Homeopathy Book Reviews

Conquering Fevers with Homoeopathy by Gajanan Dhanipkar

homeopathy treatment of acute feversTitle: Conquering Fever with Homoeopathy

Author: Gajanan Dhanipkar

Publisher: Homeopathic Medical Publishers

Hardbound, 164 pages

ISBN: 978-93-80355-66-5

Edition: 1st (2017)

Foreword by: Rajan Sankaran

Reviewed by: Manish Bhatia


 

I had a chance to hear Dr. Dhanipkar at The Other Song Academy last year and I was intrigued by his quick and beautiful prescribing in several acute cases. He had shown a number of cases of fever, where his sound case taking, classical approach, understanding of the nature of disease and full attention to the finer symptoms resulted in quick and beautiful cures. Since then, I was waiting for this book to come out and I am glad it is finally available to our community.

Fevers (rather all acutes) test homeopathic skills like nothing else. You have to be quick, yet precise. The symptoms can change rapidly and you have very little time for trial and error. If your remedy is right, the relief it brings is also equally rapid. There are cases where you only get the common symptoms, others where you find beautiful mental symptoms, and yet others where the general picture points towards a remedy in totality. Each cases demands a hundred percent attention and as Hahnemann said, ‘sound senses, attention in observation, freedom from prejudice and fidelity in tracing the picture of disease”.

Dr. Dhanipkar’s book is a beautiful demonstration of all these virtues.

The book is divided in four sections. The first section deals with Case Taking in Fevers. Here Dr. Dhanipkar outlines his approach and observations regarding case taking in cases of fevers. It includes the role of observation, causative factors, stages of fever, physical examination, concomittants, modalities, keynotes, past history and general state. Case taking in paediatric cases is also discussed. Each of these aspects are demonstrated with case examples, which make it very easy to understand the importance of each.

The second section is Types of Fever, where he discusses treatment of intermittent, recurrent, infective, pathological and complex fevers, and also pyrexia of unknown origin. Again each type is illustrated with case examples. We also get to learn appropriate rubrics for each kind of fever. There are many cases where remedy choice is interesting and lets you  learn and use those remedies like E.coli, Streptococcinum, Ocimum etc.

The third section, Other Considerations when Treating Fever, discusses the difference in acute and chronic simillimums, general management of fever, time for administering a remedy, posology and choice of repertory and materia medica. The section also has materia medica for most of the common drugs used in cases of fever. This is very useful for quick reference as well as for comparative study.

The last section, Clinical Pathophysiology of Fever, discusses the cause and nature of fever in general and the role of laboratory investigations.

While the book is a systematic exposition on this important subject, my personal takeaway from it has been the need for diligence in every case. Each case has to be observed very minutely, each symptom has to be listened to carefully and completed and you need to be patient in making that first prescription. Don’t rush to give a remedy. The patient’s acute and anxious state should not make the homeopath anxious!

I strongly recommend this work to the community. It can be read with the following two useful works:

Therapeutics of Fever by HC Allen

Fevers and Blood Poisoning by JC Burnett

About the author

Gajanan Dhanipkar

Dr. Dhanipkar has been practicing now for the last 16 years, mainly in Thane & Ambernath. He is a guest lecturer at various institutes. He has been regularly teaching in the basic and advanced courses in the Sensation Method conducted by Homoeopathic Research & Charities. In addition, he also conducts courses in the Sensation Method for homoeopathic physicians in the vicinities of Thane and Ambernath. He is known for his acute prescriptions, unique style of case taking and case analysis amongst his students who have studied at his clinic.

2 Comments

  • Francis Treuherz pointed out a spelling error:

    “Conquering Fevers with Homeopathy”. Ooops! When buying books online you need to be accurate, anyone copying this title and looking for a copy will not find it. Look at the image of the cover for the answer. “Conquering Fevers with HomOeOpathy” is correct.

    Thank you Francis! We’ve made the correction, so the spelling is now correct. Homoeopathy.

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