ACONITE

Often there are times when you feel that you are about to fall ill. The stage when the
disease has not localized, yet you can feel dis-eased - technically called the prodormal
phase of an acute illness. Aconite is a medicine that can be taken in the prodormal stage
of most acute ailments, especially, if they develop suddenly. It will abort the illness in
most cases.

Aconite is a medicine to consider whenever complaints appear suddenly. You were fine
till 2 hours ago and now suddenly you develop pain in throat - aconite could be the
remedy. You went into cold air, entered a warm room and suddenly started sneezing,
aconite can be the remedy at this stage before the cold has fully gripped you. Similarly, if
you suddenly develop fever, your skin feels dry and hot, there is dryness of
mouth and you feel thirsty and there is redness of face - aconite could be your remedy.

Often in aconite patients, you will find that they get more disturbed even with slight
ailments. They become more anxious and restless. They may even develop an
undue fear of disease and death. The ailments are slight but the slightest ailment puts
them off the track.

That is aconite for you in brief - just remember acute ailments, sudden onset, anxiety and
restlessness!

ARNICA

Arnica is a medicine which is best known for its ability to heal in cases of injury,
especially, when the injury results from a fall, blunt instruments, concussions, and
contusions. In injuries where there is an element of shock or where the muscles are
more affected with a sore, lame, bruised feeling in whole body, as if beaten, arnica is
often indicated.

Arnica can work wonders in injury cases where the flesh is not torn. If there is
ecchymosis or internal bleeding after an injury or if there is pus formation in soft tissue or
bones (without lacerations) after injury, arnica is often indicated.

Many times it happens that you meet people who tell you that they suffered some injury
or met with an accident many years ago, but they still feel the pain in the injured parts.
Arnica can even heal such effects of very old injuries.

The arnica patient is very sensitive to touch. More sensitive than most people. The
pains are often worse at rest, by touch, by motion, and better by lying down.

Arnica has more use than described here. But if you remember injury, sore/lame/bruised
feeling, ecchymosis, and sensitivity to touch - you will be able to put arnica to good use!
ARSENIC ALBUM

Arsenic is a medicine with a very diverse range of action. It can prove useful in many
acute ailments like diarrhea, cold, gastritis, fever etc. It is also a very deep acting
medicine useful in many chronic ailments. Whatever be the ailment the arsenic patient
shows some characteristic features.

To begin with, the patient requiring arsenic often feels very prostrated, very tired. The
feeling of fatigue is usually not in proportion to his/her ailment. The patient feels more
tired than he should for the severity of his/her ailments. At the very same time, the
patient also feels mentally restless. Although the patient feels tired, he can not rest in
one place. He/she will continue to move or change his position as long as the body
permits.

There is lot of anxiety too regarding his disease and health in general. The patient
exaggerates the disease and may even feel that his/her disease is incurable (even simple
diarrhea or cold!!). The feeling leads to fear of death.

The complaints of arsenic patients are often worse around midnight and midday - more
around midnight. The pains felt by a patient needing arsenic are often burning in nature.
The arsenic patient usually feels better by heat (except in headache), hot drinks, hot
application etc.

The arsenic thirst is also very typical. The patient feels thirsty but drinks small quantities
at frequent intervals. There are some other symptoms of arsenic too that you should be
aware of -

* Arsenic is often indicated in gastric derangement ( gastritis / diarrhea / vomiting) after

cold fruits, ice-cream, ice-water, old food (cases of food poisoning). The diarrhea of
arsenic patient is often worse after eating or drinking.

* In asthma, the arsenic patient can not lie down. Feels better by sitting and bending
forward.

* Arsenic patient often becomes nauseous with the smell or sight of food.

That's arsenic in short for you!

BELLADONA

The acute conditions in which belladona often finds indication are cold, sore throat, fever,
headache, dentitional problems of children, and acute painful inflammations of all kinds.

The patient catches cold very easily and the cold usually settles in throat. The patient
develops sore throat, the tonsils enlarge, throat appearsred, feels dry and painful, more
so on the right side. The cough is dry, short and is often worse at night.

