Homoeopathy without Proving Symptoms?  What happened to “like cures like”?

Advanced Case-taking and Prescribing:

Towards improved Focus, Certainty and Results

Lecturer:  Vera Resnick, IHM DHom Med (Lic)

September 12, 2011

The aim of this seminar is to work towards greater certainty in prescribing and better results through the following:

• Sharper focus on the Law of Similars as the only route to certainty in homoeopathic prescription
• Improved, more focused and shorter case-taking
• clearer case analysis leading to better choice of rubrics in repertorisation
• Clearer understanding of the relationship between central and peripheral rubrics in the case and the place of both in prescribing
• The correct place of mind symptoms in case-taking and analysis
• Emphasis on proving symptoms

Who is this seminar for: practitioners and advanced students.
Seminar structure:
9:30-12:45 :  Structure and framework for more certain, accurate prescribing, based primarily on the work of Hahnemann, Boenninghausen and contemporaries.
13:15-16:30  Practical application of structure and framework in case studies

Although the first part of the seminar will be more in lecture form, the study will be interactive throughout.

Books: To get the most out of the seminar,  bring a copy of the Organon (6^th edition), and the MM Pura/Chronic Diseases.

Case study will utilize the P&W repertory, a software facsimile of Boenninghausen’s Therapeutic Pocketbook.  For more information about P&W, please go to http://www.homeopathyonline.org, or visit the P&W page on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Polony-Weaver-OpenRep).  They are currently working on a Hebrew version, which may be available prior to the seminar.

Date:  September 12^th, 2011
Time:  9:30-16:30
Cost:   NIS 425 at the door (early bird discounted  for signup before 5.8.11 : NIS 300)
Venue: Jerusalem, exact venue to be announced
Language: Hebrew and English

To be released in June 2011.

Repertories

Materia Medicas

ARCHIVES books

P&W have compiled the basic repertories used in homoeopathy, and have an ongoing system of checking the content against the original works. Hahnemann Institute of Sydney recently noted a grading inconsistency and an entry missing in the KENT repertory, and so we will be checking against the original texts to see why there is a difference.It is only by adhering to a strict protocol of checking and rechecking can we be sure that the intent of the original authors work is presented.

Contained within the Repertories included, is the Polony and Weaver revision of the Therapeutic Pocket book by Boenninghausen. It is an accurate overhaul of the 1846 work re translated from the German, retaining the original layout for those familiar with the structure and includes our own corrections and some supplied by the Hahnemann Institute from their research. We have had the work translated into Spanish, the Original German text is supplied and shortly will added in Hebrew. We also have the Kents repertory in Spanish. For those fluent in German and Spanish (and shortly Hebrew) We also have made the SYNOPSIS operating system in the respective languages by clicking a button.

We have now incorporated the ARCHIVE project into the SYNOPSIS program. ARCHIVES is a project in which we scanned and word indexed the pages of original documents into a database so that the text could be read as written and printed. In this way, there can be no mistakes either in rewriting or in translation as you see what was printed by the author.

We have a standalone version of the ARCHIVES project available for purchase. Please contact us on info@homeopathyonline.org for details.

The SYNOPSIS Professional is our flagship program containing everything the practitioner requires. With the addition of the ARCHIVE program for research and 50+ original searchable books and documents, not forgetting the standard Materia Medica compilations in the SYNOPSIS (click on the link above and see the titles) this represents a veritable treasure trove of homoeopathic help in one location  priced at only $799.

The Synopsis Complete is the same as the Professional but contains many more ARCHIVES BOOKS and materials. Priced at $1199

The Synopsis Basic is a “student version of our program containing Kents repertory and 3 others along with a number of Materia Medicae. Priced at $299

Synopsis Free is the Repertorium Publicum. Yes.. Its free.

