I have in front of me the lovely and outstanding, Carolyn Ramos, my CARA representative, who unfortunately knows me primarily as a pest! (“Carolyn, can I have another Activation Code? Carolyn, can I have another Activation Code? Carolyn, remember that interesting story I told you once about
I have in front of me the lovely and outstanding, Carolyn Ramos, my CARA representative, who unfortunately knows me primarily as a pest! (“Carolyn, can I have another Activation Code? Carolyn, can I have another Activation Code? Carolyn, remember that interesting story I told you once about how I ordered a computer from ebay but they sent the wrong one and I couldn’t get on line and then my daughter dropped it, so I took it to my cousin in New Jersey who owns a computer store who wasn’t able to fix it eventhough he tried three times but who nonetheless charged me hundreds of dollars? Do you remember that computer? Well, I don’t have it anymore. Hello?”) But Carolyn, I’m actually in a position now to make you famous! Would you like say a few words about CARA Professional?
Carolyn Ramos
I’m sorry, do I know you? Ha! Just kidding! I do a little of everything homeopathic. I have a homeopathy practice in downtown Toronto. I sell the homeopathic software CARA, and now our latest and greatest, ISIS. I cover the Technical Support role for the software in North America and I sponsor seminars in the Toronto and Ottawa areas for select international homepathic teachers including: Alize Timmerman (Holland), Frans Vermeulen (Sweden), Alastair Gray (Australia) and Jane Ciccheti (USA).
Miccant is the developer of the CARA and ISIS lines of homeopathic software. They developed the very first software back in 1986 and have been offering quality products ever since. Our main aim is to make the software EASY to use! Homeopathy is tough enough without having to go to seminars and workshops to learn your software. CARA has been in the marketplace for 8-9 years now. It is reasonably priced and very simple to use. The top of the line package includes 7 repertories and 160 materia medica. Free trials on request.
ISIS is our latest offering, having been released at the NCH conference in Phildelphia last spring. We have had a wonderful response from purchasers. It is the only software to elegantly combine repertories, materia medicas, remedies and homeopathic dictionary in one fabulous interface. The top of the line program offers 8 repertories and over 360 volumes of materia medica. To see for yourself go to www.miccant.com or request a presentation cd from me. How is that Elaine?
I’m sorry, did you say something? Oh, right, CARA software, and Jane Ciccheti, isn’t she the best? Not that you aren’t the best too….Carolyn, is it?
She is a lovely person. I met her in Philadelphia. She is a good friend and colleague of Alize Timmerman, as well. Come on up for the seminar. It is a lovely time of year in Ottawa in October and Jane will be very interesting. She has just come out with her first book on Dreams, Symbology and Homeopathy which Dana Ullman published. The seminar will be in regards to this new work.
Speaking of CARA Professional, let me ask you about the “Expert System”! For those of you who don’t know, these computerized repertory programs enable you to select the rubrics in your case and find the top remedies just by clicking “Analyze”; but, the “Expert Analysis” apparently finds the remedy, not based on the totality of symptoms, but based on what George Vithoulkas would say if he were there! Well, obviously he would say, “Get me out of here!” but, can you explain how this works?
The CARA ‘Expert’ system (C.E.S.) is a mathematical calculation based on a few variables. CARA is the only system I know of (other than ISIS) that has an ‘open expert’. Not only do you know exactly how it works you can also change how it works to suit your own preferences and findings. As supplied, this relationship between the strategies has been very carefully chosen and has proven successful against real, curative cases.
The C.E.S. uses 5 techniques when it examines your case. The first 4 are the repertorisation strategies used elsewhere in CARA Professional, namely Weighted rubrics, Stress Significance, Emphasise Small and Emphasise Strange, Rare and Peculiar. The final technique utilises rubrics you mark as causative in your case.
The expert system examines each of your case rubrics in turn and automatically applies CARA Professional’s 4 strategies to each of them. It then looks for any rubrics marked as causative and applies a special boost to all remedies contained in those rubrics.
Once this has been done the C.E.S. then ‘balances’ all of the strategies in relation to each other – some of the strategies are thought to be more significant than others and the effect of them is therefore enhanced. This relatively simple technique remains mathematical in approach (as do all similar systems) but yields remarkably good results (as you will find).
Well, does that take away some of the mystery for you?
Carolyn, your secret is safe with me! (Mainly because I didn’t understand a word of it!) But, let me ask you this, are there any mistakes people are commonly making using CARA?
I wouldn’t say that people are making MISTAKES, but I do see that most people aren’t using the full capability of CARA. It is an extremely easy program to use, and just spending an hour going over the tutorial will often show the user many more ways to use the program. Alternately, giving the support line a call will get you to me or to our British support rep where you can receive direct support for more particular issues.
For instance, often there are remedies in the newer repertories that don’t have materia medica published as yet. A good way to find out the remedy’s capabilities is to do a rubric extraction. Using the Compare screen, you select the remedy and search through all chapters in the repertory. This will give you a list of all the rubrics the remedy is in and from that you may get a good feeling for its spheres of action.
Does CARA have an acute prescribing CD?