The pains pointing towards belladona are usually throbbing or pulsating in nature. The
pains are often very intense and they start suddenly (not gradually). In headache also,
the congestion and throbbing pain is found. During headache the face becomes red and
there is throbbing pain in the head. The pain is worse by lying down, noise, light, and
exertion. It becomes better on applying pressure.

Belladona is often indicated in primary stages of inflammation, when there is lot

of redness, congestion, and pain in the affected part. It is specially useful in the pre-
suppurative stage (before the pus has formed).

In fever also the redness and heat characterizing the congestive state predominates. The
heat can be very intense with little sweat. The skin feels dry and red. The head appears
more hot. The patient often has no thirst during fever.

Belladona is also useful in many other conditions. Congestion, redness, heat, and
throbbing pains are the keynotes to remember for you.
CARBO VEG.

Carbo veg., made from charcoal, proves useful when the vital power becomes low from
loss of vital fluid, from grave or serious diseases, from effects of drugs etc. It helps when
reactivity is low.

The typical Carbo veg patient is fat, sluggish, lazy and has a tendency to chronicity of
complaints. It especially suits to old people with low vitalityand to people who have never
recovered fully from the effect of some previous illness.

It is a lifesaver remedy for the state of collapse in cholera, typhoid or other grave
diseases, when the patient is almost lifeless, with cold body (head may be hot), breath
cold, pulse imperceptible, respiration quickened and there is desire to be fanned.

Hemorrhage, where the blood is dark, oozing from shock, after surgical operations,
persists for hours or days. Alco bleeding gums.

Weakness, flatulence, and air hunger are present with most of the complaints.

Carbo veg has pronounced action on the gastrointestinal tract. Digestion is slow, food
turns into gas. Aversion to meat, fat and milk which cause flatulence. Loud eructations
which ameliorate. Heaviness and burning after eating. Abdomen distended, esp.
the upper part. Can not bear tight clothing around waist.

That's carbo-veg for you!

PULSATILLA

On account of its changing , shifting symptoms, this remedy is known as a weather cock
remedy. It is preeminently a remedy for females - mild, gentle, plethoric, sluggish,
yielding disposition - who cry readily.

Thirstlessness, chilliness and shortness of breath is often present with digestive and
menstrual disorders. Mucus discharges are profuse, bland, thick, yellowish-green.
Symptoms often change, shift or appear contradictory.

Mentally, the patient is mild, timid, emotional and fearful. Easily discouraged and
offended. The patient craves sympathy, which ameliorates. Has aclinging nature. Children
like fun and caress. In females there is often morbid fear of opposite sex. Also there is
fear to be alone, of dark, of ghosts in the evening. Although the pulsatilla is patient is
very mild, she is also very irritable at the same time.

Pulsatilla is very useful if menses are delayed at puberty or when the menses are late,
scanty and painful. It also helps if the labour pains are weak or when the pains after
delivery are severe or when there is bleeding after delivery. It also helps when the milk is
suppressed or scanty.

Pulsatilla patient is usually worse by warmth, heat, closed room, evening and eating rich
food and is better by cold, open fresh air, gentle motion and weeping.
NUX VOMICA

Nux vomica is an everyday remedy. It corresponds to many diseased conditions to which

a modern man is prone. It is useful in those persons who lead a sedentary life, doing
much mental work, or remain under stress and strain of prolonged office work, business
cares and worries. Such people are are apt to indulge in wine, woman, rich food,
stimulants and drugs, and suffer in consequence.

The typical nux patient is rather this (may be potbellied), spare, quick, active, nervous
and irritable. Nux affects nerves causing hypersensitivenessand overimpressionability -
both mentally and physically.

Mentally, the patients is active, gets angry easily, is impatient and can not stand pain.
Nux is the remedy for males who are zealous, optimistic, ambitious, fastidious,
faultfinding, headstrong and self-willed - the achievers. The focus is often on 'I', 'Me' or
"Mine'. The patient is usually oversensitive to external impressions like noise, light, odor,
touch etc.

Nux is a very good remedy for gastric disturbances. The Nux person craves beer, fats and
stimulants. There is heaviness in abdomen an hour or two after eating, must loosen
clothing. The patient can not do mental work for 2-3 hours after a meal. Constipation;
with frequent, unsuccessful desire; passing small stool. There is sensation as if not
finished after stool.

