Homeopathy for Beginners

A Monument of Samuel Hahnemann

The Law of Cure

How do we know that a medicine is working? How do we know if a treatment is effective? Well, it depends on what we are trying to do. If we are trying to get rid of migraine headaches, then we are successful when the migraines disappear. If the woman becomes a nervous wreck after the headaches disappear, and her functioning is globally impaired from that point forward, we have still "cured" her migraines.

It is not the goal in homeopathy to cure anyone of migraine headaches. For, in the experience of the homeopath, curing tends to happen in a particular way, in a certain direction. As long as things are moving in the appropriate direction, the homeopath is not concerned about the migraines. Because he knows two things: the patient is improving overall and the migraines will improve when it is appropriate.

Here are a few simplified examples (click here for actual cases) of overall health moving in positive or negative directions:

Barry has a history of foot pain and, prior to that, rashes on his extremities. However,these are not his current main symptoms. Recently, he has developped a persistent fear of crowds, for which he is seeing a psychologist. He is avoiding going out on weekends due to this fear. Upon treatment, his fearfulness decreases and he feels more at ease. However, his foot develops severe pain, similar to what he formerly suffered from. As treatment continues, his foot pain becomes tolerable, his fear of crowds almost completely disappears, but he again develops rash on his extremities (once again similar to his old rash). This is seen as positive treatment.
Debra is constantly nervous. She appears always on the verge of flying to pieces. This has been going on for a few years. Before that, she had terrible headaches which have since gone away. And even earlier in her life, she had frequent bouts of diahrea and nausea. Upon commencing treatment, she states that she feels a bit less nervous. As time goes on, she seems more composed, and is less shaky. Her headaches reappear, just as bad as before. Then she has an episode of diahrea with much nausea. This continues for quite awhile, but she continues to be better able to deal with the stresses in her life. This is seen as positive treatment as well.
Randy has a rash. It is all over his forearms. He has had it for several years. He is a slightly nervous person, and he suffers from occasional headaches. During treatment, his rash quickly improves, and almost completely disappears. His headaches become more frequent and distressing. Continued treatment results in an improvement in the headaches, but he develops pain in his shoulder joints. Attempts to improve this pain are unsuccessful, and his sufferring is constant. He continues to be a somewhat nervous person. This is seen as a negative treatment.

If you look at the above examples, you will notice that during positive treatment, more recent symptoms resolve first. Then old symptoms return (or increase), and then these dissipate. The returning of old symptoms is typically seen as a positive sign in homeopathic treatment.

Also, higher order symptoms must improve. Higher order symptoms would be distressing nervousness, paranoid thoughts, or other mental symptoms. Without improvement in higher order areas, treatment cannot be considered to be positive. In general, improvement should take place in the overall bearing of the person.

In positive treatment, also, no truly new symptoms will develop. Also, symptoms should go from within out and from more important to less important. So bad headaches might resolve and a runny nose might develop. Or joint pain might resolve and a rash would develop. The reverse, a runny nose drying up and headaches developing, or a rash clearing up and joint pain developing - these are almost never positive developments.

The monument to Samuel Hahnemann, the great physician who was almost solely responsible for the discovery and development of homeopathy, located in our nation's capitol.

Copyright 2006 Michael Pinkerton
Update: Monday, March 20, 2006
11:30 pm
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