Minutus

I am new to this group and to homeopathy. Is there a ocmputer data base
that practitioners typically plug symptoms into to assist them in
determining the appropriate remedy?
Thanks.
Nancy

Yes, it is called ­ at least 5 years formal study, massive amounts of books,
reading, studying, lectures, clinical studies, many years taking cases and
forever learning from others.

No offence meant but if you really think it comes down to plugging a few sx
into a database, good luck.

Joy

http://www.homeopathicmateriamedica.com
on 13/12/04 11:48 am, Nancy Dwyer at dwyer.whynot@juno.com wrote:
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Nancy,

There are a number of prescribing software programs, but they're not useful
until you know what symptoms to put *in*, and how to interpret what comes
out. Your best place to start would be with one of the several good books
on the market that are aimed at giving people basic understanding of
homeopathy and how it works, and helping one to prescribe for acutes and
injuries. Acute prescribing is far less complex than chronic care, and you
get (in many cases) this wonderfully quick feedback.

A book I like (and there are other good ones too) is "Homeopathic Medicine
At Home" by Panos and Heimlich; another is Ullman's "Everybody's Guide to
Homeopathic Medicines". Both of these include instruction as to the
difference between acute and chronic ailments, sections describing when the
situation may be an emergency and you should seek help, as well as main
prescribing indications of the most commonly needed acute remedies.

These books won't cover *every* situation, but are IMO a very good starting
point.

Shannon

on 12/13/04 5:48 AM, Nancy Dwyer at dwyer.whynot@juno.com wrote:

There are, and a search on google will no doubt bring them up.

As others have pointed out though, spending £2000+ ( GBP or equivalent)
on software will not make you an accurate prescriber.
It's like asking 'do you have an image manipulation program?' Yes I
do, Photoshop. Will that produce great images? Only if the person using
it can produce great images. the program can only do what you tell it
to.

The homeopathy programs I use are Referenceworks and MacRepertory from
Kent Associates.
They crunch numbers, well, in this case, rubrics and remedies, in as
many different ways as I like, but it's the same thing
they also keep Patient records and give you lots of interesting reading

They do not do your THINKING for you.

You cannot get a remedy more accurately just because you use a computer
program, but if you do know your homeopathy then they're handy.
By all means buy the programs, ( I'm sure the makeers will be
grateful) and have fun with them, but do not expect them to do your
thinking for you.

The best way to be good at homeopathy is to learn materia medica off by
heart, loads of it, and read lots of cases.; (to achieve that you have
to encompass the other essential aspects too.)
regards
Simon King


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

Hi Nancy,
you could try abchomeopathy.com,
dont expect THE MIRACLE though...
dimitri
--- Nancy Dwyer wrote:
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This discussion is reminding me of when I got my first Radar program, after a little over a year of homeopathic training. I was ecstatic, thinking my prescribing would suddenly, miraculously, get much more accurate. I plugged in rubrics for the first case, and the remedies that came up had nothing to do with the patient's illness. It was the most beautiful -- and humbling -- illustration of the GIGO (garbage-in-garbage-out) principle I'd ever seen. So it was back to the books and classes for a few more years! ))

The programs provide a fantastic library of homeopathic writings -- from many more sources than anyone -- well maybe not Julian -- is likely to have on his or her bookshelves. The repertorization part does speed up searches for specific details and is marvelous for seeing the outcome of various combinations of rubrics. But you still need to find the exact description of the symptoms in Materia Medica, and what you put into the repertorization still works better or worse depending on your skill in picking symptoms: central to the case, relatively unusual, and solid, well-developed repertory rubrics.

Often, I find with the Repertory software that less is MUCH more. If I can find two relatively unusual symptoms that are important in a case, and combine them in the software, it gives me a clue for a relatively unknown remedy that can be right on -- where none of the polychrests or well known remedies seems to fit exactly.

