KEY TO SUCCESSFUL PRESCRIBING PROLOGUE The purpose behind this work is to help the young doctors who are

about to begin or have already started their practice . They are our future and we expect them to carry the flag of homeopathy high. I am saddened, when, I see many of the young lot resorting to combination remedies. Perhaps because they are young and inexperienced, they are overwhelmed by the sea of vast literature available to them and decide to take the easiest path. Unfortunately this easy path leads them stray. I claim no originality of this work. All that I have stated here has been gleaned, culled, mugged , from the work of the Masters of the past and present. My contribution is making cross reference and discussing them with various homeopaths, who enjoy a successful practice. My own experience in my practice over a number of years has helped me to verify the approaches that I present here before you all. Some readers may differ to what I have stated and they are welcome to comment. I consider myself a student and whatever I have expressed here is based on my humble knowledge and experience and what I truly believe to be of immense help in prescribing. Abstract: There are many approaches to prescribing adopted by master homeopaths of early as well as later periods. These are: Prescribing on the basis of causation, key-note prescribing, using near-specifics, organ-specific, Constitutional basis, miasmatic prescribing and totality of symptoms. The point to understand is that any single approach does not suffice in all the cases. The key to success is to apply the most suitable approach appropriate for a particular case. If one is able to get proficient in all these approaches ,the success rate of 60% to 80% depending on the skill of the doctor, can be achieved in all the cases. CAUSATION: Synonyms : Etiology, A/F (Ailments from), NWS(Never well since), Bad effects of etc. This is always to be thought of first. Your work becomes very simple if the patient can provide you with a causation because then the choice remains between one , two or at the most three remedies. Miraculous cures have been achieved by basing the prescription on causation alone. There is a long list but here are a few hints; Injury: arnica Grief from :Ignatia Wounded honor, Rape: Staphysigaria Injury to head: Natrum-sulf Over-lifting, Straining, too much drenching: Rhustox

Cases: a man in his thirties came to my clinic. He was unable to walk a few steps without limping and experiencing great pains. He had many other complaints which were troubling him a little but the main complaint had deprived him of earning his livelihood. I recorded all his symptoms but before prescribing I asked him when his complaints had started. He replied since six months and despite treatment by different allopaths no relief was there. On probing him further it transpired that he used to live in remote hilly area. Six months ago he was carrying some rations in a sack climbing uphill to his home. Suddenly it started to rain. He had to carry the load for an hour while drenched. Subsequently he had a fever first and then his trouble started. I gave him Rhus-tox high without any hesitation and within a week he was able to walk and in two weeks had gone back to work. NEAR SPECIFICS Arnica: For injury from blunt objects Hypericum: Injury to nerve ends Merc-cor :Dysentry with blood and mucus Silicia: To expell foreign objects from the body Belladona : for scarlet fever Ledum: Injury from a pointed object, needle thorn etc. KEY-NOTE PRESCRIBING: When the key-note of a remedy is found in the symptoms of a patient then the work is cut short. In most cases other symptoms belonging to patient will also be present in the keynote remedy. The cures in such cases are rapid and magic like. To succeed in key-note prescribing, one has to devour the key-notes of all polychrests and well proved remedies. Most helpful is the study of these books; Allens key-notes by H.C. Allen Key-notes and red line symptoms by A.V. Lippe Characteristics in Clarks dictionary of Practical material medica MIASMATIC PRESCRIBING When there is a miasm in the background, either acquired or inherited, the indicated remedy fails to act unless the miasmatic barrier is removed by first prescribing the appropriate remedy for the particular miasm. The use of intercurrents along with the indicated remedy is based on this method of prescribing. If the indicated remedy also covers the miasm , then this alone may be sufficient. Sometimes you have to select the remedy from the rubrics not on the numerical weight for the rubrics from the list but on its being antimiasmatic for the particular miasm. CONSTITUITIONAL PRESCRIBING;

