Homeopathic remedies are quite effective at treating acute illnesses and injuries of all kinds, including colds-and-flus, bumps-and-bruises, sprained joints, bug bites, and burns. Homeopathic remedies also work great for treating acute "emotional injuries" as well, such as grief, disappointment, anticipatory anxiety, and fright.
Most people, and even many homeopaths, use only dry doses of homeopathic remedies. Dry doses are simple and easy, but wet doses are even more effective at prompting swift and effective healing. Whenever more than a dose or two is needed in treating an acute ailment, I switch to wet dosing to achieve even better results.
Wet Dosing Was Lost for Almost a Century
Wet dosing methods were developed by the founder of homeopathy himself, Samuel Hahnemann, who lived from 1755-1843. Most people who use homeopathic remedies do not know about these methods, and it has been estimated that 90% of homeopaths do not know about them!
Hahnemann was a medical doctor who gave up his practice because of the side effects and continually degenerating long-term health of his patients. Hahnemann's medical experience showed that using strong doses of medicine was not the way to heal the sick. After many intervening years spent as a chemist and translator of medical texts, while in his 40's Hahnemann discovered the use of the very, very small doses which are a cornerstone of homeopathy's success. Over the last half of his long life, he developed and refined the entire system of homeopathic medicine.
Hahnemann developed wet dosing techniques in the last decade of his life, but unfortunately his final manuscript had not been printed by the time of his death at age 88. This manuscript was then lost in an attic for nearly 100 years. During that time, the homeopathic community became entrenched with using dry doses as laid out in Hahnemann's earlier works and has generally been stuck in that same groove ever since. Fortunately, I learned about wet dosing early on in my homeopathic education, so now I can share that knowledge with you.
Why Try Wet Dosing?
As a homeopathic practitioner, I've treated hundreds of acute illnesses and injuries over the last 7 years. In this time, I've seen how much more effective wet dosing can be than dry dosing alone. The following are some of the advantages of wet dosing:
It speeds up the overall healing process.
It allows the size of the dose to be individualized.
The potency is able to be increased with each successive dose.
It makes homeopathic aggravation (temporary worsening of symptoms before improvement sets in) less likely to occur.
It uses fewer remedy pellets, making each tube of remedy pellets last for much longer (remedies never truly expire as long as they are stored properly).
How to Do Homeopathic Wet Dosing
For treating acute illnesses and injuries of all kinds, I typically use the following wet dosing protocol. If you're not very familiar with homeopathic dosing, see my article on the Basics of Homeopathic Dosing for more information about frequency of doses, remedy handling, etc.
NOTE: I use this dosing protocol for acute treatment only. Proper dosing for chronic ailments is substantially different from this.
30c is the potency I use for treatment of most acute ailments.
Start with a 30c dry dose for 1-2 doses, then switch to a wet dose for further doses as follows.
If there is no improvement within 2-3 doses, I stop using that remedy as it is not the right one, and switch to another likely remedy.
Acute Wet Dosing (after 1-2 dry doses)
Dissolve 1 pellet (30c potency) in 1/2 cup of filtered water in a very clean jar (with no residual smells) with a lid. (Alternatively, a bottled water can be used, but make sure there is a gap of air space at the top of the bottle.)
Succuss the jar (smack the bottom of the jar firmly against the palm of your hand) 10-50 times before each wet dose. Succussing the remedy actually raises the potency slightly, which accelerates the healing. 10 succussions works fine if the remedy is working very well, but if a stronger response is desired, I succuss the jar more than 10 times. I generally succuss the jar ~30-50 times before each subsequent dose during acute treatment.
1/2 tsp from the jar is generally a good starting dose. Continue to use that amount as long as the symptoms are strong.
Do NOT give the next dose while improvement is happening. Rather, wait to give the next dose until there is regression of the symptoms, or a plateau (when the improvement levels off and then remains unchanged for hours).
Once the symptoms start to taper off, so that they are returning with less and less intensity, make the doses smaller (such as scant 1/2 tsp, 1/4 tsp, scant 1/4 tsp, etc).
Typically, the dosing frequency will taper off during an acute illness or injury. For instance, 2-4 doses may be needed on day 1, 1-3 doses on day 2, then a dose once a day, then every 36 hours, then 48 hours, etc. Just make sure to pay attention and continue to give the remedy every time the symptoms show a pattern of regression over several hours or when the symptoms plateau and stop getting better for a period of several hours.
For minor acute "emotional injuries" such as grief, disappointment, or fright, often just one or perhaps two dry doses are all that is needed for the body to restore balance. For very significant "emotional injuries," I use a similar wet dosing protocol to what is described above, but the doses tend to be spread much farther apart such as every few days.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor or licensed healthcare professional. I am a homeopathic practitioner whose services are considered complementary and alternative by the state of New Mexico. The uses of homeopathic remedies described herein are provided for educational use only.
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