Tenth Chapter IMPORTANCE OF REMEDIAL POTENCY After studying the case, comparing it with the Repertory and eventually with the Materia Medica, and then selecting the correct homeopathic remedy, the similimum, comes the decision about the use of a particular potency. The choice of potency is very important. The elementary division of potencies to low, medium, high and very high, varies with the different schools. It is always orientational, without exact contours. Personally I subscribe to the division outlined by Kent. The low potencies are: C 1 to C 15. The medium: C 30 to C 200. The high: C 1000 to C 10 000. The very high: above C 10 000, i.e. CM, MM, MMM (one hundred thousand, million, billion). The Choice of Potency It is known that the deeper the level of advancing pathology, the higher the potency that should be applied. This is the fundamental rule. If the pathology is most prominent in the mental sphere, the potency should be high. The cases of psychosis generally demand the highest potencies, if there is to be a lasting cure. Somewhat lower potencies are appropriate when the emotional area is affected. When the pathology is manifested only on the physical organs, medium to low potencies come into consideration at the start of the treatment. Another criterion for choosing the potency is whether or not there are any structural changes in the organism, caused by the pathology. If only the physical organs are affected, then it is necessary to choose lower potency, as if a higher potency was applied, a strong homeopathic symptomatic reaction might occur soon after the application. The overall state of the organism plays a significant role in the choice of potency. Old people or people with a long history of many chronic illnesses, people who had been for decades subjected to the influence of allopathic drugs, those who underwent various operations and whose life energy is low, need low potencies. With people over sixty years of age it is very risky to apply potencies higher than C 15 early on in the treatment. For people in advanced stages of more serious chronic diseases affecting their physical organs, mostly low potencies are appropriate, with elderly people only the low potencies. The next criterion for choosing the potency is the homeopath's aim. A female patient might have a dermatitis on her face, besides a lot of other things. She wants to quickly get rid of the rash (she may be getting married next month), the other things are not that important to her. This is a woeful approach to the treatment, and this must be stressed to the patient. Nevertheless, she might insist that she wants to have the other complaints treated only after the marriage. In such case, the lowest potencies would have to be considered. A low potency has a superficial effect, it does not reach deep. It does not reach to the roots of the pathology. But this is why it might have a faster effect on superficial symptoms. Children generally react well to higher potencies and also "spend" them faster. With them the remedy should be applied a little more often. For instance, in cases of similar pathology, the potency C 200 given to a forty years old patient might be effective for approx. two years, a shorter period, maybe one year, with a six years old child. In acute cases the potencies C 30 and C 200 are very appropriate. At the beginning of treatment of a chronic disease, most useful are again the same two potencies, C 30 and C 200. With the exceptions mentioned above. Such potencies are applied in one dose, only one or two pills - and enough. When granules (small pellets) are used, perhaps eight to twenty, with globules (larger pellets, often sold in stores), only one is sufficient. The actual weight of remedy is not of a great consequence. Even if we used the content of a whole vial, it would come to the same. We are supplying information, not energy. If we are confident that the remedy is correct, we can go for a higher potency. If we are less certain, we should choose a lower potency to determine its effect. Beginners should only use low and medium potencies. Only when we have it confirmed that the remedy works correctly on the patient, it is possible, when the first dose is no longer effective and the possible relapse (return of the original symptoms) occurs, to move to higher potencies. The ascending scale of potencies, according to Kent, is 30, 200, 1000, 10 000, LM (50 000), CM (100 000)... The Duration of Effectiveness of One Dose The higher the potency, the longer the period of its effectiveness. The duration of its effectiveness if entirely individual. Some authors offer orientation charts with the approximate periods of effectiveness. They vary to a large degree. My personal experience concerning the duration of effectiveness, allows me to be more optimistic than a majority of other authors. In treatment of chronic illnesses I have met with the cases where the C 30 potency was effective longer than six months, C 200 longer than two years, C 10 000 longer than 3 years, and CM longer than 5 years. Naturally, I only list the longest periods of effectiveness. And in the cases concerned there were no obstructions to the treatment. Permanent Effectiveness Of course, often the case is that we prescribe C 200 to a complaint that lasted for