain fever, e.g., in Ariyalur district) what
remedy would you use as prophylactic
(preventive)?

See Knerr’s Repertory page 100. Cerebrospinal minigitis, epidemic, zinc.

3. All the children born to a woman are syphilitic by birth. What remedy you
would give her to prevent syphilis in future
child-births?

Again, See Knerr’s Repertory (page 1191) Constitution: Syphilitic, mothers, to
prevent disease in offspring. Aur. mur. nat.
4. What is the remedy to be taken once in a month by all practising
homoeopaths? (Just because no homoeopath has been
taking this regularly, they are not able to prosper)

Almost all homoeo doctors are buying and handling potentiesed homoeo medicines
in tinctures (dilutions). When they open
it to give to patients, the smell invariably goes into their nose. (It may be
noted here that to administer a remedy Dr.
Hahnemann just asked his patients to inhale a bottle containing one pill of the
potentised remedy.) Thus, by handling various
medicines (smelling is equal to taking it orally) homoeopatts become much
irritable and oversensitive with the result even
when good things in homoeo are told to them, they do not acept it and become
vehement and reserved. Therefore, all
homoeo pharmacists and doctors should take once a month, a high dose of the
remedy Phosphoric acid or Teucrium Marum
Varum. (See J.T. Kent’s Repertory: Generalities: Irritability, When too much
medicine has produced an over-sensitive state
and remedies fail to act: Ph-ac., Teucr.

5. Write the names of two authors who had written biography of Dr. Samuel
Hahnemann.

To write the biography of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, Dr. Richard Haehel travelled
far and wide for several years to collect
materials for his books, including letters written by Dr. Hahnemann to variuous
persons. Every homoeopath should read this
book viz., Life and Letters of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, by Dr. Richard Haehl, M.D.

6. Doctors say that an expectant mother is too weak to develop normal pains;
moreover, she is anaemic and so caesarean
alone is the answer. What is the only one remedy that will cure her anaemia,
remove weakness and thus cause normal child
birth? (Please note that the answer is NOT Pulsatilla.)

See The Accoucheur’s Emergency Manual by Dr. W.A. Yingling; Labour—weak,
Patient too weak to develop normal
pains: Caul., Mur. ac. In these two remedies, Muriatic acid has symptoms of
anaemia and weakness in a higher degree than
Caulophyllum. Muriatic Acid—200 (the highest potency available on that day in
the nearby homoeo shop) three doses given
every four hours enabled the patinet to have a normal and safe delivery much to
the suprise of the attneding allopathic
obstetrician.

7. What is the chief or first remedy that you would think of for haemophilia?

Crotalus horridus is one of the prime remedies, to be thought in cases of
haemophilia.
8. In homoeo terminologies what is the meaning of (a) ‘scrofula or scrofulosis’
and (b) ‘cachexia?’

(a) scrofula: When tuberculosis affects lungs it is called tuberculosis of
lungs or phthisis ppulmonum; with family history of
tuberculosis, when t.b. affects bones or glands it is called ‘scrofula’ or
‘struma’ in homoeopathy.

(b) cachexia: In allopathy ‘cachexia means generally deficiency diseases or
patients run down with chronic debility. But in
homoeopathy cachexia means sufferings with obscure aetiology when the patient
cannot even be palliated with strong
allopathic drugs. This often happens in cases of metastasis.
9. What is the remedy for jaundice after blood transfusion?

Crotalus horridus

10. In respect of the symptom “haemorrhage,” differentiate between Phosphorus
and Haemamelis.

. in the case of the remedy phosphorus the haemorrhage is intermittent and
the patient is afraid; in the case of Haeamelis
through the haemorrhage may be continuous, the patient is not afraid of it.
11. Name the remedy for
(a) violent blow on single part of the body;

Violent, blow on single part: Arnica

(b) after a person falls rolling down from a speeding
train or bus;
Falling rolling down from a speeding train or bus: Cicuta virosa (railroad
accident, when the whole framework is rocked.
(b) falling from height (second or third floor or from a tall tree) with
bleeding;
Falling from height with bleeding: Millenfolium (See Boericke’s Materia Medica)

(d) falling down while trying to
climb into a running jeep from behind.
if coccyx is injured by a sudden sit-down: Hypericum.

If the patient falls on his back injuring his occiput: Phosphorus
12. Under what heading in the repetory you would search remedies for a patient
with chronic tonsillitis?

For a patient with chronic tonsillitis, you would generally look into the
Repertory against the
following:

Tonsils, inflamed (quinsy, tonsillitis) (page 389 of Knerr’s Repertory)

But remedies in this list may be useful for acute complaints of
tonsillitis. For curing tonsillitis permanently, it needs
‘treatment of chronic diseases.’ Chronic tonsilitis is in most cases due to
tuberculosis (See MEDICAL DISEASES OF
INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD BY Dawson Williams, M.D., London: Cassel & Co. page
338-348)

(a) When tuberculosis affects lungs we call it tuberculosis of lungs or
phthisis pulmonum; with family history of
tuberculosis, when t.b. affects bones or glands it is called ‘scrofula’ or
‘struma’ in homoeopathy.

(b) All chronic affections of glands are due to tuberculosis in the family.
Chronic affections of bones may be due to
tuberculosis or syphilis; (in syphilitic affections of bones we find nightly
boring pain.)

THEREFORE, to cure a chronic tonsilitis patient, we must examine the
remedies given in Knerr’s Repertory again the
following head.

Page 1191—Constitution, scrofulous (strumous):... enlarged glands:
13. What is the name of reference book (and the name of its author) you would
use for complaints of pregnant women
occurring directly before, during or after child-birth or abortion?

The Accoucheur’s Emergency Manual by Dr. W. A. Yingling, M.D.

14. A certain patient tells that he feels as if a crowbar is lodged inside his
chest. What is the name of reference book (and its
author) you would use in this case?

Sensation As If... by Dr. Herbert A. Roberts, M.D.
15. A lady of twenty-eight had attempted to commit suicide (by swallowing
kerosene or sleeping pills) and somehow she
recovered. What is the remedy for her so that she may not repeat it in future?

See Knerr’s Repertory—page 73—Suicide, attempted: Plumb.
ADVANCED HOMOEOPATHIC PRACTICE

HOMOEO IS A SYSTEM OF MEDICINE WHERE THE PATIENT HIMSELF INDICATES (THE DOCTOR)
THE
CORRECT REMEDY TO BE PRESCRIBED FOR HIM.

The indication is either in the form of words/phrases or body language used by
the patient in reference to his disease or by his
attitude towards the doctor in the clinic. In some cases, it may be the close
relative/attendant/nurse who indicate us what
remedy we have to prescribe for the patient and in unconscious patients his
physical movement and/or report told by others,
points to the remedy)

Therefore, the practitioner must cultivate the habit of listening, and
observing and nothing else. The talkie-talkie
homoeopath is and would be a signal failure.

Case: Mr. Sankarasastry was brought to Madras city for treatment from
Vridhachalam, (two hundred kilometres south of
Madras) as he had suddenly developed diabetes, itching of skin, malaria,
vomiting etc. The attending allopathic doctor gave
various medicines for diabetes, fever, vomiting etc. with partial relief. The
patient is a distant relative of mine and when I went
and saw him he told all his above symptoms... I waited...waited. (You must have
patience in an eminent degree but always
observing... observing... waiting... waiting.)

