Potency is often seen as one of the mysteries of homeopathy, confusing at best for regular users and off-putting for new users at worst.
This is a post I wrote over a decade ago when there were questions about the safety of particular homeopathic products from the perspective of medical professionals who did not have a grasp of the concept.
The conversation in question related to an item in the media about “children dying after taking homeopathic remedies”. The product they were referring to contained the remedy Belladonna in a 12x dilution or “potency”. Many of you will have heard of Belladonna or Deadly Nightshade and – yes, it is a poison in its material substance – but no, it’s not dangerous at all when used homeopathically.
Homeopaths have been using many potential poisons for more than 200 years to help with all sorts of conditions in the home and in the clinic. The way in which our remedies are made determines how they work and how low risk (or safe) they are.
TGA allows us to say they are “low risk” although I’ve always maintained they are safe when used according to the broad guidelines we put on our products.
This puts us in our own little niche classification of things which are ok in pregnancy and for babies in most cases. Obviously if you have a high risk pregnancy or difficult birth you may want to check with your homeopath as to the suitability of a particular product or remedy.
I often get questions about what potency is and how to choose, so this seemed a good opportunity to pen a few words about this important topic, the thing which makes homeopathy unique and so powerful or POTENT!
For those of you who don’t know what potency is at all, firstly it’s the number after the name of the remedy (6x, 6c, 30c, 200c, 1M, 10M, LM01, LM02, etc). This number also indicates how the remedy has been made and how many times the remedy has been diluted and succussed, which is the process by which a homeopathic remedy is made in the pharmacy.
Soluble plant parts, minerals, or animal substances are first crushed and macerated in an alcohol and water solution to create a base extract (the Mother Tincture). Insoluble dry substances (such as gold or quartz) are prepared via trituration—grinding the substance in specific ratios in a porcelain mortars.
Serial Dilution:
The remedy is diluted step-by-step using a fixed ratio.
Succussion (Dynamic Shaking):
Between every dilution step, the vial must undergo succussion—the container is struck a specific number of times (traditionally 100 firm strokes) against a hard yet elastic surface (such as a leather or rubber pad). Hahnemann believed this physical agitation released the “dynamic, medicinal power” of the substance rather than just diluting alone.
Medicating Potencies:
The final liquid dilution (medicating potency) is dropped onto either sucrose pilules, tablets or poppy seeds, or may be dispensed in a liquid mix.
So potency is about the energy of the remedy, how deeply it acts and for how long.
Don’t get stuck on thinking a high potency (200c, 1M, 10M) is going to be better than a 30c, for instance.
If you’re seeing a homeopath they will select the potency that suits you, just as they will individualise the remedy for your picture.
30c potency
For home prescribing and first aid 30c is a great potency for anything and everything because it’s what we call “mid-range”, meaning it covers the physical, as well as the mental/emotional level. It’s perfect for children and it’s easy to give more doses without risking overdoing it.
30c is also useful for accidents and injuries and I do like to suggest giving up to 5 doses 10 minutes apart if things are very intense. Follow the energy of the situation with the frequency of the dose in these circumstances.
30c is flexible in how many doses you can give and how often.
As you go higher up the potencies you should be able to give less doses and get results that last long enough that you’re not needing to give multiple doses. When we use 1M, 10M and higher, we are often giving one single dose, or perhaps dosing once a week if there is something complex going on.
200c potency
200c is good if something intense is going on, there is strong pain, or if a 30c isn’t doing the job you want it to do. I’d be less likely to generally suggest frequent dosing as given for 30c, because it can be easier to overdo the remedy.
Remember with homeopathy that less is more, so higher potency and more doses doesn’t necessary get the job done! A 30c or even a 6c may be just as good as a 200c.
Many of our combination remedies were originally made in 6c and 30c and they’ve really stood the test of time. We’ve not felt the need to increase the potencies in the combo; they just do the job.
6c & 6x potencies
6c and 6x potencies are useful if you are trying to manage something longer term and low-grade, maybe teeth issues, broken bones, skin conditions or organ support (thyroid, liver, etc).
LM or Q potencies
These are generally prescribed by your homeopath. I use them a lot because they are very deep acting, very gentle, and it’s easy to avoid or reduce aggravation. This is what we might call a healing crisis, but basically it means you’ve given the remedy too often or the potency is too high and the system is overstimulated.
They are very good for people who are sensitive, for children, for skin cases and are very flexible, whereas giving a 200c or a 1M to some people is too much energy and can’t be managed.
With home prescribing I’ve always said just give the potency you have in your box. Often you can give a 6x and get as good a reaction as a 200c if the remedy matches the picture.
If the remedy doesn’t match the picture in the first place, increasing the potency isn’t going to make it work.
