[H] The LM Potency 1
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 5:44 am
Dear Minimus,
Aphorism 246 gives the most exact details on how to give the LM potency
and must be put in context with the statements in aphorism 248 about the
daily and alternate day dose. Here Hahnemann clearly says "every noticeably
progressive and conspicuously increasing improvement is a state which, as
long as it persist, generally excludes any repetition of the medicine..."
The reason for this is that the medicine being use is still "hastening
toward completion". This reflects what Hahnemann said in aphorism 245 of
the 5th Organon on the single dose.
Then he says "On the other hand" that there are some cases that have
"slow, continuous improvement based on one dose of a aptly selected
homeopathic medicine taking 40, 50, 60 100 days to complete the cure,
depending on the nature of the medicine, but his is very seldom the case"
The he goes on to state how important it is to "foreshorten this period" to
1/2, 3/4 or less so that a more rapid cure is attained. This reflects what
Hahnemann said in aphorism 246 of the 5th Organon on repeating the remedy
to speed the cure.
Hahnemann makes it VERY clear that there are two types of reactions that
must be treated differently.
A. A *visibly progressing and strikingly increasing ameliorations*. In this
instance he says to leave single dose act without repetition as long as
this state last. It also implies that any time during treatment that there
is a dramatically increasing amelioration on a series of doses stop the
remedy. I would like to report that my colleagues and I have seen many
cures of chronic diseases with single and infrequent doses of the LM potency.
B. A *Slow continuous improvement* that could take up to 100 days to cure.
This, however, is seldom the case. Most of the time a slow improvement just
ceases at some point and the patient relapses. In this case on should
repeat the dose at suitable intervals to speed the cure. This quite often
happens in protracted chronic disease. One can repeat the dose to speed the
cure only if one meets 5 conditions noted at the end of the paragraph.
1. The remedy is perfectly homeopathic (not a wrong remedy or a partial
simillimum)
2. The remedy is potentized and dissolved in water. (not the dry dose)
3. The remedy is given in a small dose ( 1pill in 8 tablespoon medicinal
solution, given in a split-dose, etc.)
4. The remedy is given at suitable intervals based on what experience has
shown. (individualization)
5. The degree of potency must be change on each dose (the medicinal
solution must be succussed prior to ingestion.)
There is a GREAT difference between a *visibly progressing and
strikingly increasing amelioration* and a *slow continuous improvement"
where the patient usually relapses. Hahnemann is offering a very important
differential diagnosis. When the patient is already hastening toward cure
on a single or infrequent doses they do NOT need the cure to be sped! The
statement about the daily dose in the footnote to aphorism 246 says the LM
may be given daily WHEN NECESSARY. It is NOT NECESSARY the LM potency will
cause aggravations or only slow down the cure.
All the statements about the daily and alternate day dose that follow
in aphorism 248 are about *how to speed the cure in SLOW moving
cases*. These are the cases where we need to be "foreshorten this period"
to 1/2, 3/4 or less so that a more rapid cure is attained. If the patient
is experiencing a strikingly increasing amelioration on a single dose,
infrequent doses, or a short series of doses, the repetition of the remedy
is counter indicated. If the patient is only slowly improving then one uses
the techniques suggested in aphorism 248 to speed the cure. This is what
the Organon actually teaches. This is the best of both worlds!
Dr. Croserio was a very close colleague of Samuel and Melaine
Hahnemann. He (and Jahr) was invited to Hahnemann's death bed to see the
Founder lying in state and he helped Melanie in her practice after the
Founder passed away. He also defended Melaine in court when she was charged
with practicing without a licence. For these reasons, I call him "faithful
Dr. Croserio". Boeninnghausen was sent 2 LM cases by Hahnemann in 1843.
Boenninghausen wanted more clarifications so he asked Croserio for an
eyewitness account of how Hahnemann used the LM potency. This letter can be
found in Boenninghausen's Lesser Writings under the title Hahnemann's Doses
of Medicine.
