Your child has a nasty cough and you want to find out what homeopathic remedy is good for cough. You google cough, tons of remedies pop up. You join a Facebook group and ask a simple question: what homeopathic remedies are good for coughs?
It’s just a simple question. Isn’t it?
In Homeopathy, the answer is no.
Why? Isn’t there just one remedy for a condition?
Nope. Not in homeopathy. Homeopathy looks at each person as an individual and gives remedies accordingly.
This is why getting the whole picture of a symptom is crucial!
So when you ask a question online about what homeopathic remedy to try for a health issue, don’t be surprised if you are asked for more information. The homeopath responding to your question needs to collect more information about your child’s cough in order to find the remedy to best help you.
Specific information is needed in order to best choose a homeopathic remedy. The easiest way to remember all information that is needed to choose a homeopathic remedy is the acronym CLAMS.
CLAMS
C : Concomitant – What is the main complaint or symptom? What secondary symptoms accompany the main one? Example: the main symptom is a painful cough, and the person also has sore throat –that would be a secondary symptom.
L : Location – What is the exact location of the main complaint? Example, the pain is on the right side only of the throat.
A : Aetiology – The cause of or circumstances present at the time when it began. Example: a sport injury, a sudden shock, death of a loved one or a car accident.
M : Modality – Anything that causes the presenting complaint to get better or worse. Example: the complaint is better for cold, worse when going up stair and better in a room with no drafts.
S : Sensation – How the person is actually experiencing the complaint. Example, is the pain: stabbing, constant, shooting, aching, sharp, radiates?
Practice Time
Let’s practice using CLAMS in the case of a child who has a nasty cough.
C: main complaint – cough that brings up yellow mucus. Other symptoms: child is restless, has a sore throat, and doesn’t want to drink
L: it’s a deep cough in the chest; pain in throat is only on right side
A: cough started a few days ago after coming back from sport’s practice late at night
M: child is better when held by mom and wrapped in a heavy blanket. Cough gets worse after dinner and after going outside.
S: child complains that it hurts to cough as chest feels tight, and that the throat aches
I take all this information, and use a homeopathic repertory to look up rubrics that will led to the best remedy.
A simple way is to use the Homeopathy at Home app. This is a great app for those who are new to homeopathy as it only has 100 remedies to choose from.
Based on this information in the example, it came up in that Arsenicum album is the best remedy for this child’s cough. Arsenicum album is better being with a caring person, has thirstlessness and cough that is worse at night.
Having all the details makes it easier to narrow down what remedies can help you.
Final thoughts
There are many resources out there to help you with acute symptoms. If you are unsure what acute symptoms are, read this blog post.
To help you learn more about individual remedies, here are some free online Materia medica books. In Homeopathy, information about homeopathic remedies is gathered in books called Materia Medica.
https://www.materiamedica.info/en/free-materia-medica-books.php
https://www.vithoulkas.com/learning-tools/online-materia-medica
That’s all for today!
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