In these days of high speed and high tension a method of choosing ones remedy quickly and accurately is in the long run the most satisfactory method. That is my meaning in the phrase Everyday Homoeopathy. I believe it is possible for us to keep in mind certain definite pictures of the most frequently used remedies so that in examining the patient the similimum will come almost spontaneously. For this conviction and the corresponding habit I am deeply indebted to the painstaking work of an enthusiastic homoeopathic preceptor.
To illustrate: The Phosphorus patient has burning, is worse in twilight, is over sensitive to external impressions, is frequently blonde, slender, and stooping. This picture has led to a cursory study of the remedy in such ailments as laryngitis, constipation, blood-stained lochia continuing too long after delivery, slight bloody flow between menses. By cursory study I mean consulting such authorities as Kents Repertory or Clarks Dictionary to verify other symptoms in the individual patient and refresh the mind with reference to more details, both general and specific.
Lachesis is another remedy which is very individual. “Red headed and jealous” may seem an absurd Keynote so suggest such a life-and-death matter as choosing the remedy on which the outcome depends. Please note that I say “suggest,” for there must be the old fashioned homoeopaths “three legs for the stool to stand on”.
But if the symptoms sleeps into aggravation and worse from tight clothing be present I waste no time in verifying my suspicion by reference to our books. Oftentimes the modality worse from the suns rays, or all on the left side is the necessary third symptom. Knowing that Lachesis is a truly wonderful remedy for many cardiac complaints, for certain dysmenorrhoeas, for left-sided tonsillitis of certain types, one can frequently prescribe it with striking success by comparing it with ones mental picture.
Or again take Bryonia. Intense thirst for much and cold water.
Dizziness. All symptoms worse from motion. Dry stool. Chest symptoms relieved lying on the right or painful side. With this remedy at our command we can treat rheumatism, mastitis, constipation, neuritis pleurisy, pneumonia, coughs and common colds, with far more satisfactory results than others obtain by the use of salicylates, expectorants and the rest of the drugs frequently prescribed.
Following Bryonia and Lachesis my thought turns to Lycopodium, which often follows and supplements one or the other of them. By the time the Bryonia patient has reached the Lycopodium stage the thirst has disappeared, for Lycopodium is a thirstless remedy. Symptoms on the right side going to the left is another familiar keynote for it, and it often follows and supplements Lachesis.
There is one group of three remedies which are so often required that they stick in ones mind as a group, namely, Sulphur, Calcarea, and Lycopodium in that order, Lycopodium being last in order of exhibition. Oftentimes, and though Lycopodium symptoms may be prominent in the original picture, it is found upon study that Sulphur is the indicated remedy with which to begin treatment.
Not to dwell needlessly upon the point, may I call attention to the fact that the kind of everyday homoeopathy I have in mind is acquired by long and painstaking effort? whoever succeeds in producing good homoeopathic prescribers must do so by first choosing students with natural ability for observing small and seemingly trifling details. Added to this ability there must be confidence in the efficacy born of homoeopathic medication, a confidence which must be born of opportunity to observe and compare therapeutic results. Finally, there must be a kind of genius for homoeopathic prescribing-accepting as definition of genius an infinite capacity for taking pains.
One more remedy: Pulsatilla. Gentle, mild, inclined to weep., wants sympathy, thirstless, like sweets (which disagree). Thick yellow discharges., With this remedy many cases of dysmenorrhoea have yielded to treatment, especially when menses come irregularly and the pain is referred to low in the pelvis.
Obstinate cases of acne vulgaris treated by other means without results have yielded to this remedy., In fact, I often think of it as a remedy par excellence for girls in the teens.
No doubt each member here has his own method of working out the indicated remedy, and I offer the foregoing not for originality but for workability. SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
