What Is Practical Homeopathy®? (Part 2)

Then, I started combing through those old books. I discovered that, indeed, in the late 1800s, Dr. James Compton Burnett proposed that if you have a cold, the first thing you should use is Aconitum napellus. And if it goes to the chest, you should automatically use Bryonia alba.

Did he mean we shouldn’t ever use Dulcamara? No, he didn’t mean that. Did he mean we would never use Pulsatilla? No, he didn’t mean that either. What Dr. Compton Burnett meant was that Aconite and Bryonia are the most prominent considerations when a respiratory illness occurs.

After discovering that protocols had a historical role in homeopathy, I felt my newly emerging thought process was more than justified.

Then, in addition to the masters’ clear use of condition-specific medicines, manufacturing pharmacies (like Boericke & Tafel, Boiron, Helios, and later OHM Pharma) further confirmed the efficacy of protocols by developing their own combination medicines branded for specific conditions.

Let’s face it. Whether we used the term or not, these were all protocols. So why were there only a handful of these protocols in circulation?

Why wouldn't we try protocols first?

In today’s homeopathy, we all know that when somebody has a new injury — or even ailments from an old one — we pretty much automatically at least consider Arnica montana. (Pretty much — not always — but pretty much.) We wouldn’t use 3C; nor would we necessarily use 50M. We would most likely use 30C or 200C. Thankfully, the clinical successes that preceded us really narrowed down the preferred potency.

Another example: If someone has very thin skin, thin hair, and brittle nails, we automatically start considering medicines like Silicea. Again, we wouldn’t use it in a 10M potency. Instead, we might employ 6X (or C), or a 30C potency, because those are the potencies that have historically been proven effective for the largest percentage of sufferers. 

So, I thought, why not try the condition-specific medicine — the “protocol” — first? If someone has an injury, why not start with Arnica? If someone has thin hair, why not start with Silicea? Why should we make it more complex by insisting that the medicine must be different for everyone?

I began using the most commonly utilized medicines for specific symptoms. For instance, if someone was experiencing grief, why not start with Ignatia? If a woman just had her third baby and is experiencing depression, why not just use Sepia?

Funny story about Sepia

When I was first learning homeopathy with other young mothers in my study group in Buffalo, a medical doctor who was only using homeopathy was practicing in Rochester. Over and over again, after each one of our friends drove the hour-and-a-half out to Rochester to consult with him, we heard he was using Sepia for practically any woman who met with him.

We guffawed!

We all said, “Oh, that’s ridiculous. Homeopathy is person-specific, not condition-specific. That certainly isn't homeopathy because he’s giving everybody the same thing!”

If I had known then what I know now, it all would have made sense. We were all in the same boat. We were all roughly the same age and just having our kids. Sepia was our medicine!

It worked. He was nailing it every time!

We all started to question what we had been taught. “What the heck? Why are we still propagating the message that homeopathy is person-specific, when it turns out it often isn’t?”

Maybe homeopathy doesn't always need to be complex

I started to think, “Why is this being made to sound so esoteric? Let’s just accept that we are all human. Many times, the same medicine (generally, in the same potency and often even in the same frequency) works for the same condition in almost all sufferers.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. At the time, I simultaneously recognized that homeopathy could be more complex. However, in my mind, that complexity should be the second level of understanding.

The first level — the first approach to an illness or injury — ought to be the medicine that has historically been proven successful in the majority of sufferers with the same condition. When your family is in crisis, you can’t be thinking about all the applicable medicines. You want to consider the most likely possibilities and start taking care of your family. If you come to a crossroads where the condition isn’t resolving, okay, then we can go deeper.

If the Sepia doesn't help her, if the Ignatia doesn't help him, if the Arnica doesn't help the injured child, we can go deeper into our repertories and materia medica and employ our training.