¶ Case Taking in Homeopathy Basics
Welcome back to Homeopathy at Home with Melissa . Hey , Melissa .
Hey Brie , it's great to see you .
It's great to be here always Tonight today , whatever time you're listening , but we're recording in the evening . This is an exciting one . I think you guys are going to love this . A question I know you get all the time , Melissa , in classes or as we talk to people , is how to take a case . Yeah , so we're going to discuss that .
Yeah , it is a question I get a lot , like you know , especially in classes where most of the classes are focused on learning the remedies , learning the protocols , learning you know when to use which remedy . Well , you know when to use which remedy . Well , you know how to use each remedy , what potency , how often . You know what what remedy is good for this .
But the whole process starts with the case taking . You have to take a good case to come to a good remedy .
Yeah Well , and you have come up with some really good resources that you give out often . So you have those . The case taking form , the family case record there's a couple of different ones .
You have to help people know where to start , because you were saying before we have these if you don't have a protocol , or if you have one or you don't have those remedies , maybe in acute cases that can happen often , where people are building their stash and don't have all the protocol remedies yet , right .
And then you have these huge materia medica and a repertory and they're like I don't , what do I do ? And I ? That was so overwhelming to me for years starting homeopathy , so this is going to be great .
Yeah , I remember getting these books and being like what do I even do with this ? And you know , yeah , so , so let's , let's do this is . This is really basic information , but it's information that a lot of people maybe don't know , unless you've been in my mentorship program and have actually practiced this with me .
Yeah .
Okay .
So let's first start with are we talking chronic or acute first ?
Either you can use this process with either .
Okay , and when you're doing this , are you okay ? Let's say so in a chronic picture , I can imagine we're going to talk about much more in-depth question for a person , right , Like , maybe know more of their big picture , but acutes , do you need to know all that ? Like their personality , their disposition ?
Well , it depends , so uh-oh . So my internet's being weird and you still hear me and see me . Yeah , your audio is good . Okay , but my picture is frozen just for a second .
It's good now .
Okay , okay , so , um , so I it depends actually on the acute . So you and I know that's a hard answer to swallow because you're like well , you know this isn't helpful . How am I going to know when You'll , over time , you'll get better and better at this and you'll learn when . Let me just give an example .
So personality I think I would want to know regular personality , especially in children . So if the child has an earache and they're really angry and irritable and they're crying and screaming , I want to know , is that normal for them ?
Of course they're not crying and screaming all day , every day , but are they normally pretty irritable and angry , and you know , or are they ? Is this just totally different , a different presentation of their personality ? I need to know that that makes a difference .
And maybe let's say somebody comes and is saying you know , I want help with strep throat . This is their sixth time having it this year , so maybe you would treat that acutely but also encourage chronic care .
Absolutely . Yeah , if you're having recurring illnesses , very often that's actually a chronic condition , but we can address the acute occurrence with homeopathy too .
Okay . So I remember . I'm thinking back to when I first started this and I remember asking I think I did ask you this Do you have like a form of questions ? You just bullet point ask where , how ? If I were totally new when I was , I remember what you told me , but what do we typically tell people ? Here's your baseline .
Here are some bullet points , starting points .
Yeah , so first of all I'll start with when I was in college I learned an acronym to help to do what we're getting ready to do . But I changed the acronym because I went to a London college and they spell etiology with an A , we spell etiology with an E .
So I just changed it around and made it and it took me a minute , like I didn't just pop it out of my head , I had to sit there and look at the letters and try to spell something that actually you could remember . So I came up with C , melts , c-m-e-l-t-s .
So if you write that down on the left side of a piece of paper , the acronym , and then C is for chief complaint , m is for modalities , e is for etiology , l is for location , t is for timing and S is for sensation . That's the information you need to get .
Okay , so , and that order doesn't necessarily matter specifically , you just need to get those points covered .
That's right .
Okay , so do we want to like practice ? What would that ? What does that mean ? Like what is a chief complaint ? Could it be more than one ? How do you prioritize the approach to that ?
Yeah , good question . So your chief complaint , you know , is maybe sore throat and but . But there can be concomitants , which is not in that you know , you don't have to worry too much about that . You can list all of the symptoms and you know up with the chief . It can be chief complaints , you know more than one .
Or there can be a chief complaint of sore throat and then the concomitants are fever , weakness , dizziness , whatever other symptoms are coming along with this sore throat . Either way is fine , we're getting the same information . So , to keep it simple , say chief complaints , so you're listing the .