Dr. Croserio noted in his eyewitness account that Hahnemann "frequently"
gave single doses by olfaction followed by 7 days of placebo. Paris
casebooks confirm the fact that the Founder certainly did *frequently* used
single doses (often by olfaction, but sometimes through the oral solution)
and gave the patient placebo for at least 1 week! Some patients got almost
exclusive olfactions of single doses and placebos. He did not always use
the daily or alternate day dose. His method was artistic not mechanical and
was individualized by the circumstances.
Dr. Croserio's letter also stated that as soon as Hahnemann saw
definite medicinal action he either diminished the dose or stopped the
remedy and the patient was given placebo. The Paris casebooks confirm this
perfectly. Hahnemann sometimes gave a single dose followed by at least 7
days of placebo while he waited and watched. At other times, he gave a
short series of 3 to 7 doses over a 7 day period and had the patient come
back in one week. At this time, he would re-evaluate the case. He might
give the remedy or he might give placebos at this time and have patient
come back in another week. If there was definite medicinal actions he would
follow the series of doses with a series of placebos. Hahnemann constantly
interpolated and followed his medicinal doses with placebos at different
intervals.
Hahnemann never gave the daily dose or alternate day dose for long
periods without stopping the medicine and giving placebos for at least 1
week! Some patients were on placebo for 7, 14 even 21 days or more at
times. This *on again - off again* method was used will ALL his patients. I
have not seen 1 case in the microfiches of the Paris casebooks between 1840
to 1843 (the LM epoch) where Hahnemann give the daily or alternate day dose
for months without stopping the remedy and giving placebos. This is true in
the Casebooks DF-10, 11, 12, 13, 14, etc., which have LM prescriptions The
idea is too stop the remedy when there is a visibly progressive and
strikingly increasing amelioration, an aggravation, or anytime there is any
confusion about the direction of the case.
Here is one of Hahnemann's LM cases which he sent case to
Boenninghausen in 1843, which is found in his Lesser Writings, in The
Smallness of the Dose. I have double checked this case with a work by
Hanspeter Sailer called Di Entwicklung von Samuel Hahnemann;s aertzukcger
Praxis, Verlag, Haug, 1988, which investigates the same case. This case was
taken just before the Founder become fatally ill so it shows his final methods.
On Jan 14, 1843 the patient case complaining of sore throat alternating
with a anal fissure. Hahnemann gave him Belladonna in C potency in a 7
tablespoon medicinal solution which aggravated the throat and brought out
the anal fissure. This most likely a daily dose. On Jan. 16 the patient
confessed he had suppressed a syphilitic chancre with corrosives and
Hahnemann gave him Merc. 0/1 in 7 tablespooons. Here is a list of
prescriptions.
1. Jan. 14, 1843 Belladonna C potency in a 7 tablespoon solution.
2. Jan 16 Merc. 0/1 in 7 tablespoon solution.
3. Jan. 20 Merc. 0/2 in 7 tablespoons.
4. Jan. 25 Sailer says Hahnemann gave 2 placebos.
4. Jan. 30th 7 days of placebo in medicinal solution.
5. Feb. 7 Sulphur 0/2. in 7 tablespoon solution.
6. Feb 13 Merc 0/2 olfaction.
7. Feb 14 Merc 0/2 in 7 tablespoon medicinal solution.
8. Feb 20. placebo in 7 tablespoon medicinal solution
9. March 3. Single dose olfaction of Nitric Acid. (17 days on an olfaction)
10. March 20 second single dose olfaction of Nitric Acid. (Patient cured)
This example case is typical the repetition of remedies followed by
placebos as well as single dose olfactions. In a period of around 65 days
(little over two months) the patient spent around 33+ days without
medicine! Many times Hahnemann gave nearly as much placebo as medicine. In
this case the patient was off medicine more than he was on medicine and
this was a serious case of syphilis! The idea that Hahnemann gave the daily
dose for weeks, months and years on end is a complete myth!!!
