Homeopathy (my second week)!
Discussion Questions for Tutorial Forum:
A homeopath’s diagnostic approach is based on the guiding principle of similars, coined by Hahnemann into the maxim ‘similia similibus curantur’ or ‘likes are cured by likes’. Homeopaths have identified that the organism has an initial reaction caused by the external stimulus. This reaction is known in homeopathy as the primary action of the external stimulus. The secondary action is a counteraction or contrary response against that stimulus triggered by the organism as it attempts to return to homeostasis. In the tradition of Hahnemann’s first experiment with cinchona bark, we are going to conduct a self-experiment activity.
Identify a stimulus that you can safely expose yourself to (ask your tutor for advice if you are unsure). It may be a food substance you eat or drink, an environmental factor, an emotional situation, a song you react to, or any potential stimulus that can cause a noticeable reaction in you. Remember to pick something safe for you to experiment with! If you start paying careful attention, you’ll probably notice you have many of these reactions every day even without choosing any special or different stimulus than usual.
- Expose yourself to a stimulus as described in this session’s activity and observe your primary and secondary reactions. Note them down, and then reflect on them for the group linking your experience back to homeopathic principles and philosophy. Some ideas to consider in your notes:
Reflection
I didn’t know what to choose, and so after procrastinating I thought, well I’ll just eat a bowl of potato chips and observe and document my reactions to that (something I wouldn’t normally give a lot of thought to)!!
I voice recorded my observations on the phone app Otter. I was actually surprised with the observation and it helped me with the practical knowing, that observation plays a role in overall homeopathy and overall health and wellbeing. I had a go at classification of symptoms from ‘symptom headings’ at ‘homeobooks.com’.
The brief observation was actually later at night before bed and I fell asleep soon after. Looking back the observations make sense in that eating chips before bed probably isn’t really a helpful practice for the body. Please see the transcript notes and symptoms of the experiment below.
‘Chicken Flavour’ Chips
0.10
I can feel as soon as I swallow, a sense of reflux in my oesophagus, and a type of ‘ball’ in my throat. My stomach feels a bit tight.
1.00
Taste of salt leaves a very slight metallic taste on the roof of my mouth (msg)? Salt and fat is comforting in some way. Feels rewarding, nourishing?
1.10
Stomach sensation of very light squeezing, like a dull ache from the sensory nerves around the stomach. They’re relaying a ‘begrudging’ sense of ‘having to move and contract’ to produce enzymes for digestion.
2.00
Feeling full and drowsy. Sense of heaviness and grounding in the body. Digestive fluids have started and can feel movement in my stomach, and along my small intestine. I feel like I can ‘see’ in my mind’s eye the digestion process, stomach releasing enzymes, gallbladder releasing bile, pancreas releasing enzymes. I had not that long ago eaten dinner, so the addition of chips started the movement of the stomach again, and possible release of chyme into the small intestine.
2.10
I have gained a grounding sense from eating this heavy carbohydrate. Potatoes are a root vegetable
3.00
Have a sense of the additives in the food, and feel that this causes stress to my body as well as tiredness. I’m nearly asleep.
Below: Elements of a symptom – Homeobook.com
Location
Mouth
Throat
Oesophagus
Stomach
Pancreas
Gallbladder
Small intestine
Sensation
Tight
Dull ache
Metallic
Ball in throat
Grounded
Character/color/odor
Starchy / salty odour
Aggravation
Digestion / reflux
Amelioration
Sleep?
Concomitants
–
Causation
Eating processed chips
Duration
Observed 3.00 minutes
Extension
–
Alternation
–
Miasm.
–
Particular
Digestion
Stomach enzymes being release
Gallbladder releasing bile
Pancreas releasing enzymes
Strange
Begrudging
Peculiar
Sensation of ‘ball’ in throat
Mind’s eye
Feeling ‘grounded’
RareQuestions
- What effects do you note during the primary action phase and how long does that last? What secondary reaction occurs and how long does that last?
I think the primary action phase is the thought of eating the food, and then the sensation of taste, texture, and smell experienced while eating / chewing the food.
The secondary action phase is the processes involved in digestion of the food and the experiences of digestion.
- Do you think this reaction identifies anything of interest about your own sensitivities and susceptibilities?
The reactions aren’t so strange. They could be expected from the action of eating the chips, however I found it interesting to identify the word ‘begrudging’ with the process, and also the concept of the ‘mind’s eye’ seeing.
