Systems of Medicine – Homeopathy (Part II)

Junayet Hossain Khan

 Alternative Medicine
• The use of alternative medicine is growing
significantly everywhere in the world. According to a
study published by JAMA, 4 out of 10 Americans use
some form of alternative medicine.

• Between 1990-1997, visits to alternative medical

practitioners rose 47%.

• The most common forms of alternative medicine are

Ayurvedic, homeopathy, naturopathy, massage,
meditation, acupuncture and herbal remedies.
HOMEOPATHY
 Samuel Hahnemann
Founder of Homeopathy 1755-1843
Samuel Hahnemann was a German physician
who earned his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1779.

Scientific advances were beginning to be seen

in the fields of – chemistry, – physics, – physiology and – anatomy.
 Homeopathy ( like cures like)
• The word ‘Homoeopathy’ is derived from two Greek words,
• Homois meaning similar and pathos meaning suffering
• Homoeopathy simply means treating diseases with remedies,
prescribed in minute doses, which are capable of producing
symptoms similar to the disease when taken by healthy people
(like cures like).
• Basically homeopathy allows the body to heal itself by triggering
body’s natural immune response.
Eg: caffeine can treat insomnia
 Discovering Homeopathy
• While translating William Cullens “A treatise of the materia medica” into
German, Hahnemann was struck by a passage that deal with cinchona
bark, which was used to treat malaria.

• Hahnemann did not accept this explanation and took "four good pieces of
cinchona bark, twice a day for several days" to attempt to characterize
the action of the quinine-containing bark.

• Hahnemann reported that he began to develop symptoms identical to

those of malaria.

• He concluded from this experience that effective drugs must produce

symptoms in healthy people that are similar to the diseases they will be
expected to treat.

• Today this principal is known as the "Law of Similars" and is the basis for
the use of the term homeopathy ("similar suffering").
 Development of Homeopathy
• Hahnemann developed his treatments for sick patients by matching
the symptoms produced by a drug in healthy beings to symptoms in
sick patients.
• According to WHO Homoeopathy is a rapidly growing medical system
and is being practiced almost all over the world.
Principle of Homeopathy
•Laws of Similars
•Laws of Proving
•Laws of Potentization
 Principle of Homeopathy- Laws of Similars

The Law of Similars: States that a remedy can cure a disease if it

produces in a healthy person symptoms similar to those of the disease.

How this law works in practice: A person develops a fever, with flushed
face, dilated pupils, rapid heartbeat, and a feeling of restlessness. The
homeopathic physician studies these symptoms, then searches for a
remedy that produce all these symptoms in a healthy person.
 Principle of Homeopathy- Laws of Similars

“ Any substance which produces specific toxic symptoms in a healthy

person, when given in it's full strength form, will cure a sick person
with those same symptoms in a very diluted form.” -Hahnemann
Principle of Homeopathy- Laws of Similars

Angry red swellings, however caused, may be

treated with homeopathically prepared Apis,
which is made from the honeybee.

Cold or allergy symptoms such as watery

eyes and burning nasal discharge can be
treated with the homeopathic remedy, Allium
Cepa, made from the common red onion.
 Principle of Homeopathy- Laws of Proving
• The knowledge of homeopathic remedies is
based on scientific experiments called
“provings”.
• In a proving, healthy volunteers are given
homeopathically prepared doses of a
substance until they began to “prove” the
remedy, or experience symptoms -- mental,
emotional as well as physical. This information
is carefully recorded and repeated many
times.
Principle of Homeopathy- Laws of Proving
• The information from Provings make up our
Homeopathic Materia Medica , which is a
description of symptoms caused by each
remedy and therefore the symptoms it can be
used to alleviate.
• These same symptoms are also recorded in
texts known as a Repertory , which is an index
of symptoms that lists all remedies known to
have that symptom.
Principle of Homeopathy-Laws of Potentization
• In his experiments on himself and others, Hahnemann found that even in
small amounts the substances were still capable of producing side effects.
Hahnemann found that by diluting further, the side effects disappeared.

• He also established that if the substances were shaken vigorously during

the dilution, a practice known as “ succussion” , this released a previously
dormant energy, making the remedy more potent than before.

• Each remedy was diluted to such an extent that no actual material of the
original substance was left.

• Hahnemann believed that what existed after this dilution and “ succussion”
was the transference of the energy of the original material into a new,
neutral material.
Principle of Homeopathy-Laws of Potentization
 Dilutions
• Hahnemann created the "centesimal" or "C scale", diluting a
substance by a factor of 100 at each stage.
• A 2C dilution requires a substance to be diluted to one part in 100,
and then some of that diluted solution diluted by a further factor of
100.
• Hahnemann advocated 30C dilutions for most purposes (that is,
dilution by a factor of 1060).
• Hahnemann regularly used potencies up to 300C but opined that
"there must be a limit to the matter, it cannot go on indefinitely"
Dilutions
 Placebo Effect?
• Because homeopathic remedies are in such minute doses, physicians
and scientists frequently assert that they cannot work. An increasing
number of controlled studies are proving them wrong.

• There are many scientific studies on homeopathic medicine indicating

its effectiveness. There are studies published in respected scientific
journals such as The Lancet and The British Medical Journal.
 Looking for the Science?
• The Lancet published the most significant and comprehensive review
of homeopathic research, which appeared in its September 20, 1997
issue. This article was a meta-analysis of 89 double-blinded,
randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials. The authors conclude
that the clinical effects of homeopathic medicines are not simply
the results of placebo.
• Current Research Breakthrough discoveries in quantum physics show:
Water retains memory when substances are diluted and shaken.
Instead of molecules separating, some actually combine. (Lo, SY,
1996, 1998)