Vision:
As An Eliminating Symptom
To Find The Constitutional Remedy
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1998 Mar / Apr VOL VII NO 2.
Dr V K Sivaraman
'Sep / Sul / Phos / Ars-alb / Lyco / Calc-c / Lyco
This is a new technique in finding the constitutional remedy of patients who wear glasses for refractory errors. We can use these just like the eliminating symptom of Miller's hot remedy patients or Cold remedy patients. While Dr Gibson Miller has given 47 remedies that are AGG by heat, 111 remedies that are AGG by cold, and 5 that are AGG by both.
To explain:
- if a patient is AGG by heat,
- if he is ill after a long sun exposure,
- if he wants a cool room,
- if he prefers cold weather,
- if he never goes near the fire or
- if he enters the consultation room with his shirt unbuttoned
Then he belongs to Dr Gibson Miller's predominantly hot remedies and whatever his ailment, you cut out all the cold remedies, such as Aconite, Ars-alb, Belladonna, Calc-carb, Nux-vomica, Nitric-ac, Phos, Sepia, Silica etc and retain all the hot remedies like Arg-nit, Bryonia, Lachesis, Lycopodium, Natrum-mur, Pulsatilla or Sulphur etc.
For a cold patient, you take into account only cold remedies by eliminating the hot remedies. In a case predominantly AGG by hot remedies, even if you consider one cold remedy that fits the case aptly, you may get only a temporary relief to the immediate condition but the patient would relapse again and again. It will not hold well. It may act as a palliative drug but not as a curative drug.
By utilizing the eliminating symptom of hot and cold remedies, you get comparatively small number of drugs through all the rubrics and the selection of remedy becomes easier and quicker. You will generally find, as you work down, that one drug stands out more pre dominantly; it may not cover all the rubrics but at least cover all the important ones.
I use , in the same way,Hypermetropia (long sight or inability to see the objects which are nearer i.e. using + lenses or convex lens) and to Myopia (shortsighted or inability to see the objects which are at a distance i.e. wearing - lenses or concave lens).
Dr Kent has given a list nearly 39 remedies for Hypermetropic on page 280 and another list of 53 myopic remedies on page 283 under chapter Vision in his General Repertory. If a patient has got both hypermetropia and myopia, we have to combine both the rubrics and remedies, and find out the remedies common to both rubrics. Now you will get 18 remedies the are Arg-nit, Calc-carb, Conium, Gratiola, Hyoscyamus, Lycopodium, Mezererum, Nat-carb, Nat-mur, Petroleum, Phos, Physostigma, Psorinum, Raphanus, Stramonium, Sulphur and Valeriana.
Apart from Kent, Boeninghausen, in his general repertory, page 345, has introduced
Am-carb.
I have been using this system of eliminating rubric of hypermetropia and myopia for the last 25 years. Somehow, it struck me to include this as a very important symptom on repertorisation for patients who wear glasses. You may ask me whether the application of this rubric will remove the refractory errors of the patient. Yes, in cases that have come primarily for removing glasses, by giving the proper remedy for a long time, you may either cure the defect or may reduce the refractory error or at least the condition will not deteriorate. We have not tapped these rubrics so far, even though they are available in Dr Kent's General Repertory.
In Dr Bidwell's book, 'How to use the Repertory,' he has written on pg 54 [in some it is 48], "special senses are often so closely related to the whole man, that a great many of these symptoms are generals: odours make sick, oversensitiveness to sound, noise, light etc are classed in this group.". In that sense, vision too cimes under the category of special senses, and becomes a general symptom. In a patient with myopia or hypermetropia we cannot eliminate this symptom from his case, as this will help us to select the correct remedy.
Now, how to find out which group the patient belongs to longsight, shortsight or both? Either by the prescription of glasses or by another simple procedure to know the defect. Please hold the glasses in front of your eyes opposite to a printed board and move them towards your left side. If the letters move towards opposite side or right side, the patient is longsighted.. If the letters move on the same side or left side, the patient is shortsighted. A list of Hypermetropic and Myopic remedies is given below:
Hypermetropia: Acon, Aesc, Alum, Arg-n, Bell, Bry, Calc, Carb-an, Caust, Chel, Chin, Coloc, Con, Dros, Grat, Hyos, Lil-t, Lye, Mag-m, Mez, Morph, Nat-c, Nat-m, Nux-v, Onos, Petr, Phos, Phys, Phyt, Psor, Raph, Sang, Sep, Sil, Spig, Stram, Sulph, Tub, Valer.
Myopia: Agar, Am-c, Anac, Apis, Arg-n, Ars, Calc, Carb-s, Carb-v, Chin, Cimic, Coff-t, Con, Cycl, Dig, Euphr, Gels, Graph, Grat, Hyos, Jab, Lach, Lyc, Mang, Meph, Mez, Nat-a, Nat-c, Nat-m, Nat-p, Nit-ac, Petr, Ph-ac, Phos, Phys, Pic-ac, Plb, Psor, Puls, Paph, Ruta, Sel, Spong, Stram, Sulph, Sul-ac, Syph, Thuj, Tub, Viol-o, Valer, Verb, Viol-t
