Belladonna. [Bell]
The remedy is acute otitis, with digging, boring, tearing pains which come suddenly and are most violent; the membrana tympani is covered with injected bloodvessels. It is the remedy in earache where the symptoms are too violent for Pulsatilla. The pains come and go suddenly. All the symptoms are worse at night and are relieved by warmth.
Aconite. [Acon]
Bayes recommends Aconite IX in the maddening pains of otitis, claiming it to be far superior to Chamomilla or Pulsatilla. There is dark redness of the parts, stinging, lancinating or throbbing pains and great sensitiveness. It suits earache from sudden change of temperature; it is worse at night and is aggravated by warmth. Its influence is restricted to a brief period immediately following exposure. In this respect Copeland says: "It differs from Ferrum phosphoricum, which has a much longer period of usefulness."
Pulsatilla. [Puls]
A great ear remedy. It exerts a specific curative power in otitis externa; the ear is hot, red and swollen, and there are very severe darting, tearing, pulsating pains in it which are worse at night. It, too, occupies the highest place for acute inflammation of the middle ear. It is indicated also by profuse thick, yellowish green discharge from the ear, deafness and a feeling as if the ears were stopped up, or as if something were being forced out; there are also roaring noises synchronous with the pulse. It suits especially subacute cases. Itching deep in the ear. Plantago. Earache associated with toothache; also, excellent locally. Pain goes through head from one ear to the other. Tellurium. A most excellent remedy in otitis media with thin, acrid, offensive discharge, very profuse and long-lasting; canal sensitive to touch. Hydrastis is a remedy not to be overlooked in catarrhal inflammation of the middle ear with accompanying nasopharyngeal catarrh, tinnitus aurium and thick tenacious discharges. Kali sulphuricum. Useful in typical Pulsatilla cases with orange yellow discharges.
Ferrum Phosphoricum. [Kali-p]
This remedy is a most useful one in ear affections, suiting congestive and inflammatory stages of most troubles, more especially in anaemic subjects. It is a reliable remedy in acute earache; it has tinnitus like Pulsatilla, but no special deafness, and like Borax it has sensitiveness to sound. The pain is throbbing or sharp stitching and occurs in paroxysms. The following is Dr. Wanstall's practical resume:
1. A tendency of the inflammatory process to be diffused instead of circumscribed. 2. Dark beefy redness of the parts. 3. A muco-purulent discharge with tendency to haemorrhage. 4. The establishment of the discharge does not relieve the pain. 5. The pain is in paroxysms.
Copeland asserts that for earache after exposure to wet there is no better remedy. Kali muriaticum is one of the most useful remedies in tubal catarrh and catarrhal conditions of the middle ear, it seems to clear the Eustachian tube, which is closed in these cases, causing deafness, subjective sounds and retracted membrane tympani. It is useful in chronic suppurative conditions reducing the proliferation, checking the granulation and hastening repair. Slowly progressing deafness will often yield to the remedy. It is also a remedy for obstinate eczemas about the auricle, especially if accompanied with the gastric disturbances of the remedy. "The most valuable single remedy for the deafness following purulent or catarrhal otitis media."--Moffat. Magnesia phosphorica has a purely nervous otalgia, worse in cold air and relieved by warmth. Bellows gives it first place in nervous earache. Kali phosphoricum may also be a remedy in chronic suppurations of the middle ear, with offensive dirty pus,brownish and watery.
Gangrene is the death of an area of the body usually due to loss of blood supply. Gangrene can be caused from a bacterial infection that has not been treated; this is wet gangrene. Or, gangrene can be caused by a decrease in blood flow to an area of the body where the tissue in this part of the body has been injured or diseased; this is dry gangrene.
Homeopathic Medicines & Treatment for Gangrene
Arsenicum. [Ars]
Dry gangrene in old people, soreness and burning relieved by warmth, restlessness. It is often indicated in gangrene of the lungs. Secale is aggravated by warmth, thus differing from Arsenicum. Arsenicum has a foetid diarrhoea, great weakness, emaciation, and coldness and heat alternately. Lachesis. Traumatic gangrene. Franklin recommends this remedy highly in gangrene following wounds, saying that it is eminently curative of gangrenous affections. Crotalus has hot, bluish, moist gangrene, the limb being covered with black blisters and much swollen, emitting a foul odor.