That's where you just list your symptoms , what are they , or if you have a diagnosis , if you have the diagnosis of strep throat or a whooping cough , then you can , that can be your chief complaint and you know . Then we'll get the rest of the information .
Okay , you're going to say something .
That's okay , go ahead .
How then , let's say , those are their chief complaints ? Maybe we should get to this question later . But how would you track improvement ? Like , let's say , they have a sore throat . Well , what if they're like the next day when my throat's still sore ?
Yeah , good question . So you have the . Have the person rate their symptoms on a scale of one to 10 . Each of those , those chief complaints . So what do you rate your sore throat on a scale of one to 10 , where 10 is the worst . You write it down . Then , what do you rate your dizziness ? What do you rate your ?
You know your weakness , your fatigue , your , your coughing , whatever .
Have them rate each thing um , okay , so then their scale . And it doesn't really matter what that 10 is for them , right , like maybe somebody's nine is somebody else's six that's right , that's right some people have gotten really hung up on that before well , I'm not dying , you know and really overthinking that scale .
Yeah don't yeah , definitely don't get into analysis , paralysis when you're rating yourself right , but you know . And then there's another . There's a chart at a can can never remember what it's called for kids , where they can .
You can find it online , yeah , where it's got the faces , the smiley face to the really sad or mad face , so they can point to which one they feel about each thing .
Yeah , that's so smart . I don't know why I've never used that for my kids . I know that that's a thing , but you know it is really funny . Side note to this one to 10 thing , my kids now will automatically . My throat hurts like a two or like it was a five and now it's a one .
They do , I don't even have to ask them , and so we in our family , almost daily you'll hear something is on a one to 10 scale . Even if it's like this food is an eight out of 10 .
That's hilarious , I love it .
I didn't really think about it , it's just so common . But it is funny now because I always ask them , even as a little kid , they don't . I mean I have some of them say like it's a two in one seven .
Like they don't know what that means .
My three-year-old but he does have that in his mind to like put it , I love it , yeah , so that's where you're going to rate it .
So when you go to follow up , you ask them again to rate their symptoms . And yeah , then they'll , they'll rate it again , then that's how you can tell if you're making progress .
So then the E or a , depending on where you're from . Oh , did we do it . Oh M is . Yeah , Melt M comes first .
So modalities , yeah , so the modalities are what makes it better and what makes it worse . And so most people if you , if they're sick , and you ask them what makes it better not most , but some people are like nothing . If there's anything that made it better , I wouldn't even be talking to you right now . That's not the point .
The point is if you have a sore throat , does it feel better to drink a warm drink or an ice cold drink ? That's really important information , not that it makes it go away . So you might have to educate them a little bit on what that means . And then , what makes it worse ?
So it might , you know it could be the warm drink , the cold drink , going outside , talking , coughing , breathing in cold air . So the HEPR-SOLF sore throat or cough is just breathing in the cold air as makes it worse . So they will cover their mouth with a scarf or something while they talk , or a hand or something while they talk , or to go outside .
They don't want to breathe in the cold air . So movement it could be . Every time I move it gets worse or whatever . So what makes it better , what makes it worse ? Your modalities write those down .
I have found too . People will say those when you didn't even ask specifically . That's true . Or they'll say I really want this certain thing . Or they'll say I really want this certain thing Is that different .
Saying I want hot drinks versus hot drinks makes it feel better . It may be so if they just , you know , if they just say , because that might mean that hot drinks actually make it feel better . If they say I want hot drinks , that might just be a different way of saying yes when I drink a hot drink , right ?
So you just kind of clarify yeah , you're right , while they're telling you their symptoms , they might , you might pick up on modalities in that and you write those down yeah , okay , um , so have that form already written out , so if you need to jot around , you can do it .
Yeah , go you don't have to go in order , that's right right , okay , so modalities makes it better or worse .
And E now to the E . Okay , yeah , e for etiology .
Yep , etiology means the cause and we don't always know the cause . So it could be , you know , a virus . It could be that they might say , you know , they caught it from their friend at school or they caught it from whatever , you know , a sibling . But it could be emotional .
So this is where I want to know you know , maybe they had a shocking event happen and then they got sick right after that . I see that . So your emotions can make you sick , physically sick , when we , you know , we get a shock to the , to the mental , emotional system and , um , or you know , it could be a UTI after you were intimate .