But potency is really about how deeply the remedy acts, for how long and whether it is primarily going to act on the mental, emotional or physical levels.
It is also – to my mind anyway – about how much energy a remedy at a particular potency contains to do the job it needs to do.
As I said above, while lower potencies (6x, 12x, 6c, 12c) tend to act more on the physical level, this doesn’t mean that they won’t work on the mental/emotional. If a patient is sensitive to a remedy and the remedy fits the bigger picture, then it will work whatever potency you give, but some potencies will work better and for longer than others.
There is also an element of susceptibility in what potency is going to be best for you.
If you are quite sensitive, then your immune system isn’t going to need too much stimulation to get that natural healing action happening. In constitutional prescribing your homeopath will pick the most appropriate potency for a particular situation or remedy.
Homeochords (homochords)
The above as a mix of potencies in one bottle seems to be discussed a bit at the moment.
I’ve used what I’ve personally termed homeochords for most of my 30 years in practice, finding they are a great tool for detoxing in particular. I originally trialled 30c, 200c, 1M, 10M in the one bottle after using Tinus Smit’s very early work on detoxing, which later became CEASE therapy.
I found giving the potencies individually laborious and complex for the parents so tried combining, but was uncomfortable giving the higher potencies in the mix to babies. After a discussion with a colleague who’d come to the same conclusion, I decided on the lower potencies with a 200c included to get things going. This worked well and reduced aggravation and I’ve only once or twice needed to go to the higher potencies of 1M and 10M in all that time.
I know there is a suggestion that you could just put whatever potencies you have into a bottle and take and the body will work out what it needs. This is likely an idea aimed more at practitioners because, as I’ve said above, some people are very sensitive to potency and it takes an experienced practitioner to navigate that energy without any dramas. Certainly many immune systems do better with good constitutional prescriptions before any complex protocols or detoxing are given.
Is a higher potency stronger?
Just because the number might be higher doesn’t mean it will work better or quicker, which is certainly the perception of some people.
Occasionally you hear people say that a 200c is “stronger” than a 30c, but to some people this makes it seem like this might not be a good thing if we are talking about giving a baby a higher potency (stronger dose).
Stronger is really the wrong word, but it’s a word we understand because of pharmaceutical medicine.
In homeopathy it doesn’t mean it is going to make it more dangerous or too strong, but actually it becomes more potent, a higher frequency (because we are talking about vibrational medicine) or in some cases, deeper acting.
Perhaps if we think of a sheet of music with those five lines, we might think of a 6x and 6c being on the bottom lines, 30c on the next line, 200c on the middle line and so on upwards. So the potency of a remedy is like a musical note or an energy and perhaps this is a helpful way to visualise it.
Where do you resonate? What note or energy matches your own energy?
That number and the number of times the remedy has been diluted and succussed actually indicates a level of energy or resonant frequency. We are talking about something energetic – rather like acupuncture – when we talk about homeopathy, and my explanation is always that the potency indicates the energy of the remedy.
As individuals we are also energetic – well we would be or we’d be dead, wouldn’t we?!
So we all have an energetic frequency or level at which we too resonate. When we take a homeopathic remedy we are trying to match our resonant frequency or energy with that of the remedy we take to get the best outcome.
We don’t always need a 200c potency and sometimes if we are quite sensitive, it doesn’t take much of a stimulus for our energy system or immune system to start the healing process, because this is what we are trying to initiate with a remedy.
For some people a 200c can be a bit like hitting yourself on the head with a hammer and a lower potency, such as a 6x or a 6c, is going to be gentler, but still have a good effect. Sometimes a single dose of a 1M or 10M is the best option and fits the energy of the patient.
Choosing the right potency really is part of the expertise of your practitioner – understanding where you resonate and therefore what potency is going to work best for your particular condition or situation.
A higher potency is not necessarily better – a lower potency could also be required and I’ve seen fantastic results when all that was available was a tissue salt in a 6x potency. It’s also about the skill of picking a potency that is going to act without causing an aggravation or healing crisis, which sometimes happens if potencies are too high.
Does potency make a remedy homeopathic?
Remember that succussion and dilution are only part of what makes a remedy homeopathic. How we apply it, ie choose our remedy, is another part of what makes a remedy homeopathic – the “like cures like” aspect of homeopathy.
Our remedies are very dilute, but they are very potent and powerful. They can also be very gentle when used correctly and if you have the right remedy, it may not matter greatly what potency you use because it should stimulate a healing reaction.
Summing up
Our remedies may be super dilute, but it’s the manufacturing process which energises them and makes them potent, deep acting and powerful medicines!
Organon of the Medical Art; Dr Samuel Hahnemann; edited and annotated by Wenda Brewster O’Reilly; 1996
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