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There are four possible reactions you can have to a homeopathic remedy. The response you have will depend upon two factors:
- One: The accuracy of the match between your symptoms and the symptoms that the homeopathic remedy can cure.
- Two: How well the prescription matches your sensitivity and vitality.
It is important that you notice any changes in your symptoms that occur following starting the remedy and also when those changes occur after starting the remedy.
This video covers the four potential responses to homeopathic treatment.
The four potential responses to a remedy are no response, healing, aggravation and return of old symptoms.
No Response
A report of no response to the remedy occurs in three situations. The first would be that the remedy is not a close match for your symptoms. This can occur if there is no homeopathic remedy available that matches your symptoms well. This can also occur when either poorly representative information from the questionnaire is used or the questionnaire does not have the right questions needed to find your remedy. In this case of no response, a new remedy needs to be selected according to further questioning or a second review of the symptom information collected on your questionnaire.
No response to the remedy is also seen when the potency selected for the prescription has been too low to start the healing response. If the practitioner suspects this may be the case, the same remedy will be continued, but at a more frequent dosing schedule.
Another reason that no response is reported is that the patient can easily forget what the previous intensity of their symptoms was. Homeopathic healing is often gradual and gentle and may not be noticed by the patient. Feeling normal or healthy is not as easy to notice as is having symptoms. To avoid any misinterpretation of your response to the remedy, your practitioner will use pictures of your skin lesions taken at previous visits for comparison to document if indeed there is no response.
Healing
The second type of response to the homeopathic remedy that can be seen is one of healing. In this case a correct matching remedy has been chosen for your case. Here the prescription will be evaluated only as to the rate of healing. This is to take advantage of adjustments that could shorten the time for healing without forcing the healing too fast and causing an aggravation. The rate at which the patient heals following the initial remedy trial will give an indication of the total time needed to heal.
When your healing is complete, your treatment reaches its conclusion and the remedy can be discontinued. At this time, it is a good idea to reassess the initial symptom picture from your questionnaire. Reductions in the intensity of other symptoms beyond your skin complaint could indicate that this remedy can be useful to you in removing those symptoms as well. Also, should your skin complaints or those other symptoms return at any time in the future, it would then be appropriate to consult with your practitioner on taking the remedy again.
Aggravation
The third potential response to a homeopathic remedy is aggravation. In this case, the symptoms of your skin complaint will become worsened after taking the homeopathic remedy for some period of time. This may occur after the initial dose of the remedy and this indicates your sensitivity to the remedy is very high and the dose will need to be reduced. A homeopathic aggravation normally lasts only for a period of hours and then disappears. In this case, call the office for further instructions on how to reduce the dose.
An aggravation means you have the right remedy but need a lower dose. If you do not aggravate after the initial doses, but instead your symptoms improve and then at a later time the symptoms begin to worsen, this also means that the dose needs to be reduced. This may occur just as the last percent of the disease is being healed and the remedy is no longer needed. In either case, discontinue the remedy and call the office for further instructions.
Return of Old Symptoms
The last type of response to a homeopathic remedy that you might experience is return of old symptoms (ROOS). This response indicates that the correct remedy has been chosen for you but the dosing is too high. Reducing the dosage will eliminate the ROOS. When ROOS occurs it means that this remedy you are taking for your skin complaint has the ability to heal another health issue that you have had in the past. It indicates that the remedy is a particularly good match for you but that some problem you experienced in the past was not healed with a full recovery or resistance being achieved. The remedy is calling back the old symptoms for further healing. ROOS has the characteristics that the symptoms which reappear will be ones you recognize as having had in the past but now they will be associated with minimal discomfort and leave spontaneously in a short time.
In the homeopathic system, there is no time limit to what healing is still available and waiting to be accomplished. If the remedy has extra energy beyond what is needed for your skin complaint, this energy can be utilized by your Vital Force to clear up another problem. When this occurs, no extra suffering is needed and reducing the dosage will still remove the old symptoms silently.
ROOS is different from the side effects associated with drugs in that ROOS are not new symptoms imposed upon you as a drug is capable of doing. Drug side effects are not part of your health history but occur only as a drugging effect. ROOS relates only to those naturally occurring symptoms that are part of your individual health history.
