Methods of administering remedy
by Athelas
The Sense of Smell (illustration by Hans Ulrich OSTERWALDER)
Last summer, on the website’s Facebook page, we recommended adding just a few granules of Psorinum to the water used to water diseased boxwoods infested with the box tree moth [see here]. Following the large number of messages we received and comments from skeptical readers asking whether “two globules” actually meant two full “doses”—that is, two entire tubes—I wrote a short article at the time, presented here in a slightly revised version, which reiterated the principle of the minimum quantity and outlined the various methods of administration.
In fact, after
- the one and only remedy and
- the potentized remedy,
- The minimum dose [1] is, however, the third essential pillar established by Samuel Hahnemann as the foundation of homeopathy, which is the method that allows for the effective application of the law of similars.
This shows just how much the conditioning carried out for decades by pharmaceutical companies—whose influence also extends widely to the training of doctors and pharmacists who wish to learn homeopathy—has stripped our wonderful therapeutic approach of its substance (of all things!) by making the self-serving prescription of full doses the norm.
After discussing the single remedy [for example,here], the dosage, and the repetition [here] of the potentized remedy, let’s now, as promised, take a look at an introduction to the different methods of administering remedy —that is, the different ways to take them. There is more than one! While our patients are now familiar with them, many of our readers are likely still unfamiliar with the liquid form (globules dissolved in water), and few have heard of olfaction, which involves inhaling the remedy (most often) contained in an alcohol-based bottle. And yet these methods are just as effective as taking the remedy dry (directly in the mouth), and even more so.
In the sixth and final volume of the *Organon*, Hahnemann summarizes the last twenty years of his life, which he devoted to experimentation in order to discover“the best possible way to administer doses of medicine to patients.”
Organon § 284
In addition to the mucous membranes:
— of the tongue,
— of the mouth, and
— of the stomach,
which are the most common absorption sites for the remedy,
— those of the upper respiratory tract, that is, the nose and pharynx, and
— those of the lower respiratory tract
are also highly sensitive to the effects of the vapors from liquid remedies when administered via nasal or oral inhalation.
However,
— The entire surface of our skin, covered by intact epidermis, is capable of sensing the effects of dissolving medications, especially if a medicated rub is applied at the same time as the same remedy is taken internally.[trans. Edouard BROUSSALIAN]
Maine Historical Society, www.MaineMemory.net item 28980
Why are there multiple methods? Essentially, so that in each individual case, the administration of the medication causesas little disruption as possible [1]. Indeed, there is no point in triggering a similar worsening reaction in a hypersensitive patient by administering too large a dose of medication.
However, the use of medicinal solutions and olfaction will make it possible to adjust the dose precisely to the patient’s individual sensitivity. In 1837, HAHNEMANN wrote: “Nevertheless, the incredible diversity of patients’ sensitivities, their age, their physical and spiritual development, their vital force, and especially the nature of their illnessesrequire a wide variety of treatments as well as methods for administering them.”[2]
How do we assess a patient’s sensitivity? By taking into account, as Hahnemann indicates, their age, constitution, temperament, the nature of their illnesses (miasms), their energy level (“reserve” of vital force), their general ability to respond (for example, to physical stimuli in the environment or to disturbing situations that trigger emotions), etc. Finally, by asking them about their reactions following previous homeopathic (and even allopathic) treatments.
Each method has its own advantages (for example, the routes of administration differ: oral mucosa, respiratory tract, skin) and, above all, its own indications, which we will discuss; it is up to the homeopathic physician to determine which one is appropriate for each individual case.
The physicians of the early nineteenth century who embraced the homeopathic paradigm—at a time when the burgeoning field of vitalism was on the cusp of new discoveries—had a profound desire to experiment in order to advance their understanding of how to influence the mechanisms governing life through potentized remedies. Hahnemann’s guidelines, which evolved with each successive edition of the Organon, served as their reference points for treating diverse populations facing all kinds of diseases, particularly serious infectious diseases that severely affect the vital force. It is likely that many practical methods and ingenious techniques for preparing and administering remedies, derived from their research, were lost with the passing of these experienced practitioners at the dawn of mass chemical medicine in the early20th century. Here is yet another reason to read the homeopathic books and journals of their era to learn what can still be gleaned from them and to draw inspiration from them. This is our heritage, which contains the sound and proven foundations of homeopathy.
Constantine HERNG 1800–1880
Here is how the great Hering, “the father of American homeopathy,” approached the subject, devoting a few lines to it in his practical manual*TheHomeopathist, or Domestic Physician ” [3]. They also attest to the importance placed on the dosage administered, regardless of the method of administration, and at the same time provide a historical glimpse into the richness of homeopathy. Hering instructions Hering logical and precise, though one must still keep them in mind when prescribing.
It is estimated thatHering fifty thousand patients a year, assisted in this task by students from the first American homeopathic college he founded. Some biographers recount—perhaps in a romanticized manner—that he wrote this guide, first published in 1835, for the residents of Paramaribo, in present-day Suriname, which he had been forced to leave to move to Pennsylvania in the United States. One of his students and friends, grappling with an outbreak of Asian cholera, had called on him to come and join him there. In any case, his book became the bedside companion of generations of young practitioners [4].