Secale [Sec]
corresponds to senile gangrene with tingling and formication. Dry gangrene of toes; a number of cases of cure of this condition by Secale are on record. The skin in wrinkled and dry, shrivelled and cold, no sensibility, black and free from foetor. Large ecchymoses and blood blisters, which become gangrenous, will indicate the remedy.
Carbo vegetabilis. [Carb-v]
Carbuncles and boils, becoming gangrenous. There is no restlessness, as in Arsenicum, but the parts have a livid purple look, and they are icy cold. It also suits moist gangrenous in cachectic persons whose vitality is weak. The secretions are foul and there is great prostration. Arnica may be useful in gangrene following contusions.
Epilepsy is a disorder in which nerve cells of the brain from time to time release abnormal electrical impulses. These cause a temporary malfunction of the other nerve cells of the brain, resulting in alteration of, or complete loss of consciousness. There are several forms of epilepsy. Most people will have seen someone suffer a major epileptic seizure, suddenly losing consciousness, jerking the arms and legs, etc. But there are other types of epilepsy - for example, one common form of epilepsy in children merely consists of staring blankly and losing contact with the surroundings for a few seconds.
Treatment & Homeopathic Medicines for Epilepsy
Calcarea carbonica. [Calc]
The treatment of epilepsy should be directed to the underlying dyscrasia, as this is at fault in most, if not all, cases. Calcarea carbonica, with its rickety, tuberculous, scrofulous and flabby symptoms, its characteristic deficiency of lime assimilation, as shown in children by the open fontanelles and backward dentition, will frequently be the remedy with which to commence the treatment. The characteristic relaxation on falling asleep and the sweating of the head and neck are fine indications for its use. It has an excellent clinical record. A epileptic suffering continually from the dread of an attack will withdraw himself as much as possible from the outside world, brood over his affliction and become melancholic,and there is no other remedy so well adapted to this condition as Calcarea. Its anxiety, palpitation, apprehensive mood despondency, fretfulness and irritability, its weakness of memory, its loss of consciousness, its vertigo and convulsions are prominent and characteristic indications for its use in epilepsy. If epilepsy be caused by fright, suppression of some long standing eruption, onanism or venereal excess it will probably be one of the remedies to use in the course of the treatment, and here it would follow Sulphur well. The aura may begin in the solar plexus and pass upwards like a wave, or go from the epigastric region down to the uterus and limbs. Like Sulphur it has a sensation as if a mouse were running up the arm previous to the attacks. Causticum, too, is closely allied to Calcarea, and is indicated in epilepsy connected with menstrual irregularities and also in epilepsy occurring at the age of puberty.
Causticum. [Caust]
Causticum is useful in Petit mal, also when the patient falls while walking in the open air, but soon recovers. It is said to be useful when the attacks occur at new moon. It menstrual epilepsy and that occurring at puberty Causticum is the remedy. Kafka recommends Hepar in nocturnal epilepsy. Causticum is perhaps better suited to recent and light cases. Another preparation of potash, Kali muriaticum, is a most useful remedy in epilepsy; it has an affinity for the nerve centers and it is a slow acting remedy.
Diarrhoea means there are frequent, loose or liquid stools. There may be a gripey abdominal pain (colic) which is less after a stool is passed.
Acute diarrhoea - comes on suddenly and lasts a short time.
Chronic diarrhoea - affects someone over a long period of time.
Some people pass frequent, small solid stools with a sense of urgency. This is not true diarrhoea and occurs when the rectum is irritable as in the irritable bowel syndrome or inflamed as in colitis.
Diarrhoea - Treatment & Homeopathic Medicines
Arsenicum. [Ars]
That excellent and truly homoeopathic work on diarrhoea by Dr. J.B.Bell contains the indications for some one hundred and forty remedies in this complaint. The following are perhaps the more often indicated. Arsenicum, it may be said, is always thought of in diarrhoea. Given a case of diarrhoea, and two remedies always come to mind, namely, Arsenicum and Veratrum, and immediately the distinguishing features of these are gone over much in this way:
Arsenicum. Stools in small quantities. Restlessness, anguish and intolerance of pain. Thirst for small quantities and often. The prostration and weakness are out the stool, of all proportion to stool.
