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Free guide - learn how to choose individualized homeopathic remedies and the supporting science

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Choose a Remedy

Choose:

  • First, determine if your condition is a minor, self-limiting disease that will likely go away on its own with or without treatment.  If so, follow the below guidelines.  If, using common sense, you are dealing with a more serious or a chronic condition, then seek professional care.
  • Under the HomeoSource symptom list, go to the ailment you are concerned about.  There you will find a listing of key symptoms/characteristics associated with each remedy.  No one has all the symptoms, so focus on those that are most prominent.
  • Choose remedies based on the cause, if known, or based on the worst symptoms, or that appeared last.  For example:
    • Cause:  If you feel ill within hours or a day of exposure to cold and wind, that is an important connection to make.  You would try Aconitum napellus because it is associated with ailments that arise after exposure to cold wind.  Or, if you caught a cold within hours after a frightening incident, like a car accident or earthquake, your remedy could be Aconitum because it is associated with ailments after fright.  If an illness arises after suffering an intense grief, it could be Ignatia, which is associated with conditions arising out of grief.  
    • Worst symptoms:  You have a cold and your worst symptom is profuse, burning tears.  The first remedy you would try is Euphrasia because profuse, burning tears is a symptom associated with this remedy.
    • Last appearing:  You have been feeling ill lately.  First, you had cold symptoms, now you are very nauseated.  Concentrate on the nausea because that is the latest symptom to arise.  Your remedy might be Ipecachuana, which is associated with nausea.  If you take it and the nausea is better, but you now have cold symptoms characterized by an intense dryness in your throat and thirst, you might try Bryonia next because it is associated with dry irritation of the nose, mouth, throat and thirst. 
  • Choose remedies by accurately noting the characteristics of the complaint.  When you can identify a symptom that is different than your normal healthy state, it can help identify the remedy.  Characteristics can be noted by locality; description of pain (sharp, throbbing, tearing, burning, etc);  what makes it better or worse (morning, in open air, evening, damp or cold, position of the body, when moving, sitting still, lying, pressure, etc);  accompanying symptoms (coughing with headache; headache with nausea;  shivering).  For example,
    • Burning pains are often associated with the remedy Arsenicum album; Stitching/splinter-like pains are associated Hepar sulph.
    • Conditions that are worse between 4-8pm would make one think of looking at Lycopodium, which has this unique characteristic.
    • Intense shivering where one cannot get warm enough might indicate Hepar Sulph or Nux vomica, so you would look to other symptoms to distinguish between the two remedies.
    • When a person must lie still and not be disturbed, this might indicate Bryonia as the remedy.  Whereas, if the person is very restless and is better moving or feels the urge to continually move, you might look at Rhus toxicodendrum or Arsenicum album as possible remedies if the other symptoms match.
  • Only give one remedy at a time.  When it has stopped acting or the condition plateaus, then give another to match the remaining symptoms.  The exception to this is where a reputable manufacturer has made a specific remedy combination to address your particular situation, such as Cold Calm by Boiron to address colds in general.
  • If you do not get better with the remedy selected, reassess the symptoms to see if a different remedy might be a closer match.  There is no harm in getting a remedy wrong – your body just will not heal.  If symptoms are intense and you are not starting to improve in a few hours, then choose another remedy.  If symptoms are milder, you may take another dose/wait longer to see if there is improvement.
  • Remember that remedies are capable of causing the same symptoms they cure if taken in excess.  So, as long as there is the slightest improvement, wait.
  • If you are sensitive to odors, light, noise, smell, sound, pharmaceuticals, you should contact a homeopath to determine the potency you should start with in order to avoid having a prolonged aggravation of symptoms.  Some homeopaths will even have you just smell the remedy to determine how sensitive you are before determining an appropriate dosage.

 

Reference

Hering, Constantine, Domestic Physician, 7th American Edition, F.E. Boericke, Hahnemann Publishing House, Philadeplhia, PA., 1883, p 17-18.  Retrieved from:  https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t6058pm4g;view=1up;seq=22

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