Getting Better with Homeopathy
Everyone who has worked with me knows that I create a baseline chart of the patient’s symptoms at seven weeks from when they took the first dose of their constitutional remedy. This chart helps us understand the patient’s response to the homeopathic remedy and how that response is changing over time.
A constitutional remedy is a remedy selected on the basis of the totality of the patient’s symptoms, not just in terms of the number of symptoms, but based on the characteristic symptoms and the strange, rare, and peculiar symptoms that match their profile.
The chart of symptoms has five categories:
Better
Same
Aggravated
Old
New
THE BETTER CATEGORY
The better category is the one that I am most concerned with, because this is the category that shows me the progress being made and guides me as to when the remedy needs to be repeated.
The rule I follow regarding repetition is that I only repeat if three or four symptoms in the better category on the chart move backward for two to three weeks. This can vary with each patient depending on the number of symptoms they have and the speed at which we see symptoms returning.
When a remedy is antidoted by something we usually see a rapid return of symptoms that had been better (rather than a gradual return). That is the indication that the remedy has been antidoted.
If the patient or parent reports to me that they have seen three or four symptoms gradually returning, or returning in a cluster for several weeks that alerts me that the remedy may have exhausted its action and that it is time to repeat.
Each time a remedy is repeated it is done in a different manner from the previous time. This is done in accordance with Samuel Hahnemann’s guidance in the Organon of Medicine or Organon of the Medical Art. He taught that the strength or stimulus of the remedy needs to be slightly varied each time it is repeated, so that the body will accept the new dose well.
THE SAME CATEGORY
Symptoms in the same category are ones that the vital force or life principle has not prioritized as yet, These are longer-term symptoms. I usually schedule appointments at 7-week intervals in chronic cases. Usually by 14 weeks after taking the remedy, or the second follow-up appointment, we should see that some of the symptoms in the same category have moved to the better category. Sometimes these symptoms move to the aggravated category from the same category. The reason for this is that symptoms often aggravate before they get better. If at 14 weeks you see a few symptoms that were in the same category now appear in the aggravated category that means these are being currently worked on and are in line to get better next. By the follow-up at 21 weeks, I would expect that these symptoms will have improved.
THE AGGRAVATED CATEGORY
These are the symptoms that the remedy is currently trying to address. By aggravation we mean that the symptom is stronger than it was initially before the remedy was taken.
In classical homeopathic theory, the way homeopathy works is that a medicinal disease,( the remedy) is introduced into the body and the body launches a defense against it. The medicinal disease is stronger than the natural disease, and it overcomes it or replaces the natural disease in the sensation of the life principle or vital force. Once it has accomplished this replacement, the medicinal disease, which is short-lived as compared to the long-lived chronic disease, gets used up and the life principle is restored to its natural healthy state. This is explained in great detail in Hahnemann’s writings.
In summary the aggravated category is the category showing which symptoms are currently being addressed by the remedy. This process will take as long as it needs to to get the job done. Once the work is accomplished those symptoms should move to the better category.
THE OLD CATEGORY
During the course of its work, the remedy searches for everything in the person’s health history to see what is left to be addressed. It will only locate symptoms that have not been fully addressed or properly addressed in the past. The remedy will bring up these symptoms for treatment. You know this is what is happening when the patient or the parent says, “I have not seen this symptom for many years, and it has suddenly come back.”
I then put this symptom in the old category on the chart. These symptoms do not usually remain for long and by the next follow-up appointment they should move into the better category or simply fall off the chart.
THE NEW CATEGORY
This can be a host of different things. It can be a positive thing, such as the parent telling me that their son has learned to swim or ride a bicycle, which are things he had not been able to do before.
The new category can also point the way to an underlying remedy layer that needs to be addressed. It can be the lead shoot pointing the way to where we need to go next in terms of the treatment.
Another possibility is that these are symptoms that belong to the remedy and not to the patient or the child. We call these proving symptoms. This type of symptom is usually very short-lived and falls away quickly.
THE PLUS AND MINUS SIGN NEXT TO SYMPTOMS
At the follow-up appointments I put plus signs next to symptoms that have newly moved into the better category on the chart. This helps me understand what changed from one follow-up appointment to the next. For example, if I see 10 symptoms that were in the same, aggravated, old or new categories on the chart at the last follow-up now in the better category that means the remedy is working well and the healing process is marching forward.
I put minus signs next to symptoms that have started to move backward since the last follow-up appointment. I ask the patient or parent for how many days they have seen this backsliding. If it has been for more than two weeks I put the symptom in the aggravated category on the chart. If it has just been for a few days, I leave the symptom in the better category with a minus sign next to it. This lets me know that we need to keep on eye on this symptom to see if this symptom has genuinely relapsed, or if this is a temporary fluctuation.
Occasionally at follow-up appointments you may have, for example, 12 symptoms that have plus signs next them, and 3 symptoms with minus signs next to them. If the pluses outweigh the minuses then I do not repeat the remedy, because the general progress is still in a forward direction. If on the other hand, the minuses or aggravated symptoms outweigh the improvements, then a repetition of the remedy may be called for.
SUMMARY
I hope that this explanation of the chart of symptoms will help patients and parents interpret their own or their children’s responses to the remedy.
Homeopathy is dynamic. That means we want to bring about healing in a multi-dimensional human being. There are countless moving parts, and we as the patient, parent or homeopath have to stand by and watch this miraculous process in a state of awe. When we try to control it or pick out one symptom from the context of the whole, because we think this is what needs to be addressed next, we often make a big mistake and disrupt the divine healing process as it is unfolding.
Changes take place the way they do in nature: slowly, gradually, and with an intelligence that is beyond our ability to understand.
Constantine Hering, a great homeopath and author of many important classic homeopathic texts, such as the 10-volume The Guiding Symptoms to Our Materia Medica is associated with what is known as Hering’s Law of Cure. The principles traditionally known in homeopathy as Hering’s Law of Cure describe the following general patterns:
- Symptoms often improve from the top of the body downward.
For example, headaches may resolve before discomfort appears in a lower part of the body. - Symptoms may move from more vital organs or systems to less vital ones.
This reflects the body’s effort to restore balance and protect its most important functions. - Symptoms may move from the inside of the body to the outside.
For instance, emotional or internal complaints may improve while a temporary skin issue appears. - Symptoms often resolve in the reverse order of their appearance.
More recent symptoms tend to improve first, while older ones may take longer to fully resolve.
I am honored to be working with you to help heal yourselves and your children. This is not easy work, and it requires a lifetime of training. I pray that you receive the healing that you long for with homeopathy.
One important caution: A significant new symptom, a severe or rapid deterioration, or a potentially urgent medical problem should not simply be assumed to be a homeopathic aggravation or part of the response to a remedy. Please contact me when you are uncertain about a change in symptoms, and seek prompt medical evaluation when the situation may require it.
Wishing you health and happiness,
Deborah Olenev CCH RShom (NA)
