Homeopathy can be subtle and gradual in its curative action. However, there are combinations of certain general responses that indicate a movement toward healing.
- Your chief complaint, or main reason for seeking treatment has shown improvement.
- Feeling better in yourself. Somehow you feel right, like your old self. Your spirit has come back, you are more confident. Feelings like this are a sure sign.
- Being able to deal with life more effectively and with less stress.
- Having more energy, feeling more lively, able to do more, able to run again, laughing a lot.
- Changing your life, even if it just seems to happen coincidentally. Perhaps your job changes or there is a shift in your attitude toward work or study, or toward colleagues, friends or family. Or you may have a more outgoing approach to life, changing your friendships somewhat, getting rid of bad relationships and taking on new ones.
- Becoming more creative.
- The homeopathic aggravation; also known as a “healing crisis.” After taking the homeopathic remedy, there can be what is termed an aggravation. This is a limited in duration, aggravation of symptoms; mental, emotional and/or physical, and is an indication that the remedy is acting. (See Hering’s Law of Cure on the History of Homeopathy page.) This worsening is often based on toxins being eliminated through the outlets of the body, via the stool, or urine, through the skin as rashes, pimples, boils or fever, through the nose as sneezing, a cold, etc.. Temporary worsening is not to be interpreted as side effects, but as signs of your body working to heal itself.
- A brief return of old symptoms is good, especially when they return of reverse sequence to the original occurrence in your life. These may be transitory - just a few seconds like a flashback - or lasting longer like a cloud passing. This is called the Law of Cure and happens occasionally. This Law of Cure also means that symptoms will be eliminated in an order, from serious to less serious ones, from internal organs to external or less critical ones, from inside out as we say, from above down. However, respiratory and heart improvements can go up and outwards as these go from the lungs (serious) to the throat and nose (less serious). The return of a cough in asthma can be a good sign that the chest is clearing out.
So asthma becoming a skin rash or sneezing bouts is good;
but hay fever or eczema becoming asthma is not good,
it is suppression and is wrong.
- It is also fine for physical symptoms to just get better, provided the process fits the law of cure.
- Occasionally a meaningful dream or sequence of dreams, even if it’s not understood, could be a healing indication if the dream feels right, important or positive in some way. For example, if there were a trauma having to do with grief, seeing the dead person in a dream in a nice way would be good. For fear, feeling a deep release in the dream would be good. Trust the feeling of the dream experience.
- Generally the sequence is that you first start to feel better mentally and then your physically symptoms may temporarily worsen as the toxins eliminate. A light diet or fruit fast may reduce the effects if they are strong.
- If previous physical symptoms were spasmodic, as in asthma or headaches, they will die out; subsequent attacks become less severe, of shorter duration and less frequent. Milder recurrences are not, then a time to panic and re-prescribe once a cure has been started.
Signs of Non-cure
These are the most obivious -
- No effect – wrong remedy.
- A completely new symptom – definitely wrong remedy.
- Reverse order of cure, suppression – stop, wait, with antidote if necessary.
- Aggravation without later benefit – close, but wrong remedy.