Some patients are animated pictures of our constitutional remedies. The fat, flabby persons with perspiration on their heads.The lean Sepia woman with masculine hips and saddle on nose. Moody Pulsatilla , weeping while narrating symptoms and looking for sympathy .Tall, fair, tender. sensitive pigeon chested Phosphorous with longing for cold drinks. Lean stoop-shouldered Sulphur, looking for a seat to sit down. One should consider himself lucky if he ever finds such a patient during his practice because in majority of such cases, whatever their trouble, a few high doses of their constitutional remedy is all that is needed. TOTALITY OF SYMPTOMS In this method you take the case from A to Z then select the symptoms for repertorization. Modern soft-wares have made the previously tedious manual work so easy that the amount of work which took hours, can now be achieved in a few minutes. There are two schools of thought here. Kent advises to go from generals to particulars giving most importance to mental symptoms. In Boenninghausen method , first the seat of trouble i.e. locality, its modality and concomittants are taken into account. Both methods have produced cures. This is the most difficult method to master. Young homeopaths often experience great disappointment using this method for the following reasons.: 1. In taking the case utmost caution has to be taken to take down the symptoms along with their intensity. 2. One should have sufficient knowledge of the language of the repertory to convert the symptoms into proper rubrics. For example take the rubrics concerning memory. One is Absent-minded, the other is , memory weak. The absent minded cannot recall to memory temporarily and is an indication of Sycotic miasm, Memory weak means that a person cannot retain most things in memory and whatever is learned is forgotten. This indicate syphilitic miasm. 3. Most important of all, from among the symptoms, the symptoms common to a particular disease should either be left out of selection or qualified by the modality . All symptoms peculiar to the patient are of most importance and have to be included first. If proper selection of the symptoms is not done and each and every symptom is included, it will result in failure. 4. The indicated remedy in spite of being the correct one, may not act because of a miasmatic block or a history of causation factor. (In such cases the indicated remedy acts beautifully after administering the anti-miasmatic remedy to remove the block) 5. Most patients coming to homeopaths arrive after heavy suppression by modern powerful drugs and one finds that there is a paucity of symptoms in such cases. Here the approach should be to antidote the effects of powerful drugs and strengthen the vital force by suitable remedies at this stage. Later on the patient may present you with the symptoms suitable for repertorization. THE IDEAL CURE

The patient describes his troubles, you give him a single dose of a remedy and he is cured of his troubles in a few days and lives happily ever after. Yes! This fairy- tale cure happens in real life but such cases are very few and far between. Generally in practice , one has to zigzag through remedies over a period of time. THE KEY TO SUCCESS: Prejudice should be avoided. One should not restrict to any one method of prescribing. It is best to get well-versed in all approaches and use the one, well-suited to the case. Mother tinctures, low potencies, high potencies, nosodes, sarcodes, tissue salts, all have their place in homeopathy and one should make good use of them whenever and wherever the need arises. One should make a habit of reading the works of masters, of past and recent times and should try to expand ones knowledge throughout his life. It is also important to consider if something in patients diet, or environment or life style is hampering the cure. Auxiliary measures should be taken wherever necessary. For example when you treat a patient with hemorrhoids make sure that he does not have constipation. Suggest changes in the diet to avoid constipation. I know a person who was very vocal against homeopathy. One day, when we were alone, I asked him the reason. He told me that he suffered from bleeding piles and went for treatment to a leading homeopath. During the treatment he had to go abroad and there he suffered such agonizing pains and bleeding that he had to operated in emergency. The doctor who operated told him his chronic constipation was the main cause for his piles. He advised him to avoid being conspitated by taking suitable measures and since then he is rid of his troubles. A patient had ulcer and inflammation of the tongue. When indicated remedies failed to act, I examined her teeth and found out that sharp point of tooth was the cause. I sent her to the dentist to have the sharp point smoothed and her trouble was over.