Then you got a UTI . That's the etiology , was the intimacy right ? So we may or may not know the etiology , and if we don't know , we don't have you know any idea , it's okay , we don't have , we don't have to know it .
So we can just go . Symptom based is kind of what you're saying , whatever's presenting . So even stuff like traveling sometimes that can be helpful to know Doesn't always change . Let's say you have diarrhea , you can still take care of that without knowing if you have a parasite or if you have food poisoning . So , I try .
Sometimes that's hard because I can get hung up on well what . I think that's a thing in general in the natural community , trying to find the root cause . You hear that a lot . Everybody wants to know where everything came from , and it's not that that's not important , but we don't always need that .
So I'm glad you brought that up . So I just had this conversation today with somebody who is brand new to homeopathy and she had a really good question to me . She wanted to know well then , how do you find the root cause ? I don't , your body does , and so it's not even homeopathy that's healing your body . Homeopathy is stimulating your body to heal itself .
So your body knows what it needs and your body knows . Well , a lot of people these days are really hung up on wanting to know the name of it . They want to put it . When they put a name to it , it makes them feel better , and I'm sorry about that , I really am . I .
¶ Acute Case Taking Essentials
If I could , if I could encourage you to change your thinking on that , you really could be a lot more free .
Because I change your thinking on that you really could be a lot more free , because that's a really unique thing to homeopathy , though , because even in the natural world , um , any other practice usually does want to know . They want blood work or a stool sample or a GI map or allergy testing , and they address it that way .
Um , the only exception I can think of is sometimes when people do muscle testing . If that's something you do , that I think sometimes they test that way , which is a I mean , less concrete . I guess it's not like you have .
Yeah , I think it can be . Yeah , yeah , I think it can . It's not the same as a blood test . But also , then , I don't believe that all of these tests , whether it be muscle testing or blood or hair analysis , I don't believe that they're all absolutely correct , always Right . So I don't like to leave .
Okay , to back that up .
I agree with you because I think when you then you start seeing patterns like when I talked to enough people who have seen the same type of practitioners or something , and they all have the same problems yeah , you know , I mean I'm not saying it's not credible , I'm just saying it is interesting to hear yeah , you start seeing these patterns , yeah , that you
start seeing these patterns . Yeah , like everybody can have all the same .
Everybody , yeah , everybody has Candida , or everybody has yeah .
Perfect , yeah , yeah , yeah , okay . So we did etiology location .
Yeah , so that's , you know , super self-explanatory . You know sore throat is going to be the throat and you know , so that's . It might not even be a question that you ask the person , but you make a mental note because what could make a difference is left or right .
So if it's , you know , a left-sided sore throat , those are different remedies maybe than a right-sided sore throat or the left ear , the right ear or um . But also you might think of of something other . Example to breathe . But if somebody says , um , I have congestion , that could mean sinuses , nose , throat , chest .
Don't just take congestion , we have to know where don't just take congestion .
We have to know where ? Um headaches , um , that can make a big difference . To determine where what's the . It doesn't matter necessarily what the cause is , but different remedies can help headaches . It can be tricky anyway . So the more yeah I can get for headaches is great .
Um , another one recently I only thought of this because I just recently talked to someone is the cough sometime like ? The cough can feel like it's a tickle in the back of your throat , it can feel like it's in your esophagus or I feel like it's deep in your chest . And for coughs , I have found that those used to be so hard when you have little kids .
I don't know . I mean I had little kids who every cough I'm like know , I mean I had little kids who every cough I'm like I don't . How in the world do I decide ? And I was thinking through where it sounds like it's coming from has helped me in choosing remedies a lot , but I can't think of other acute situations where location is right .
Yeah , okay , so location , lt , timing , timing so you need to know when did this start ? Um , and let me tell you why . So you want to know when did this start ? And um , was it a fast or slow onset ? Those are the two aspects of timing . Um , you want , okay . So somebody comes up to you at church and says , what have you got for a cough ?
Um , you know , and you , you're like , okay , I can help . And you , you start , you start asking questions and and , um , we , we address acute conditions differently than we address chronic conditions . So we want to know how long have you had this cough ? It could even be a headache , it could be , it could even be a sore throat .
I mean , these days , all these normally very acute things could become chronic . So if he's had this cough for four or five , six weeks and you're trying to address it acutely , then you're not . You're going to get nowhere .
You're going to use 85 different remedies and nothing's going to happen , because once it becomes chronic , you have to give the remedy more time to act . You don't change the remedy too often and and I go through all of those really you know those details in the mentorship program and the coaching calls . But those are the two aspects .
