Homeopathy is amazing.

Once you experience its healing power you’re hooked.

But nothing in this world is perfect.

Sometimes the path to wellness involves an aggravation.

This is a temporary but uncomfortable increase in symptoms.

Although we try to avoid aggravations, they can happen. Even with the best homeopathic care and the most careful prescribing.

But we should try to minimize them. Sometimes we need to stop them. Especially if there’s pain, a severe mental discharge or inability to sleep.

Keep reading and I’ll tell you every method I know about how to potentially stop a homeopathic aggravation.

Plus I’ll tell you about a little-known method you’ve probably never heard of. I tried it on myself a number of times because I can react strongly to homeopathic remedies.

How To Stop A Homeopathic Aggravation

Of course, the best way to stop a homeopathic aggravation is to prevent one in the first place.

This means no needless repetition of remedies. Once they do their job put them aside. Only use them again if the symptoms return.

Giving remedies low (potency) and slow works really well with chronic conditions. Despite the fact this kind of prescribing has fallen out of favor. It is true that some people respond best to higher potencies. But this is ideally discovered through trial and error; start low and work up.

Right now high-potency prescribing is all the rage. Especially high-dose multi-remedy recommendations.

But I worry about this trend for highly sensitive people. Who will help them when they have an aggravation?

Samuel Hahnemann, MD, the founder of modern homeopathy, noted that some people are 1,000 times more sensitive than others. That was more than 200 years ago. Before the advent of EMF radiation, which we’re bathed in continuously.

Back in Hahnemann’s time he estimated about 10 percent of his patients were highly sensitive to the remedies.

Today, though, that number is probably higher. We also tend to see more people with multiple health problems and allergies, which means they’re also probably sensitive to remedies.

Why You Want To Avoid Homeopathic Aggravations

In addition to the apparent increase in sensitive individuals, we’re dealing with a new phenomenon. This is Facebook prescribing and on-demand repertorization.

It’s very common for strangers suggest high-potency remedies to others, without knowing their age or history. (Older people and worn-down constitutions generally can’t tolerate higher potencies, even if it’s the right remedy.) Oftentimes no one says when to stop taking the remedy.

This is an excellent way to invite an aggravation. So now, more than ever before, people need to know how to stop remedy reactions.

I need to note that aggravations can also happen when working with a good homeopath. Because you never know how someone will react to a remedy until you give it them.

Aggravations can also occur with LM potencies. Very sensitive people can also experience reactions with cell salts.

You can also make the case that one dose of a higher potency may be better for a sensitive person, compared to repeated doses of low potency remedies. The trick is finding the ideal potency for each individual.

In general, low potencies are much more forgiving when you make a mistake. Even one dose of a high-potency remedy can cause an intense reaction, depending upon a person’s sensitivity. Years back our house was in an absolute uproar after a homeopath prescribed one dose of Cina 200C. All hell broke loose until we stopped this reaction with another remedy.

Hahnemann was no fan of aggravations. He considered them unnecessary and detrimental. In fact, he called the overzealous prescribers of his day “brash beginners.”

“The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in this whole extent, in the shortest, most reliable, and most harmless way, on easily comprehended principles,” Hahnemann wrote in The Organon of the Healing Art 6th Edition.

Hahnemann believed aggravations brought on by aggressive prescribing robbed the body of its vitality. So we need to intervene if a reaction is disturbing or prevents a patient from functioning.

How Do You Stop A Homeopathic Aggravation?

• Wait it out. This is what I would do if the it’s the right remedy and reaction wasn’t too strong. Oftentimes, with chronic cases you see a slight bump in symptoms with the Simillimum. This is a good sign. Hold off on switching remedies or taking another dose while the remedy is working.
• Drink coffee or peppermint tea. This is standard advice but it has never worked well for me. If you really need to stop a reaction and you have peppermint essential oil in the house try sniffing it. Or diluting it with a carrier oil and rubbing it on your body. Frankincense essential oil seems to work a little better for me than peppermint oil but not enough to totally stop a reaction.
• Camphor products. Tiger Balm and other substances containing camphor have been known to cancel remedies. Some homeopaths say Camphor 30C will antidote any remedy. If nothing else is working consider this. Other homeopaths open almost every case with potentized Camphor to clear the slate. However, I don’t see the necessity. The next well-indicated remedy should start to move the person in a positive direction, regardless of how many remedies they’ve taken in the past. But I’m open to new ideas, especially with the new trend of high-potency self prescribing for long periods of time.
• Try a lower dose of the same potency. This usually works. (But if you don’t have a lower potency keep reading because I have a potential workaround.)
• If the symptoms are very uncomfortable you can treat them acutely with a similar remedy that matches your state. Years ago a wonderful homeopath told me to give Cina 200C to one of my children. It caused an intense mental aggravation that we weren’t willing to live with. Even temporarily. One dose of Chamomile (a remedy with a similar mental picture) stopped the reaction and peace returned to our house. Even better is that we still noticed positive, long-lasting changes. Another time I fell and hurt my arm. I took some Arnica 1M, which seemed to help. Under the care of a competent homeopath I took two more doses. Then my arm swelled. It became black and blue and I was in a lot of pain. I could have taken Arnica in a lower potency. But  instead I rubbed Bach Rescue Remedy (a trauma remedy) on my arm. I took it internally as well. This led to rapid resolution of the situation. I’m not sure if the miraculous Rescue Remedy can help resolve all kinds of aggravations. But maybe someone else can try it and let me know.
• Treat any new symptoms. The person might have taken too many doses of the right remedy or too much of the wrong remedy. Regardless of whether you call it a “proving” or an aggravation, treating the new symptom picture with a well-indicated remedy will bring relief.
• Go to the sixth cup. This involves taking one pellet of the remedy that’s caused the aggravation and putting it in another glass. You turn on the tap water, fill it and dump it out. Repeat six times and then take a sip. I’ve tried this once and it worked. I tried it a few more times and it made the aggravation worse. So I definitely don’t recommend this method.
• Wear the remedy. What if you don’t have a lower potency of the remedy you need in the house? But you need to stop an aggravation? Here’s a trick I recently learned and it works beautifully for me. This is my personal favorite way to stop an aggravation. Put 3 pellets of the same potency or a lower potency (if you have it) in a plastic bag. Wear this on your abdomen for 10-15 minutes. If you get some relief but not enough, or it doesn’t hold, you can try wearing the remedy again for 15 minutes. (Both this method and the “sixth cup” probably work on the homeopathic principle of “like cures like.” You expose yourself to a little bit of what’s bothering you. In this case it’s the remedy itself.) If all you have is a liquid remedy “wearing” it can also work. But bear in mind you’ll probably have to “wear” it for less time. A liquid remedy covers more surface area that three pellets. So you’re probably getting more of a “dose.” The one time I wore a liquid remedy for 10-15 minutes to see what would happen it increased my aggravation. So, next, I held it to my body for about 45 seconds and the aggravation stopped.

Although I can’t promise any of the above suggestions will stop your reactions, they’re the best I have to offer. I would love to hear what everyone else has done to stop homeopathic aggravations. Let me know if you’ve found a different method. Feel free to leave that information in the comment section.