Acute Prescribing

As homeopaths we often have cases come to us and we don't have the time or our tools to really take the case. We must act quickly and effectively, or we may miss our opportunity to help. This is when knowledge of Materia Medica is very important.

      As a part of the coursework at Resonance School of Homeopathy I teach about emergency and acute remedies that will be useful in most situations. The original list of remedies came from Vega Rezenberg and can be organized in a 50 remedy emergency kit. I have found this kit to be very useful.  It can be carried anywhere and if used properly, save lives.

      Having taught the remedies for this kit many times I can tell you that knowing a few keynotes of the remedies and a few of the expected indications, that this kit has proven many times over to be most valuable.

      The first rule in any acute or emergency is to call for help. Secondly, clear any blocked air passages and determine if the person is conscious. Assuming that the acute condition of the person is not life threatening, then it is time to pay very close attention to the person and observe their behaviors and what they say.

      It may be best to give an example. One morning I was at the clinic when a knock came at the door. This was before hours and the person on the other side of the door was insistent that we open it. It appeared there was an emergency of some sort.  When I came to see what the commotion was about the man said he had a friend in his car and he was really sick.

       I rushed out to find the man in the front seat and holding his side and saying he had never felt such pain. It was obvious from the distressed look on his face. He was drinking a beer at 8:45 AM. When I asked him about this he said that he was thirsty. He was sweating profusely. I told him to come in and he said that he would not come in. I asked why and he said it that hurts to much to move, that he felt best being still in the car.

         My first assessment was that he possibly had appendicitis. His great thirst and not wanting to move led me to give him Bryonia 200C. I told him that he needed to go to the hospital and he should take another dose of the remedy in a few minutes on the way there. His friend left with him.

      About one half hour later he called and said that he was leaving the hospital. There was nothing wrong now and he would not stay for examination. The remedy had helped alleviate all of his pain and he was now well. I begged him to stay for an examination but he still refused. I then said that as long as he was feeling better to take it easy and call again if the pain returned. I never heard from him again.

       In this case I did not repertize for a remedy. I went by keynotes of Bryonia. Motion aggravates and thirst combined with intense abdominal pain. This was all I went on to give the remedy.

   If you know the major acute remedies and their indications it will not be hard to quickly find a remedy in an acute or emergency situation.  I have found that a good way to study is to look up common conditions in your repertory and write down the main remedies that are in bold and the polycrest remedies. This will offer the greatest amount of benefit for the widest variety of illnesses. Then study these remedies and the indications for them. Learn their  keynote symptoms and acquire a feeling for their essence. If you keep a kit of these remedies onhand in 30C or 200C potencies you will be able to treat many acute or emergency situations effectively.

     A good book I have found to be very accurate is  The Homeopathic Prescriber by Dr. K.C. Bhanja. He is an Indian physician who has offered many good observations about most illnesses and emergency conditions, as well as the keynotes for the remedies he has suggested.  Unfortunatlely I cannot share the remedies of the Emergency Kit I have refered to because of copyright restrictions and agreements with Vega Rozenberg. He has allowed me to teach this emergency remedy kit combination only to enrolled students.

       Study the keynotes of common remedies and their indications and you will have at your fingertips the ability to help in nearly any situation. Commit them to memory and study them often. If the remedy is not the similimum it may very well be a remedy that does some good when you do not have time to fully repertize the case.