You want to know when did it start ? And well , even if it was just three weeks ago so three weeks ago is still acute , but it might take a little bit longer because it's been around longer and then the you know , was it a fast or slow onset ?
So we've got slow onset remedies like Gelsimium and we've got fast onset remedies like Belladonna and Aconite , you know . And so , um , those are the two aspects of timing , that's it .
Okay . So what about things like the time of day , let's say with a cough or something ? Um , does that fall under timing or modality or does that matter as much for an acute ?
Yeah . So if it's worse at , you know , from four to 8 PM , then that's going to be a modality . So if the yeah , I think it would be under modalities yeah .
Okay , okay , so for timing , that's timing sensation . Okay , okay , so for timing , that's timing sensation .
Sensation . So , without asking leading questions , try your best . Sometimes I still have to do it . But you're going to ask what does it feel like ? Describe your headache , and sometimes they have a really hard time and they just can't describe it . And so you give them a few ideas that are maybe different and see if they can .
They can pick one , but you know , the sensation can be sharp or shooting , or throbbing or stabbing , or it feels like I'm swallowing glass . It feels like a stick is poking in my , it feels like a fish bone is in my throat . You know , whatever they can describe , fishbone is in my throat , whatever they can describe .
And so you want to try to get them to describe it in their own words . And then don't change it , don't say oh , she probably means Because these weird words could be in the Materia Medica and we use them .
Yeah , I tell a lot of people that when they're like I think they feel silly about what they want to say , to explain it and I'll tell them we , those words are probably perfect . Yeah , whatever you're about to say , it is not going to sound weird to me . Yep , um , because they are . You'll read some weird stuff .
That's , that's good , that's good .
So that'samelt ? Yeah , you can use that chronically too .
You can , yep , and you should , yes , and so . So we in in my mentorship program , we do these coaching calls and I don't you know , I'm not going to say a day in time because that could change , you know later so but we do weekly coaching calls . Where we , you can , we can practice this . I actually teach once per month in these coaching calls .
I teach very specifics on acute conditions and how to address those using C-MELTS , and we practice , we do a practice case and you can bring your own personal questions . And so those monthly calls right now , at the time of this recording covers , one is headaches , one is GI disturbances , sinusitis , headaches .
One is gi disturbances , sinusitis , cold , cough , flu , sore throats , oh , and then one is just acute case taking in general . So we spend a whole hour and a half , two hours where I teach you acute . This right here was condensed , right and just a piece of that .
But I really teach deeply on how to choose the remedy , how , how to know when to switch , I don't know when to keep going , and all that in those . So , um , in the show notes here you'll find the um , a link to go and check that out . The mentorship program you can join anytime .
Um , I do have sales throughout the year , but , um , but you can just jump in anytime you want to , and um , and then you can . You know , like if you were to sign up today , you could come to this week's call so you could get started right away .
So this was focused on taking the case , not um . Now here's the specifics of moving forward . All of those things I think are it's not a quick podcast answer and not because we're trying to like withhold , but it is a lot , it can be really involved and there's a lot of remedies .
So that is what you practice in the mentorship program and even in gateway classes that you do and other courses you teach . You go over a lot of those ideas , get group discussion often in those , so lots of ways to learn , yeah , but I love those mentorship calls because you get to interact with other people and share your thoughts , your ideas .
And there's no limit to the questions you ask . So in gateway I tell you I'm not taking personal cases here . We're not going to , you know , we're not going to talk about anything but homeopathy . And my coaching calls wide open , no limit . What do you want ? What do you need ? Yeah , and I keep those groups small .
So , um , so , yes , come , come join us in the coaching calls . Come join us in the coaching calls . They're really fun Most of the time and it's six months of calls , six months , and so you , a lot of people will renew at the end of the six months because they've enjoyed it so much .
And it's we become like a family where we we all , you know pray for each other and laugh together and cry together and all the things so sweet you know , pray for each other and laugh together and cry together and all the things so sweet , yeah , yeah , so yeah , that's right .
That's what I wanted to say is that case management , case taking is pretty easy , but then it's the case management where it gets tricky , and that's what I can't teach in a podcast .
So and the support is important that I feel like that's that kind of evolves all the time , that changes based on the person . So having people to bounce things off of is really , really helpful . Thank you so much . Thank you Loved that . That was wonderful . I'm hoping that's really helpful to all of you guys listening .
Yep , I hope you all have a great night and we'll see you next time .