Then I came out of the patient’s room and was talking with the patient’s
second son who said, “Doctor, you know what
happened.... Two weeks ago in Vridhachalam my father started passing loose
bowel movements. While climbing the staircase
he fainted. We carried him to his bed. He was anxious and restless and told
that the time for his leaving this world is nearing
and so he wanted to see all his relatives and so asked me to send telegram to
all our relatives...”

Now, it is the son who is telling the remedy to us, the correct remedy that
we have to prescribe for the patient.

In Tamilnadu, elders in their fag end of their life (provided there is no
other duty to be done by them such as conducting
marriage of their daughter, well-settling of his son in life etc.) would like
to see or visit all their relatives before death.

In the homoeo materia medica by Dr. William Boericke, M.D. (hereafter
called Boericke's Materia Medica) we find
the following words under the remedy Petroleum:

“Feels that death is near, and must hurry to settle affairs.”

By having told that his end is near and that before dying he must see all
his relatives, the patient, in reality, was only
telling that he must be prescribed Petroleum.

Petroleum -1000 was given in single dose and the patient was asked to
withdraw gradually all allopathic drugs. When I
saw the patient two days later, he was eating well, sleeping well and no more
malaria and other symptoms.

The above mental symptom (as told by the patient's son) has no connection
to either malaria, or diabetes which the
patient was suffering from. In other words, it is an uncommon symptom in these
two diseases.

WHAT SHOULD EVERY HOMOEOPATH KNOW?

Homeopathy is able to cure gently, quickly and permanently only because of
the secrets discovered by Dr. Samuel
Hahnemann, M.D. (the founder of homoeopathy)

That secret is as follows: To cure gently, quickly and permanently:

(i) Out of the behaviour/attitude or the words/phrases used by the patient,
we must make the prescription on uncommon
symptoms (Section 153 of the Organon), and

(ii) among uncommon symptoms, mental symptoms (if available) have the highest
value. (Section 213 of the Organon)

Homoeopathic practice (selection of correct remedy (the simillimum) is
easy provided you strictly and correctly follow
the advice of Dr. Hahnemann in Sections 153 and 213 of the Organon, as also
Sections....84 to 90.

—————

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF HOMOEOPATHY

Doctor-Patient Relationship: Homoeo materia medicas and repertories have
been written by verifying symptoms in the
clinic and not otherwise. Therefore, you must of necessity to see the patient
in your clinic. There must be a se0parate room
where the patient can sit before the doctor and describe his symptoms. There
must be a firm doctor-patient relationship. This
is because

“uncommon symptoms” are told by the patient only after he completes narrating
his common symptoms in the
clinic of a doctor. Moreover, uncommon symptoms are revealed in the clinic (or
at the bedside) and not otherwise.

In a wedding party, if a person is introduced to you as a homoeopath and if
he immediately asks you to suggest a good
remedy for his liver, you are at a loss; at the most, you may ask him to see
you in your clinic.

So also, a homoeopath may not, in most instances, treat his wife and
children unless they consult him as a patient. (The
advice to homoeopaths for treating their relatives would be to ask them to
write down their symptoms After all, the provers
have written down their symptoms).

Or, you may take your wife/children to a homoeopath or allopath and there
you may carefully note what all they say
because that is the right opportunity for the patient to throw uncommon
symptoms and with that you may probably be able
to select the right remedy.

CLINICAL CASES

Case : Aswin, aged four, is brought by her mother for constant and chronic
running nose (fluent coryza). I do not ask any
question. (Any interruption would only break the chain of thought of the
narrator, and all they would have said at first does
not again occur to them in precisely the same manner after that. Foot-note to
S.84 of the Organon.)

While I was going through Dr. Calvin B. Knerr’s Repertory, the boy’s mother
breaks in, “Doctor, he is very angry at
times.’’ (At this stage I simply note in the case-sheet the word anger.)

I copy on the case-sheet the following portions from Knerr’s Repertory.

NOSE, Coryza, Chronic: Calc., Canth, Colch, Cycl., Sil., Spig. (page 248)

MIND, Anger (plus above list); Calc.

Again, at this stage, the lady tells: “Doctor, whenever he is at home on
holidays, running nose is not there. But whenever
he goes to school, on those days, it is worse.’’ To classify this last symptom
is a somewhat difficult job.

I now turn to HOMOEOPATHIC THRERAPEUTICS by Dr. Samuel Lilienthal.

At this stage, after a pause, the lady continues, “Doctor, two years ago he
was diagnosed to be suffering from primary
complex and we gave a course of allopathic treatment.’’

To classify the symptom (aggravation on the days of going to school) is a
difficult task. For “primary complex’ the
equivalent rubric in homoeopathy is phthisis (prodromal stage).

I just glanced through Samuel Lilienthal’s Homoeopathic Therapeutics (page
858) and under the chapter PHTHISIS
PULMONUM the following lines under Calcarea Carb. caught my attention:

...very susceptible to external influences, currents of air, cold, heat,
noise, excitement.”

When he goes to school he is exposed to air, noise, excitement and
therefore the above quoted line confirmed my
selection of Calc. Carb.

I gave this in 10M potency in single dose and the patient is under
treatment with lot of improvement.

———

Case : A lady, the mother-in-law of a fourth stage cancer patient, came to
me asking for medicine for cancer. When I
asked her to bring the patient she said that he won’t come. I asked her to tell
me at least in verbatim what he had said. She
replied, “He does not say anything.’’

At this stage I asked her whether she did not care to go and see her
son-in-law who is said to be in fourth stage cancer.
She replied:

“My daughter wrote me a letter stating that and doctors have said that he
would live for another six months only, and he
is not afraid of death, but he wants to live with family in the same quarters
in which he had been all along living and said that
he does not want anyone (be it friends or relative) to visit him.’’

(Sometimes, we do get valuable symptom from the report of messengers).

Let us now see how to work out this case.

(a) does not want anyone to visit him... this symptom is to be classified
as, “Company, aversion to”

(b) till death wants to live with family in the same quarters where he had
been living all these years (this is “homesick”)

COMPANY, aversion to: 46 remedies (page 27 of
Knerr’s Repertory)

HOMESICK: 10 remedies (page 50 ..)

Only three remedies, viz., Carbo a., magn. m., and natr. m. are common to
the above two lists.

To confirm one out of these three, these were studied in HOMOEOPATHIC
THERAPEUTICS (By Dr. Samuel
Lilienthal) under the chapter “Carcinoma’’. Only Carbo a. was described and the
remaining two remedies (magn. m., and
natr. m.) were not found.

In the description under Carbo animals, among other things, the following
words confirmed our selection “Cachexia
fully developed.”

Carbo animalis would have cured the case but the lady did not report
thereafter to collect medicine for her son-in-law.
CHAPTER - 3

Homoeopathic science lies so scattered in a mass of books that a beginner
is not able to appreciate the use and
importance of a particular book. There is no single good work covering all the
aspects of homoeopathic system of medicine to
guide the beginner where to start reading the subject and how exactly to apply
laws of homeopathy theory in actual practice.

