Joseph Kellerstein, DC, ND
In the August column, I left you hanging as to the evaluation of the second dose of Tarent. 30c for this young man, Niraj. I felt myself rather anxious anticipating what to do. It can happen that an aggravation occurs after the second dose of a remedy with a high degree of similitude, so I elected to wait a week and have the understandably impatient mom call again. She did so, informing me that things were staus quo. She was now uncertain as to whether it was indeed an aggravation or just a return to his old state. In any case, Niraj was now just as before the first dose. I was unclear how to assess, given the striking initial response. I gave a dose of 200c to settle the matter in my wishy-washy mind.
Well, unhappily, I once again experienced the tail end of hero/bum syndrome: Niraj had no response whatsoever to the higher potency.
The higher in potency we go, the greater the degree of similarity required to get a response. I had hit the wall and bounced back. The bright side of making an error, according to Hahnemann, is that the vitality will give us further clues to a more correct remedy if only we can observe the communication. Continual questioning in an inductive manner trains patients in the kind of information useful to me.
I received the following e-mail from Niraj’s mother: “I would like to share with you another recent incident of violence. Last Friday Niraj was working with the class. From what I was told, he saw that a boy next to him was doing something that [Niraj] believed was wrong and he commented on that. [The boy] told [Niraj] to mind his own business and [Niraj] jabbed him with his pencil. He did not share this with me at the end of the day. I got a phone call from the father and subsequently from the boy. He wanted to speak with Niraj and work it out. [Niraj] said hello, started to repeat that ‘I told you that you were doing it wrong …’ allowed the phone to drop and would not apologize. I tried to talk to him about it over the weekend, he kept refusing.”
What struck me was the moral justification alongside the indifference and impulsive violence (see the accompanying graph).
I decided to consult Murphy’s Materia Medica for Androctonus. The following is what I found: “Very changeable moods – one moment extremely friendly, nice and amiable, then irritable.” I wanted to see what else I could find so I looked up the symptoms of some Androc provings done by Jeremy Sherr. One gave “Terrible uncontrollable temper. Wanted to kill her husband and children. Feels much more self centered – ‘have given up all the permanent favors I do for people – I don’t want to do any more. Feel I need more time for me. I must feel guilt but I don’t think I do. I feel the nasty side of my character is emerging much more aggressive and domineering. I don’t want people’s good opinion of me as someone who is nice – very unusual.’ ” And from another of his provings I found “Increased irritability, a ‘how dare you!’ feeling. Felt like tearing offenders to pieces with his bare hands. He felt an enormous surge of violent emotions at trifles, and had to exercise great control to stop outbursts of violence and impulses to hurt someone. Felt that ‘everyone were creeps,’ could not be bothered with anyone.”
I decided to give Androc 200c one pellet.
The response was interesting. Within the week Niraj was able to comply with requests. He lost his obsession with video games and was able to maturely accept disappointment. Again the violence was gone, this time without the visible increase in hyperness. He is a pleasant boy. The effect has been stable but only for two weeks. It’s far too early to celebrate.
What is absolutely fascinating to me is what Hahnemann saw. This entire disease state is as plastic as a mask and can be removed to show the child under the dynamic disguise. It doesn’t need to be viewed as anything but a distortion of function and perception that seems very responsive to a similar medicine in potency.
So far I can only judge this remedy to have a higher degree of similitude than the last. I could still be off the mark, but I know I am closer to that high-level degree we call the simillimum. Time and observation will tell. Homeopathy is a realm of constant fascination.
Joe Kellerstein, DC, ND graduated as a chiropractor in 1980 and as an ND in 1984. He graduated with a specialty in homeopathy from the Canadian Academy for Homeopathy, and subsequently lectured there for two years. He also lectured in homeopathy for several years at CCNM; for eight years at the Toronto School of Homeopathic Medicine; and for two years at the British Institute for Homeopathy. Kellerstein’s mission is the exploration of natural medicine in a holistic context, especially homeopathy and facilitating the experience of healing in clients.
