Importance of Constitutional Homeopathic Treatment and its Intricacies

If you ask me what is the best part about practice of homeopathy, I would say, it is the possibility of having a science that works closest to the Nature’s Law. Whenever we find positive results in homeopathy (consistently), we are thrilled by observing how the “Like cures like” worked exactly! It is not a miracle but the nature’s law that never forgets acting alike! When we act according to the nature, the nature has to give us the desired fruit of this action. There is no other way! But we must know that the desired effect in healthcare industry means “Cure”!

We are going through the era of newer and newer drugs, combinations, patents, etc even in homeopathy. Every other day we find some catchy advertisements that boast of its efficacy in treating various nasty diseases. However, do they really work for the betterment of sick people? With all respect to their inventors, are they really according to the law of nature that governs homeopathy? Sadly no!

That does not however mean that these patents and/or combinations do not work. They do in certain individuals to annihilate the problem. Take for example, an acne ointment available in the market or psoriasis tablets that are making rounds! Well, they do contain multiple medicines but perhaps not the one intended in a particular patient. Generalization is never homeopathy. If we generalize, what is the basis of homeopathic prescription in such cases? - Common symptoms of the disease? If yes, that is sadly not homeopathy. Our Master said, “Unless we look for characteristic symptoms of the patient on the physical, mental, and emotional plane, we cannot treat him or her homeopathically”. Individualization is the basis of nature’s law too. What a person sows, he will reap. His sowing will not yield crop to another being.

And “Constitution of the Patient” is the basis for individualization in homeopathy. The constitution does not mean only the physical built up of the patient but it constitutes the totality of the following things -

1. His physical symptoms of the disease
2. His mental problems pertaining to the disease
3. His emotional turmoil that has cropped up as a result of the disease
4. His physical, mental, and emotional built up otherwise (generally)
5. The causative factor/s behind the present disease (physical, mental and/or emotional cause)
6. His bodily built up including his likes, dislikes, etc
7. His past history of illnesses
8. Family history of any serious illnesses, etc.

And everyone should know that in every patient, we need to know each one point from the list in details. When I ask patients to fill up the questionnaire, many people (Ignorant about homeopathy), fill up just cursory details and write “Not-applicable” under most of the columns. But in homeopathy, there is nothing “not-applicable”. Everything pertaining to the patient is applicable for our evaluation of the case. It seems to be a tedious task no doubt. But with practice a good homeopath knows exactly how to reveal history from the patients. And only then he can understand the various aspects of this person, and not just his disease. We as homeopaths need to treat the patient as a whole; that’s what our master intended when he left his practice of modern medicine and entered the realm of homeopathy! Holistic medicine is what homeopathy is and not just disease-oriented science.

In an individual for a certain abnormality to occur, there must be some innate problems that result in these abnormalities. Unless we check those innate problems (miasmatic overload) in every patient, we CANNOT cure him of his chronic malady. Yes, this is particularly true of the chronic problems.

That however does not mean that we should not treat his acute exacerbations of the chronic problem or acute diseases during the course of treatment. We can certainly help him get over the acute crisis with our acute remedies. But while selecting the acute remedies too, we should individualize and never generalize!

That is the depth of homeopathic prescription. If we merely prescribe certain medicine depending upon the external symptoms and signs, without considering the person as a whole, we might mislead the treatment in the long run. The patient might get temporary relief but it is not according to the law of nature but according to the theory of suppression. And then what’s the difference between homeopathy and conventionalism? The difference lies in the holistic approach of homeopathy and the constitutional study gives homeopathy its holistic background to depend upon.

Thus, if one longs for cure from his or her malady, he must look for constitutional homeopathic prescription and not the patents available in the market!

Understand the Spirit of Homeopathy Before Giving Medicine!

Most people that turn to homeopathy for their treatment do not know how this system of medicine works. Rather they have many misconceptions as regards the realm of action of homeopathy. Many people misinterpret it as a science that can be easily learnt at home and applied to the sick at home. Well, it is true that the person who understands the gist of homeopathy in a precise manner can apply it easily. But when I find people often taking lots of homeopathic medicines through the day, I find it strange. Often when we prescribe, we suggest people to take exactly the dosage suggested in the prescription of the given remedy. For no reason without consulting us, they should take another dose of the remedy. It is very strictly maintained, especially in online consultations where we don’t meet the patients on one to one basis.

Homeopathic medicines act best when taken minimally!

This point needs to be stressed by the homeopathic physicians. When some patients ask us why we give so minimum dose of the medicine, it is many times hard to convince them that it is the way homeopathy acts; not only acts but acts better! The potentized dose of any homeopathic medicine is strong enough to stir the vital force latent inside the individual. We should give this dose enough time to act and exhaust its action. Only then we should think of the repetition or changing the remedy as per the requirement.

Also, the remedies react to each other- positively or negatively. The “Relationship of the Remedies” is one of the most important topics of study in homeopathy. Without knowing which remedy follows well and which remedy antidotes or is inimical, we should not take another medicine during the primary course of a remedy. I had prescribed one of my patients Merc sol 200 for obvious reasons and symptom complex including mouth ulcers. He was a novice studying homeopathy on his own and as he developed slight sore throat the next day morning, he took a dose of Hepar sulph 200. The two remedies contradict each other and his sore throat increased while his mouth ulcers aggravated too. He was perplexed. That is when we told him the reason why this happened and having faith in the science, he listened to our suggestion and continued exact therapy suggested afterwards.

But this doesn’t happen always. Some of the times I have lost some of my patients that cannot be convinced of the minimal dose concept. They find it strange and knowing some small things about certain remedies, take the remedies on their own during the course suggested by us.

This type of attitude doesn’t do any good to anyone. Moreover, we form certain tedious symptom-complexes by this haphazard consumption of homeopathic medicines. And that is when the case is unnecessarily complicated. It is often stressed by stalwarts of homeopathy that a messed up case with homeopathic medicines is the hardest case to treat efficaciously. There is absolutely blurred picture after such recurrent doses and the patient cannot be cured of his malady for longer duration. I have particularly observed this in skin and respiratory problems.

To treat homeopathically, a homeopathic physician has to have lot of patience. Wait and Watch is many times the best policy instead of changing the drugs repeatedly and handling the case in childish manner. This does not mean during a chronic case, we cannot institute any acute remedy for acute complaints or acute exacerbation of chronic complaints. But the remedy selected has to be in sync with the earlier administered remedy and should be given after an appropriate gap. Especially after we administer nosodes, we must wait at least for two weeks before we give any other remedy. Nosodes are potent medicines and they need time to act. We must not interfere in their action. If no emergency comes, we should wait even longer before we resort to another remedy. Due to nosode’s intercurrent action, many times the earlier remedy starts acting much better and there remains no need of any new remedy at all.  

All these points are considered when the homeopaths ask you to give gaps between your regimes. Always remember that classical homeopathy advocates no repetition of dose or remedy if the patient has started feeling better. We should wait till the action is over and only then think of the next possible course.

Do not fall to the myth that homeopathic medicines absolutely don’t have any side effects. Yes, it is completely untrue. Of course when given judiciously, the homeopathic medicines act the best without inflicting any ups and downs in the patient’s condition. However, haphazard consumption of homeopathic medicine if doesn’t lead to short term side effects, will certainly lead to some long term problems that can be hard to tackle later on! So, be careful and judicious while applying homeopathy in you or in other people. Comprehending the spirit of homeopathy is must before we act!