Rosemary

please look at: http://www.archibel.com/
kind regards

Paul Debruyn

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, Nancy Dwyer wrote:
base

At 6:48 AM -0500 12/13/04, Nancy Dwyer wrote:

As mentioned by many... not really.

Homeopathy is not about "plugging in symptoms." It is about
UNDERSTANDING the case at hand and which symptoms are the important
ones to use.
It is also about understanding the REACTION to the remedy, and
knowing what to do after the remedy is given.

Homeopathy is an art and a science. It takes a LOT of study to do
well. It is, medicine. It is not a dabble.
You work on understanding it, and your knowledge grows-- slowly.
Those who have been doing it for over 20 years are STILL learning
more about it. Those who do it for 50 years are STILL learning.

The computer repertory programs are a waste of time for a beginner.
Garbage in, Garbage out.

Get the books. Start with some basic ones as mentioned by others.
Learn the differences between acute and chronic problems.
Join a study group (see http://www.homeopathic.org)-- the National
Center for Homeopathy.
Find people to talk to.
Don't rush.
Read the basics:
Hahnemann's "Organon" (6th edition by Wenda O'Reilly is the easiest)
Close's "The Genius of Homeopathy."

If you want a materia Medica, I'd suggest (as a start) "Boericke's"

If you want a repertory, go with Kent. It is the BASE of all the
newer ones. It has provided a serviceable reference for over 100
years.

Understand the METHOD before you delve into understanding the
remedies. Then you have a place to pin it on.

And... for serious problems, seek out a professional homeopath who
has the training to understand what is going on, and how to follow up.
It is very difficult to see your own case.

JW

At 10:23 AM -0800 12/13/04, Rosemary C Hyde PhD wrote:

Indeed!
Understand the difference between Encyclopedia Homeopathica (RADAR)
and ReferenceWorks (Kent Associates).
They are VERY different.
EH is a LIBRARY-- the books are there are can be searched for
key-words. And the books are *complete*-- if there is an IHA
transaction in the DB, then it is the whole thing.

RW is a DB of only Materia Medica. The only stuff from the IHA
Transactions that appear are those pieces that refer to the use of
remedies-- and are seen as cases. Often the philosophical stuff is
NOT present.
Yes. Good searches for the smaller remedies-- which THEN have to read up on.
Finding the remedy for the case is NOT in the repertory. The Rep, as
Boenninghausen stressed, is just an index to put you in the ball-park.

Best!

JW

All this reminds me of what I concluded years ago when these machines, and for that matter these programmes, started pouring in.
My conclusion was and is that there must always be a man / woman behind and before a machine.
A machine can be a mean but can never be an end.
Syed Mohsin Rizvi
http://www.homoeohelpline.netfirms.com
Rosemary C Hyde PhD wrote:
This discussion is reminding me of when I got my first Radar program, after a little over a year of homeopathic training. I was ecstatic, thinking my prescribing would suddenly, miraculously, get much more accurate. I plugged in rubrics for the first case, and the remedies that came up had nothing to do with the patient's illness. It was the most beautiful -- and humbling -- illustration of the GIGO (garbage-in-garbage-out) principle I'd ever seen. So it was back to the books and classes for a few more years! ))

The programs provide a fantastic library of homeopathic writings -- from many more sources than anyone -- well maybe not Julian -- is likely to have on his or her bookshelves. The repertorization part does speed up searches for specific details and is marvelous for seeing the outcome of various combinations of rubrics. But you still need to find the exact description of the symptoms in Materia Medica, and what you put into the repertorization still works better or worse depending on your skill in picking symptoms: central to the case, relatively unusual, and solid, well-developed repertory rubrics.

Often, I find with the Repertory software that less is MUCH more. If I can find two relatively unusual symptoms that are important in a case, and combine them in the software, it gives me a clue for a relatively unknown remedy that can be right on -- where none of the polychrests or well known remedies seems to fit exactly.

Rosemary