many years, that it disappears, and that it is definitely cured. But it would have always disappeared before the end of the above mentioned periods. It does not come back even after fifteen years, it does not return at all. In such cases we could really say that the homeopathic remedy has a permanent effect. And, of course, this is always so at the end of the treatment. That last potency should have a permanent effect. Permanent effect is the true objective of homeopathic treatment. Acute Treatment While in the treatment of a chronic disease we administer C 30 or higher only once, and wait with the next dose until the remedy had evidently ceased to be effective, with the acute illness we may choose a different approach. With an influenza, meningitis, etc., we may repeat the correctly chosen remedy, even in the potency of C 30 or C 200 in a short interval, say 15 minutes, until there is an improvement (a drop in temperature a significant subjective relief, etc.) After that we do not repeat it any more. Once there has been a reaction, the curing process continues on. Low Potencies When low potencies are used in the treatment of chronic diseases, it is possible to repeat D6 or C5 or LMI, for instance three times a day till the moment a reaction has been stirred up. As soon as there is an improvement or a homeopathic aggravation of symptoms, it is necessary to stop. The cure will continue on its own. When the case is reviewed, the whole period when the remedy was being administered can be considered as one single dose given to the patient. With this method, the so called plussing is sometimes used, meaning that a low potency is dissolved in a glass of water and before use, only one spoon is transferred into another glass of water, from which the patient drinks. The same process is repeated. The patient thus receives an enhanced chain of potencies, the remedy is being further and further diluted. The adherents to Hahnemann's dynamisation may also hit the diluted remedy against a firm resilient pad (a book). Other homeopaths do not do this, only recommend stirring the remedy, and they get the results too. Further Administration When repeating the remedy after a previous use, we usually move to the higher potency. After C 30 comes C 200 then, if necessary, C 1000, C 10 000, CM. It often happens that for a chronic condition, combined for instance with recurrent inflammations of the ovaries, we use the potency C 200. The condition improves, the acute attacks cease, the psychology is somewhat improved, but minor problems persist, irregular menstruation, a little pain here and there, there is still no sense of comfort in that area. When C 10 000 is given it is much better, but only after the potency CM the total cure has been reached, lasting many years. The cause of the problem, even though a physical one, was very deeply buried, and only the high potency has brought the definite results. However, a low potency is usually sufficient for such problems. When using very high potencies, certain rules apply: a) They must not be used by a beginner. If prescribed incorrectly, the patient would be subjected to a long lasting proving of the remedy, and it is very difficult to antidote such potencies. b) The correctness of the prescription should be previously verified by effectiveness of the same remedy in a lower potency. c) They cannot be used when there are serious structural changes of the vitally important organs. d) They cannot be given to people whose vital forces are significantly reduced (for instance to old people). I will give an example of a case, where the use of a very high potency was an absolute necessity. Mental Disease One of my friends, the head physician in a hospital, had brought to me his nearly thirty years old daughter Jaroslava. She lived with her father and her brother and after the death of the mother she looked after the household. There were problems in the psychological area. Several times she went for a prolonged stay to the mental hospital. She felt that she was being followed and that she is perceived as an enemy. Despite of an intensive psychological treatment, her condition did not improve. She had a university degree, and she seemed to function in her quite respectable occupation reasonably well. However, her basic feeling was that of unhappiness and fear. She feared that her colleagues constantly slandered her, that they conspired against her, wanted to degrade her professionally. She feared that she cannot fulfil all her duties. She feared that people in the street and in the street tram continually watched her abhorrently, that they talked about her. She thought that the police were after her. There was a problematic relationship with her father. There were domestic arguments that sprang out of the feeling that her father did not appreciate her housework, that he did not take enough notice of her. She feared that she might be again at any time hospitalised at the psychiatry ward. She appeared quiet and somewhat downtrodden, but her father maintained that at home she could really rage. Her appearance was negligent. Further signs in the mental area were: sleepy in the morning, unable to work for two hours after waking up, could not stand tight clothing, insomnia, impatience. Physically there was nothing