LETTERS TO PROFESSOR: Homeopathy Resources?

Good Morning,
I would like to start off by saying Thank You for what you are doing. This course has gotten me more involved and heightened my interest and desire by 1000%. Thank you again.

I downloaded approximately 120 or so cases to review, and wow was I overwhelmed. I have read the Organon twice, and realized that is not enough, I have read Kent Lectures, among many many other articles of info. I have also helped some friends with situations and have appeared to done well. The cases, though, that I have downloaded seemed particularly difficult for me. I spent lengthy time and energy reviewing and searching beyond my books for better references, and I even began to feel that maybe I wasn't intelligent enough to be in this line of work. So after great agg. I decided that I must be missing something.
For example, the first case I worked on was a case of Chronic Appendicitis, and the first thing that I noticed was the description of where the complaint was. Now I have not yet gone to my medical books that I have been investing in so that I might have more knowledge of the description of diseases, but I found it interesting that the remedy that was prescribed appeared to have taken what I would call an excessive amount of time to provide relief. I explored the case with the info I had avail from what is transcribed in the case and something didn't just sit right, First, was that in my MM by Clark it appears that Merc is Extreme pain, boring pain, and in this case the patient mentioned that it was aching, mild. Now I am not claiming that I have all the answers, but in the Organon I cannot get it from my mind "The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle ..;.." 4 months until reaching 90% relief isn't very rapid. Maybe I expect too much.
Well I went through the case, and came up with other remedies that could be suitable, but there seemed to be some info missing, like there wasn't enough.... Never the less I chose a slightly different remedy, Merc-c, without knowing if the patient was tender to the touch. Merc c works with much greater rapidity of action. Now this is only based upon what I have before me, and still something doesn't sit right with me, the concern that the pain of the patient was described as being "Upper R abdomen" and "remained localized to this paricular region only." The remedy appears mostly to be chosen upon the X-ray.... So this confused me.
Anyway I found this a little challenging, also the case of warts there was a choice of three remedies that I was able to find with the info before me, and I chose the one different than the prescriber because of a like, she liked sweets very much, and the remedy that was chosen doesn't.
Now I was getting very frustrated, not coming to the same conclusions... Finally I went on to a case of Genital Herpes, and through the methods of reportising I learned from Kents works I was actually able to come to the same conclusion. Whew! I was beginning to give up all hope.
Well I was finding more and more of the cases that seemed to be short on info and great on babble... Then I decided to start to begin and compare with some of Kents cases, and low and behold I found that I was doing remarkably well, I am able to follow through, using the keynotes and symptoms and coming to the same same answers as Kent, this began my excitement again. Now I have reviewed 4 cases from Kent and have only found one where there were two remedies given, one which was of great east to determine, the other, only after looking in the MM, was I able to understand more the importance to knowing the materia medica, was a diuretic and I immediately understood why Kent prescribed that also.
After all that I have read, I feel that the last case of tumor from kent was much easier than the first case of appendicitis. I followed Kents methods and was able to gain confidence that through methodical research of the patient, and not getting exhausted from writing out all the remedies and looking at each on, that I am capable of finding the picture. It also becomes very very clear to me that when one doesn't do an adequate case taking that it is highly possible to get a remedy that may or may not work and the more information, the more peculiarities, the better the chances for finding the simillium and "removing the symptoms from the patient, thus curing the disease as it is termed."
My desire to become a Homeopath is far greater than anything I have ever expected, and with learning through case histories I can see the importance of being patient, of listening, of being truely unjudgemental for what is put before me.
Thank you again and certainly hope that I didn't go on too much.
PS, I have also had a little difficulty getting through to the website: http://herbnites.tripod.com/homeopathy.html for the Quiz for finding your Homeopathic Type.
Thanks again
Gene

Dear Gene,

Thank you for your long letter and great (and positive is always a great bonus) feedback. What you have experienced is part of the learning process. However, to make it less painful I might want to send a message to students mentioning that not all homeopaths come to the same conclusions, sometimes there IS more than one remedy that works, and sometimes it is OK to use more than one if you are unsure. I am glad you were able to sync with Kent eventually, he is the classic in the feild and his work is one of the most respectable and classic in the field. I was not clear from your letter, were the initial problems you were having with another homeopath's cases or were they with the Kent cases? Yes! I agree that 4 months is too much to wait for the appendix pain. They should have given some sort of acute remedy before they gave the chronic one.

You sound like you are really enjoying homeopathy. If you feel, as time goes on, that this is the focus you want to pursue I would recommend investing in a program that helps you shorten the diagnostic process. Also (I don't know if I mentioned this in the coursework yet) you can visit www.abchomeopathy.com and it helps shorten the process of finding remedies. Of course, you stil need to "know what you are doing" and cross-reference, but it does make the entire process a little less frustrating. It really sounds like you are doing amazing work so far.

As for the link - did you submit information and press "submit"? If so, can you please do it again and then e-mail me after? I didn't know who was submitting information. For some reason I have not included e-mail address on the form so I didn't know who to send the evaluation back to! Sorry! I will also try to repair the form so next time I know who is sending information and how to contact them.

I hope I answered all your questions. If not, just e-mail me back or ask more questions (that is fine too). I will get to the "repairs" I mentioned above as soon as possible.

Blessings & Health,
Kristie Karima Burns, MH, ND