visualhomeopathy Posted By Dr. Sharif on MARCH 14, 2014
Note: The following information is not meant to replace medical advice from a homeopathic practitioner, and is meant to be educational only.
This year I have found that what I used to consider a person’s “constitutional” homeopathic remedy does NOT appear to treat the person’s acute conditions (such as the flu, cough, sinusitis, vertigo, etc.) as effectively as it did in the past. Fortunately, instead, I have used the remedies that are commonly considered “acute” remedies such as Baptisia, Belladonna, Bryonia, Drosera, Gelsemium, Hepar Sulph, and Mercurius with much success. Clearly, these acute conditions are displacing people from their usual constitution/state into new ones, the ones that are often considered “acute” constitutions/states. (Note, however, that I do not call this method of finding a person’s remedy “acute prescribing”, an expression referring to when a practitioner finds a remedy for someone based just on a few key signs and symptoms.) I am still practicing “constitutional” prescribing, but based on the person’s acute symptoms (Note: It’s clearly critical that the person’s symptoms match the symptom picture or keynotes of the remedy in question.) Once patients are relieved of their acute illnesses (the flu, cough, sinusitis, vertigo, etc.), they seem to shift back into their usual “constitution”, whatever that may be. Although I have seen cases where the patient did not shift back into her usual constitution and needed a re-dose of the new remedy for her acute constitution before she was able to move back into her usual constitution.
Recently I seem to be witnessing a sort of epidemic of sinusitis in my practice here in Kent, Washington. Just today, I treated 3 cases of sinusitis that had been going on for different lengths of time, one for a week, one for two weeks, and one for over a month. I have had much success treating acute sinusitis cases with Hepar sulph 200C, over the last month. Patients with various typical constitutions of Calc carb, Nat mur, or Phosphorus are finding themselves in a Hepar sulph state. The remedy helped every single one of them within 5-10 minutes, nearly complete recovery in less than an hour. It’s noteworthy that these same patients had already tried their previous constitutional remedy (Calc carb, Nat mur and Phosphorus) without significant improvements with their sinusitis symptoms, although some other symptoms had indeed improved. All of these patients were very content with Hepar sulph 200C within minutes, however. (Note: Key symptoms of Hepar sulph were present in all these cases: On a mental/emotional level, irritable and moody, angry in some cases and acting out in an angry way (out of character for many of these patients), chilly (or chillier than usual if already a chilly person), swollen submandibular and/or cervical lymph nodes, stitching or splinter-like pains somewhere in the body (in the head, sinuses, or anywhere else totally unrelated to the head/sinuses), ear symptoms, sore throat, and cough. Not all of the above symptoms must be present for the person to be able to benefit from Hepar sulph, but the majority of my sinusitis patients so far this year have demonstrated most of these symptoms. Obviously the above symptoms are typically NOT associated with most patients’ usual constitutions, namely Calc carb, Nat mur or Phosphorus.)
I have also been seeing a large number of cough cases, and used the various “acute” remedies listed above with rather impressive results. For example, severe relentless cough that had lasted a few weeks ended within 1-2 hours in several cases with Drosera 200C. (Note: Keynotes of Drosera were present in all these cases: Violent paroxysm of coughing, worse at nights, particularly worse upon lying at night, either vomiting from coughing or feeling as if they could, and dry throat.)
However, that being said, sometimes a person’s own usual good old constitution seems to fit the symptoms of the acute illness rather well. For instance I had a cough case last week which after much deliberation, I decided that her own usual constitution/state, Sepia, had indeed not changed into a new one. She was still in a Sepia state. It’s noteworthy that I decided she was still Sepia based on the following report by her: Did not cough at all running uphill to get her chest X-ray taken at the lab (better with exercise), constipation had been worse lately, and every time she coughed, she felt that her gum tissue was going to literally come out of the spot where she was missing a tooth (indicating extreme laxness of her gum tissue, pointing to the stasis commonly found in Sepia individuals). The remedy helped her severe cough that had been going on for nearly two weeks within hours. Next day she developed a rash on her chest, what is referred to as a “healing reaction”, totally desirable, homeopathically speaking.
In summary, if you are ill with an acute illness this season, it’s quite likely you may need a homeopathic remedy different from your usual one. To find out what the correct remedy may be at this time, the practitioner would have to investigate each case, one by one.