Feb/Mar 2003

If Only I Could Be Like My Cells
Deepak Chopra, MD

Why Spirituality is Essential to Progressive Politics
Ana Villa-Lobos

The Spiritual Art of Peacemaking
James Twyman

Finding Answers in Community Meetings
John Darling

Reclaiming Our Courage
Paul Rogat Loeb

The Rhinoceros In Our Living Room is Slip Covered
Jeannie Azzopardi

Iraq and the Economy
Dennis Kucinich

Letter to a Warrior
Elias Amidon

Democracy in Action
Letter to Members of MoveOn

Participatory Democracy in Porto Alegre, Brazil
America Vera-Zavala

American Revolt in Pennsylvania
Thom Hartmann

The Omega Point
Finn Honoré

We live in A World With Finite Resources
George Monbiot

Using Homeopathic Remedies
Doug Falkner, MD, M.Hom

The Healing Power of Touch
John Darling

A Somatic Contradiction
Peter Moore, MFCC, CGP

Shamanism and Psychology Join Forces
Jeanette M. Gagan, PhD

Natural Building: A New Course of Action
Coenraad Rogmans

The Movie Mystic
Stephen Simon

The Yearly Round
Richard Moeschl

Cosmic Calendar
Salina Rain

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Using Homeopathic Remedies

By Douglas Falkner, M.D., M.Hom

One of my goals as a practitioner of homeopathy is to educate. Over the years, it has become apparent that a great deal of confusion exists with regard to just what homeopathy is. Many equate homeopathy with holistic and herbal medicine. Others think of vitamins and nutrition when they hear the word “homeopathy” mentioned. And when it comes to our medicines (generally referred to as “remedies”), few have any clear notion as to just what they are, how they are made, and least of all how they work. In this article I will try to clarify what homeopathy is, what remedies are and how they can be used, and when it may be best to consult with a professionally/medically trained homeopath.

Classical or traditional Hahnemannian Homeopathy is a medical science. It was developed by a German physician, Samuel Hahnemann, MD, nearly 200 years ago. Hahnemann discovered a natural law of cure and coined the term “homeopathy” (homeo/same; pathos/suffering) to describe it. According to principles of homeopathy, diseases are cured when the body is stimulated by medicines that produce symptoms similar to the disease in question, not by medicines that oppose symptoms. Referred to as the Law of Similars, Hahnemann claimed that the homeopathic approach underlies all true healing responses.

It is important to understand this concept because it relates directly to how one chooses and uses homeopathic medicines. In contrast to conventional medicine or herbal and nutritional supplements, homeopathic remedies are applied to disease patterns rather than diagnostic entities. This aspect of homeopathy is by far the hardest for most of us to grasp, having been educated according to conventional medical concepts of the modern western world.

Using the conventional medical model for treating illness, the physician generally attempts to label the disease condition and then select a medicine that is known to be effective in treating that condition. So, if you have migraine headaches, you might be given a prescription for Imitrex, Codeine, Fiorinal or the like. If you have an herbal bent you might select an herb such as Feverfew or an Ergot derivative. Either way, we think of the medicines described above as being for migraine headaches.

In homeopathy, we all but ignore the disease diagnosis. We are more interested in the pattern of illness than we are in the name of the disease. Remember, in homeopathy we are applying a principle or law of cure called the Law of Similars. We are not treating so-called disease diagnoses.

Each homeopathic medicine when given to healthy individuals expresses a very definite and recognizable pattern of symptoms. Testing remedies on healthy volunteers is the method used to discover their intrinsic qualities and potential applications for stimulating healing. This pattern is unique for each remedy.

For example, the remedy Arsenicum album is known for producing burning pains relieved by heat or warm applications, generally anxiety and restlessness, chilliness, and thirst for warm drinks in small sips. Apis mellifica is another remedy also known to produce burning pains, but, in contrast, also with a stinging quality, usually accompanied by tissue swelling. With Apis, the pains are worse from heat, but always relieved, at least somewhat, with cold applications. The Apis pattern also tends to manifest with thirstlessness rather than thirst, as was the case with Arsenicum album. The important point to note here is not the disease but the characteristics of the pattern.

Let us illustrate with our headache case. One person has migraines characterized by burning pains in the forehead, relieved with very hot compresses. She is anxious, and thirsty for warm drinks, in sips. With the headaches she feels especially chilly. All things being equal she takes the remedy Arsenicum album and the headache soon after disappears. The remedy was selected for her pattern, not her disease name. Had her headaches been relieved by cold applications and not warm, had she been thirstless rather than thirsy, had there been swelling around her eyes along with her frontal headaches, Apis mellifica would have been the better choice since its characteristic pattern fits the situation more closely.

Keeping this example in mind, we can understand the fundamental and imperative difference between homeopathy and almost all other conventional or natural therapies: homeopathy works by matching the disease pattern which a medicine produces to the pattern of a given illness. In essence, homeopathy stimulates a healing response in the organism by presenting it with a disease “likeness.” Other approaches, in contrast, match medicines basically to a disease diagnosis. Conventional, allopathic approaches attempt to oppose and extinguish symptoms through direct material effects of the drug or substance employed.

So what exactly is in one of those remedies that you find on the shelf of your local health food store or pharmacy? Starting with something material, like white arsenic or honey bee venom (Arsenicum album or Apis mellifica), a small part of the selected substance is serially diluted in distilled water or alcohol. Between each dilution the mixture is vigorously shaken. This process is called “potentization.” All homeopathic remedies are potentized substances. At the end of the process, you have a solution so highly diluted that it contains a quantity of substance so minute that the finest lab in the world could not detect any of it. After a certain point, there is no physical substance whatsoever in the mixture. All that remains is an energy “essence” or field imprinted on the solution. As a final step, the potentized solution is placed on BB sized pellets of inert milk sugar and packaged in containers you all recognize on the store selves.

