Methods of taking a homœopathic remedy?
Homœopathic remedies are usually dispensed as little white sugar pills.
Homœopathic remedies are usually dispensed as little white sugar pills. There are different ideas of how many pills to take as a dose. Should you take 2, 3 or just one? I have always taken just one pill as one dose and have found it works just fine. This method ensures that your vial of remedy lasts longer.
How often to take a remedy? This depends on the type of situation you are taking the remedy for.
In an acute situation you can repeat the remedy as frequently as every 15 minutes if the symptoms are very intense. This is usually done for the first hour and then the time between each dose is lengthened, to every hour, three times a day, twice a day, daily as the symptoms start to resolve the repeat dose is spaced out more.
Another way to assess the repetition of the dose is to observe the symptoms. If symptoms ameliorate (become better) after a dose, wait until the symptoms start to get worse again before taking the remedy again. Usually the time between each repetition lengthens slightly as the body starts to recover. It is a good idea to keep taking the remedy until all the symptoms have cleared up.
For example in a fever you may take the remedy frequently to bring down the fever and then use once or twice daily until energy has returned and you feel fully on the mend.
It is also necessary to watch how your symptoms change. This will determine if you need to change the remedy to a different one as the illness progresses.
When repeating the dose you can take a pill as each dose or you can use a water dose. Place one pill in half a glass of water (approximately 60mls), stir the glass and take a teaspoon as one dose. Stir the glass each time a subsequent dose is taken. If your travelling, place a pill in a disposable water bottle and succuss (strike the bottom of the bottle against the palm of your hand twice) before taking another dose. This method is a gentle way of administering the remedy and again helps your first aid kit to last longer.
Water dosing is the best method for animals, I use a 5ml syringe (with no needle of course!) as the teaspoon, it is easier to get into the corner of the animals’ mouth and a bit deeper down their throat so they actually swallow the remedy and not just cough it onto you. For large animals such as cows and horses, the remedy can be put into a spray bottle and squirted into the mouth.
Another method of water dosing is known as the split dose. One pillule is placed in a small glass of water, a dose is 1/3 of the glass. This is taken night, morning, night for one day. It is a gentle way of administering the remedy so the body can assimilate the medicine more effectively. This method is usually used for a chronic prescription.
When taking a remedy for a chronic condition the repetition will be determined by your homœopath. The repetition depends on a number of factors – how long you have had the condition, pharmaceutical drugs you may be taking to control your condition, your level of vitality / health, the potency being administered. Generally low potency will be prescribed more frequently and high potency less so or even just a single dose.
A remedy may also be administered in a liquid mixture of water and alcohol as a number of drops. This maybe a small bottle (15-30 mls) or in a larger bottle (50-100 mls). The larger bottle is usually used for the LM or Q potencies. The number of drops per dose will be determined by your prescriber.
Best practice is to take the remedy in a clean mouth. So don’t eat or brush your teeth for 15-30 minutes either before or after the administration of the remedy. That being said, I found it extremely difficult to do this with my dairy goats, so I squirted the syringe of medicated water onto their oats and chaff at feeding time, they ate the lot together and the effects were just as good.
It is also a good idea to not handle the remedy pills. Shake one pill gently into the cap of the bottle, then place in a medicine cup and then into your mouth. Using a medicine cup is better than using the bottle cap as a dispensing mechanism, as moisture from your breath gets on the cap. This can cause moisture in the bottle and the pills become moist and stick together. Don’t worry if this happens though, simply use a wooden toothpick to get the moist pills out of the bottle. My first remedy kits that I bought from India 20 years ago have all turned completely to liquid. I still have them in the back of the cupboard for use if I don’t have any other stock of that particular remedy. I have used them on occasion and they still have therapeutic effect.
It is also recommended to not drink coffee whilst taking homœopathic treatment. This is a very contentious issue. All I can say is sometimes coffee antidotes a remedy and sometimes it doesn’t.
Disclaimer: This information is supplied for educational purposes only. Sources include published literature and anecdotal experiences of myself and other men, women and animals. The information is not intended for the treatment of any particular individual person or disease. If you are suffering any particular complaint please consult professional help.