Veratrum album. Profuse stools. No restlessness, anguish, intolerance of pain. Great thirst for large quantities of cold water. Great prostration follows not more, however,than profuseness warrants.
The two remedies are easily distinguished, and it would it seem to be the height of imbecility to alternate them. The grand characteristics of Arsenicum in diarrhoea , therefore, are:
1. The small quantity. 2. The dark color. 3. The offensive odor. 4. The great prostration following.
Another grand feature is the burning in the rectum, which almost amounts to a tenesmus. The stools of Arsenicum are dark yellow, undigested, slimy or bloody ; they are often dark green and very offensive; they are worse at night and after eating or drinking. China, Ferrum and Arsenicum all have undigested stool coming on after eating. Among the principal causes of the diarrhoea calling for Arsenicum, and one which would be an additional indication, is chilling of the stomach by cold food, ice water or ice cream. It is also the remedy for diarrhoea from tainted food and so-called ptomaine poisoning. It hardly seems possible that Arsenicum with these characteristics could be misprescribed.
Veratrum album. [Verb]
The characteristics of Veratrum album are no less well marked than are those of Arsenicum. They are as follows:
1. A profuse watery stool, forcible evacuated. 2. Pain in the abdomen preceding stool. 3. Great prostration following stool. 4. Cold sweat , coldness and blueness of the body generally.
The stools of Veratrum are watery, containing therein flakes, and are commonly called rice-water discharges. Preceding the stool is a severe pinching colic in the abdomen , and this pain is apt to continue during the stool. Nausea,too, is often an accompaniment. Cramps in the feet and legs may also be present.
Jatropha has a profuse watery discharge, evacuated with great force, and the patient is cold as under Veratrum; but with Jatropha a great quantity of wind escapes. Cuprum is also similar in many respects to Veratrum. Here the cramps are very severe and extend to the chest; it has the vomiting and purging of Veratrum, but not the cold sweat. Among the prominent general symptoms of Veratrum is the great thirst for very cold water in large draughts.
From personal experience I believe Veratrum acts better in the higher potencies in diarrhoea ; in the lower potencies it may produce unfavorable results from too sudden stoppage of the discharges, while in the higher potencies, 12th,30th etc., its acts tuto, cito et jocunde.
Cinchona officinalis. [Cinch]
Arsenicum and Veratrum in a certain case having been excluded, perhaps the next remedy coming to mind is Cinchona. Indeed, it may come to mind at once if the diarrhoea be a painless one. Cinchona, Podophyllum and Phosphoric acid have painless stools. Or, if the stool be undigested, it will come promptly to mind along with Podophyllum and Ferrum, which is a very efficient remedy in painless diarrhoea. The characteristic Cinchona diarrhoea is a painless one, of a cadaverous odor. It is slimy, bilious, blackish and mixed with undigested food; it is worse at night and after eating , with a rapid exhaustion and emaciation, and this exhaustion, emaciation and debility at once distinguish the remedy from Phosphoric acid, which is similar, lacking the debility , but having the following:
1. Rumbling in abdomen. 2. Perspiration of the whole body. 3. Thin watery painless stools. 4. Much thirst.
The Cinchona diarrhoea is worse after eating , here resembling Ferrum and Arsenicum . If it be caused or made worse by fruit, it is an additional characteristic indication for its use. It is a great favorite in summer diarrhoeas, also Iris versicolor, when there is much sour vomiting. Cinchona has a similar thirst to Arsenicum, the patient drinks little and often , but it lacks the burning to Arsenicum. Diarrhoeas coming on after attacks of acute illness areoften met by Cinchona. It also corresponds to the chronic diarrhoeasof aged persons.
