LM Potency: Further Discussion

I wrote an article about the LM Potency, but the article was edited after I submitted it.  I wanted to be sure to share what was edited out, because it's important.  It's from the site referenced in the article.

"Then Hahnemann says, "On the other hand" some patients experience only a "slow, continuous improvement based on one dose of a aptly selected homeopathic medicine (taking 40, 50, 60 100 days to complete the cure, depending on the nature of the medicine) but this is very seldom the case." It is much more common for the slow remedy action to cease and the patient to relapse. Then the Founder goes on to state how important it is to "foreshorten this period" to 1/2, 1/4 or less so that a more rapid cure is attained. This reflects what Hahnemann said in aphorism 246 of the 5th Organon on repeating the remedy to speed the cure.

Hahnemann makes it very clear that there are two major types of remedy actions that must be treated differently.

A. The first condition is a visibly progressing and strikingly increasing amelioration. In this instance Hahnemann says to leave the single dose to act without repetition as long as this state lasts. This statement also applies to any time during treatment that there is a dramatically increasing amelioration on a series of doses. I would like to report that my colleagues and I have witnessed several cures of chronic diseases with single and infrequent doses of the LM potency.

B. The second remedy action is a slow continuous improvement that could take up to 100 or more days to cure. Some cases show little or no response to a single dose although the remedy is correct. This is because the sensitivity of the patient and the nature of disease state require more medicinal stimulation. In this case one should repeat the dose at suitable intervals to speed the cure. This is quite common in protracted chronic disease and complex miasms. One may repeat the dose to speed the cure only if they follow all five conditions noted at the end of the paragraph.

1. The remedy is perfectly homoeopathic (Not a wrong remedy or a partial simillimum.)

2. The remedy is potentized and dissolved in water. (Not the dry dose.)

3. The remedy is given in a small dose (1 pill in a 7-8 tablespoon medicinal solution, given in a split-dose, etc.) 

4. The remedy should be given at suitable intervals based on what experience has shown to be the correct timing. (Individualization.)

5. The degree of dynamization must be changed on each dose (The medicinal solution must be succussed prior to ingestion to slightly raise the potency.)

There is a great difference between a visibly progressing and strikingly increasing amelioration and a slow continuous improvement that may take up to 100 days to show any significant improvement. In most cases of slow improvement the patient tends to relapse rather than progress to cure. What Hahnemann is offering is a very clear differential analysis of two different types of remedy actions. When the patient is already hastening toward cure on single or infrequent doses the cure does not need to be sped! If the remedy is repeated under these conditions it will either slow down the action of the previous dose, aggravate the patient, or cause a relapse of symptoms. In the footnote to aphorism 246 it says the LM may be given daily "when necessary". It does not say to give the LM potency to everybody no matter what!

All the statements about the daily and alternate day dose that follow in aphorism 248 are about how to speed the cure in slowly improving cases. These are the cases where one needs to foreshorten this period to 1/2, 1/4 or less the time so that a more rapid cure is attained. In aphorism 248 Hahnemann says that the remedy may be repeated daily or on alternate days in "protracted diseases", which means long drawn out and prolonged illnesses. If the patient is experiencing a strikingly increasing amelioration on a single dose or a short series of doses, the repetition of the remedy is counter indicated as long as this state lasts. These aphorisms teach when it is best to wait and watch and when it is best to act and observe. This is the best of both worlds!"

 Reference for the quote: 

http://www.simillimum.com/education/little-library/the-works-of-great-homoeopaths/blp/article.php