A 37 year old woman complaining of the following symptoms:

• a sudden, acute, right-sided pain in the right side of larynx aggravated by swallowing
• sensation of swelling of larynx and tonsils, objectively the larynx was inflamed and swollen on the right side only
• the whole complex of symptoms appeared suddenly after experiencing an emotional distress

Case analysis

The striking points of the case are of course the particulars of the symptoms as described by the patient. The most unusual and characteristic key point of the case was the sudden appearance of the symptom after experiencing emotional distress.

Locality: Larynx, right side
Sensation: the pain could not be described by the patient
Condition: inflammatory swelling
Modality: aggravation on swallowing
Causation: emotional disturbance

Repertorization

The repertory used for the repertorization was the P&W 2011 Edition of the Therapeutic Pocketbook. The symptoms were broken down into its components (as described earlier) and repertorized.

The remedies Pulsatilla, Phosphorus and Aconite were rejected immediately, as they did not correspond with the case picture with the striking one-sidedness of the complaint. The grade of all three remedies in the right-sidedness of the complaint is only 1. The remedies with the highest consistency of grades (and therefore belonging most likely to an already observed symptom complex) were Belladonna and Rhus Toxicodendron.

After studying Belladonna, I have found the following references:

Inflammation of the throat and fauces. Sore throat, with stitches, and pain as of an internal swelling during deglutition. Henry Buck, The Outlines of Materia Medica

Inflammation of the throat, with sensation of a lump, which induces hawking, with dark redness and swelling of the velum palati and tonsils. John Henry Clarke, A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica

Inflammation of throat and fauces.;Sore throat, stitches in the pharynx and pain as from internal swelling…;The throat is swollen internally. Samuel Hahnemann, Materia Medica Pura

Although Rhus Toxicodendron has similar symptoms (including the aggravation on swallowing), the causation of emotional distress is not a prominent symptom of this remedy.

Prescription

Belladonna 200C in 2dl of water was given and the patient felt the disappearance of the pain immediately.

The next day the lain in the larynx has reappeared again (with lower intensity than before), so another does of Belladonna 200C in 2dl water was given and the symptom has disappeared completely.

Practitioner

Vladimir Polony
14436 Esterlee Ave.
Saratoga,
CA 95070
podalv@gmail.com

Using 125 medicines of which he had a deep knowledge of, Boenninghausen broke apart the symptoms culled from the SRA and SRN and componentized them. Example: sharp pain in left temple on awakening. This would be split to: Temples left. Pain sharp. waking agg.

Using this method, Boenninghausen reasoned that a remedy would be able to found using the characteristics of the provings even if a particular symptom had not been found in the remedy. After extensive trialing, it was found to be extremely accurate and Hahnemann approved of its use as it followed precisely the methodology Hahnemann used in his own rationale.

The Therapeutic Pocket Book became one of the most respected and valuable books used to elicit a remedy for patients.Sadly with the advent of Kents repertory, it fell by the wayside. Boger tried to enlarge it but sadly did not follow the model or criteria and it became inaccurate. Kents repertory, if you follow the historical detailing has proved to be not as accurate or useful as would be hoped for, and yet the homoeopaths of today have added to it greatly, thus compounding the unfixed errors.

George Dimitriadis released in 2000 a revised and altered clinical version of the Therapeutic Pocket book. His book was based on extensive research from original sources. In 2010 Polony and Weaver released a computer version of their own research of the TPB and maintained the original layout of Boenninghausen. It is released in English German and Spanish.

The book version of George Dimitriadis TBR is $320. The TBR computer version is $A880 from http://hahnemanninstitute.com

Polony and Weaver, The P & W 2011 version of the Therapeutic pocket Book is available for $US699 from, http://homeopathyonline.org (German English and Spanish included as standard).

Is the book accurate in the modern world? Vladimir Polony, Gary Weaver and George Dimitriadis use their own versions of the book almost exclusively in their practice. The confidence in prescribing and the results speak for itself. Because both versions have the same sources (1846 handwritten and print edition), although laid out a little differently and the rubrics worded slightly differently, the actual remedy suggestions are the same if the symptoms are chosen accurately. The principle of the methodology can be reproduced time after time for the benefit of the patient.