Sulphur. [Sulph]
The diarrhoea of sulphur is very characteristic. It has changeable stools, yellow , watery, slimy, and in scrofulous children may contain undigested food. It is worse in the morning about four or five O'clock, when it wakens the patient and drives him out of bed in great haste. For these early morning diarrhoeas we have a number of remedies. Bryonia is one , but the stool of Bryonia comes on after the patient has been up a while and has moved about, here presenting the worse-from-motion symptom of that drug. Natrum sulphuricum is another; it has morning stool associated with a great deal of flatus, and it comes on usually as soon as the patient stands on his feet in the morning, or sometimes during the forenoon. Rumex crispus is another and it has exactly the same symptom as Sulphur, but it is usually associated with cough. Podophyllum is another and perhaps the most similar to Sulphur in this respect. It hurries the patient out of bed and it has changeable stools,but it is more apt to continue throughout the day and is associated with soreness in the liver. There is with Sulphur a tendency to rectal soreness, there is itching and soreness at the anus, the stools being acrid and excoriating.
Phosphorus has a morning painless stool and so has Dioscorea, but the colicky pains of this remedy starting from the umbilicus and radiating to all parts of the body should be easily distinguish. Petroleum has early morning stools associated with emaciation. They differ from Sulphur in occurring also throughout the day. Kali bichromicum has also a watery gushing stool coming on in the morning and followed by tenesmus. The stools of Sulphur are offensive and the odor of the stool follows the patient about as if he had soiled himself.The stools often alternate between constipation and diarrhoea, and if haemorrhoids be present it is an additional good indication for Sulphur. A diarrhoea of mucus streaked with blood, preceded by colic, is also often found under the remedy.
Aloes. [Aloe]
Aloes is a remedy whose chief action is on the rectum. It produces a constant desire to stool, and the passages are accompanied with a great deal of flatus. The great characteristic of the drug feeling of uneasiness, weakness, and certainly about the rectum; there is a constant feeling as if stool would escape, the patient dares not pass flatus for fear of the escape of faeces. This condition is met with in children sometimes, they pass faeces when passing flatus. Aloes resembles Sulphur, Thuja and Bryonia in having an early morning stool; like Sulphur wakens the patient and hurries him out of bed to the toilet. It is worse from eating but it seldom continues during the day. The weakness of the sphincter ani is also found under Phosphoric acid, where we have also stools escaping with the flatus. The Aloes patient will also pass stool when urinating. Haemorrhoids which are characteristically swollen and sore accompany the Aloes stool. The stool themselves are yellow and pasty or lumpy and watery, and before the stool there are griping pains across the lower part of the abdomen and around the navel. These pains also continue during stool and passage usually relieves them. The essentials are:
1. The lumpy, watery stool. 2. The intense griping across the lower parts of the abdomen before and during stool, leaving after stool. 3. The extreme prostration and perspiration following.
Croton tiglium. [Crot]
Croton tiglium is one of the great homoeopathic remedies for diarrhoea , which might readily be imagined from the prompt action of the drug in the minutest doses of the crude substance in the intestinal canal. Its characteristics are a yellowish, watery stool pouring out like water from a hydrant, and especially associated with nausea and vomiting and aggravated by eating and drinking. There are a number of drugs which are very similar to Croton tiglium and they may be mentioned here. The first is Elaterium. This is a remedy for frothy, copious, forcible diarrhoeas preceded by cutting in abdomen, chilliness, prostration and colic. They are always gushing and may be olive-green in color. The second is Gratiola; this has a gushing watery diarrhoea coming out like water from a hydrant; the stools are yellowish green and frothy and there is associated with them a cold feeling in the abdomen. The third is Jatropha.
This has a profuse, gushing, watery diarrhoea; but here there is much wind and flatulence and great prostration. The fourth is Gamboge. This has a stool expelled "all at once", with much relief following. Stools thin and watery. The characteristics of the stool of Croton tiglium are:
1. The yellow, watery stool. 2. The sudden expulsion. 3. The aggravation from drink and food; and to this we may add the quite common accompaniment of nausea, preceded by a little pain in the abdomen.
Rheum. [Rheum]
One symptom always leads to the thought of this drug, and that is sourness of stools and of the whole body, though Rheum is not only remedy for sour stools nor are sour stools the only indication for Rheum; indeed, they may be wanting in sourness and Rheum still be the remedy. For sour stools, besides Rheum, we have notably Calcarea carbonica, Magnesia carbonica and Hepar. Magnesia carbonica is said to follow Rheum well, and, besides sourness, it has the frothy, green, frog-pond scum stool, and it is especially suitable to infants when the stools are of the above character and accompanied with discharge flatus and much crying. Debility is also characteristic of the remedy.
