Homeopathy demystified: Why it works for acute conditions and chronic disease

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By Amalia Punzo, MD, CHCQM-PHYADV

I first heard the term “homeopathy” when I began my private practice in medicine in the mid to late 1990s. Prior to that I was not at all familiar with homeopathy or many of the other complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) disciplines. They certainly weren’t taught or discussed at the medical school I had attended or the hospitals where I completed my residency and fellowship in internal medicine.

It was through patients in my private practice that I came to learn about CAM practices and disciplines. Patients back then were more knowledgeable than most conventionally trained practitioners when it came to CAM. My observations were that patients who were seeing CAM practitioners seemed to be healthier and more informed regarding their healthcare than patients who relied on pharmaceuticals alone.

After a few years of self-directed study in a number of CAM disciplines, I began an inpatient program in integrative medicine at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut in 2000 with the intention of increasing awareness of CAM within a very conventional medical system in the hopes of bridging the two worlds. Homeopathic medicine, however, was difficult for my peers to grasp, as remains the case today. It is my hope that this primer will help to shine a light on a holistic discipline that has enjoyed more than 220 years of proven clinical success and continues to grow in popularity around the world despite the obstacles experienced by many CAM and integrative healthcare providers.

While it scarcely compares in antiquity to Chinese or Indian medicine, homeopathy is the longest established CAM to have arisen in Europe.

According to a survey article in American Journal of Public Health, CAM users put homeopathy at the top three CAM strategies used in their healthcare regimen and homeopathy in the United States has been steadily increasing. Worldwide, more than 200 million people use homeopathy on a regular basis, and it is included in the national healthcare systems of several countries around the world. Homeopathy is practiced by over 250,000 physicians worldwide.

The most common conditions for which people seek acute homeopathic treatment are general first aid and trauma, sore throats, infections including colds, coughs and flu, earaches in children and adults, bites, stings, diarrhea, anxiety, menopausal symptoms, and a whole host more. Treatment of deeper, chronic illnesses are also effectively treated using homeopathy. However, this requires more advanced training and experience given the complexity of these cases.

Homeopathic medicines are natural substances prepared from plants, minerals, and animals. They are manufactured in U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulated pharmacies and their production must follow strict adherence to manufacturing procedures as written in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS). Many homeopathic medicines can be purchased over the counter for self-use; however, a basic knowledge of homeopathic philosophy, methodology, and acute care will yield the best results. There are thousands of high quality homeopathic research studies supporting clinical efficacy as well as hundreds of basic science studies which demonstrate that homeopathic medicines contain measurable properties.

Homeopathy has endured lasting popularity because of its long track record of success in treating acute, self-limited, and deeper chronic disease. The beauty of homeopathic medicine and one of the many reasons that I subsequently chose to study and practice homeopathy, is that it works quickly, gently, and without the toxicity or drug interactions so commonly experienced in the prescribing of pharmaceuticals and certain herbal formulations. The goal of effective homeopathic treatment and one of the keys to its clinical success is the fact that we seek to prescribe one single homeopathic medicine at a time; one which targets the totality of the patient’s symptoms and complaints (mental, emotional, and physical). This is true for chronic as well as acute prescribing. It is individualized for each person’s unique expression of illness.

Take ear infections, for example, particularly in babies and toddlers. Some babies are irritable and cross while others may be whiny and need constant holding and attention. Even though both children have a diagnosis of “ear infection,” the homeopathic medicine will cure the condition (often within minutes to hours) and it will be different for each of these patients. The emotional state of the patient is often one of the crucial factors in finding the best homeopathic medicine at that moment.

What is quite remarkable is that the principles of prescribing used to treat illness and conditions in the earliest days of homeopathy are the very same tried and true methods used to treat any number of acute and chronic conditions to this day. The conditions that led to homeopathy’s remarkable success and popularity in the late 18^th, 19^th, and early 20^th centuries were life-threatening infections, including epidemics and pandemics. Homeopathy was able to cure these potentially fatal conditions such as cholera, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, smallpox, the Spanish flu of 1918, and other serious conditions.  The mortality rate of patients under homeopathic care was consistently and predictably far lower than in patients not under homeopathic care.

