Homeopathy pays a lot of stress on holistic healing. As a result, a patient is exhaustively examined and a detailed summary of its disease and its symptoms. This is done to ensure that the patient receives the accurate medicine, which heals him effectively, elevating his health. However, this is not the only thing Homeopathy prescribes. One of the other important aspects of the system involves the proper amount of the remedy. As per the basic principles of Homeopathy, patients are given medicine in minute doses.
The principle that only ‘the minimum dose’ should be employed is based upon the understanding that the Minimum & single dose stimulus of the medicine triggers the intrinsic healing response. Following this principle, we give only enough medicine to initiate this healing response. This response then carries on, driven by the body’s need to maintain health and balance. The use of the minimum dose has the advantage that it does not produce the gross side effects so often caused by conventional treatments.
This is usually simplified as follows: small doses stimulate, medium doses inhibit and large doses kill. Thus, the minimum, potentised dose is employed by homeopaths.
Reasons for giving only one medicine at a time are as follows:
- If give more than one medicine, one might cancel out the action of another.
- If give more than one medicine it is not possible to know which is having an effect.
- The possible interactions between simultaneously given remedies are not known.
Our mission is to treat the whole person, not individual symptoms, so we will try to find the one medicine that corresponds to the whole case.
Repetition of dose
Repetition depending on nature of disease:
- Acute cases/ Acute exacerbation of chronic disease
- Frequent repetition given (few hours-2,4,6 hrs)
- Repetition is cut down with progressive improvement
- Very acute/ emergency condition
- Repeat every few minutes
- Chronic cases (functional)
- Single dose insufficient to cure chronic disease.
- Medicine should be repeated at suitable intervals (1 to 2 weeks)
- Chronic cases with advanced/ gross pathology
- Single dose insufficient to cure chronic disease with advanced and gross pathological disease
- Frequent repetition of low and moderate potency required