Can there be more than one Simillimum for a given case?

Last months’ Homeopathy Poll asked:

“Can there be more than one Simillimum for a given case?”

155 individual votes were recorded in response to the question, and 49 voters left comments detailing their views.

The results indicate that the majority of respondents (55.5%) understood that any one case could present the need for more than one Simillimum. 36.1% of our readers answered that only one Simillimum could exist per case, and 8.4% of our respondents didn’t know or were undecided.

Many of the comments focused on acknowledging that there may be one “true” Simillimum in a case, but it can be elusive, and rarely found. Claire O’Brien writes:

I think there is only one true Simillimum for a case. However we rarely find it. The better we are, the closer the Simillimum and the better the results. This is why we frequently “zig zag” cases as we cover part of the Simillimum and then need to move on to cover the areas that are missed.

S. K. Sinha echoes O’Brien’s experience with this view, where he details the difference between seeing several “Simillimum” remedies and treating with one medicine after another:
Vote is YES.

Even though in theory, “true” Simillimum can be only one, in practice it is entirely possible to find more then one for want of accurate information/understanding. The “set of symptoms” as obtained from the patient is often found as a “sub-set of symptoms” of several remedies in the book and one selects the Simillimum based on the modalities, location and causation. However, once in a while, we all come across situations where the cause is not known, modalities are too general and location is too widespread to be of much help. In such situations, one has to accept the reality of more than one Simillimum.

One medicine given after another to complete the cure, may not always fall under the category of more than one Simillimum, in my opinion. In some cases, where the above is noticed, could be due to long years of suffering and the true symptoms “masked” by conscious (or otherwise) efforts in having to “live with” the problem.

On the “no” side, many of our comments resembled this one by Sabina:

My answer is no…there can be only one medicine most similar to the given case. Other medicines may be very close to former, but by careful case study we come to know that there is only one Simillimum. And our master has emphasized…single remedy prescription which is most similar to the case. Of course second prescription will then follow, may be the same medicine or another for complete cure of the case, but no two medicines can (be) used to create an effect of Simillimum. There can be only one Simillimum to a given case.

In truth, many of the “No” answers greatly resembled the “Yes” answers in these ways. There were some exceptions, however, as Dr Fatema Q. Master writes:

There can be only one Simillimum for a given case because the symptoms produced in a case are due to a central disturbance of vital force which never changes, and there can be only one Simillimum that covers that central disturbance.

On the whole, most of us have a good idea of the concept of the Simillimum, but we all tend to have our own perspective or interpretation of the word—we see it as something relative to a particular totality, or quite possibly something fixed and unchangeable according to each individual vital force. Practice experiences, as described by our respondents, seem to involve the use of a number of remedies for each case, albeit not at the same time (though one of our respondents, Carol Willis, did mention that a more provocative question for our poll would have been the “more than one Simillimum at the same time” query) but certainly during the course of chronic treatment, where more information presents itself as the case (and patient) progresses. Willis’ remarks also bring up another contentious issue:

I do not share the view that a person’s constitutional remedy, if it can be found, is the person’s correct remedy for all circumstances. It may be the correct remedy in very many circumstances, but not necessarily for all circumstances.

On this point, I think many views would be divided. But that may be a topic for another poll, for another issue.

We would like to thank you all for your contributions, and encourage you to vote and comment in any of our upcoming homeopathy polls.

Vote & Share your views for this months’ poll question

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Similimum in Life – Dr. Manish Bhatia