How to Use Medications [ 5]
"Homeopathic medicines are used in various ways:
1. by inhalation; 2. by taking one or two globules; 3. in solution in water. [6]
1. In the case of inhalation, when the pain is very severe but poses no danger whatsoever, such as with headaches, toothaches, stomachaches, and chest ailments [coughs, hoarseness], in young children, and in all individuals who are easily affected by the action of medications. In these various cases, it is sufficient to have the patient smell the stopper of the uncorked bottle containing the appropriate remedy. (…) In children, this should be done at bedtime [7]. One or two inhalations of the stopper are sufficient. (…)
2.As globules for all chronic illnesses in healthy individuals, in cases where the pain is not too severe, for injuries resulting from falls, for stomach upset accompanied by frequent or violent vomiting, and in most other common cases. In these various circumstances, one or two small medicinal globules are administered in their dry state. To do this, one or two globules are dropped from the bottle in which they are contained; caught in the palm of the hand, the patient picks them up with the tongue, or they are placed in a clean, dry spoon and dropped into the patient’s mouth;
3. In solution, in all serious cases, in chronic illnesses, when many medications have already been taken and the condition has worsened, and in all cases where neither inhalation nor dry globules have been beneficial. (…) After placing two or three globules in a glass, fill it with water, then pour the water from the glass into a second glass, then back into the first, and repeat this four to five times in a row. This remedy the remedy properly with the water. If only one clean glass is available, stir the water by swirling a clean spoon ten to twelve times. Adults should be given a tablespoon, and children a teaspoon [8]. Or they may take a sip from the glass.”
Nowhere is there any mention, regardless of the method used, of administering a large quantity of remedy, let alone entire dry doses. Moreover, Hering clearly Hering that administering dry granules may be poorly tolerated (!) and that this option should be reserved for specific indications, particularly for “strong individuals”—that is, those with a robust physical constitution—and for those whose vital force has not been weakened by prolonged and grueling allopathic treatments.
The guidelines provided by Hering are Hering exhaustive. Keep in mind that inhalation is also the safest way to administer the smallest amount at the highest potency
- a remedy with a high degree of homeopathicity i.e., one that is perfectly suited to the case): for example, at the outset of a chronic case without significant structural or organic damage, and particularly when there is a strong emotional component (certain brain structures traditionally grouped under the term “limbic system,” which are involved in processing emotions, are also involved in memory learning and the olfactory system; once again, everything is connected).
- a nosode an anti-miasmatic for example, in cases where significant miasmatic activity suppresses the vital force’s ability to manifest a clear homeopathic picture.
All of this can be taught, and it must be studied properly before being put into practice. Our goal was to present to the public the different ways of taking a homeopathic remedy and to raise awareness about the concept of dosage. Homeopathy is not the simplistic combination of a tube (or, unfortunately, several) of granules and a fixed prescription of 3 or 5 granules to be placed regularly under the tongue, regardless of the patient and the condition being treated.
1. See HAHNEMANN, Organon,6th edition, §§275–279
The reader must understand that we do not prescribe the minimum dose simply for the sake of prescribing the minimum dose. Hahnemann writes, referring to the therapeutic ideal outlined in paragraph 2 ofthe Organon, that the therapeutic reaction must be “mild,” without causing “significant unpleasant effects.” But the goal remains to elicit a reaction capable of advancing the case. It is also important to recognize that the dose must be increased when it is no longer sufficient to maintain ideal progress toward a cure.
2. The history of the development and continuous refinement of homeopathy by Hahnemann is beautifully explained in a series of articles written by David Little:
3. https://archive.org/details/9604401.nlm.nih.gov
There have been countless reprints in various languages, with translators adding all sorts of increasingly dubious material, to the point where the French versions, for example, soon bore no resemblance toHering original text. I would advise against them.
4. “Dr Heringguide we have always considered the best and most original of the domestic works” (British Quarterly Journal ofHomeopathy), a quote taken fromthe *Critical Dictionary of English Literature*, which states in its first volume, dated 1859, that 50,000 copies of the guide were already in circulation across all editions—which is no small feat!
https://books.google.fr/books?id=Ddj6hE2m_egC&pg=PA832#v=onepage&q&f=false
5. French translation revised by me, based on Léon Marchant’s 1850 version, which already takes some liberties with the quantities recommended by Hering naturally, he increases them, since it seems unnatural to give so little).
https://archive.org/details/mdecinehomoeopa03herigoog; see pages 8–10
Despite my best efforts, I was unable to find the first French edition of *Marchant*, published in 1848.
6.As we saw with Hahnemann, the remedy can also be rubbed onto the skin using the solution under certain circumstances. One final point: Hahnemann also insisted that, in the case of breastfed infants, the mother (or, in the past, a wet nurse) should take the remedy and then pass it on to the child through breast milk.
7. While Hering make particular use of and value the sense of smell, he pays little heed to the placebo effect that may be associated with the act of smelling (or even with the gesture itself), since he has the child inhale the vapors from the alcohol-filled bottle containing the remedy while the child is asleep. 🙂 Hahnemann does not hesitate to state in §288 of the fifth Organon that this method guarantees an effect.
8. And certainly even less so today, given the decline in public health.