It is highly regrettable that so-called books on ‘principles’ ‘theory and
practice’ ‘Beginner's Guide’ and ‘text-books’ do
not explain the subject in any good order. They completely omit many important
topics and tell very little or nothing about
the value and use of Repertories in practice. Such titles merely give the
indications of a few polychrest remedies under
various disease headings, which is more or less like allopathic treatment of
diseases and not homoeopathic cure of the patient
in toto. The eager and enthusiastic new-comer faithfully follows such books
meet with failures and thus he comes to his own,
but wrong concludes that homoeopathy too has limitations such as that it takes
a longer time to produce effect or it would
suit only a certain class of persons, systems and so on.

But in the present work the reader will find that homoeopathy is a complete
system and realise that there is lot of
difference between it and allopathy or for that matter any other system. This
book, therefore, is an attempt to present in lucid
language the laws (and not principles as is incorrectly thought by many) of
homoeopathic system of medicine and its practice
in a compact and systematic form and easily comprehensible style.

I have only made a sort of re-arrangement of what the founder of
homoeopathy, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, has said in his
Organon of Medicine and Chronic Diseases thus taking the reader step by step to
an overall picture of the science and art
of homoeopathy. A rearrangement of the Organon has become necessary because as
Dr. Pemberton Dudley rightly pointed
out, ‘Hahnemann has several peculiarities of style, some of which are not at
all common to English polemical literature,
among which may be mentioned; (i) his long, and often involved, sentences;,
(ii) his exceedingly frequent employment of
parenthetical clauses and sentences, and his not infrequent use of the
parenthesis within a paranthesis; and (iii) his introduction
of qualifying words and phrases in certain peculiar and unusual connections
likely to escape the notice of the casual or careless
reader, but evidently intended by the author (Dr. Hahnemann) to be taken at
their full significance and importance and to
constitute an essential element of the discussion. It may be said, in passing,
that the failure to note this last mentioned
characteristic of Hahnemann's method has occasioned much misunderstanding of
his doctrines.3

Besides the above I have also illustrated the use of reference books by
good authors so that the reader will know what
books to buy for study and reference, how to use them in day-to-day practice
while treating acute and chronic diseases. In
doing so, special care has been taken to mention and illustrate the utility of
all useful authors, while no mention is made of
books that have little or no value.

One more point also needs mention. It may be asked that while homoeopathy
is a perfect, unique and superior system,
why has it not become popular. The answer is, “defective books as well as
defective use of books which abound in
homoeopathic literature.‘ This is the main reason for the failure of many
homoeopathic practitioners, both in the past as well
as at the present day. It would serve no purpose to list such books and
demonstrate to the reader how misguiding they are.

Homoeopathy is not taught and studied as it ought to be, viz., from the
Organon and Chronic Diseases of Hahnemann.
Books by less significant authors are used, with the result that, looking at
the present-day homoeopathy in the clinics of many
practitioners, books published on the subject, reports of cases in journals and
discussions at association meetings, we have to
conclude that the typical homoeopathic practitioner of today is like a person
who, knowing nothing of the art of drawing,
enters the room of an artist and starts handing the various drawing materials.
The present state of affairs may be compared to
the game called ‘unconscious distortion.

In that game the participants sit in a circle, while one, with a short
story written out, beckons No. 2 outside and reads it
through to him. Then No. 2 beckons No.3 outside, and repeats the story as he
remembers it and so on. Each one
unconsciously supplies the deficiencies in his own way where his memory fails.
Ultimately the last to hear the story retells it to
the assembly. The original is then read out proving amid roars of laughter, how
widely it has been quite unintentionally
distorted!

With us, “children of larger growth but children still,” the same thing
obtains. Facts retold, wander about and get
inevitably distorted. Even those homoeopathic physicians with many years of
experience will find several things in this book
new to them.

It is after thirty years of hard work — rigorous search, study, practice,
critical analysis and careful observation of the
methods of several practitioners that I felt the need for this book, so that
atleast the future generations of homoeopaths may
not become victims of the undesirable effects of distortion as in the game
described above.

It is in order to provide the earnest enquirer with an easy introduction to
the correct practice of homoeopathy and also to
provide the teacher of homoeopathy with actual data, instead of second-hand, or
third-hand learning that this attempt has
been made. This book presents the actual teachings of the founder of
homoeopathy, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, not only the
great law of healing, with the subsidiary laws it imposes, but also its
extension to the difficult realm of chronic diseases.

After studying this book, the reader will know that homoeopathy is an exact
system and not a matter of ‘principle’ or
‘concepts’ but only based on eternal laws that never fail and that has no
exception and that homoeopathy will act on all
individuals and under all circumstances.

CASE TAKING

How carefully Dr. Hahnemann advises us how to take the case (in section 84
thru 90 of his Organon)

“The patient tells his symptoms... Those about him narrate what they have
observed about the patient.... Then the practitioner
himself observes with his senses what is strange about the patient.

Uncommon symptom may be—

(i) either told by the patient himself; or

(ii) told by those around the patient (This is so more particularly in case of
children who have not learnt to talk or in the case
of unconscious patients as to what the behaviour of the patient was before he
went into coma); or

(iii) the uncommon symptom may be noticed by the physician while dealing with
the patient in his clinic.

Let us repeat what Hahenemann advises how to take case (section 84 thru 90
of organon).

The patient describes his symptoms... those about him tell what they heard
him complain of, how he has behaved and
what they have noticed in him.... Keeping silence himself, he allows them to
say all they have to say, and refrains from
interrupting. The physician listens and starts writing down. He allows the
patient to say what all he want to say and without
interruption.

In a foot-note to section 84 of the Organon Dr. Hahnemann continues:

“Any interruption would only break the chain of thought of the narrators
and all they would have said at first does not
again occur to them in previsely the same manner after that.”

Even if the patient keeps quiet, the practitioner may immediately note down
on the case taking sheet the word
‘taciturn’.

Case Sheet: For each and every patient you may maintain separate case
sheet. “Case sheet” is nothing but a fullscap
size plain white sheet which must be kept ready on the table together with a
pen before arrival of the patient and the moment
the patient starts telling his symptoms you must start writing one below the
other what all he tells.

If the patient does not start talking, we simply say, “Tell me your
complaints...” and nothing more. Suppose the patient
simply say ‘diabetes’ we simply write on the case sheet as under:

“Answers, monosyllable, short, curt.”

After the patient completes his narration you may ask his name and age and
write it on the top of the case sheet. On the
right hand top corner you write the date of his first visit.

Even after telling a long list of symptoms, (which you may write one below
the other) suppose there is no ‘uncommon’
symptom, you need not lose heart. You have to be patient and wait...wait, and
wait...

Many times, the patient drops an uncommon symptom after you have made the
prescription!

In cases where there is no uncommon symptom you may give placebo....
(unmedicated sugar pills) for a dose thrice daily.

In a few cases it is during the second or subsequent visit the patient may
tell his uncommon symptom.

When the patient enters your clinic you may show the chair to him to sit.
Immediately, don't start talking or giving
lecture that he should tell “all” his symptoms or “uncommon symptoms”. etc.
etc. Your job is not to talk but simply and just
and merely listen... to listen... to listen and observe, listen, observe.