I would also like to say that the LM remedies are not a low potency
system. One cannot compare the C and LM potency solely by the amount of the
original substance left in the dilution. There is a great difference
between a mathematical and dynamic equivalence. The LM 0/1 of 1 pill in an
8 tablespoons solution has around the same amount of medicinal substance as
the 6C but its power is much, much greater due to its 1/50,000 dilution and
100 succussions per dilution. In over 20 years of comparing the LM with the
C potency ( I use both side by side) I would say that the LM 0/1 acts like
a higher potency than the 30C or higher. To think they are like a low
potency C is a great mistake. Boenninghausen tested the LMs and wrote that
it acted like the high and highest C potencies!
All things equal, I would say the LM 0/1, 0/2 and 0/3 act with a similar
depth of the 60C to 200C or higher although the duration of the remedy may
not be as long as the ultra higher C potencies. The LM potency will cause
strong aggravations when misused. I have seen it, my colleagues have see
it, and I have received countless letters from patients who were greatly
aggravated by receiving the LM potency daily or alternate days in a
mechanical fashion. Many times they felt very, very good in the first week
or so (strikingly progressive amelioration) and then got worse and worse
because the dose was never slowed down or stopped. These are clinical facts.
I have found that over medication either causes the patient to become
non responsive to the remedy due to over exposure or it causes aggravations
that make them over sensitive to the remedy. Sometimes this can make it
hard to use even the correct remedy later in the case. The cases that are
spoiled the most are those who only needed a single, infrequent doses or
only a short series of doses but were never given a chance. What should be
one "best case scenarios" become one's "worst case situations". One must be
very careful with the LM potency because over medicated will cause
aggravations, accessory symptoms or adverse counter actions of the vital
force if abused. Hahnemann had some strong aggravations at times! Like all
homeopathic potencies, the LMs must be treated with great respect!!!
Hahnemann spoke about raising the LM potency every 7 to 14 days in
aphorism 248 but the Paris casebooks show that this was only a baseline
example. He would sometimes raise his potencies very fast before the bottle
was finished and in other cases he would keep the patient on the same
potency interspersed with or followed by placebo for longer periods.
Sometimes he would move up to find a better potency and at other times he
would move downward because of aggravations. There was no fixed rule. The
time of raising the potency was dependant on when the medicine was
consumed, how much placebo he was giving, and the circumstances.
I know that some give all patients the daily or alternate day dose and
only stop if and when they see aggravations. This does reflect one aspect
of Hahnemann's method but it does not take into account what he says in
aphorism 246, Dr. Creoserio's eyewitness account nor what is found in the
Paris casebooks. Sometimes Hahnemann gave a single dose and placebos and
other times he gave a series of split-doses at intervals like daily,
alternate days, on the third day, etc.. It all depended on the symptoms of
the patient and the circumstances. Hahnemann constantly alternated series
of medicinal doses with placebos and waiting and watching. He used so many
different methods that a simplistic mechanical approach can not embrace his
artistic method. As Creoserio said,
"It would be impossible for me to give in a letter all the shadings of
his treatment. By your constant correspondence with the learned sage you
have had abundant opportunity to learn to appreciate his rare powers of
observation, and you will therefore easily see that his mode of action was
not always the same".
Hahnemann varied the adjustments of the dose, the time or repetition,
the use of placebo, and the raising of the potency based on what the
individual needed. He used single doses and infrequent repetition
interspersed by placebo as well as frequent repetition daily, every other
day, every three days, etc. He did not treat all his patients the same way
because "his mode of action was not always the same." Everything was
individualized.
I have presented quotes from the Organon, a case from the Paris
casebooks, and an eyewitness accounts that all show similar facts. Although
I have many other cases and more documentation I have used examples that
are in the public domain so they can be confirmed by interested parties. I
hope this opens the doors to some deeper research.