Nux patient is usually chilly, can not bear cold. Patient is usually worse in morning,
mental exertion, after eating or overeating, touch noise, anger, dry-cold weather,
disappointment of ambition etc. and better by free discharges, naps, milk and rest.

IGNATIA

Ignatia is a remedy which often comes into play when there is history of suppressed
anger, grief, loss of loved ones, or disappointed love. Persons who become mentally of
physically exhausted by long-concentrated grief. Such people often have desire to be
alone. They are amicable in disposition if feeling well, but easily disturbed by very slight
emotion; easily offended. The slightest faultfinding or contradiction excited anger, and
this makes her angry with herself. The person becomes moody. Mental conditions change
rapidly from joy to sorrow, from laughing to weeping.

Children when reprimanded or scolded, get sick or have convulsions in sleep.

Ignatia especially suits to women of a nervous temperament who have a mild disposition.
But they are quick to perceive and rapid in execution (unlike Pulsatilla). Ignatia patients
often have involuntary sighing. Also they have an aversion to tobacco/smoking.

Ignatia is called the remedy of contradictions as it presents lots of contradictory

symptoms like thirst during chill, pain in throat better by swallowing, cough worse by
coughing, piles better by walking etc.

Ignatia is also oversensitive to pain. And pains usually occur in small circumscribed spots.

Another interesting feature of Ignatia is that its patients often sweat on face while eating.
That's Ignatia for you!

When Dr. Hahnemann established the 'Law of Similia', he started prescribing the medicines
he had tested. He used to give crude, material doses as was the norm those days. For
e.g.., If a patient came with symptoms of malaria resembling the symptom picture
produced by china bark, the patient would be given the crude extract of the china bark
(cinchona) as a medicine.

Dr. Hahnemann observed that these crude medicines, although acted curatively, produced
lot of unnecessary side effects. He also realized that many substances, which are
poisonous in nature, can alter the human state of health, but can not be used in crude
form. For e.g.., When a person ingests some arsenic, the person suffers from severe
vomiting and watery diarrhea. But arsenic being a poison could not be used on the law of
similars for similar cases of cholera. To reduce these undue limitations, Dr. Hahnemann
started to reduce the dose of drugs. He would take 1 part of medicine, mix it with 9 or 99
parts of alcohol or water or sugar of milk and would shake it or grind it. While
experimenting with this process, he soon realized that the medicines prepared in this way
were acting better than the crude medicines. With every successive dilution, he found that
the medicines were acting better and more deeply.

Exactly when and how Dr. Hahnemann stumbled upon this method of drug preparation is
not known. This discovery has become one of the most controversial discovery of medical
science ever.

Now a days, medicines are prepared in two basic scales of dilution - decimal and
centesimal. In decimal scale, the medicine is diluted in a ratio of 1:9 in every successive
preparation (potency) (1X, 2X, 3X, 4X...and so on). In centesimal scale, the medicine is
diluted in a ratio of 1:99 in every potency (1C, 2C, 3C, 4C..and so on). The medicines are
strongly shaken after every dilution (there is a specific method for shaking).

The controversy starts here because after 24th decimal dilution (24X potency) and after
12th centesimal dilution (12C potency), the medicine gets so diluted that even 1 molecule
of the original drug substance can not be traced in the medicine(!!!!! the Avogadro's
number is crossed)). Yet the medicines work! and work better than the lower potencies.

This is a big scientific puzzle. Our current concepts of physics and chemistry are not able
to explain what is left in these medicines at such dilution that works curatively. A 12C is
considered a low potency by homeopaths. Homeopaths frequently use potencies as high as
30C, 200C, 1000C, 10000C and beyond.
The current hypothesis is that the method of shaking somehow transfers the
'electromagnetic signature' of the drug substance to the diluting vehicle. What this
signature is and how it gets transferred should be left as work for physicists. What is
important for the patient and the homeopath is that the medicines work and work very
effectively. It has been clinically verified millions of times. Very soon, you yourself will
start appreciating the power of small doses of homeopathy.

Homeopathy medicines are prepared from a number of sources like plants, minerals,
animal products, energy forms etc. Sometimes even diseased tissue is also used as a
crude base for the preparation of homeopathy medicines.

