Characteristic Symptoms

Characteristic symptoms are symptoms that illustrate the individuality of the patient. These may be found in the mind, emotions, dreams, general tendencies, food cravings, sleep, sex, energy, and so on. What we’re looking for is the individual expression of the person who is sick. The real pathology of the patient if you will.

Characteristic symptoms describe the patient’s illness as a unique complete entity. The basic concept is that a person is ill as a total entity, not only a part is sick, but that all of the person is ill. The illness is seen in the symptoms. Some symptoms are common and some are unique but all show the total illness. As a homeopath I pay attention to the most identifying features of the whole. The features that run through the whole case.

What do we need to know about a symptom to understand it? What gives us the most comprehensive information? One of the most accomplished homeopaths of the 19th century, Clemens von Boenninghausen, wrote extensively on this subject. He developed the following set of interdependent questions that help us derive the most value from each symptom.

1. Who?
The personality, the individuality of the patient, must stand at the head of the image of the disease, for the natural disposition rests on it. In this area we find the sex, age, bodily constitution, etc. The more striking or rare the differences from the norm, the greater the attention.

2. What?
This question refers to the disease, i. e., to its nature and peculiarity. Each person diagnosed with the same disease label still expresses unique symptoms. Various aspects of how they express the disease differentiate them from anyone else with that same label. The ultimate importance lies in the symptoms themselves. It does not rest solely on the attachment of a disease label.

3. Where?
The seat of the disease, though part of the previous question, deserves further emphasis. Often, a characteristic symptom can be derived from the location of the illness. This is true not only for a local disease like a rash, but also for more systemic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. In such situations it is rarely the case that the whole body is affected equally. It may be that one side is affected more than another, or the upper (not the lower) part of the body is involved.

4. Concomitant Symptoms (symptoms occurring at the same time).
Every individual presents with a more or less numerous group of symptoms. Taken together they represent the totality of that person’s disease (when the image is complete). Think of a mosaic where every tile exquisitely laid in place represents an aspect of the overall picture. One absent or misplaced tile can distort the image (the picture of the disease) making it unrecognizable. Hence the importance of concomitant symptoms. This is especially true when the symptom is seemingly not related to the disease. An individual has acute kidney stone colic and the concomitant symptom is an unusual outburst of anger. Someone has experienced a strong grief and they have a craving for salty foods that they don’t usually like.

5. Why?
The cause of the disease or etiology has a prominent part in pathology books. A large part of this is only untested theories or attempts at explanation. Homeopaths take a much more versatile, wholistic view of etiology that goes beyond simple association with a pathogen.

At one level there exist internal and external causes. Internal causes properly refer only to the general natural disposition, which in some cases amounts to a peculiar supersensitivity or individual susceptibility. For some, illness always begins with their throat. For others, their skin is affected. Some are indisposed at the level of intellect or emotion.

The external causes embrace everything that, where there is such an internal disposition to disease, may produce disease. Weather, poor food choices, sick building syndrome, mental or physical abuse, abandonment, grief, etc. Maybe the specific cause of the kidney stone colic was the burst of anger that preceded its onset. If so, this etiology becomes a significant factor in the understanding of the case.

6. Better or Worse?
The modalities of a symptom, or things that make that symptom better or worse, are quite often a key to unlocking the case. Is the cough better from eating food? Does the throat pain increase when cold water is swallowed? Is the pain better with heat? Or with cold? Does the night sweat always occur at the same time of the morning? A clear modality is worth its weight in gold. One strong modality can shift the perception of the case and point the homeopath in the right direction.

7. When?
This concerns the time of the appearance, the aggravation or the amelioration of the ailments. The periodic return of symptoms after a longer or shorter cessation may relate to specific causes such as menstrual ailments, weather changes, seasons, etc.

Of even greater importance are the aggravations and ameliorations at particular times of the day. Whether this applies to local symptoms that the person has or their general overall state. There is hardly any disease that does not manifest in some form a distinct aggravation or amelioration. As homeopaths have paid inordinate attention to such details over the last 2 centuries they have the capability of applying such information in clinical practice.