Characteristic among the symptoms of Rheum, besides the sourness, is a griping colic often followed by tenesmus. In color, the stools are brown and frothy, and usually sour; they are worse from motion and after eating. Chilliness during stool is also characteristic. The continuance ;of the colic after the stool also suggests the remedy.
Podophyllum. [Podo]
Podophyllum, as we have seen, has an early morning diarrhoea. The stools are watery, yellow, profuse,forcible and occur without pain any time from three o'clock to nine in the morning, and a natural stool is apt to follow later in the day. It occurs, too, immediately after eating resembling cinchona and Colocynth, and it has still another resemblance to Colocynth in its colic, which is relieved by warmth and bending forward. Following the diarrhoea of Podophyllum is a sensation of great weakness in the abdomen and rectum, this weakness o;f the rectum being a great characteristic of the remedy. The rectum prolapses before the faeces are evacuated; here it differs from the prolapses which would call for Ignatia, Carbo vegetabilis and Hamamelis.
Podophyllum has proved useful in the diarrhoea of dentition when cerebral symptoms are present. Sometimes a headache will alternate with the diarrhoea. This also occurs with Aloes. The stools of Podophyllum are often undigested; and here the remedy touches China and Ferrum, which are the great remedies for undigested stools. A deposit of mealy sediment further indicates the remedy in diarrhoeas of children. Podophyllum and Mercurius have some symptoms in common; both affect the liver both affect the liver, both have a tongue taking the imprint of the teeth, but the stool of Mercurius is accompanied by straining. The great characteristics of Podophyllum may be thus summed up: 1. Early morning stools. 2. Watery, pasty yellow or undigested stools, forcibly expelled. 3. Painless. 4. Weakness in the rectum following stool. Podophyllum also resembles Calcarea carbonica and Phosphoric acid in many respects; the rapid debility and exhaustion distinguish it from the acid, and the absence of general Calcarea symptoms from the acid, and the absence of general Calcarea symptoms from CALCAREA. It is especially useful in the obstinate diarrhoeas of unhealthy infants in the 3x dilution.
Mercurius. [Merc]
Straining at stool is the great characteristic of Mercurius, and this is more marked under Mercurius corosivus than under the solubilis. The former is the great homoeopathic remedy for dysentery. It may be remarked, in passing, that the allopaths have recently discovered this application of Mercurius corrosivus. The stools of Mercury are slimy and bloody, accompanied by a straining and tenesmus which does not seem to let up; so we have what is characteristically described as a never-get-done-feeling. There is accompanying, much hepatic soreness, flabby tongue taking imprint of the teeth, and before the stool there is violent urging and perhaps chilliness. Bayes praises Mercurius in a diarrhoea of yellow or clay-colored stool. A sickly smell from the mouth is characteristic of the remedy, and if the ready perspiration so characteristic of Mercurius be present the choice is easy. Prolapsus of the rectum may follow the stool.
Calcarea. [Calc]
Calcarea should never be overlooked in any intestinal trouble; as we have seen, it is one of the great remedies for sour stools, and for undigested stools. It is one of our best remedies for chronic diarrhoea, its symptoms produced by the provers are very few, yet prescribed for its general symptoms it has proved very useful, for it is just in a genuine Calcarea patient that one usually finds diarrhoea.Diarrhoes occurring during dentition in infants with open fontanelles call for Calcarea. Calcarea phosphorica, too, is a very useful remedy in these diarrhoeas, but the diarrhoea of Calcarea phosphorica is distinguished by being a spluttering diarrhoea, forcibly expelled, but watery, greenish, or undigested, and with a great deal of offensive flatus. Calcarea carbonica is more suited to fat children. Calcarea phosphorica to those who are old and wrinkled. Both of these remedies, as well as Silicea and Sulphur, come in most frequently in the diarrhoeas of scrofulous and rachitic children. In the Calcarea carbonica patient there is usually a ravenous appetite, and, as in Phosphoric acid, the stools do not seem to weaken. This is especially true of another of the Calcareas, Calcarea acetica. Prescribe for the patient instead of the diarrhoea at all times,but more especially if Calcarea be given.