To me it strengthened my confidence in my perception of what my body knows to be healthy or not so healthy for me. Often I don’t listen to my body and just eat for convenience, stress, boredom, taste e.t.c. This shows that my mind’s eye and body can articulate more than I give it credit for.
- What would happen if you changed the dose and used a stronger or weaker primary stimulus?
I ate a ‘cereal bowl’ serving size of chips. If I had eaten one chip it would have still set off a catalyst of digestive actions such as saliva, taste cravings (msg) metallic taste, stomach digestion, presumably for a shorter period of time relative to the amount? I don’t know whether this is true actually? Perhaps one chip would have had the same or very similar effect to one bowl of chips?
- What would happen if you changed the repetition and exposed yourself to the stimulus more or less frequently?
I think I would have the same or similar reaction as above. The same symptoms might occur if I ate the chips every four hours for example. I would feel grounded and sleepy and also have a lot of the other reactions, depending on other factors like how much food I had eaten that day, and how much food my body was currently in the process of digesting.
- What does this reaction suggest about the long term effects of repeated exposures to the stimulus?
Long term effects of repeated exposure to the stimulus might create a weaker physiological response or awareness, or it might create an increased physiological response to the stimulus. For example, if I eat a lot of potato chips, my mind’s eye intuition and begrudging sensation / feeling could be a precursor to increased reflux, and exhaustion of digestive processes including imbalance enzymes of digestion, and weakened function of organs of digestion. I could hypothesise that the ball in throat sensation might be a precursor warning to problems with thyroid function if the stimulus / chips were a regular part of the diet?
- Did this experiment reveal anything about your own health contexts?
Yes definitely. It taught me to listen to my body more, and allow those observations to have meaning in the context of overall wellbeing.
Revision Questions / Activities
- I’m really not sure if I’m on the right track with these questions but have had a go. Feedback and corrections are welcomed please
1. Why was Hahnemann so forceful in his rejection of deductive methodology being used in his medical system?
Homeopathy is looking to work with the body rather than against it. A substance which triggers a primary action e.g. mimics the symptoms a person has e.g. cinchona bark and Malaria symptom presentation. If cinchona bark works to treat Malaria without harm to the body, it does so because it has matched the presenting symptom picture of the disease, and it has supported the vital force to heal. The secondary action of a remedy is to stimulate the healing. The law of similars is an example of an Inductive methodology (Endeavour Lecture).
If an Inductive methodology is matching a symptom picture, then a deductive methodology is forcefully trying to change a symptom picture (secondary action), without addressing the primary action, the body’s vital force presenting symptoms. On the contrary, a secondary action, perhaps a drug or surgery is given, such as an antibiotic (which is the secondary action of giving a substance before treating a symptom picture) (Endeavour Lecture).
The physician might say that the substance (antibiotic) has cured the patient if the symptom picture disappears. This is only half of the logic required for Inductive methodology because the physician hasn’t acknowledged that the vital force of the person pushed back and cured the person. It pushed back against the secondary action (the antibiotic) and the symptom picture resolved (Endeavour Lecture).
In homeopathy the concept of deduction is a band-aid cure, and changes the symptoms picture to produce a new problem. Deductive methodology doesn’t treat the root cause of the disease, whereas Inductive methodology treats a person as a whole and with less harm or damage (Endeavour Lecture).
2. Why did Hahnemann conduct his trials on healthy humans?
Hahnemann conducted his provings on healthy humans so that he didn’t have other symptoms of disease clouding the symptom picture of the remedy. In this he was able to test the remedy on numerous healthy people and see similarities and or, slight differences of a remedy across a range of participants (Endeavour Lecture).
3. What is empirical medicine, and why is it an approach relevant to homeopathy?
Medicinenet.com states: ‘Empirical: Based on experience and observation rather than on systematic logic. Experienced physicians often use empirical reasoning to make diagnoses, based on having seen many cases over the years…’ Medicinenet.com
In the practice of Homeopathy, remedy’s are built up by proving’s over time, and results are recorded and applied to individuals whose symptom pictures are all slightly different. A remedy is chosen based on the proving’s of the symptoms of the medicine, and the patient’s description of all parts of the illness. No two patients presenting with diabetes for example will receive the same homeopathic medicine (Endeavour Lecture).
In contrast to the above, in allopathy, patients with diabetes will often receive the same medicine (insulin) and treatment according to a diagnostic presentation of ‘diabetes’, which doesn’t necessarily take into account the individual’s other presenting factors. So homeopathy is different to allopathy in its approach because empirical evidence is valued as evidence alone, whereas allopathy might dismiss this practice without other forms of data (Endeavour Lecture).
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