Case taking is an art. Are you an artist? Then probably you may be a
successful practitioner. An artist talks less but
observes more. You must improve your power of observation. Look at the patient,
listen to him, observe him. Then half of
the case taking would be successful. A case well taken is half cured.

It is only because 99% of present and past day homoeopaths did not care to
adopt the advice of Dr. Hahnemann in
Section 153, 213 and 84 thru' 90, they miserably failed and are failing even
today in 99% of their cases. Therefore, it is no
exaggeration if I tell you not to learn homoeopathy elsewhere from any
so-called homoeopath.

Let us now illustrate with actual cases where patients being treated for
months and years (under the hands of so-called
eminent, top, leading, experienced, efficient, popular homeopaths) were cured
by me with one single dose because the former
homeopaths failed to keep in mind Section 153 and 213 of the Organon and they
simply ignored uncommon symptoms.

Case: In the homeo doctors' meeting on a Sunday evening one doctor asked
what is the best remedy for eczema because
he has been treating a 58-year old person with ten years eczema and he tried
Sulphur, Psorinum, Graphites etc. etc. with
no results.

One doctor suggested the remedy Tuberculinum; the other suggested Ammonium
carb. being an unfailing remedy in his
hands for eczema and the third suggested the name of yet another remedy viz.,
Mezereum.

What a pity!

They have not even seen the patient. Probably these homeopaths (and 99% of
present-day and past homeopaths) think
that as there are remedy for fever in allopathy, siddha, ayurveda, so also in
homoeopathy, there are corresponding remedies
for fever, pain etc. These doctors have probably found homoeopathy as a
back-door entry to medical practice. Their only
excuse is that homoeo medicines have no side-effects contra-indications. When
they fail in a case even after months and years
of treatment, they have a ready-made answer that homoeo is slow-acting. This is
nothing but sheer folly and ignorance!

It is not the purpose of the author to condemn or criticise homoeopaths but
as a teacher he would be failing in his duty if
he does not make a mention of this here. Be that as it may.

Five days after the above doctors meeting (where everybody was discussing
about “remedies for eczema” and not
“remedies for patients” on uncommon symptoms) I happened to be in the clinic of
the doctor who asked for “the best
remedy for eczema.” At this time, the patient with eczema (whose case was
discussed in the previous Sunday evening doctors
meeting) came to see the doctor.

After the patient has told his symptoms (that there is no relief with the
medicines prescribed by that doctor last time) the
doctor gave some medicines.

After receiving them and paying his fees the patient remarked, “Doctor, I
am not taking medicines with a desire to get
well. I am now 58 and am going to retire from service in two years. Before I
die, I would like to see that my daughter gets
married to a decent boy and my only son settles in life by getting a good job;
then I may die in peace”.

At this time, I asked that doctor whether he has prescribed Petroleum to
this patient because this last words told by the
patient agrees with the symptom “Feels that death is near and must hurry to
settle affairs” which is found under the
remedy Petroleum in Boericke's Materia Medica.

The doctor immediately asked me whether Petroleum is good for eczema. What
a folly and foolishness! That is the case
with 99% of homoeopaths whether in your city or in Chennai or in the whole
world. Therefore, I say that you need not learn
or discuss homoeopathy with any so-called homoeopaths.

The 99% homeopaths talk of ‘remedy for eczema’, best remedy for ‘diabetes’
and so on. ‘Mental symptom’,
‘uncommon symptoms’ etc. are not in their vocabulary of homeo practice; they
are failures in 99% of their prescriptions.

On my suggestion the above doctor asked me how long the patient should take
Petroleum and to be continued for how
many days. I had to control my temper and tell him firmly that if one dose of
Petroleum 1M does not cure the patient then I
am not a homoeopath and it is not a homoeo prescription.

Petroleum 1M cured the patient completely as confirmed by the doctor (when
I saw him later) and by the patient.

BY THE WORDS “MENTAL SYMPTOMS” MANY READERS WRONGLY CONSIDER THAT THEY MUST

PROBE DEEPLY INTO THE MENTAL FACULTY OF
THE PATIENT BY PUTTING SYMPTOM-ELICITING QUESTIONS

No. Not at all. We would even go to the extent of saying that if you have
already learnt anything about psychology it is a
disqualification.

You have to simply listen to the patient. He has to tell his remedy and not
you.

While ‘key-notes’ ‘characteristics’ or ‘rare, strange and peculiars’ are
also ways to find the remedy, there is another but
easy, quick and surest way to arrive at the similimum, and it is to work out
the case on mind symptoms.

S.210 of the Organon reads:

“...in all the so-called corporeal diseases the condition of the
disposition and mind is always altered; and in all cases of
diseases we are called on to cure, the state of the patient’s disposition is to
be particularly noted, along with the totality of the
symptoms, if we would trace an accurate picture of the disease, in order to be
able therefrom to treat it homoeopathically
with success.’’

Again, in S. 211 Hahnemann adds:

“.... the state of the disposition of the patient often chiefly determines
the selection of the homoeopathic remedy, as being
a decidedly characteristic symptom which can least of all remain concealed from
the accurately observing physician.’’

Hahnemann continues to say in S. 212:

“The Creator of therapeutic agents has also had particular regard to this
main feature of all diseases, the altered state of
the disposition and mind, for there is no powerful medicinal substance in the
world which does not very notably alter the state
of the disposition and mind... and every medicine does so in a different
manner.’’

In the succeeding Section it is further emphasized that mental symptom is a
must:

“We shall, therefore, never be able to cure conformably to nature (that is
to say, homoeopathically) if we do not, in every
case of disease, even in such as are acute, observe, along with the other
symptoms, those relating to the changes in the state of
the mind and disposition, and if we do not select, from among the medicines a
disease force which, in addition to the similarity
of its other symptoms to those of the disease, is also capable of producing a
similar state of the disposition and mind.’’

Case: The other day an experienced and famous homoeopath was sitting by my
side when a patient walked in and asked:

“Doctor, do you have treatment for diabetes?”

Myself: “Yes, I do... tell me your symptoms”

Patient: “Diabetes... see my hand (feel my pulse) and give medicine...”

[The tone of the patient was similar to that of a king or emperor who, when
he wants a work to be done, will make noise
by clapping his hands and as soon an attendant or soldier comes and bows, the
king will command ‘Go and bring that man’s
head by this evening.’

In other words, the tone of the patient was ‘imperious.’]

Upon this, the doctor who was by my side started blaming patients coming to
homoeopaths. He said to me, “Oh! see,
these patients do not tell their symptoms; how can we make a prescription?” I
smiled to myself, and taking Dr. Calvin B.
Knerr's Repertory I turned the pages under the chapter MIND (page 19) and
showed the following to him:

Answers imperiously: Lyc.

A symptom need not necessarily be one about diabetes. Mental symptom does
not mean that the patient should start
telling. “Doctor, I have terrific fear..” or “I had mental shock a year ago..”

The mere attitude of the patient (as observed by you) may in itself become
a symptom.

The above said doctor immediately asked me whether Lycopodium is good for
diabetes.

He failed to understand that I translated the patient's tone into a mental
symptom.

He did not even showed surprise whether this attitude and way of talking of
the patient can be translated into a symptom.