Similia Minimus
Sincerely, David Little
_______________________________________________
Homeopathy Mailing List
homeopathy@homeolist.com
http://www.homeolist.com/mailman/listinfo/homeopathy
Aphorism 246 gives the most exact details on how to give the LM potency
and must be put in context with the statements in aphorism 248 about the
daily and alternate day dose. Here Hahnemann clearly says "every noticeably
progressive and conspicuously increasing improvement is a state which, as
long as it persist, generally excludes any repetition of the medicine..."
The reason for this is that the medicine being use is still "hastening
toward completion". This reflects what Hahnemann said in aphorism 245 of
the 5th Organon on the single dose.
Then he says "On the other hand" that there are some cases that have
"slow, continuous improvement based on one dose of a aptly selected
homeopathic medicine taking 40, 50, 60 100 days to complete the cure,
depending on the nature of the medicine, but his is very seldom the case"
The he goes on to state how important it is to "foreshorten this period" to
1/2, 3/4 or less so that a more rapid cure is attained. This reflects what
Hahnemann said in aphorism 246 of the 5th Organon on repeating the remedy
to speed the cure.
Hahnemann makes it VERY clear that there are two types of reactions that
must be treated differently.
A. A *visibly progressing and strikingly increasing ameliorations*. In this
instance he says to leave single dose act without repetition as long as
this state last. It also implies that any time during treatment that there
is a dramatically increasing amelioration on a series of doses stop the
remedy. I would like to report that my colleagues and I have seen many
cures of chronic diseases with single and infrequent doses of the LM potency.
B. A *Slow continuous improvement* that could take up to 100 days to cure.
This, however, is seldom the case. Most of the time a slow improvement just
ceases at some point and the patient relapses. In this case on should
repeat the dose at suitable intervals to speed the cure. This quite often
happens in protracted chronic disease. One can repeat the dose to speed the
cure only if one meets 5 conditions noted at the end of the paragraph.
1. The remedy is perfectly homeopathic (not a wrong remedy or a partial
simillimum)
2. The remedy is potentized and dissolved in water. (not the dry dose)
3. The remedy is given in a small dose ( 1pill in 8 tablespoon medicinal
solution, given in a split-dose, etc.)
4. The remedy is given at suitable intervals based on what experience has
shown. (individualization)
5. The degree of potency must be change on each dose (the medicinal
solution must be succussed prior to ingestion.)
There is a GREAT difference between a *visibly progressing and
strikingly increasing amelioration* and a *slow continuous improvement"
where the patient usually relapses. Hahnemann is offering a very important
differential diagnosis. When the patient is already hastening toward cure
on a single or infrequent doses they do NOT need the cure to be sped! The
statement about the daily dose in the footnote to aphorism 246 says the LM
may be given daily WHEN NECESSARY. It is NOT NECESSARY the LM potency will
cause aggravations or only slow down the cure.
All the statements about the daily and alternate day dose that follow
in aphorism 248 are about *how to speed the cure in SLOW moving
cases*. These are the cases where we need to be "foreshorten this period"
to 1/2, 3/4 or less so that a more rapid cure is attained. If the patient
is experiencing a strikingly increasing amelioration on a single dose,
infrequent doses, or a short series of doses, the repetition of the remedy
is counter indicated. If the patient is only slowly improving then one uses
the techniques suggested in aphorism 248 to speed the cure. This is what
the Organon actually teaches. This is the best of both worlds!
Dr. Croserio was a very close colleague of Samuel and Melaine
Hahnemann. He (and Jahr) was invited to Hahnemann's death bed to see the
Founder lying in state and he helped Melanie in her practice after the
Founder passed away. He also defended Melaine in court when she was charged
with practicing without a licence. For these reasons, I call him "faithful
Dr. Croserio". Boeninnghausen was sent 2 LM cases by Hahnemann in 1843.
Boenninghausen wanted more clarifications so he asked Croserio for an
eyewitness account of how Hahnemann used the LM potency. This letter can be
found in Boenninghausen's Lesser Writings under the title Hahnemann's Doses
of Medicine.
