• Are you asking about the symptoms of a specific disease or condition (e.g., diabetes, heart failure, appendicitis)?
• Are you asking about how to take a complete symptom history from a patient?
• Are you referring to "COMPLETE" as a medical mnemonic or acronym?

Aphorism 84 - Organon of Medicine (Hahnemann)

Full Text of Aphorism 84

"The patient details the history of his sufferings; those about him tell what they heard him complain of, how he has behaved and what they have noticed in him; the physician sees, hears, and remarks by his other senses what there is of an altered or unusual character about him. He writes down accurately all that the patient and his friends have told him in the very expressions used by them. Keeping silence himself, he allows them to say all they have to say, and refrains from interrupting them - unless they wander off to other matters. The physician advises them at the beginning of the examination to speak slowly, in order that he may take down in writing the important parts of what the speakers say."

Key Points of Aphorism 84

1. The patient himself - narrates the history of his sufferings in his own words
2. Friends/attendants - tell what they observed (behavior, complaints they heard)
3. The physician - uses all his senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch) to observe what is altered or unusual

• Write down accurately everything the patient and attendants say, using their own expressions (verbatim recording)
• Keep silence - do not interrupt; let them speak freely and completely
• Only interrupt if they wander off irrelevant topics
• Ask them to speak slowly at the start, so the physician can write down important points

Footnote to Aphorism 84

"Every interruption breaks the train of thought of the narrators, and all they would have said at first does not again occur to them in precisely the same manner after that."

Significance in Case Taking

• Passive, attentive listening (not leading the patient)
• Recording symptoms in the patient's own words (avoids physician bias)
• Observation with all senses (objective signs + subjective complaints)
• Including third-party observations (attendants, family)

Aphorism 86 - Organon of Medicine (Hahnemann)

Full Text of Aphorism 86

"When the narrators have finished what they would say of their own accord, the physician then reverts to each particular symptom and elicits more precise information respecting it in the following manner; he reads over the symptoms as they were related to him one by one, and about each of them he inquires for further particulars, e.g.:

• At what period did this symptom occur?
• Was it previous to taking the medicine he had hitherto been using? While taking the medicine? Or only some days after leaving off the medicine?
• What kind of pain, what sensation exactly, was it that occurred on this spot?
• Where was the precise spot?
• Did the pain occur in fits and by itself, at various times? Or was it continued, without intermission?
• How long did it last?
• At what time of the day or night, and in what position of the body did it occur, or disappear?"

Key Points of Aphorism 86

• Only after the patient and attendants have finished speaking freely (free narration phase is complete)
• The physician then goes back and re-reads each symptom one by one

Relation to Aphorism 87

"The physician must never frame questions so as to suggest the answer to the patient - so that he shall only have to answer yes or no."

• Leading questions (e.g., "Was it a burning pain?" - wrong)
• Open-ended questions are preferred (e.g., "What kind of pain was it?" - correct)
• Hahnemann warns that a patient may answer "yes" or "no" out of indolence or to please the physician, leading to a false picture of the disease

Summary: Flow of Case Taking (Aph. 84-89)