It must be remembered that in cases of well-established
illnesses of long-standing such as asthma and epilepsy, it is not right to
prescribe a casual prescription. Instead, one must see the patient and have a
detailed discussion with him or her to find out about the illness as well as
the constitution of the person in order to reach the constitutional remedy. Both must match as precisely as possible. In
my experience, many a time, the patient did not respond to the standard well
known prescription but after a detailed personal examination of the patient,
including his state of mind, the prescription given worked wonderfully well.
For example, patients of epilepsy experience auras of a different nature before
the actual attack. One such patient used to experience loud, unbearable noises
and would not go to sleep out of fear. He felt as if his head and mind were
squeezed in a vice. Based on his state of mind, I prescribed Cactus and it
worked wonders. He started to sleep normally and the epileptic seizures also
disappeared. Ironically, Cactus is not mentioned amongst the remedies for
epilepsy. It is important that all such patients be observed for at least a few
days. If a rush of blood to the head is noted and the blood pressure rises,
Cactus would be the ideal medication.
Similarly, one should look for typical signs and symptoms
of the illness before prescribing. In diseases of the gall bladder, a number of
medications are useful. Once, I tried almost all of them on a gall bladder patient,
but none worked. After a personal examination of the patient, I found that he
was a nervous, psychic wreck. I gave him Sepia and he got better - the pain
totally disappeared!
In all cases of chronic illnesses, the patient should be
studied in detail. On another occasion, I gave Aconite and Belladonna to a
kidney patient in view of the acute nature of the sickness but it simply did
not work. Apparently, I had overlooked the constitution of the patient. Belladonna and Aconite would have worked if
heat had been making him worse and if cold offered him relief. However, that
particular patient felt worse with cold baths. As soon as I gave him Magnesia
Phosphoricum and Colocynth, he immediately got better.
There are no quick fixes in Homoeopathy. One should get
into the habit of forgetting the disease for a moment and give due attention to
the individual symptoms and constitution of the patient. A list of hot and cold
remedies should be kept mind. In a person of hot temperament, the medication
designed for a cool-minded person will do harm instead of doing good. Some
people tolerate heat better than cold and vice versa. Some like movement, while others like complete rest. All these
factors form the constitution of the patient and should be kept in mind while prescribing
a remedy. In a busy practice, the experienced homoeopath can prescribe a
routine and well tried prescription for a particular ailment and it often
works. However in case of chronic, long-standing illnesses, one must spend
enough time on a detailed study of the patient as well as the illness.
In general, the homoeopath avoids combining the remedies.
I also did the same initially but later on changed my practice. I did not have
enough time to be able to arrive at one single remedy. In Rabwah, I was deeply
involved in my official duties: in Waqf-e-Jadid, Ansar Ullah and Khuddamul
Ahmadiyya etc. I had to be present in committee meetings of Anjuman Ahmadiyya
and Tahrik-e-Jadid. Apart from that, I ran a homoeopathic dispensary in the
Waqf-e-Jadid office in the evenings and would see up to one hundred patients a
day. I had started the dispensary at home during the time between Maghrib and
Isha (evening and night prayers). The shortage of time compelled me to devise
the compounding of more than one remedy. As I already indicated, I had done an
extensive study of homoeopathic remedies and had informally practised
homoeopathy for years. On the basis of this knowledge and experience, the
compounding of medicines worked very well. In some cases, I had to change the
compounds and in certain obstinate cases, I carried out a detailed personal
study of the patient’s constitution and his disease.
Secondly, more and more remedies are being added to the homoeopathic
Materia Medica. New remedies are being found to be more effective. Some
ailments are not amenable to just any remedy.
Compounding of more than one remedy works like a new medication. Many of the old remedies are already natural
compounds themselves, such as Nux Vomica, which is a combination of many
natural constituents. While prescribing compounds, my concern is about their final
characteristic features. It is not necessary that the total effect of the constituted
remedies must be the sum total of all. Some remedies annul some of the effects
of the other. Thus at the end, the compound may have a totally different
effect.