What About the Potency: A Comprehensive Guide to Homeopathic Potency and Dosage [4 ed.] 0954703308

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WHAT ABOUT THE POTENCY? (a comprehensive guide to homeopathic potency and dosage) BY ·

Michelle Shine

FOOD FOR THOUGHT PUBLICATIONS

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Prescription: Arsenicum album 1M daily for three days.

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Comment: 1 was sure of the prescription and therefore gave a high potency. One a day for three days was standard for me at the time.

l7.l2.0l Headaches are better. Still checking the windows and looking under the bed and in the cupboards. Wakes two to three times a night then goes back to sleep. Scared at night.

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Keeps thinking a lady from an advert is behind her. Wouldn't like to wait for mum in the car and worries about being kidnapped. Thinks someone's hand will come out if doesn't check the cupboards and drawers. Worries about burglars and robbers. Has dreams-of being killed and being taken away in her sleep and noone could find her. Whenever dad is away on business, is frightened because mum is not a man. Ukes her room tidy but doesn't care about the rest of the house. It bothers her at night if things are not in the right place, but doesn't care during the day.

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Comment: her headaches disappeared after the Arsenicum album 1M, but her fears seemed to be heightened, so on the 14.08.0 1, I gave Arsenicum album 10M. Nothing happened. I saw hints of the sycotic miasm in the case when she said that she thinks someone is following her (keeps thinking a lady from an advert is behind her). On 19.0./01 I gave Thuja 1M. Nothing happened. I thought I would give Arsenicum album one more try. I was starting to wonder if she would benefit from repeated doses. Not wishing to give a high potency often, I decided to try an LM.

Prescription: Arsenicum album LM 1

05.02.02 Stilt checking windows, but not checking everything. Not frantically checking things like she was before. Has had no bad dreams.

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Prescrlpffon: Arsenicum LM2

24.04.02 She is not checking anything anymore and her fears seems to have all abated. She says: I never check things or wake up in the night anymore. That's babyish. --

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Comment: why the higher potencies did not work in this instance might have been because I was prescribing 'superficially', and therefore only seeing part of a picture. Indeed, whenever I saw this patient, I always had her two other siblings to find remedies for, and there never seemed to be enough concentrated time for her. However, the LM worked well.

Alize Timmerman spoke at the Society Conference a couple of years ago and briefly told us of her discovery. She spoke of a Natrum muriaticum patient, and how she was so certain that the patient needed Natrum muriaticum. but the remedy did not work in any potency that she tried. She ended up making up the remedy in a different way and finally it worked. (SEE INTERVIEW WITH ALIZE TIMMERMAN page 215)

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STRANGE DISCOVERIES WITH AGGRAVATIONS It was about five years ago that someone suggested using a 6c to bring down on aggravation. Nowadays, if I have given a high or fairly high centesimal potency and the patient has more intense symptoms (but the same symptoms), I think of giving a single dose of that remedy In a 6c, and the aggravation usually lessens pretty quickly.

Here are two examples of this:

CASE SEVENTEEN Male l.years old

28.11.00 Presenting: asthma since four years. Hugely fluctuating mood swings. Very impatient. Hot and cold moods. His motor skiffs ore not great.

Very highly strung.

When he gets a cold it leads to asthma. Is coughing at the moment. Sleeps well, mum says. He says, 'How do you know, you don't even know how I sleep.' Gets very sweaty at night and likes mum or dad to read to him before sleep. It takes about two hours for him to fall asleep. He's a restless sleeper and is tired on waking. Dreams: used to have terrifying nightmares. He craves sweets. Fears: Scary movies. Gory things. Hides under the covers, but doesn't need the light on. He talks a Jot about murder. Asks things like, where do gladiators get stabbed? Last year talked about hurricanes and floods. He says, 'My dad tells me some quite bad things'. Mum and dod did bod things. They let me see ·tthe film) The MUmmy.

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Observation: he doesn't fool< at me when he speaks to me, and he is drawing a vivid picture of a torture chamber with someone being tortured. He says he worries about being an angel because he wouldn't like to be on angel. Mum says he has a strong personality. Draining at times. Very challenging. When he makes up his mind, that's it. If mum .wants him to do something, there ore tears, he throws things and kicks things, swears qnd bites. At times the whole family has to walk on eggshells. His triggers are: His brother. If his brother has something that he hasn 'f. It can be attention seeking. Or if another child touches his toy. He is. a hoarder: 'He squirrels things away'. At school he is making good progress, but his attention span is an ongoing problem, and he is restless in his chair. He lacks confidence. If he is. not sure how to spell a word, will soy that he can't do it. He is afraid to get things wrong. Lots of one-upmanship. With his work, he gets very frustrated and says 'I'm the stupidest kid in the world'. He never forgets a name or a face. brother for dad's attention.

He's very competitive with his

He was an easy baby. He slept through the night at seven weeks old. He was really fine until his brother came along. He often says 'Mummy doesn't like me/love me and she thinks I'm the stupidest kid in the world'. He's very affectionate with his dad. details he goes into are amazing.

When he does something, the

He says, 'I wish I was o bot. It's the bat's lucky day. He killed all the people and ate the blood'. He has a /ow sensory threshold. Gets angry if there are wrinkles in his socks, if the seams ore not straight, and he only likes to wear particular shirts. He fears loud noises and smells everything. He doesn't like change. He likes to know where he is going. He likes predictability, and doesn't like alterations in his plans. He con feel shy

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with other kids. He dribbles at night. Sometimes he lies on the floor and wriggles around. He has a perpetually stuffy nose. He's cautious. Knows how to ovoid dangerous situations. He's agile and confident in the playground. Not reckless but cole ulated. He is very trustworthy when it comes to safety. He would like to change his brother. 'I wont to change him to dead.'

Comment: at first, I gave him Lachesis, but I wasn't sure about it and therefore wanted to prescribe low, also something about his strength of character made me choose an LM; I thought he might fight the influence of the remedy and would therefore benefit from repeated doses. I thought if the remedy is not quite right a repeated low dose just might make an impression. My reasons for giving Lachesis were 1. His thoughts of evil and fear of evil. 2. His love of power. 3. Horrible things affect him profoundly. 4. There is an aetiology of his brother's birth and the desire for his brother to be dead 5. The night sweats and the wriggling on the floor (like a snake).