How to remember homeopathic medicine and their symptoms:

How to remember/ study material medica

An illustration of  anacardium patient having 'two wills'

Homeopathic material medica is very vast subject. It is impossible to remember all symptoms from all homeopathic medicines. I have seen many practitioners & students finds difficulty in remembering homoeopathic material medica. Even our mentor “Master Hahnemann” had also accepted that fact.

Luckily there are many ways to remember these symptoms, of course not all symptoms from all medicine!!!

Yes we can use repertories for finding similimum medicine, but even repertory has its own limitation. Repertory and materia medica are complementary to each other; they both need to study thoroughly. A homoeopathic physician must have knowledge of medicines.

When I was student I found very difficult to remember symptoms, & symptoms of medicine were going to mix with another medicine! Back then I learn few tricks. First of all I studied constitutional symptoms and then I find person (friends & family members) who has exact same constitution! & consider that patient is of that remedy! For example I have a friend whom has tall height, slender in body, dark in complexion somewhat like Bryonia Alba! So whenever I need to recall bryonia I simply remember his constitution.

Sometimes I try to compare mental symptoms to different persons. This helps me to remember medicines. Alright let’s see different ways to study homoeopathic materia medica.

·        Anatomical schematic method: It is a very systemic way of remembering materia medica. We can remember symptoms in arranged anatomically; i.e. head to toe. By the way our master Hahnemann also used to study this way!

·          Physiological method: We can remember symptoms by observing medicine’s physiological actions on healthy human being.

·        Key-note method:  By this way we see only characteristic symptoms of each medicine. It is very easy way we need to just remember characteristic symptoms of remedies which is very during finding similimum.

·        Therapeutic method: We all know that drugs posses the power to cure the symptoms of different diseases from their pathological changes. Thus we can remember symptoms or can study drugs from its curative power & drug pathogenesis. Let’s see an example; various drugs have property of producing & curing the continuous type of fever like bryonia, baptisia, acid phos, gelsemium etc. So, this method is very useful in day to day practice. By the pathological changes we can remember many drugs.

·        Comparative method: This is my favorite one! Believe me it helped me not only remembering one or two medicine but a lot of! This method deals with comparison of different medicine with their similar or dissimilar symptoms. There are many levels that you can compare medicines.

 Disease level- Comparison of various drugs indicated in particular disease.  For an example: A state of collapse but wants to be fanned all the time- Carbo veg is a remedy. If craves fresh air, skin felt cold yet desire to be uncovered Camphora & Secal cor are remedies. Cold & bathed with cold perspiration Veretrum Alb is the remedy. But all these symptoms described above are found in Medorrhinum! See? By that way you can remember more medicines.
 
Symptomatic level- Comparison based on various symptoms. For an example; burning, when ameliorates by cold application the medicine is sulphur but burning, when ameliorates by cold application with objective feeling of coldness then medicine is Secal Cor. And this method was used by great homoeopathic physicians which are Hering, Kent & H.A. Robert!

Organ level- Drug resemblances to each other in their drug pathogenesis are compared to each other i.e. cina, chamomilla, bryo.
Rhus tox, silicea at the method of study should be adopted only after acquiring a through knowledge of the individual drug. And this method got applied by Dr.Farrington & Dr.Gross.
 
Classes level- Well this method is quiet useful to remembering homoeopathic materia medica. In this method we can get some classes like various kingdoms, chemical groups, botanical families, nosodes, insects’ remedies etc. Certain groups or classes have similar symptoms.  

·        Picture method: It is easy and better way to remembering symptoms from medicine. It is fact that we remember or learn by visual or picture 20%. By this method you just need to draw an expressive picture of homoeopathic medicine.  It is easy to recall symptoms when you had seen graphically than reading.

·        Drug proving: Probably the best way to remember a thing is experience. It is also fact that we can remember 90% by what we say and what we do! When we prove some of the medicines on our self or others we can remember lots of symptoms of that medicine.    

So, these were few methods regarding study and remembering homoeopathic materia medica. But for remembering medicines & their symptoms one must study materia medica thoroughly.