In other words, all homeopathic remedies are energetic potencies. Their action is to stimulate our own energy field according the Law of Similars. If the pattern of the remedy clearly matches the pattern of illness it will assuredly elicit a healing reaction. Remember, in order for it to really work, the remedy must be selected according to the overall state or pattern of illness and not according to any specific diagnosis.

The number appearing before the letter or letters of the potency indicates the number of times the original substance was diluted before packaging. The letter(s) indicate the dilution factor. For “X” potencies the dilution factor is 1:10, for “C” potencies 1:100, and for “LM” potencies 1:50,000. Thus a 6C means the original material has been diluted 1:100 six times. Mathematically this means that there is 1 in 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillionth) part materially of what you started with. A 12C potency and higher is diluted beyond all material. What is in the bottle has really nothing to do with quantity of substance. Remedies are energetic and work according to energy properties and principles, period.

The FDA regulates homeopathic remedies as “Over the Counter” drugs. There is a codified pharmacopoeia that lists all approved remedies, called the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS). Labeling requirements force remedy manufacturers to place certain information on the label of each remedy. In practice, the only important information is the name of the remedy (uniformly a Latin term) and the potency. The listed remedy indications and instructions on how to administer the remedy are uniform and virtually meaningless. As you may have understood from what was explained above, the true indications for a given remedy are what the individual currently expresses as a specific pattern of illness, not the disease name itself. The labeled indications, usually a word or two like “sore throat” or “rash” or “diarrhea,” required by the FDA, completely ignore this fact.

What I recommend for those interested in using homeopathic remedies is to ignore everything on the label except the remedy name and potency. In this way, you will be forced to select remedies and utilize them according to an understanding that applies in reality rather than the fiction created by the labeling requirements of the FDA.

When you wish to use a remedy to address or treat a health problem, always remember to choose a remedy whose known symptom pattern most closely matches the pattern of the illness you are trying to treat. You never want to pick a remedy for its labeled disease indication. There truly is no such thing. Fortunately there are many self help guide books on the market that assist one to understand how to analyze a pattern of an illness and includes descriptions of remedy patterns of many common and important remedies. With a little study and practice, most people can effectively choose a remedy for minor health concerns. While there are many books on the market, I suggest Homeopathic Self-Care: The Quick and Easy Guide for the Whole Family by Robert Ullman, ND and Judyth Reich-enberg-Ullman, ND.

Once you have found the remedy that suits your case, you need to select a potency and a frequency of administration. Again there is no real cookbook approach to this. For home use, I would suggest always using potencies of 30C or less. In general the more severe and sudden the illness, the higher the potency should be and the more frequently you need to dose. In my opinion, a dose is always one pellet under the tongue and dissolved. More than one pellet at a time (and the remedy manufacturers will hate me for this) is unnecessary. Again there are excellent guidebooks that walk you through the process of dosing.

Many people interested in homeopathy soon discover that certain product lines include remedies labeled for disease names, like “allergy remedy” or “headache remedy,” etc. These products invariably contain many different potentized substances of varying potencies, otherwise known as combination remedies. Without going into great detail, I can say two things for certain about using these products. First, they are not being used according to the principles of Hahnemannian Homeopathy in which a single remedy is selected according to the similarity of symptom pattern. Secondly, there is no long term data supporting their efficacy. With the classical approach we have over 200 years of solid clinical verification.

While combination remedies do have effects, they cannot be, strictly speaking, homeopathic ones. I have never seen results from combination remedies compare in any way to the profound effects of the properly selected single potency, using Hahne-mannian principles. In the end, as in all things, it is your choice. The Hahnemannian path is by far more stringent, but ultimately much more rewarding.

When is it appropriate to use home-opathy for self-treatment, and when does one require the help of a trained pro-fessional? The answer depends on the extent of ones knowledge and experience, since no one can possibly select remedies properly without a certain minimum education. In general, I would suggest that the average person restrict the use of remedies to simple and minor illnesses, the kind that anyone would feel comfortable addressing without the advice and assistance of a trained medical practitioner. Anything beyond that is impossible to say, so always err on the side of caution.

Many people who have tried using a homeopathic remedy found it didn’t work for them. My experience has shown me that in most, if not all of these cases, the fault was not with homeopathy, but the use of an incorrect homeopathic remedy. Please understand that homeopathy is a complex and profound medical science. That this great potential for healing can be packaged in a small bottle sold over the counter in most heath food stores is a testimony to the somewhat mysterious yet truly miraculous discovery of Dr. Hahnemann, who made his great wisdom accessible through homeo-pathy to those who choose to take advantage of it.

Disclaimer: This article was written to inform people on the subject of home-opathy. In no way should it be used as a guide for diagnosing or treating illness. Please use your good judgment when attempting to apply homeopathy for your own personal needs. Respect its power. Do not use remedies indiscriminately. Always seek appropriate medical guidance when the disease condition warrants.

Douglas Falkner, M.D., M.Hom, a Board Certified Emergency Physician, lectures on homeopathic medicine in Ashland and surrounding communities and consults nationally and locally. Dr. Falkner can be reached atdrfalkner@qwest.net; (541) 552-1400; www.tryhomeopathy.com.