That said,  within the profession we can see the effects of 40 years of wrong teachings finally bringing us to the position where our medical speciality, as formulated by Samuel Hahnemann, is no longer being taught or promoted under the name of Homoeopathy. The margin of zero return on training has finally been reached. The adverse publicity, the lack of adequately trained teachers, the promotion of false ideas has managed to destroy the simple practice of medicine as outlined in the Organon and other original materials.

So what to do about it is the question.

Personally, I have removed myself from associations and organizations that allow or promote wrong teaching or ideas. I will no longer teach in or for a college so as to not be seen to endorse them even tacitly. For a brief while, I was internally torn regarding promoting homoeopathy via international gatherings of homoeopaths like LIGA, etc, but on reading the minutes of the past 5 conferences and the detailed notes on the presentations, I have concluded that it the professional face of what is wrong with our therapy today. These gatherings are the epitome of the very people that have destroyed our profession. My word will have less impact on them than Samuel Hahnemanns, and they have ignored him already.

The time has come for the remaining few homoeopaths who adhere to the principles of our practice to have a voice. We are working on it.

Watch this space.

Vladimir and I received an email today, actually a posting on our FACEBOOK account. It was an Irate woman from Columbia I believe:

“Hi I ´m Marce Vamp.  I ´m an homoepath in colombia .I download  your free
trial of the repertorization program to try it … BIG Mistake!, I have a
Pop Up Window and I could not work, or repertorize any patient with this
computer …. I´m so pissed of with you!  And can´t erase  the Synopsis
carpet and i can´t eliminate it neither. As marketing strategy I found it
very  poor, and dissapointing… after this experience I won´t buy you
producto what so ever …..I even couldn´t try it easily because of
the stupid pop up window…. You should warn peolple about it… It`s not
an homeopathic behavior. I will go With Radar or Minotti even if It`s more
expensive ……

I regret open your web page ..

Marcela”

Firstly, I am very sorry she experienced some difficulty with the program. It was a windows/JAVA/security issue we let slip for a short while which allowed the nag screen of the demo to continue working after the program closed. There you would be minding your own business and this screen would appear and sit there for 15 seconds while you were scratching your head, and then repeat every 5 minutes thereafter.

I understand the irritation of this happening. I was irritated when it happened to me. We fixed it and replaced the install program.

What I find hard to understand is the reaction this had on the unfortunate user. Im sure if her command of the English language had been better, a lot more vitriol and outpouring of curses would have been forthcoming. I actually would have liked to have seen that…

Logically, as business owners, Vladimir and myself would not have deliberately done anything to cause aforesaid irritation to any prospective customer. The issue, according to her first posting, “destroyed” her computer. It didnt.

We are sorry Marcela, we didnt mean it to happen. Oops. Had you been nicer about it, we have been known to offer compensation in terms of discounts etc for the inconvenience suffered. We have thousands of OpenRep/SYNOPSIS programs out there in everyday use. We are not a small operator in the Homoeopathic arena and when we mess up we make good.

However, in this case, our sincere apologies are all you will receive. We wrote you on how to rectify the situation and how to remove the program. Please follow the simple instructions carefully and the problem will cease. For anyone else who d/l the particular demo with the issue… REBOOT YOUR MACHINE. Thats it. Remove the setup.exe file and go to http://homeopathyonline.org and download the fixed version of the Demo.

Unless of course you wish to throw a hissy fit. That is your right and I stand by your side in allowing you to do so.

However, please remember that our patients read our words. They evaluate our abilities and thinking patterns by what we write. They will make a judgment on our abilities based on our behavior.

I hope you have a better day tomorrow Marcela. I hope your temper improves and I hope you find what you want out of life. Mostly I hope that you learn mistakes happen and its not personal.

I wont hold my breath on that one.