Phosphorous. [Phos]
Phosphorous is especially a remedy for chronic forms of diarrhoea. It has green mucous stools worse in the morning, often undigested and painless. The stools pass as soon as they enter the rectum,and contain white particles like rice or tallow. Apis has a sensation as if the anus stood open, and the involuntary escape of faeces in Phosphorous reminds also of Aloes. Chronic,painless diarrhoea of undigested food call sometimes for Phosphorus. It is profuse and forcible and aggravated by warm food, and the patient often vomits; in fact, one of the characteristics of Phosphorous is the vomiting of what has been drunk as soon as it becomes warm in the stomach. With the diarrhoea there is a weak, gone feeling in the stomach, and perhaps burning between the shoulders. The frog spawn, or sago, or grain of tallow stool is most characteristic of the remedy.
Argentum nitricum. [Arg]
Argentum nitricum is quite similar to Arsenic in many ways. The stools are green, slimy and bloody,like chopped spinach in flakes. Aconite has a green stool like spinach. With the stool there is a discharge of flatus and much spluttering, as in Calcarea Phosphorica. The stools are worse from any candy, sugar, or from drinking. The sudden attacks of cholera infantum in children who have eaten too much candy will often be removed by Argentum nitricum. The children are thin, dried up looking, and it seems as if the child had but one bowel and that extended from the mouth to the anus. Another characteristic of Argentum nitricum is its use in diarrhoea brought on by great mental excitement, emotional disturbance, etc.
Gelsemium is one of the most prominent remedies for diarrhoea produced by fright or fear; it appears suddenly and the stools are yellow and papescent. Opium has diarrhoea from fright and so has Veratrum album. Pulsatilla, too, may be indicated in diarrhoea from fright; the stools are greenish yellow and changeable. Dulcamara has diarrhoea from changes in the weather or in temperature, as in those employed in packing house who change frequently from hot to cold, or diarrhoea in the mountains where the midday is hot and the nights excessively cool.There are a number of minor remedies for diarrhoea , but these very minor remedies become of major importance when they are closely indicated.
Chicken Pox, also called varicella, contagious viral disease that affects mainly children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 4 million people develop chicken pox each year, and more than 95 percent of Americans will have had chicken pox by the time they reach adulthood.
Chicken pox - TREATMENT & HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINES
Antim tart., Rhus tox, Kali mur., Pulsatilla, Aconite, Ars-alb, Apis, Belladona, Sulphur etc are known to work in cases of chickenpox.
Chicken pox - CONVENTIONAL TREATMENT
Treatment of chicken pox is usually limited to bed rest, acetaminophen for relief of fever and discomfort, and measures that soothe the itching, including lukewarm baths and application of topical medicines such as calamine lotion. Excessive scratching can cause infection of blisters, which can lead to scarring. Acyclovir, an antiviral drug, is used to treat severe cases of chicken pox, particularly in patients with a weakened immune system.
Homeopathy has a great treasure of medicines but some of them are more commonly used. Such remedies are called "Polycrest Remedies", "Polycrest Medicines" or simply "Polycrests" and generally range between 40 and 60 in number. There is no standard and final list of such remedies. Each practitioner makes his own list depending on the type of cases received and needs of his/her clinic. For example, if a practitioner gets more cases having stomach problems, he would keep the medicines that are more commonly used for stomach troubles and similarly if another practitioner receives more of chest related cases, his list of medicines would be different.
How to make your own list of polycrests
As you read about individual medicines, you would notice that homeopathic medicines are multipurpose and each of them covers wide range of symptoms. Polycrests particularly cover lots of symptoms that belong to various diseases. That is why homeopathy is capable of effectively treating most of the diseases. The point to note is that when a medicine is selected for a particular set of symptoms, it is not necessary that the person would have or should have all the symptoms indicated under that medicine. At times even key symptoms would only be considered but generally overall picture of the symptoms is considered to make the selection giving special importance to key symptoms. This rule is applied particularly in chronic cases. In acute cases, the methodology is somewhat different. However, each practitioner has own ways of doing it and maintains his own list of medicines. I am told of a practitioner who had just two medicines in different potencies at his clinic. His plea was that the cases he received could be treated by just those two medicines. This is not a good example though but it can happen. If you are beginning to start own clinic, you should not stuff your clinic with every medicine that you can think of. You don’t have to impress the people with the size of your dispensary. Start with few dozen common medicines and keep adding according to the nature of cases your would receive at the clinic. That way you would have a better and easily manageable dispensary. Here is a sugested list of medicines to start with. You can change it as you feel necessary.