special. The calves swelled occasionally in hot weather and mainly the left one. Sometimes she suffered from palpitations of the heart, when stressed. She was allergic to insect bites and to some medications, some time ago the left kidney was inflamed. From the early Spring until June a little pain in the centre of the neck, the Adam's-apple, headaches, pain in the nape of the neck and the temples. After studying the case and comparing it with the Repertory and the Materia Medica, I had decided that it positively related to Lachesis. Because there was the psychosis and the race for time was on, as there was a threat of another hospitalisation, I had decided to administer Lachesis C 10 000 immediately. Four months later Jaroslava had reported to me that on the day she took the pill (several days after the interview) she had a chill and that after a few hours the cold had gone. In between the two meetings there were no physical problems. Her previous feelings persisted, also the sense of being followed. It was less intensive. Her overall psychological condition had improved to the level that there was no longer a fear of hospitalisation. She was now able to assess her domestic situation. She realised that she cannot remain dependent on her father and that she should find a flat on her own. The reaction to the remedy was not very pronounced in any way. So I gave her Lachesis CM. Our next meeting took place eight months later. She came with a hair-do, looking tidy and occasionally smiling. Her usual tension was gone completely. Throughout the sitting she never mentioned being followed or that anyone would conspire against her. Her physical health was in perfect order. Any problems she now had were of quite ordinary nature - she had found herself a flat, which certainly was not too easy, she was about to move there, she also contemplated a change of occupation - feeling that her qualifications were currently not sufficiently recognised. Beneath I could feel that she might feel that she was a little discredited in her work place. There was no sign of any psychosis, she wanted to stand "on her own feet", she behaved actively in relation to the world and to her own problems, something that was quite new to her. She was also contemplating to give up smoking. Approximately six months later, already living in her new flat and having changed her employer, her father rang me, could his daughter come immediately, that things have taken a bad turn. She came and as soon as I saw her, I knew that it really was bad. Looking untidy and unhappy, she immediately threw a whole bunch of new stories on my head, about her colleagues conspiring against her, how someone followed her during a bus ride, simply everything had turned to the worse. Such a quick relapse after the period of so promising results? It appeared strange to me. I asked what had happened and I heard the following: About a month ago the glands on the right side of her neck became swollen and an abscess had formed. Her father took her to the hospital, where she had stayed and where the abscess was treated with strong antibiotics. As soon as the allopathic treatment had ended, all the psychological problems, that were so marvellously cured, had returned. Here it is appropriate to state that Kent, together with other classics, warn that during the treatment of mental disorders especially, abscesses may form, which is explained as an outer manifestation of the inner pathology. The pathology, disharmony, was pushed out of the mind to the surface of the body. If there was an improvement in the psychology, such abscesses should not be in any way suppressed. They would be cured in the same way as the other symptoms in a reverse order, we have previously described. As no one doubted that the use of antibiotics was in order, the result of the year long treatment was lost. I gave her Lachesis CM again and within two months the mental balance was restored. I warned her that should a similar abscess appear, it is necessary to inform me and to wait if it would begin to go on its own. This is what in the reality had happened. The abscess had appeared in the same place, for about two days it was accompanied by fever, within a week it had disappeared. Naturally, Jaroslava now, several years later, is not among the most balanced people in Prague and its suburbia, and certainly will need homeopathic care for a long time yet. Nevertheless, to the best of my knowledge, she is able to take an active stance in facing the problems in her life. Above all, she does not haunt her mind or her surroundings with the image of being pursued. Shortly, she has the normal human problems. From the case related, it is obvious that the potency C 10 000, however high it might have appeared, was too low for the given person, it was not able to kick-start with the necessary intensity the changes in the psychological area. Only the CM potency could work on the sufficiently deep level to bring about improvement in the disease that from the point of view of allopathic science of psychiatry appeared to be incurable. The use of CM potency is not very common in the ordinary practice. Usually it is possible to treat and to end the treatment through much lower potencies.
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