That doctor did not even care to note that the symptom ‘Answers
imperiously’ can be found in the Knerr's Repertory.
He was not having a copy of Knerr's Repertory; he is treating several patients
daily, he did not even show any interest (leave
alone enthusiasm) to buy this Repertory.

This is the attitude of most of homoeopaths. They simply learn the names of
a handful of medicines for different diseases
and start prescribing them to their patients. Repertory, cure of the patient
with single or few doses, ‘uncommon symptoms’
are alien to them. Let us not look at their practice and what they do with
their patients.

Case: Mrs. L., thirty-five, as a result of undergoing radium therapy for uterus
cancer , came with symptoms of profuse and
frequent diarrhoea for which the allopaths could not do anything. I did not
talk. After a little while, she said, “Doctor, please
stop this diarrhoea somehow...”

I continued to look through the pages of the repertory.

After a pause, she just spurt out:

“Doctor, cure me somehow; I want to go to my village people and prove to
them that I got completely cured; they had
been disrespecting me by telling that I won't get cured and would die soon. I
want to challenge my villagers by telling “Look
here, I am cured, what is your answer now? (A practitioner cannot readily
classify this into an appropriate mental symptom in
the repertory, but, after selecting a few remedies on other symptoms and while
reading mental symptoms of those in the
materia medica, he may probably be able to identify or classify this mental
symptom.)

If we read the above, we would realise what we have to prescribe for her.
But, however, for the anxious pathological
prescriber, let us proceed in a different routine:

How the remedy was selected in this case?

Most practitioners would look under the heading ‘diarrhoea' in the
repertory. That is not correct. This complaint is after
radium treatment. The correct symptom is ‘discharge, profuse.’

The discharge is from ‘mucous membranes’ and so I looked into the great
monumental work Repertory by Dr. Calvin
B. Knerr. On page 1136 of this work, we find the following being relevant to
the case on hand:

Mucous membranes, secretions...profuse, like

haemorrhages, draining system, Ham.;

...secretions with depressed vitality, Kreo.

...transulation of watery portions of blood

causing copious diarrhoea, Crot. t.

...profuse, watery, serous, especially stomach

and intestinal tracts, Elat.

...passive, flux, Ph. ac.

(We cannot find the above rubrics in J.T. Kent’s Repertory and we are unable to
understand as to why Kent is talked about
and praised so much)

I read all the above five remedies in Boericke's materia medica, the
following words under Hamamelis in the para
Mind made me to jump in joy:

Wants “the respect due to me” shown. This made me to recall what the
patient had been saying; she wanted to get cured
and then go and prove to the people in her village that she is now cured.

Moreover, out of the five remedies indicated above, any homoeopath would
easily say that Hamamelis is a ‘traumatic’
remedy and decide this remedy for the case because the discharge (diarrhoea)
started after radium therapy.

Hamamelis 1-M single dose cured her completely.

Case: A lady of fifty was suffering from chronic arthritis. After trying
for cure under several systems (including
homoeopathy) she consulted me finally. She started describing her symptoms
which were very common in arthritis cases like
unbearable pain, swelling, aggravation at night etc. etc. After a pause, she
remarked:

“Doctor, I got married when I was five years old. My husband passed away
within a year of the marriage. As I do not
have any children, many people have inquired whether I am not worried about it.
But I used to reply them that I am
unaffected by all these things in life. Listening to the radio, teaching music
to children, I am happily spending my life.”

The words ‘I am happily spending my life’ is the most important and
uncommon mind symptom to be considered for
homoeopathic prescription. It is not a healthy state of the mind or healthy
mental symptom at all for the case under review. (If
it is a healthy state, she should have replied as under:)

(a) I am not worried now though I had lost my husband at my very young age;
or

(b) the fact that I had lost my husband and that I have no issues bothered
me initially but I have slowly recovered from
this shock and right now I rarely think of it.

In this case, the patient had remarked that she is not at all affected by
the worst happenings in her life and that she is
spending her life happily. Let us see how this case was worked out with
Boericke’s Repertory

MIND (page 695) gay, frolicsome, hilarious: Bell., Can. ind., Coff.; Croc.;
Cyprip.; Eucal.; Formica.; Hyos.; Lach.;
Nux. m.; Plat.; Spong.; Stram.; Thea.; Val.

On studying the above sixteen remedies in Boericke's materia medica we find
the following words under the remedy
Formica in Boericke's materia medica Rufa (page 292) relevant to the case on
hand:

An arthritic medicine.

Symptoms of arthritis were not found in the remaining fifteen remedies.

Formica Rufa-IM was prescribed and it gave her relief; After three months,
she reported relapse and 10M potency,
single dose, of the same remedy cured her completely. (At this point the
beginner starts taking notes "Formica Rufa is good
for arthritis.' No, not at all! He should note down as “Formica Rufa is almost
a specific for arthritis patients if they are jolly
type or gay-going.”)

_______

In some cases you may feel delicate when the person accompanying the
patient (may be the husband) would talk
continuously describing all that he want to say about the patient. Even when
the patient starts to say something, he would
stop her by a gesture of his hand; out of sheer over anxiety about the welfare
of the patient he would describe all the physical
symptoms of the patient. Of course, there may be valuable symptoms in the
report of those about the patient (provided the
accompanying person is intelligent enough); but we can consider as important
the report of the accompanying person only if
the patient does not talk and/or when we do not find any ‘uncommon’ symptom in
the report of the patient.

But, here, the accompanying person does not allow the patient to talk and
he feels to be more intelligent than the patient
and he is under the genuine belief that by telling everything about the patient
he is helping the doctor to arrive at a correct
diagnosis! But this poor person does not understand that in homoeo, we select
the medicine on ‘uncommon’ symptom and
that uncommon symptom, in most cases, is told by the patient himself!

In such cases of talkie-talkie husband we show by a gesture of hand and
gently tell him to allow the patient to talk.

Dr. Hahnemann beautifully tells us about this:

“... in chronic disease, the investigation of the true, complete picture
and its peculiarities demands circumspection, tact,
knowledge of human nature, caution in conducting the inquiry and patience in an
eminent degree.”

Only in the case of ‘taciturn’ patients or those who does not drop
‘uncommon symptom’ we may then look for the
report of others or try to select the remedy on the attitude or behaviour of
the patient.

Some cases are easy to select the remedy; some are difficult; some others
are tough and the toughest.

Cases quoted in the preceding pages are simple and easy.

Difficult cases involves knowledge of many technicalities.

Case: “Doctor, I have bleeding from gums; I tried some homoeo medicines. I
got partial relief; but when I stop the
medicine there is relapse. Can you give some medicine for a permanent
solution?” asked forty two year old Rabi Ahmed.

You should not immediately say in a rash voice that we prescribe on
‘uncommon’ symptoms.

To make him talk (and not to elicit symptoms) I asked him how long he is
having the trouble, whether he consulted a
dentist, and what was his diagnosis. To this he replied, “I had been to the
dentist; he says that my teeth are getting decayed at
the root and nothing can be done with (allopathic drugs) and every time a tooth
becomes worse he will remove it.

Then I asked the patient how it all started (the origin). His reply:

“Ten years ago I had a train accident in which my jaw bone was injured;
four years after this accident, gum problem
started; I don’t know whether the teeth problem is due to that. But my dentist
tells me that my jaw bone is weak”.

