My Pets Aggravation After any Medicine

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi @everyone-

Christine asked me another great question and here's my reply.

First, an excerpt of what she wrote:

...lots of coughing fits - if these are aggravations as you mentioned in another email, should we not suppress them by, for example, give hydrocodone for cough?

Other homeopaths I spoke to told me aggravation is very rare.

Ah, the medicinal aggravation. One of my favorite subjects, YAY!!

The answer to your questions involves every aspect of homeopathy from physics and hormesis (the size of the dose effect) to symptoms, provings, poisonings, clinical management, etc.

As a homeopathy student @kingsgrlie, the best way to start answering your question is at the source.

Meaning the "Organon" by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann.

Here's his very clear definition of the aggravation from paragraphs 157 and 158:

157 Sixth Edition

But though it is certain that a homoeopathically selected remedy does, by reason of its appropriateness and the minuteness of the dose, gently remove and annihilate the acute disease analogous to it, without manifesting its other unhomoeopathic symptoms, that is to say, without the production of new, serious disturbances, yet it usually, immediately after ingestion - for the first hour, or for a few hours - causes a kind of slight aggravation when the dose has not been sufficiently small and (where the dose has been somewhat too large, however, for a considerable number of hours), which has so much resemblance to the original disease that it seems to the patient to be an aggravation of his own disease. But it is, in reality, nothing more than an extremely similar medicinal disease, somewhat exceeding in strength the original affection.

§ 158

This slight homoeopathic aggravation during the first hours - a very good prognostic that the acute disease will most probably yield to the first dose - is quite as it ought to be, as the medicinal disease must naturally be somewhat stronger than the malady to be cured if it is to overpower and extinguish the latter, just as a natural disease can remove and annihilate another one similar to it only when it is stronger than the latter.

This is the elegant way he describes the inner and unseen (at that time) physiologic changes that start moments after taking a homeopathically-selected medicine.

As you know, the homeopathicity of the remedy is directly related to symptom similarity.

As Hahnemann writes, a less than perfect match (which is pretty common) will create its own kind of aggravation, as will any remedy given in too high of a dose.

The size of the dose determines the degree of the initial aggravation.

Using a very small Q-Tip dose eliminates many similar aggravations.

This reduces dis-similar aggravations, but they can still occur.

In addition, the medicinal aggravation is sometimes hard to differentiate from a progression of dis-ease.

Let's all discuss these important questions in this thread.

 

[ChristineL]

Thanks, Dr. Jeff. Can you explain what this means - "aggravation followed by amelioration" ? - is this what most people called "it gets worse before it gets better (cured)"?

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Exactly right!

Some say that you always get worse before getting better when using homeopathy. However, this is inaccurate.

The aggravation is related to the homeopathicity, potency and dose as per the Organon and clinical experience.

More details about dosing and aggravations are in this article:

Does the Size of the Dose Really Matter? - Jeff Feinman

This case exemplifies the importance of testing the sensitivity of every patient in deciding the dose of medicine to use. Currently, my patients initially receive one (or less) teaspoons from a 30c solution, or one dose of an LM 0/1.

hpathy.com

 

[ChristineL]

Thanks for the wonderful article, @Dr. Jeff ! After reading it, I have two questions:

1) When aggravation occurs and the patient exhibits severer symptoms, have you (or any other homeopath vets here) used antidotes to the remedy given to stop the aggravation?

2) In the case for Koby, his last dose of Aurum 6c 15/Q was given on 12/31/2019, then symptoms/signs of aggravation appeared on 01/01/2020, [note: these signs are diarrhea, vomiting, severe coughing fits, clinginess, fast heart rate] then he got much better the next day (01/02), then diarrhea again on the following day (01/03) with a slight drop of energy. [Side note: drop of energy = less walking; but his energy spiked during snuffle mat session; his last session went on for 2.5 hours in one setting.]. And today, (01/04) his energy has definitely dropped (it's almost 3pm PST and he's still sleeping). There's no drastic change in his diet. With these symptoms exhibited in the last three days, are these symptoms still considered to be aggravation when he got better for a day then worsen, when no new dose of remedy was given in between? I hope this makes sense....

UPDATE:
After my last post (above), I wanted to test his energy level so I "presented" his harness and leash to him while he was still in bed..he quickly ran to his harness and was excited to go out. We had a decent walk (energy was not bad and stool was normal) and upon return home, I gave him his first meal of the day and his appetite was good. I do think he has some digestion issues because he does a lot of licking after his meal....

 

[Dr. Christina]

1) When aggravation occurs and the patient exhibits severer symptoms, have you (or any other homeopath vets here) used antidotes to the remedy given to stop the aggravation?

There are different approaches to antidoting. One is to give something that theoretically stops the action of any remedy - coffee, peppermint, etc. My experience is that not all individuals respond to this.

Another is to give medical drug treatment, then reevaluate. If the symptoms are really severe, I think this is the safest, especially if you are not working with a veterinary homeopath or cannot reach them.

Another is to give soothing help (flower essences, massage, intuitives, reiki, herbs) if the symptoms are not too severe.

Most homeopathic, is to assume that the symptoms are an expression of the vital force that are not covered by the current remedy. If there were many improvements, especially in the BEAM, and the new symptoms are not in the remedy picture, then it may be time to take the case again, and prescribe a new remedy. This is my preferred way to "antidote" a remedy. There are books (Abdur Rehman's Relationship of Remedies), charts in the back of your Kent's Repertory that suggest possible remedies that complement or follow an already well-selected remedy.

Of course, your well trained veterinary homeopath will help you work through these different possibilities.

Dr. Christina

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Thanks so much for your continued questions Christine and great reply @Dr. Christina.

1) Yes (others have).

However, the interpretation of "aggravation" symptoms depends on their context.

Sorry that there's no clear cut answer.

Especially since Koby's energy is better than it was before the dose, which is unusual after a true aggravation.

Rather than an aggravation, it sounds like his body is responding to a partial similar and the GI symptoms (or other) are clues to the next remedy.

As I mentioned to you by email, this article may help guide you to other useful symptom clue details:

How to Listen to and Learn From Your Pet’s Symptoms to Take Effective Holistic Action - Holistic Actions!

www.holisticactions.com

2) Not usually.