It is great that so many people are learning how to prescribe homeopathy for themselves and their families for acute conditions. It truly puts your health and the health of your family back into your hands. It puts choice back into your hands. But along with this comes responsibility.
What Is An Acute Condition?
Acute conditions come on relatively quickly and will resolve on their own. They are conditions like: colds, flus, coughs, fevers, nausea, short term vomiting, short term diarrhea, sprains, overeating, food poisoning, etc. All of these conditions are short term and would resolve on their own with return to health or death. By short term I mean no longer than 2 weeks.
The Goal In Acute Prescribing
Your goal is to help the person heal faster and to prevent death. If any disease or condition comes on suddenly but lasts longer than 2 weeks you will need assistance either from a professional Homeopath or another health care provider. There are some more serious acute situations you may be able to assist with, but homeopathy should not be used as a substitute for conventional medical help, especially in emergency situations.
If someone has the same acute more than 3 times, it is an exacerbation of a chronic condition and you will need to have the full case taken by a professional Homeopathy in order to to fully resolve the problem.
The goal of Homeopathy is not to attack or suppress the symptoms but rather to assist that part of your internal operating system whose purpose is to keep you healthy. If you get an acute illness it is a sign that this part of you which we call the Vital Force is overwhelmed, either because it has too much to handle now or there are some hereditary issues or unfinished business from your past that have weakened it. The remedy is designed to give your Vital Force clear direction on how to handle the most pressing issue, which is the acute.
Water Dosing
In acute disease it is best to give the medicine dissolved in 1/2 cup of distilled or pure water. You may give a tablespoon of the solution every 30 minutes to an hour. (In some cases you may want to give it more frequently). If a person is weak or is a child, give a teaspoon of the solution in the same time frame. In the case of a baby give them drops from the solution or wet their lips with the water. When the remedies are given in water, it enhances their effectiveness. It allows the medicine to touch more nerve endings, thus allowing for the fast and efficient distribution of the remedy throughout the body. If you don’t have pure water or it is an emergency situation, go ahead and give the pellets dry. Never contaminate the pellets by touching them. Put them into the tubule lid and drop them under the tongue. Let them dissolve under the tongue.
Precautions And Things To Keep In Mind
Don’t start treatment with another energy medicine such as acupuncture at the same time. Start with homeopathy and when all is going well add acupuncture as an adjunct to assist or vice versa.
Most of the time remedies aren’t antidoted but there are a few substances that one should stay away from. Coffee may antidote some remedies. If you must drink coffee, take your remedy at least 15 minutes after drinking coffee, not before drinking coffee. Camphor and tea tree oil should be avoided. Also avoid any other strong odors.
In general take remedies 15 minutes before or after eating.
Store your remedies in a cool dark place away from other products and electronics.
How To Choose the Potency (or Strength)
The potency you will want to give in an acute situation (this also applies to chronic prescribing) is chosen according to: 1. The nature of the disease, 2. The nature of the person you are helping and, 3. The nature of the remedy.
Do not change the remedy before you have used a stronger potency of the same remedy (if you are sure it is a good remedy choice). In this case you may go one potency higher.
Nature of the patient
Children (who don’t have a chronic illness or condition) usually have a stronger ability to respond to disease and thus can take a higher doses such as a 200C, though it is ok to start with a 30C.
Adults with multiple chronic illnesses, have a history of prolonged drug use (recreational or prescribed), and/or are weak or elderly will require a LM or 6C dose. You may even have to dilute it further.
Some people are inherently more sensitive to all sensory input or particular sensory inputs and will need more carefully administered doses. Sometimes just a whiff of the medicine or rubbing the water dose onto the skin, rather than ingesting it, is required.
Nature of the Disease
Are you catching the disease in it’s earliest stage? If so, you can give a higher potency. If you wait a day or two, give a lower potency.
Is it an acute skin condition? If so, it will require a lower dose.
Is the disease physical (as opposed to mental/emotional)? Use a relatively low dose, unless it’s an emergency situation like a heart attack.
Is the disease mental/emotional, such as the death of a loved one or desire to commit suicide? Give a high dose in these situation. You can give 1M doses or higher in pellet form.
Is the patient dying and needing to be eased into death? You can also give 1M doses or higher in these situations.
Nature of the remedy
Some remedies are fast acting and some are slow acting. For acutes you will generally be using fast acting remedies.
Common Potencies
Here are some remedies and their general applications
Mother Tincture Q (not to be confused with LM potencies, which are also sometimes called Q potencies): A particular method of making an herbal mother tincture. In some rare cases these work better for certain conditions than remedies made in potency.
1X - Gemmotherapy for repairing, enhancing and detoxifying organ systems
6X - Remedies used like supplements i.e. cell salts. These are used for support and protection ie glandular support. Or, to prevent mosquitoes bites.
6C - Very low potency for some acute illnesses and very sensitive people or for the elderly or mentally incapacitated.
30C used most commonly for acute cases. It is more readily available to the public but sometimes not strong enough for some acutes.
200C Also used for acutes when 6C or 30C is not strong enough especially in infectious disease and emotional trauma.
The higher potencies are used for chronic prescribing and a professional homeopath should be consulted before using them. The exception to this is a life threatening emergencies.
Frequency of dose
If the person’s energy is strong and healthy they may need more frequent doses when they have an acute illness, especially if they are a child.
If the acute disease comes on very rapidly and is intense, you can give the remedy more frequently.
If there are maintaining factors like the person is also taking conventional medicine, or smoking, give the remedies more frequently.
Amount of Pellets
How many pellets should I give or how many pellets should I dissolve in water?
One to 3 pellets is one dose. You can give 1 - 3 pellets or dissolve 1- 3 pellets in water.
After Giving the Remedy
You have given the remedy, now what?
Watch and wait.
Often, when the illness is a flu, or cold, the patient will fall asleep. This is a very good sign.
If symptoms improve, wait and see if the improvement continues. Too much of a remedy, even the correct remedy can over stimulate the system and aggravate the symptoms.
If symptoms immediately get a little worse, they are likely to get better. This is actually a good sign!
If there is no change, or little change in the symptoms after an hour, repeat (you may want to repeat sooner).
You can do this for up to 3 - 5 hours or 3 doses. If nothing is changing, you may want to increase the potency. Do not move to another remedy until you try the chosen remedy in a higher dose, (unless there are new symptoms).
Keep in mind that in homeopathy we value using the least amount of medicine necessary to accomplish healing.
If there is still no change, it was not a good remedy for the situation and you need to rethink what remedy to give or there is something preventing it from working. Is there something antidoting it? Are the factors that caused it still present?
If new symptoms appear, reassess to see if you can give a better remedy based on the new symptoms.
If symptoms are relieved but come back, do another round of dosing with the same remedy, or the same remedy in one potency higher.
The Art Of Homeopathy
Homeopathic prescribing is both a science and an art. I hope this helped to shed light on the science. By practicing and studying, you will begin to understand the art of homeopathy. Subtle observations plus astute study, will guide you to the right remedies, the right potencies and the right timing.
In a future blog I will talk more about observation and questioning and how to choose the remedy.
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