Drug Remedies in Homeopathy

My introduction and exploration into drug remedies -

I remember scrolling through the pages of the mind section in Kent's repertory as a student and being fascinated with the delusional rubrics of one remedy in particular. That remedy was Cannabis Indica.
I found that this remedy had one of the most absurd set of delusion rubrics I could find.
I always wondered when a patient would walk into the OPD clinic exclaiming that she was a butterfly or a gigantic flower or that he heard the sweetest and the most sublime melody or saw a plateful of stars!!

Eventually I realised that many of the so called drug remedies shared similar rubrics.
When I look into the rubric delusion imaginations beautiful in the Complete repertory I also found Cann- Sativa, Coffea, Anhalonium, Coca and LSD.
The rubric Vision beautiful was a smaller rubric of just fourteen remedies but six of them were drug remedies such as Opium, Cannabis Indica, Coca, Coffea and LSD.

The common themes of Drug remedies -

Let's look at what are the other common symptoms of some of the well proved drug remedies.

I used the homeoquest software and extracted the top eight common rubrics of the well proven drug remedies such as Cann- Ind, Cann-Sat, Coca, Coffea cruda, Coffea tosta, Piper -met, Anhalonium and Opium for remedy analysis.
Each of the following rubrics are quite small with less than 50 remedies but they included at least 4 of the above remedies.

Confusion of mind , duality sensation of

Delusion beautiful wonderful

Delusion strange everything is

Fancies vivid lively

Strength increased mental

Activity and efficiency increased physical

Analgesia.

Mind excitement, exhilaration.

So we realise that these drug remedies shared common themes of experiencing beauty, liveliness, excitement, increased strength, painlessness etc. There was also a confusion and feeling of duality.

Why people use drugs?

I googled for the most common reasons people use drugs and here is the list from the http://www.nt.gov.au/health/healthdev/health_promotion/bushbook/volume2/chap1/sect1.htm

For pleasure - they like the feeling the drug gives

Because they like the 'taste'

To relieve tension and relax

To be part of a religious ceremony

Because they are lonely

Fo relieve boredom

For pain relief

To help cope with problems and forget worries

To do things that they usually could not or would not do - it gives them courage

So in a way people who used drugs are escaping through drugs into a world of pleasure, beauty, courage etc to relieve tension, worries, pain, boredom and loneliness.

Clinical presentation of drug remedies

So was there a similar theme in people needing drug remedies homeopathically?

I initially found the answer by studying the cured cases of these remedies from cases presented by my lecturers as well as from books and journals. Later my own clinical cases confirmed this fact.

It was not surprising to find that even homeopathically the patients who needed drug remedies were acutely sensitive to the real world around them. Most of them had a history of shock or an intensely stressful episode in the past which eventually became the 'ailments from'. The chief complaint developed in the process.

The way they coped was by escaping into this other world.

How did they express these symptoms?
Well some had a past history of taking recreational drugs but that never solved the issue for them so they looked for other avenues. Most escaped through their hobbies and interests. For example through music, dancing, art, religion, spiritualism or exercising. They could be fascinated by science fiction movies or fantasy movies. Many expressed through day dreaming and even dreams in sleep reflected these themes.

Differentiating drug remedies

Eventually I realised that every drug remedy perceived and expressed this reality in his or her own individual way and this wass the key to differentiate them.

Here are some examples from my practice.

A nine year old child developed pyrexia of unknown origin since the shock of his grandfather's death. It was intense fear from this frightful episode and eventually he became dull, absentminded and had episodes of losing awareness of the surroundings. This was his way of escaping from that pain.

Another man developed severe migraines since his baby daughter died from strangulation of the umbilical cord at birth. The migraines were much better by distracting thoughts and during sleep when he had the most exciting and amusing dreams. These dreams were opposite to the painful reality of his life.

Another woman came with nervousness and anxiety. She felt stuck and restricted in her life. It was traced back to her strict upbringing during childhood. She escaped by living in her head, she created funny stories in her head which were hysterical and full of laughter.

The interesting part was that the homeopathic potencies chosen at Stage 3 and 4 helped balance this disturbed sensitivity in the long run. These remedies helped them cope with reality without them needing to resort to other ( sometimes harmful)ways of escapism in the long run. In the process it also resolved their main complaint.

This time I will share with you a case example of a little child to explain the process at Stage 3.

I would love to know your experiences using drug remedies. What other themes do you find emerging in your practice.

Discussion:

Please login or register to post your comment. Registration is free.

Jean Doherty Feb. 5, 2012, 6:36 p.m.

Thanks for sharing. Very Interesting. Do not think have recognized Cann ind yet but hae had several cases of Opium.
Regards Jean

Blog - Shilpa Bhouraskar