In this case, there is no mental symptom; no uncommon symptoms as such. We
have to work out a case on whatever
symptoms are available as told by the patient.

In train accident, bone was injured and bone had become weak; as a result,
decay at root of teeth began.

In this case the following classifications are to be considered:

(i) chronic effects of injuries;

(ii) chronic bone affection.

Let us now learn here a term used in homoeo. It is ‘scrofula’ or
‘scrofulosis’.

When tuberculosis affects lungs it is known as pulmonary tuberculosis or
consumption. When T.B. affects bones/glands
and it is chronic, the term used for tuberculosis of bones/glands is
‘scrofula’. Most cases of chronic complaints in bones/glands
is due to scrofulosis*. (In syphilitic affections of bones there is nightly
boring pain)

To confirm ‘scrofula’ in the patient I simply asked one question.

“Tell me whether any members in your family (family means your
brothers/sisters, their children; your parents and grand
parents and their brothers/sisters, their children) had tonsillitis,
tuberculosis or bone affections.”

He replied that he himself was having chronic tonsils as also his sister.

Now, let us see how we have to work out this case:

Boericke's Repertory, (page 963):

Chronic effects of injuries: Arn.; Carbo v.; Cic.; Con.; Glon.; Ham.; Hyper.;
Led.; Nat. s.; Stront. c.

Knerr’s Repertory (page 1129)

BONES, affection:... scrofulous, Bell., Calc., Con., Lyc., Merc., Ol.jec.,
Phos. ac., Phyt., Sil., Staph., Stilling., Sul., Therid.

We find the name of one remedy only viz., Conium being common to the above
two lists.

To confirm my selection of Conium, I read the remedy description under the
chapters SCROFULOSIS and BONE
AFFECTIONS in Homeo Therapeutics by Dr. Samuel Lilienthal (hereafter called
Lilienthal's). Nothing was found
confirming the selection.

In Wilkinson’s Materia Medica under the medicine Conium we find the
following:

“Scrofulous constitutions, enlarged glands.

Contusions which produce a condensation of cellular tissue and duration of
glandular structures...”

Conium was prescribed to the patient.

Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homoeopathy had stated during his time
itself, that many of his followers are but
half-converts.

One wrong conception is that homoeopathy has remedies for fever, remedies
for jaundice, for cancer, diabetes etc. just
like allopathy and other medical systems and one’s preference for using homoeo
(in place of allopathy) is that homoeo
medicines have no side-effects etc.

THE ABOVE CONCEPTION IS TOTALLY WRONG.

Even if 0.0001% of the total homoeo prescriptions so far made (since the
time of Dr. Hahnemann till date) had been
correct, we would by now have cured more than ninety per cent of sick people on
earth and thus caused the closure of more
than 75% of allopathic hospitals. This statement admits the fact that the
quality of knowledge about homoeopathy is certainly
poor.

THE TRUTH IS

Homoeopathy is able to cure (permanently, in a few doses and in the
shortest possible time) ONLY BECAUSE
HOMOEO PRESCRIPTION IS MADE BY SELECTING THE REMEDY ON ‘UNCOMMON SYMPTOMS’ (See
Section
153 of the Organon)

Instead of telling that a substance that creates a disease in larger doses
is capable of curing a patient with those symptoms,
if given in a less quantity, we can better say, “Homoeo is able to cure” only
because it makes the prescription on
"uncommon symptoms’ of the disease.

Hahnemann found that cinchona bark is capable of creating symptoms of
malaria when given repeatedly to a patient.
This does not mean that any case of malaria can be cured by China Officinalis
alone (pharmaceutical name for chinchona
bark.)

Let us now see how a prescription is to be made in homoeopathy correctly.

Case: Mr. Wilson had been suffering from malaria (with its classical symptom
(daily attack of chill-fever-sweat in the evening)
for over fourteen months; after getting no relief with allopathic doctor's
drugs, he switched over to homeo doctors, who had
prescribed China, Ars. Alb., Ipec. etc. etc. with little relief.

When he saw me he said, “Doctor, at least please stop this headache of
mine. This started with malaria; but, though
sometimes the fever disappears with some medicine, this headache does not leave
me”. (This poor patient thinks that
headache and malaria are to be treated separately with two different homoeo
remedies and that is what the previous
homeopaths had been doing in this case!)

(i) headache is not usually seen in malaria cases; (ii)
moreover, the above patient gets headache in between the
paroxysms of evening chill-fever-sweat syndrome.

The second is a very very uncommon symptom of malaria and as per teachings
of the founder of homeopathy in Section
153 of his Organon, uncommon symptoms should be considered for making the
prescription.

The most important and frequently useful reference book REPERTORY (OF
HERING'S GUIDING SYMPTOMS) by
Dr. Calvin B. Knerr was consulted:

On page 1096 we find the following being relevant to the above patient's
uncommon symptom:

Fever, intermittent apyrexia... headache, Arn., Nat. m., Polyp., Puls.

To find out the one correct remedy out of the above four, the following was
also taken into consideration;

(page 1094) Fever, intermittent (ague);... with headache: Cina, Cist., Kali c.,
Polyp.

Polyp. (Polyporus officinalis) alone is common to the above two lists. This
remedy was given to the patient in single
dose in the 1000th potency. >From the next day there was no more
chill-fever-sweat (symptoms of malaria) and his headache
too disappeared.

The total symptoms of a patient at a given time points to one remedy only
and not more than one; such a remedy is
called ‘similimum’ for the patient; moreover, there cannot be more than one
similimum for a patient at a given time.

After a month there was relapse whereupon Polyporus officinalis 10-M,
single dose cured him without any further
relapse.

Case: A boy of seven with epilepsy after a year of treatment with allopathic
drugs but without much improvement, switched
over to homoeopaths who too could not do anything even after treating the boy
with daily doses of various homeo remedies,
one after the other.

After narrating the history of treatment, the father ended up saying:

“Doctor, one thing... whenever he sits in the commode for passing his
motion (bowel movement), he invariably gets the
convulsion, Why is it doctor?”

‘Convulsion occurring during stool’ is not commonly found in any case of
epilepsy; hence, rare, strange, and peculiar.
Again ‘convulsion’ and ‘stool’ are generals*.

As per teaching of Dr. Hahnemann, this symptom was pressed into service.

Again, REPERTORY by Dr. Calvin B, Knerr was consulted:

(page 577) During stool, convulsion; Art. v.

Artemisia vulgaris-1000 was given to the boy in single dose. The
convulsions started reducing gradually and in a week’s
time completely stopped.

Many such cases can be quoted from our case files about patients who had
taken repeated doses of homeo medicines
from homeopaths with little relief but cured by us with one dose by selecting
the remedy either from the above said
Repertory by Knerr or by the use of another reference work, viz, HOOMEOPATHIC
THERAPEUTICS by Dr. Samuel
Lilienthal, M.D.

Case: A boy with worm symptoms (grinding of teeth, itching at anus, irritable
temper, voracious appetite, etc.) was first
treated by allopaths without relief. The mother switched over to homoeopathy. A
homoeopath gave Cina daily for a month.
This did not give any relief. (These homoeopaths treat worms, malaria, jaundice
etc. but do not consider ‘uncommon’
symptoms.) After narrating all these, she ended up saying, “Doctor, one thing..
ever since he developed this worm trouble
(grinding of teeth, itching at anus etc.) he also complains of vertigo. Why is
it doctor?”