Homeopathy is the only system of medicine which has been able to successfully use all
forms of matter and energy for therapeutic purpose. Even otherwise harmful substances
like arsenic, snake poisons, disease products and tissues etc. are successfully prepared to
yield therapeutic benefits homeopathically.

The magic of it all lies in the way homeopathy medicines are prepared. We will study that
in our next chapter. For now, here is a list of sources of homeopathy medicines along with
some examples of medicines prepared from each source. Go through them carefully. Many
of the medicinal sources are going to raise questions in your mind like 'How can a medicine
be prepared from this substance?' or 'Are homeopaths nuts to use this as a drug?'. Do not
worry. You will get your answers soon. None of these medicines are given in crude or
physiological doses.

Here is the list of medicinal sources with examples of medicines from each source -

Plant Kingdom - Aconite napellus, Arnica montana, Belladona, Chamomilla, Chelidonium,

Drosera, Dulcamara, Euphrasia, Hyoscyamus, Pulsatilla, Gelsemium, Allium cepa, Cinchona
officinalis, Baptisia tinctoria, Rhus tox, Digitalis, Oleander, Thuja, Lycopodium Calendula,
Coffea, Nux vomica, Agaricus muscaris, Aloe etc.

Animal Kingdom - Apis mel (honeybee), Blatta orientalis (cockroach), Culex (mosquito),
Tarentula (spider), Cantharis (spanish fly), Sepia (cuttle fish), Carbo animalis (ox hide),
Lecithin (egg yolk), Lac caninum (bitch milk), Vipera (snake poison), Lachesis (snake
poison) etc.

Mineral Kingdom - Aluminum, Argentum (silver), Aurum (gold), Cuprum (copper),

Platinum, Ferrum (iron), Graphites (carbon), Lactic acid, Oxalic acid, Petroleum (mineral
oil) etc.

Sarcodes (healthy secretions/extracts) - Adrenalinum (adrenal gland), Insulin,

Pancreatinum (pancreas), Thyroidinum (thyroid gland) etc.

Nosodes (disease producing agents, disease products or diseases tissues) - Carcinocin

(cancer tissue), Medorrhinum (gonorrheal virus), Psorinum (itch eruptions), Tuberculinum
(tubercular pus), Anthracinum (spleen of anthrax affected animal), Influenzium (influenza
virus) etc.

Imponderabilia (energy forms) - Luna (moon), Sol (sun's ray), X-Ray, Electricitus
(electricity) etc.
In the last 2 chapters, while discussing the method of preparation of homeopathy
medicines, I told you that homeopathy medicines are usually given in sub-physiological
doses. It means, the homeopathy medicine 'Arsenic' does not contain even a single
molecule of arsenic and the homeopathy medicine Cinchona(or china) does not contain any
bark extract in it. (Beyond 12 C potency)

So if there is nothing chemical left in these medicines, then how and why do they work?
Big questions. And Frankly speaking, I do not have any specific answers to them either.
This is an unsolved puzzle. We have just started putting the pieces of this puzzle together.
There have been many double blind clinical trials which have undoubtedly shown that
homeopathy medicines have definite medical properties. Some newer concepts in modern
physics like 'memory of water', nuclear magnetic resonance, kirlian photography etc. are
also being used to find the physical basis of homeopathy medicines. The initial results are
very encouraging and I expect a full answer to this puzzle within the next few years.

The current hypothesis regarding the action of homeopathy medicines is as follows -

Diseases as characterized by various names (diabetes, hypertension, cancer, peptic ulcer,

OCD etc.) are not definite entities. They are 'states' - states of deviation from health.
Diseases as we know them, are just the final stage of a long process. Homeopathy
recognizes all diseases as a process and not as an entity. Homeopathy medicines when
given to a healthy human being, create an artificial disease like state which is called
proving. When given to a sick person having a similar 'disease state', the medicine
(somehow) stimulates the body's defense mechanism (possibly through neuro-endocrine
axis) in such a specific manner that the body itself compensates the diseases state and the
process of healing starts.

The way clinically health is restored through homeopathy medicines has been documented
extensively and millions of times. What transpires within the body is of academic interest.
What is of primary interest to people who are sick and the people who want to heal, is that
homeopathy medicines can restore a persons health. This is the bottom line, which no one
can deny!