Miccant has a wonderful program called AKIVA (A-kee-vah) that fills that role. Containing an interactive question and answer for each of 64 conditions, Akiva gently guides you to the most indicated remedies. The questions have been carefully prepared to provide a detailed and thorough homeopathic consultation.
For each condition Akiva provides basic medical information. You need to be certain when a condition is suitable for home prescribing and when you need the help of your health-care provider. Where appropriate, Akiva also provides color photographs of conditions along with other support information, for example herbs that might help, nutritionaal supplements you should consider and even suggestions from folklore!
Akiva contains information on over 100 remedies.
It is downloadable from the www.miccant.com site and offers three free tries before it requests an activation code.
Carolyn, I’ve often wondered if the use of similar rubrics skews the results toward an undeserving remedy or if it doesn’t really matter.
It does matter, as any repertorization where the rubrics for one part of the case greatly outweigh the other parts of the case will skew the repertorization. One way of preventing that is to combine rubrics that are similar into one large rubric.
In CARA this is very easily done, as in ISIS. In ISIS you need just highlight all the rubrics you would like to combine and then click the Combine Icon, you will be asked to type in a name for the new rubric and to advise how you would like the remedies combined and using what grade. Once you click OK, the rubric immediately appears.
In CARA it is slightly different, where you have to drop the rubrics you want to combine into another Clipboard and then use the Combine icon to combine all the rubrics in that clipboard deciding how to combine them and what grade to use.
This is a great way to combine rubrics that you use often in your practice. In both programs you may also add these combined rubrics into your own repertory, My Repertory, where you may use them in other cases.
How did it all get started for you? Is there an interesting story about how you or a family member got well through homeopathy?
Well, as a matter of fact, that IS how it came about. I was not in the healing profession at all, I was working in Commercial Real Estate management. My daughter, 18 months at the time, erupted with eczema in the creases of her elbows. I took her to the pediatrician who gave me the requisite 2 minutes and a prescription for hydro-cortisone cream. I wasn’t pleased that I received no information on what could have caused it and I really didn’t want to use that on so little a person, so went in search of other answers. I learned about food allergies and ways of dealing with them and eliminating them, and then found homeopathy which cured her. She is now 13 and has not been back to the doctor since. We have handled everything with homeopathy. I stopped vaccinating at that time, as well.
From that time on, I studied homeopathy and started to practice about 3 years later. I have studied with The British Institute, Lou Klein’s 2 year Master Clinician course, Jeremy Sherr’s 3 year Dynamis course, Jan Scholten, Frans Vermeulen and Alize Timmerman is now the homeopath that I study with most often.
Due to the way I found homeopathy I often talk to mothers’ groups, both prenatal and post partum to give them some other way to deal with their pregnancy, delivery and baby needs.
I just love learning! The more I learn, the more I realize that I don’t know. With each of these teachers, a different part of homeopathy and therefore, the world comes to the forefront.
With Jeremy, he is the Master of Philosophy. He was my first ‘teacher’ and changed the way I thought about things. He is able to bring so many diverse teachings into the teaching of homeopathy.
Lou teaches another end of the spectrum, to look for the little things. He knows so many remedies! I learned how to recognize a general type of remedy – a carbon, an acid, a spider or drug. Then to focus in on that with some of the smaller members of our materia medica. I probably learned a couple of hundred remedies with Lou.
Now with Alize, I have found someone that I intend to study with for awhile. She is pushing the boundaries of homeopathy and I find that fascinating. I think it has to evolve and I like how Alize is working to find what comes next.
Can you give us any tips on case taking?
Tips on casetaking….. hmmm. Listen a lot and speak a little. As I have progressed over the ten years or so of practice, I realize how much more I learn from the person by being patient and letting silence draw them out, rather than jumping in and filling the silence with questions. Sometimes it can be a little uncomfortable but will usually be rewarding.
Do you remember what your daughter’s eczema remedy was?
Funny, I don’t remember the remedy that did it for my daughter’s eczema, but over the years she has been cured many times. I do remember one ‘crisis’ of 14 plantar warts that took a few tries to find the magic remedy – Nitric Acid. Made them disappear within a week. My daughter just came in to talk to me one morning and said “look, they are all gone!”. There was nothing at all there, just lovely pink skin.
Ahhhhh, the wonders of homeopathy!
Please feel free to give us your seminar schedule.
Great!
Alastair Gray
Spiders, Snakes, Amphibians and Insects
March 27-28, 2004
Toronto, ON
Contact:Carolyn@TorontoHomeopathics.com
Information at www.TorontoHomeopathics.com
Jane Ciccheti
Dreams, Symbols and Homeopathy
October 3-4, 2004
Ottawa, ON
Contact:Carolyn@TorontoHomeopathics.com
Information at www.TorontoHomeopathics.com
Other lecturers upcoming in 2005
If people want to see you as a practitioner, what should they do?
I practice from my home and so require prior appointments.
TORONTO HOMEOPATHICS
270 South Kingsway
Toronto, ON
M6S 3T9
(416)604-0017
Thanks Carolyn, we’ll be talking! Hello?
Elaine Lewis