(We have to wait till the patient finish talking and until they drop an
uncommon symptom.) Vertigo is not at all a
common symptom in worm complaint.

The reference work HOMOEOPATHIC THERA-PEUTICS by Lilienthal was consulted:

Under the chapter Worm Affections, (Pages 1138 to 1141) thirty-four
remedies are described and the word vertigo was
found (among other symptoms) under one remedy only viz., Cicuta virosa.

This remedy in the 1000th potency in single dose cured the boy.
NINETY-NINE PER CENT OF SO-CALLED CAESAREAN CASES CAN BE TURNED INTO NORMAL
CHILD
BIRTH WITH THREE DOSES

Most of the caesarean surgery are conducted because of abnormal
presentations of the child. Three doses of the homoeo
remedy Pulsatilla-1000 given at four hour intervals set rights all abnormal
presentations if given before the membranes
are ruptured or before the presenting parts are firmly engaged (Dr. W.A.
Yingling, M.D. of U.S.A. in his book The
Accoucheur’s Emergency Manual.) Wherever the attending obstetrician says that
head is still floating or the child is lying
cross-wise and so decides caesarean on the due date, and if the friend/relative
of the patient knows about homoeopathy, they
buy from homeo stores three doses of Pulsatilla -1000 and give the patient; in
twenty-four hours it would be normal
delivery. This is being done silently and the success rate is 95%.*

For other conditions also three doses of the indicated homeo medicine can
bring about normal delivery with the help of
the abovesaid reference book.

Dr. (Mrs.) Vasundhara, M.D. writes: “Dear Dr. Kirushnamoorty, Thank you for
the book which I bought from you way
back in 1985. In cases where “head (of the foetus) is still floating’ and when
caesarean operation is proposed for an expectant
mother, I give three doses of the homoeo remedy Pulsatilla -1000 every four
hours and the next day it will be a safe and
normal delivery much to the surprise of the attending obstetrician.

“In yet another case, a pregnant lady approached me saying that her doctor
had said that it was a complicated case of
child-birth, because the uterus, instead of descending seemed to ascend. I
referred to Yingling’s Emergency Manual:

Uterus, seems to ascend, instead of descending: Cimi.

Cimicifuga-1000 three doses at four hourly interval set things right and in
a few hours after reaching hospital she
delivered the baby.’’

“Before I conclude, I cannot but quote an interesting case here that I had
recently cured without the need for the knife. A
lady came to me on a Sunday afternoon saying that her sister who was
approaching the delivery date was told by her doctor
that she was very weak and so won’t develop labor pains; hence caesarean was
the only way. I referred to the book The
Accoucheur’s Emergency Manual.

LABOR, weak, patient too, to develop

normal pains: Caul., Mur-ac.

“I turned to the materia medica portion of this book and studied both the
above remedies. The second remedy seemed
to suit the patient’s condition. Weakness is found more in Muriatic Acid than
in Caulophyllum.

I Prescribed Muriatic Acid-1000 to be taken every four hours. After the
second dose she developed labor pains and was
taken to hospital. In a few hours it was a normal delivery much to the surprise
of the attending allopathic doctor.’’

—————

CHAPTER - 6

HOW TO TRANSLATE OR CONVERT THE PATIENT’S BEHAVIOUR/DISPOSITION/ATTITUDE INTO
THE
LANGUAGE OF THE RUBRIC IN THE REPERTORY

In Chapter I in the preceding pages we have described the use of certain
reference books. How often each book is useful
is listed below:
Calvin B. Knerr’s Repertory .. 83 %

Samuel Lilienthal’s Homoeopathic
Therapeutics .. 32 %

Boericke’s
Mat.Med. & Repertory .. 16 %

H.A.
Roberts’ Sensations As If .. 0.01 %
Kent’s Repertory .. 0.5 %

Hering’s guiding Symptoms .. 10 vols ( 82 % to
(confirm selection

The above are reference books and not text-books for study from cover to
cover.

The reader is advised to keep the first three of above books ready on his
table while studying on lessons.

After selecting the remedy from the Repertory, to confirm your selection
(if you have selected one remedy only) or to
confirm one among a few (in case you get more than one remedy thru the
Repertory) you may read that remedy either in the
above said Samuel Lilienthal’s or Boericke’s Medica or Wilkinson’s Materia
Medica.

We shall illustrate this by actual cases in the following pages.

Case: The other day a lady came in, describing vague pains in head and limbs.

I waited; looked at her.

After a minute’s gap, as she did not talk any further, just to enable her
to talk I asked her how long she is having the
suffering. She replied ‘five years’ No uncommon symptom was forthcoming.

I decided to wait on placebo. (Some readers may object that I am not giving
any medicine to the patient. The point is that
she has already underwent treatment from some homoeo doctors for several
months, all in vain. There is no harm if I waste a
month or even two because I am going to cure her completely with one single
dose.)

I gave her sac. lac. (10 ml of unmedicated plain sugar pills - you may give
any size 20 or 30) with instructions to take two
pills for a dose twice daily and to report back when the supply was over.
(approximately two weeks.)

She reported three weeks later and said: “Doctor, so long as I had been
taking your pills (placebo) I had relief. Last one
week I have no medicine and the complaint has relapsed.’’

Whenever the patient tells you that he or she had relief so long as he was
taking the blank pills (placebo), we have to classify
the patient as ‘hypochondriac’

The excellent and No.1 Repertory by Dr. Calvin B. Knerr was consulted.

(p.51) MIND—HYPOCHONDRIASIS:

head (cephalalgia): Agn. c.; rheumatic pains in head and limbs, Merc.
per.

Mercurialis perennis 10M, single dose was given with placebo for four
weeks. It cured her completely and even after
stopping the placebo the relief continued. In other words, Mercurialis perennis
cured her hypochondriasis (patient’s having
imaginary diseases and who reports relief by taking even unmedicated globules).

Most of the readers would raise their eyebrows because we have not made our
prescription on “totality-of-symptoms.’’

When we read Section 211-213 together with Section 153 of the Organon we
arrive at the following definition.

Section 213 - without mental symptoms a cure is not possible

Section 153 - prescription is to be made on “uncommon symptoms’’ or
“rare-strange-peculiar’’ symptoms.

When we examine any patient’s symptoms, we get one or two symptoms that are
mental as well as uncommon.

A prescription is to be made on “Totality of uncommon mental symptoms’’.
When we apply this in practice we
invariably get one or two symptoms only.

(It is true that in some remedies the mental symptoms are not fully brought
out in proving; in such a case we have to
prescribe on uncommon physical symptoms only or on generals).

In a few rare cases the way the patient replies to our questions in itself
may be a symptom. The answer given by the
patient may be either incorrect or incoherent, disconnected, short, snappish or
even wandering from the subject of our
question. (Please see page 19-20 of Knerr’s Repertory.)

Case: A lady complained of pain in her left upper arm; in her description or
report there was no uncommon symptoms; as she
did not talk further, I asked her how long she had been having this; to this
she said it is worse lying down or upon lifting the
arm. (At this point you should not tell the patient that she has not answered
to your question as to how long she had been
suffering. But simply write in the CASE TAKING sheet as under:)

Answers, disconnected:

On page 19 of Knerr’s Repertory we find Crotalus horridus being the only
remedy given against this symptom.