Dr. Croserio noted in his eyewitness account that Hahnemann "frequently"
gave single doses by olfaction followed by 7 days of placebo. Paris
casebooks confirm the fact that the Founder certainly did *frequently* used
single doses (often by olfaction, but sometimes through the oral solution)
and gave the patient placebo for at least 1 week! Some patients got almost
exclusive olfactions of single doses and placebos. He did not always use
the daily or alternate day dose. His method was artistic not mechanical and
was individualized by the circumstances.
Dr. Croserio's letter also stated that as soon as Hahnemann saw
definite medicinal action he either diminished the dose or stopped the
remedy and the patient was given placebo. The Paris casebooks confirm this
perfectly. Hahnemann sometimes gave a single dose followed by at least 7
days of placebo while he waited and watched. At other times, he gave a
short series of 3 to 7 doses over a 7 day period and had the patient come
back in one week. At this time, he would re-evaluate the case. He might
give the remedy or he might give placebos at this time and have patient
come back in another week. If there was definite medicinal actions he would
follow the series of doses with a series of placebos. Hahnemann constantly
interpolated and followed his medicinal doses with placebos at different
intervals.
Hahnemann never gave the daily dose or alternate day dose for long
periods without stopping the medicine and giving placebos for at least 1
week! Some patients were on placebo for 7, 14 even 21 days or more at
times. This *on again - off again* method was used will ALL his patients. I
have not seen 1 case in the microfiches of the Paris casebooks between 1840
to 1843 (the LM epoch) where Hahnemann give the daily or alternate day dose
for months without stopping the remedy and giving placebos. This is true in
the Casebooks DF-10, 11, 12, 13, 14, etc., which have LM prescriptions The
idea is too stop the remedy when there is a visibly progressive and
strikingly increasing amelioration, an aggravation, or anytime there is any
confusion about the direction of the case.
Here is one of Hahnemann's LM cases which he sent case to
Boenninghausen in 1843, which is found in his Lesser Writings, in The
Smallness of the Dose. I have double checked this case with a work by
Hanspeter Sailer called Di Entwicklung von Samuel Hahnemann;s aertzukcger
Praxis, Verlag, Haug, 1988, which investigates the same case. This case was
taken just before the Founder become fatally ill so it shows his final methods.
On Jan 14, 1843 the patient case complaining of sore throat alternating
with a anal fissure. Hahnemann gave him Belladonna in C potency in a 7
tablespoon medicinal solution which aggravated the throat and brought out
the anal fissure. This most likely a daily dose. On Jan. 16 the patient
confessed he had suppressed a syphilitic chancre with corrosives and
Hahnemann gave him Merc. 0/1 in 7 tablespooons. Here is a list of
prescriptions.
1. Jan. 14, 1843 Belladonna C potency in a 7 tablespoon solution.
2. Jan 16 Merc. 0/1 in 7 tablespoon solution.
3. Jan. 20 Merc. 0/2 in 7 tablespoons.
4. Jan. 25 Sailer says Hahnemann gave 2 placebos.
4. Jan. 30th 7 days of placebo in medicinal solution.
5. Feb. 7 Sulphur 0/2. in 7 tablespoon solution.
6. Feb 13 Merc 0/2 olfaction.
7. Feb 14 Merc 0/2 in 7 tablespoon medicinal solution.
8. Feb 20. placebo in 7 tablespoon medicinal solution
9. March 3. Single dose olfaction of Nitric Acid. (17 days on an olfaction)
10. March 20 second single dose olfaction of Nitric Acid. (Patient cured)
This example case is typical the repetition of remedies followed by
placebos as well as single dose olfactions. In a period of around 65 days
(little over two months) the patient spent around 33+ days without
medicine! Many times Hahnemann gave nearly as much placebo as medicine. In
this case the patient was off medicine more than he was on medicine and
this was a serious case of syphilis! The idea that Hahnemann gave the daily
dose for weeks, months and years on end is a complete myth!!!