During many years of my practice, I have felt that some of us are not clear or aware of the meanings of letter "X" or "C" written with the number to indicate a potency. Most of the times (specially in email consultations) when I prescribe a 200 potency for example, and miss out writing "C" with it, I receive a question whether it is 200X or 200C. If I write 1M, I get a query that 1M is not available, M potency is available instead. This made me to think that there is a need to clarify the concept and the difference between X and C potencies and other letters used with the numbers for marking. This short article has been written with the hope that it will be of some help in understanding how homeopathic potencies are made and marked.
Mother Tincture and Trituration
Homeopathic medicines are prepared from different source materials, some of which are soluble in water or alcohol but some are not. Mother tinctures are prepared from those substances which are soluble whereas "triturations" are prepared from those which are not soluble. Mother tinctures are liquids but triturations are dry preparations. These mother tinctures (always denoted by ‘Q’) and triturations are the basic potencies which are used to prepare further (higher) potencies.
The substance like alcohol, water or powder (sugar of milk) used to prepare the medicine is called "vehicle" in homeopathic terminology.
In general practice, two systems are being used to raise the potency; namely, the "Decimal System" and the "Centesimal System".
Decimal System
In this system, one part of the medicinal substance and nine parts of the vehicle are used (ratio of 1:9, 1+9=10). It is due to this ratio that the system is called "Decimal System" and is denoted by letter "X" which stands for number 10 in Latin. The vehicle may be water, alcohol or anything else, dry or wet. Basically, any medicine whether biochemic or homeopathic, powder or liquid, if prepared under decimal system will have letter X written with the number of the potency like, 3X, 6X, 12X, 30X, 200X etc. It is always written after the number. This convention is followed by almost all the countries.
The only purpose of this letter X is to indicate that it has been prepared under decimal system and not to differentiate between powder or liquid, homeopathic or biochemic etc. Letter X does not indicate the source of the medicine either.
Centesimal System
In this system, one part of the medicinal substance and ninety nine parts of the vehicle are used (ratio of 1:99, 1+99=100). Like decimal system, it is due to this ratio that the system is called "Centesimal System" and is indicated by letter "C" which is used for number 100 in Latin.
Medicines which are prepared under "Centesimal System" should as a matter of principle, have letter C written with the number of the potency to indicate that it has been prepared under Centesimal system, like 30C, 200C etc. Like letter X in the decimal system, letter C in centesimal system is also always written after the potency number. If letter C is found before the number, it is to be taken as 100 while reading the number. For example, a CM potency would mean 100M or hundred thousand.
Having understood this, if we now compare 30X and 30C potencies, it will be seen that the ratio between the medicinal substance and the vehicle in both the potencies will not be the same. Therefore, 30X potency cannot be the same as 30C. Similarly a potency marked as 200X cannot be the same as 200C. The purpose of using letters "X" or "C" is to indicate the system under which they have been prepared and not to indicate the effectiveness.
What if no letter is found with the number of potency
Unlike decimal system, writing letter C as indication of centesimal system is not considered necessary in all the countries. In many countries (including Pakistan) it is conventionally understood that if any of the letters X or C is not written after the number, it would be understood as a preparation under centesimal system. Thus a potency indicated as 30 or 200 would mean that it has been prepared under centesimal system and is the same as 30C or 200C prepared in another country which prefers to write letter C after the number. Similarly, any homeopathic medicine with potency indicated as 1000 or 1000C would mean the same thing.
Same is the case with higher potencies. Please note letter "M" stands for number 1000 in Latin. Thus M potency would mean the same as 1M (which is actually 1×1000). Now if we put it all together, potency number 1000, 1000C, M or 1M indicate the same thing. Similarly, 30 and 30C would mean the same potency. So is the case with 200 and 200C.
