What Most Homeopaths in the World Do

Most homeopaths follow Hahnemann's directions set out in the 4^th Edition of the Organon, published in 1828. They put a certain amount of dry pellets of the chosen remedy on the tongue and wait and watch for the reaction. Most homeopaths are also convinced that it does not matter how many pellets are put on the tongue: 3, 5, 20,…it does not matter! This was an unfortunate inheritage from Kent and blindly followed by most homeopaths. This dose (how much of the remedy) as well as when to repeat the dose will be discussed in the next two lessons. The question is here, dry doses versus watery doses or solutions.

The Watery Doses

Up till 1828 Hahnemann administered one or two poppy-seed pellets dry and then "waited and watched." However he was not entirely satisfied with this dosing technique. Even in 1828 Hahnemann already mentioned the exceptional use of watery solutions and in 1833, in his 5^th edition of the Organon he made it the rule! He explained his reasoning in A286 of the 5^th edition:

"…the effect of the homeopathic dose increases, the greater the quantity of fluid in which it is dissolved…(in other words, it does make a difference if we give 1 tsp, 1 TBS, 1 cup, 3 drops, etc.)…For in this case, when the medicine is taken, it comes into contact with a much larger surface of sensitive nerves responsive to the remedy action."

So 1 drop will stimulate less nerve endings than 1 tsp; 1 tsp less than 1 TBS, etc. We can see here the importance of such dosing especially in the view of the many very sensitive patients we encounter. Each individual has a different reactivity of his Vital Force (Qi, Immune response) and the dose of the remedy must be tailored to the individual patient! More about this further.

Hahnemann at this point (1833) added another facet to his dosing: the succussions! A succussion is hitting the bottle in which the remedy is dissolved hard against a book or the palm of your hand. Each time you succuss, the remedy changes slightly in potency, and gets a little stronger. The amount of the succussions will be determined by your homeopath as he knows the results of your first test dose: the response to it determines the amount of succussions. It is like driving a car: once we know how comfortable the patient is, we can determine the speed (amount of succussions) which he is able to drive. This is very important in order to achieve the fastest possible response to the remedy and to assure the fastest and gentlest cure! 

As one can see, due to the wide range of patient sensitivity levels-something that is greatly magnified today-and the variation of the disease states (some are long time suppressed, making a gentle cure difficult), the homeopath needs more ways to administer doses. Hahnemann felt that the best way to adapt to these various circumstances was to prepare remedies in watery solutions.

The succussions, altering each dose to become more potent is another issue neglected worldwide by homeopaths! They claim that they can give unpunished a dry dose of a certain potency unchanged once a month for a year, and worse, some repeat such dose daily and unchanged! What is the result? Hahnemann tells us (in Chronic Diseases) that by doing so, the patient will add symptoms belonging to the remedy but not to his disease picture…in other words, he will add symptoms to his disease he never had! The danger is even that great that through such mechanical repetition, the original disease of the patient will be totally replaced by a new disease, entirely consisting of the remedy symptoms, symptoms you never had! You could compare this to the side effects of allopathic medicine which create in the long run more symptoms and new diseases often worse than the original disease! So don't think homeopathy cannot harm: if your homeopath continues to give unchanged doses you will have all the "side effects" of our remedy (we call it accessory symptoms). It is even worse if you receive the wrong remedy and your homeopath repeats such dry doses unchanged and too frequent. Patients who are suffering from such medicinal or remedy diseases are much more difficult to treat further!

The Importance of the Dose (How Much?)

I am horrified by the statements of many homeopaths who claim that "It does not matter how much (and some add what potency!) the homeopath gives to the patient, as long as we have the correct remedy!" Such people must go back to school and read carefully in the Organon what they are doing to their patients. For anyone who has his eyes open in practice and for anyone who cares about his patients, the determination of the right dose (how much of the remedy should I give?) is extremely important if we want to limit the suffering of our patients! Of course those homeopaths who adhere to the 4^th edition of the Organon do not care that their patients go through a similar aggravation of their symptoms (existing symptoms aggravate), in fact they welcome it as it tells them that they have chosen the right remedy. How cruel to deny their patients the gentler cure to be obtained following the watery doses of the 5^th and 6^th edition of the Organon. Ask your homeopath why he is doing so: I don't expect him to be able to give you a decent answer!

This is what Hahnemann had to say about the dose (A275 and 276):

"The correctness of a remedy for a given case of disease depends not only on the accurate homeopathic selection but also on the correct size or rather smallness of the dose! (In other words it is not sufficient to choose the correct remedy, but the accent is put here on the smallness of the dose!).  A remedy given in too large of a dose though completely homeopathic to the case will still harm the patient by its quantity and unnecessarily strong action on the vital force…

"In strong doses, the more homeopathic the medicine and the higher the potency (note that dose and potency are two different things!) the more harm is done. Indeed it is far more harmful than equally large doses of unhomeopathic medicine…Excessively large doses of an accurately selected homeopathic medicine, especially if frequently repeated, are, as a rule very destructive! Not infrequently they endanger the patient's life or make his disease almost incurable!

So what Hahnemann says here and what has been seen in the practice for over the last two hundred years is that it is far more dangerous to administer too frequently too large doses of the right homeopathic remedy than the wrongly chosen remedy!

What a condemnation of those homeopaths who "don't care about the dose," as if it can do no harm and what a pity of those patients coming under their care.

What can we conclude from Lesson 2?

1. ALWAYS (for acute as well as Chronic diseases) put the remedy into water!

2. The dose (how much needs to be given) is just as much part of the rightfully selected remedy as the name of the remedy.

3. Do not accept similar aggravations (an aggravation of your existing symptoms). The watery solutions allow the homeopath to minimize and even avoid such similar aggravation.

4. The smallness of the dose is a very much neglected part in homeopathic circles. Many aggravations are due to giving a too large dose rather than a too high potency. Always rather start with a cautious small dose!

5. We will discuss potencies in the next lesson and will then take the opportunity to accurately describe HOW these watery solutions should be taken in acute and chronic diseases. The guidelines by Hahnemann are found to be very exact and those who want to impose their own inventions on the patient should try it first on themselves and their loved ones!