I would also like to say that the LM remedies are not a low potency
system. One cannot compare the C and LM potency solely by the amount of the
original substance left in the dilution. There is a great difference
between a mathematical and dynamic equivalence. The LM 0/1 of 1 pill in an
8 tablespoons solution has around the same amount of medicinal substance as
the 6C but its power is much, much greater due to its 1/50,000 dilution and
100 succussions per dilution. In over 20 years of comparing the LM with the
C potency ( I use both side by side) I would say that the LM 0/1 acts like
a higher potency than the 30C or higher. To think they are like a low
potency C is a great mistake. Boenninghausen tested the LMs and wrote that
it acted like the high and highest C potencies!
All things equal, I would say the LM 0/1, 0/2 and 0/3 act with a similar
depth of the 60C to 200C or higher although the duration of the remedy may
not be as long as the ultra higher C potencies. The LM potency will cause
strong aggravations when misused. I have seen it, my colleagues have see
it, and I have received countless letters from patients who were greatly
aggravated by receiving the LM potency daily or alternate days in a
mechanical fashion. Many times they felt very, very good in the first week
or so (strikingly progressive amelioration) and then got worse and worse
because the dose was never slowed down or stopped. These are clinical facts.
I have found that over medication either causes the patient to become
non responsive to the remedy due to over exposure or it causes aggravations
that make them over sensitive to the remedy. Sometimes this can make it
hard to use even the correct remedy later in the case. The cases that are
spoiled the most are those who only needed a single, infrequent doses or
only a short series of doses but were never given a chance. What should be
one "best case scenarios" become one's "worst case situations". One must be
very careful with the LM potency because over medicated will cause
aggravations, accessory symptoms or adverse counter actions of the vital
force if abused. Hahnemann had some strong aggravations at times! Like all
homeopathic potencies, the LMs must be treated with great respect!!!
Hahnemann spoke about raising the LM potency every 7 to 14 days in
aphorism 248 but the Paris casebooks show that this was only a baseline
example. He would sometimes raise his potencies very fast before the bottle
was finished and in other cases he would keep the patient on the same
potency interspersed with or followed by placebo for longer periods.
Sometimes he would move up to find a better potency and at other times he
would move downward because of aggravations. There was no fixed rule. The
time of raising the potency was dependant on when the medicine was
consumed, how much placebo he was giving, and the circumstances.
I know that some give all patients the daily or alternate day dose and
only stop if and when they see aggravations. This does reflect one aspect
of Hahnemann's method but it does not take into account what he says in
aphorism 246, Dr. Creoserio's eyewitness account nor what is found in the
Paris casebooks. Sometimes Hahnemann gave a single dose and placebos and
other times he gave a series of split-doses at intervals like daily,
alternate days, on the third day, etc.. It all depended on the symptoms of
the patient and the circumstances. Hahnemann constantly alternated series
of medicinal doses with placebos and waiting and watching. He used so many
different methods that a simplistic mechanical approach can not embrace his
artistic method. As Creoserio said,
"It would be impossible for me to give in a letter all the shadings of
his treatment. By your constant correspondence with the learned sage you
have had abundant opportunity to learn to appreciate his rare powers of
observation, and you will therefore easily see that his mode of action was
not always the same".
Hahnemann varied the adjustments of the dose, the time or repetition,
the use of placebo, and the raising of the potency based on what the
individual needed. He used single doses and infrequent repetition
interspersed by placebo as well as frequent repetition daily, every other
day, every three days, etc. He did not treat all his patients the same way
because "his mode of action was not always the same." Everything was
individualized.
I have presented quotes from the Organon, a case from the Paris
casebooks, and an eyewitness accounts that all show similar facts. Although
I have many other cases and more documentation I have used examples that
are in the public domain so they can be confirmed by interested parties. I
hope this opens the doors to some deeper research.
Similia Minimus
Sincerely, David Little
_______________________________________________
Homeopathy Mailing List
homeopathy@homeolist.com
http://www.homeolist.com/mailman/listinfo/homeopathy