Goal of Homeopathic Treatment - The Naturopathic Medicine ... · Goal of Homeopathic Treatment ....

1 Homeopathic Case Management

Vital Gathering 3 – Oct 12-13, 2018 Eli Camp, ND, DHANP & Jared Zeff ND, LAc

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Goal of Homeopathic Treatment

The ultimate goal when prescribing a homeopathic remedy is to stimulate a person’s vital force so that the body can heal itself. Symptoms resolve, everyone is happy and you get word of mouth referrals. In my 12 short years of practicing medicine, the number one reason I see homeopathic treatment fall short or fail is due to the mismanagement of the case, acute or chronic.

This is where potentially brilliant homeopathic cases are lost – good case, correct or similar enough remedy is prescribed, dosing frequency is spot on, person shows improvement, but then the case is lost because of the follow-up and LACK of homeopathic case management. With a few small tweaks and a little extra knowledge, this can be avoided and homeopathic care can be taken to a spectacular level.

The majority of people given a homeopathic remedy will have a period of improvement followed by a plateau followed by a worsening of symptoms. This happens in acute or chronic cases, although, because most acute illness is self-limiting, it is less noticeable.

When there are multiple interventions being used, it can be a little difficult to observe, but it is happening and has been described by every homeopath over the last 200+ years. It is described in the Organon and it is seen in clinical practice.

The ideal action plan to keep people from backsliding, is to make a remedy or potency change while they are in the plateau stage or shortly thereafter. Once someone is cured, i.e. their symptoms resolve and they typically do not backslide unless some major stressor comes into play. When that happens, a person usually just needs to redose the last remedy, at the last strength, and the symptoms will clear.



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While this takes practice and time, it is not hard and can be implemented immediately if you follow some basic rules. All of the “rules” that comprise this method come straight from the Organon, they have just been organized in a way that is more straightforward and user friendly.

Follow-up

Typically, when we do follow-ups as NDs, we are looking for specific patterns. Either the patient improved or has had a return of old symptoms (healing in the reverse order) which is often interpreted by the patient as having gotten worse. Sometimes there has been no change and things have to be tweaked and sometimes things are worse! These patterns are observed regardless of what intervention you have put in place.

When homeopathy is being used in a case, there is an additional layer to follow-ups which is the collection of information that guides you regarding when and how to make a change to the remedy you initially or last prescribed.

Tool #1 - I use the checklist method, but this is one of many ways. When I prescribe a remedy, I make a list of the symptoms I prescribed on and then in addition to a normal typical follow up, I make sure I gather the information needed to fill out this chart. This gives me all the information I need to use Tool #2 which does the work for me.



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I usually hand-draw the chart quickly in the notes. But for those who use electronic notes you can just type it in (or dictate). Some docs keep a stack of these, fill them out and scan them in as a part of the chart note for the visit. I also have this available as a fillable pdf if you want it – so you can fill it out electronically and then simply add to chart or fill it in online and then print it to the chart. However works best for you is fine.

You can download it from here: https://ecampnd.com/documents/FU_SXS_Chart_fillable.pdf.

My grading key:

Greatly improved or worse = XXX

Somewhat improved or worse = XX

Slightly improved or worse = X

Symptom resolved = gone

New symptoms allow me to identify if they need a remedy change or if old symptoms are returning. If there are many, I would chart it normally and just make a brief note here. When did they feel their best or worst?

In general, do they feel better or worse? This information allows me to know what to do in the event there are new symptoms. The significance of the new symptoms in regard to changing the remedy can vary depending on how they are doing overall. Sometimes people have a return of old symptoms or are clearing something from the body and they feel GREAT. I don’t want to change the remedy during this process when they are feeling so good EVEN THOUGH there are new symptoms. I do all of this so I can place them on the chart, show them where they are at and know clearly how to or not to change the remedy.

https://ecampnd.com/documents/FU_SXS_Chart_fillable.pdf



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Flow Charts – Tool #2



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Using the Flow Charts

I use the chart with symptom information in conjunction with the flow charts. If I have them taking repeated doses on a regular basis then I use the multi-dose flow chart. If I have given them 1 dose and want to follow up before redosing, I use the single dose flow chart. This process is for acute or chronic and differs only in the time between follow-ups. For acute conditions this may be minutes, hours or days while for chronic it can be days, weeks or months.

By using these tools you can train your thought process and in a very short period of time you will find that you will not need these tools for acutes that are clear cut. I still use this process for chronic cases and acute cases that are less clear cut. It looks like it takes a long time, but it really just takes minutes to use these tools. And eventually, you will get to the place of our esteemed senior vitalists where you “know” the remedy and “how to change it over time” to get even more amazing homeopathic results.



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Let’s work through some examples.



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All of the above examples are for patients on chronic treatment but this system works for acute situations as well. It is simply that the time between follow ups may be minutes to hours to days depending on what you are treating.

I can almost here Dr. Sensenig or Dr. Zeff or Dr. Dick in the background saying – well of course they’re better, why do you need a chart? This is true, many times after you give a remedy they are better, and you don’t need a chart, but there is more to this story. I started my part of this talk with the following thought:

This is where potentially brilliant homeopathic cases are lost – good case, correct or similar enough remedy is prescribed, dosing frequency is spot on, person shows improvement, but then the case is lost because of the follow-up and LACK of homeopathic case management. With a few small tweaks and a little extra knowledge, this can be avoided and homeopathic care can be taken to a spectacular level.

When we are using non-potentized medicines such as botanicals or supplements and physical interventions, it is very clear when things are improving, not improving or even getting worse. If you understand the laws of cure, you don’t need a chart.

I am sure all of you have had the experience with patients where they have been improving and then something changes. Or a person is a little better in one way or a little worse in another. Or they are fine for quite some time and then things change. There is no explanation that you can find, they have simply lost ground or have had something new come up and it is challenging to figure things out. Especially when you are using homeopathy and in this modality, when this happens, using this system can keep the case going and moving forward. We homeo nerds say, they are no longer reacting and they need a remedy or potency change.



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Unless you are working with degenerative illness, people almost always reach a point of cure. And in the world of homeopathy this equates to being able to stop the remedy they are on. If symptoms should come back, and they are still covered by the last remedy, simply pick up where you left off by dosing the last strength of the last remedy they took. If there is no reaction go to the next strength. If there is no reaction, retake the case and find a different remedy.

This looks like a lot of work, but in reality, once you put it into play, it goes something like this:

Choose the remedy that best matches the case

Pick a strength/potency

Decide on dosing frequency

Have the patient take the remedy

Follow-up

Decide how to change dosing, remedy strength, or when change the remedy

Turn over to Dr. Zeff

References

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