Crotalus horridus 10M single dose cured her.

Case: A lady of fifty-five came to me with digestive complaints. On symptoms
presented I prescribed a certain remedy in
single dose in 10M potency with placebo t.d.s. for two weeks. She reported
after three weeks only, saying that so long as she
had been taking the pills (placebo) she was alright and since there is no
medicine for one week the complaints relapsed.

At once I realized that my first selection was wrong. Had it been correct
it should have acted for a month or more; if not
correct, it should not have acted at all. Or, assuming that my selection of the
remedy which was given in 10M potency had
been correct, it should have acted for a few days or weeks and provided its
action is over there should be change of
symptoms follow calling for a change of remedy.

But the lady tells relapse after a period of relief.

A salient feature in this case is that so long as she had been taking
placebo she had relief. The moment it is over, there is
relapse.

Whenever a patient says that she has got relief so long as she has been
taking the pills (placebo) you must at once go to
the rubric “Hypochondriasis.’’

Repertory by Dr. Calvin B. Knerr, M.D. (hereafter called Knerr’s) was
pressed into service. The relevant portions
considered by us are given below:

(page 51) HYPOCHONDRIASIS, gastric symptoms: Zinc.

HYPOCHONDRIASIS, abdominal troubles: Graph.

These two remedies were studied in HOMOEO-PATHIC THERAPEUTICS by Dr. Samuel
Lilienthal, M.D. (hereafter
called Lilienthal’s)

Under HYPOCHONDRIASIS (p.596 to 598) we find 27 remedies are described.
(The reader may ignore the first few
paragraphs given under Hypochondriasis.)

Graphites was not found but under Zinc. we found the words “excessive
irritability’’ and this was found in the patient.
Zinc. met. 10M single dose cured her.

CHAPTER - 7

THE HOMOEOPATHIC PHYSICIAN versus SYMPTOM-COVERER

Case: A child of two years was brought with diarrhoea of two months; the
parents told that undigested particles of food was
found with stools. (lienteric stools.); also, the mother reported that the
stools were of brown mucus with gelatinuous material
like white of egg etc.

The attending homoeopath prescribed remedies found in the repertory under
the rubrics ‘stool, lienteric, ‘diarrhoea,
chronic, in children’ etc. but no remedy could hold on the case beyond 3-4
days. (It has never been out experience that a
single dose of the correctly selected remedy acted for less than a month in
chronic diseases. In some cases, the symptoms may
change pointing to another remedy—complementary relationship.)

When the case was referred to me, I pointed out to that homoepath the
following (from the book Medical Diseases of
Infancy and Childhood by Dawson Williams, Cassel & Co. Ltd., 1898
chap.XXXII—Gastric Enteritis p.430):

“When chronic gastro-enteritis is well established... the bowels act
frequently, and the motions consist mainly of brown
mucus, often streaked with blood, or of gelatinous material like white of egg,
etc. with perhaps scraps of undigested food...The
child is restless and fretful. The diagnosis is not commonly difficult, though
it may be impossible always to exclude
tuberculosis.’’

Upon this the homoeopath started looking into repertories for tuberculosis.
I told him that he must prescribe on
“uncommon symptom’ only and asked him to wait for further report of the
parents.

During the following visit, the father casually remarked, “Doctor my child
is not afraid of dogs. She goes to the street
dog and puts her hand into its mouth.’’

Boericke’s Repertory was consulted:

MIND. Fearlessness, daring—Agar., Bell.; Cocaine; Op.; Sil (page 695).

Any practitioner with good knowledge of materia medica would say that
Agar., Bell and Sil. are anti-tubercular
remedies. All these were studied in Samuel Lilienthal’s Homoeopathic
Therapeutics (Children, diseases of, diarrhoea) page
162-168

The remedy, Agaricus seemed to agree with the case and the remedy in 1000th
potency cured the child (Page 162). See
also pages 295 & 296 - Diarrhoea.

It is unwise and very vague to state that homoeopathy is prescribed on
‘symptoms.’ Most homoeopaths end up as a
symptom-coverer with this misguiding statement because they fail to detect what
is common and what is uncommon.

In this case the child being fretful and restless (for which the earlier
homoeopaths prescribed Chamomilla, Ant. crud. etc.
in vain), lienteric stools etc. are common symptoms of tuberculosis of
intestines and so are not to be considered at all for
selecting the remedy. (Section 153 of the Organon)

RANDOM NOTES ON HOMOEO PRACTICE

Certain symptoms cannot be classified under any rubric in the Repertory
and, therefore, they must be memorised. Let us
consider a few clinical cases.

Calcarea carbonica : We find the phrase ‘Easy relapses, interrupted
convalescence.’ under this remedy in Boericke’s
Materia Medica. We shall now learn the significance of this in clinical
practice.

Quite often we have observed this symptom with children that often catches
a cold. The mother would say: ‘Doctor, he
gets the cold and fever almost every month. We give some medicine and it is
cured. But the attack saps his energy and his
health is going down hill. We give tonics or nutritious food and he slowly
recovers in a month. By this time, when he is
exposed to cold or plays in water, another attack comes on and again it takes
away all the regained health of the child.’

There is not only ‘recurrent relapses,’ but every time it also interrupts
the recovery of the child. The convalescence
(period of recovery following illness) too is interrupted. As soon as the child
recovers from the last attack of cold and fever,
there is another attack undermining its health.

It is not either, the easy relapses alone or the interrupted convalescence,
but both together is seen in the patient. It is a
syndrome. In these situations I give the child a vial of Belladonna-30 or 200
(to be given one or two doses only at four hours
intervals.) To be given only when the child is having cough and cold and, as
soon as he recovers from it, to be
followed by one dose of Calcarea carb.IM. I also prepare a dose of Calc.
carb.10M with the instructions that, when the child
gets his next attack, at that time they have to repeat Bell.30 or 200 (one or
two doses) and as soon as recovery is complete, to
be followed by Calc. carb.10M, and like this each time Calc.carb. in the next
higher potency.

The monthly attacks, during the acute phase, always points to Belladonna.
When the mother carries out mis instructions
she finds that the next attack does not come after a month but it is postponed
by a few months. During a relapse she repeats
Belladonna, followed by the next higher dose of Calcarea carb. and this, in
turn, holds on the case for a longer duration and so
on.

Ignatia :In homoeopathy we do not treat aches, fevers and haemorrhoids but
the patient. Treating the patient and not the
disease, alone brings permanent and complete cure in the shortest possible time
and in the most gentle way. Thus, instead of
pathology and prognosis we, in homoeopathy, have to learn a different
classification of patients (not diseases), and that is the
real and correct study of homoeopathic techniques.

In the remedy Ignatia we find the phrase ‘Great contradictions’ (again, in
William Boericke’s Materia Medica). This,
indeed, is a very interesting symptom. My first case was that of my daughter.

One night when I was away from home at 10 O’clock she was found muttering
and trembling in bed. My wife woke her
up and took her to a nearby allopath who put the thermometer in her mouth and
found a temperature of 102

O