The Law of Similars and homeopathic potentization

Homeopathy is prescribed based upon the principle of the Law of Similars (Simila similibus curentur). The very name is derived from the words homoios (like or similar) and patheia (disease). This healing principle can be traced back to Paracelsus and even Hippocrates.

Homeopathy was founded by a German physician, Samuel Hahnemann, MD (1755-1843). He was a brilliant chemist and physician who spoke several languages and worked as a translator of medical, toxicologic, and chemical literature. He came upon the principle of homeopathy while translating the toxicology of cinchona bark or quinine, the treatment for malaria. He discovered in his readings that the poisoning symptoms of Cinchona (China officialis) were the very same symptoms of malaria itself. This aha moment was the beginning of a lifelong journey to rigorously test hundreds of substances from nature with the intent of discerning their toxicology and treating similar disease.

In essence, applying the Law of Similars means that you administer a homeopathically prepared medicine which in its crude and undiluted form would cause the very condition you are treating. To prevent potential toxicity, then, homeopathic medicines are first put into solution and subsequently serially diluted and shaken (succussed) over tens (X), hundreds (C) or even thousands (M) of times in a very exacting process. This process, called potentization, eliminates toxicity while at the same time augmenting its therapeutic effect. Homeopathic medicine acts in the body to stimulate a healing reaction. It is the body’s response or reaction to a properly selected potentized medicine that is responsible for its deep and holistic therapeutic action.

It is the phenomenon of potentization that is at the root of the criticism leveled at homeopathy. People not intimately familiar with the literature and study of homeopathy claim that homeopathic medicines are inert placebos. I assure you they are not. The science of homeopathy is quite sophisticated and goes beyond simple basic chemistry. There are numerous studies referenced at the end of this article that identify physico-chemical signaling within these extremely diluted and succussed nanoparticulate aqueous solutions. These basic science or pre-clinical studies begin to inform us as to plausible hypotheses regarding this principle of potentization.

A summary article published in the American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine, by Iris Bell, MD, PhD reviewed the latest scientific research and provides an overview of the complex nature of homeopathic medicines and its actions in living systems. Bell’s paper provides an in-depth explanation of nanoparticles (NP) in solution. NPs in solution attain unique biological, chemical, electromagnetic, and quantum properties. As stated by Bell, “NPs mobilize the hormetic adaptational mechanisms in complex living system by serving as novel, foreign stressors to stimulate beneficial compensatory responses in the organism as a whole.” The significance of this mechanism of action is crucial to the acceptance and understanding of how homeopathic medicines act therapeutically within the body.

Homeopathy, then, works in the realm of biophysics or nanochemisty and as such is better classified as a form of nanomedicine. I invite the reader to peruse this extensive body of literature before disregarding the principle of potentization.

How to begin incorporating homeopathy into your practice

The value proposition for adding homeopathy to your practice is significant. Over time you will find homeopathy to be an indispensable tool in your practice and in your own life. You will find it enhances patient satisfaction, treats infections, and helps reduce pain and reliance on prescriptions and over-the-counter medications. The best way to begin to use homeopathy is to familiarize yourself with the guiding principles of homeopathic prescribing and start to study the most widely used homeopathic medicines for first aid and acute care. To become proficient, it is recommended you consider taking a quality introductory course on acute prescribing.

References:

Black D. Complementary Medicine. In: Walter J, Walton L, Jeremiah A, Barondess JA, Lock S (eds).  The Oxford Medical Companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Bell, IR.  (2012) Homeopathy as a systemic adaptational nanomedicine:  The nanoparticle-cross-adaptation-sensitization model.  American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3539158/

Negro FE, Marino FV. (2021) Homeopathy in Epidemics: From Cholera to 1918 Spanish Flu (Part 2). OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine. Retrieved from: https://www.lidsen.com/journals/icm/icm-06-04-045

Chikramane PS, Suresh AK, Bellare JR, and Kane SG. (2010) Extreme homeopathic dilutions retain starting materials: A nanoparticulate perspective.  Homeopathy. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20970092/

Elia V, Napoli E, and Germano R. (2007)  The `Memory of Water`: an almost deciphered enigma.  Dissipative structures in extremely dilute aqueous solutions.  Homeopathy. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17678812/

Rao ML, Roy R, Bell IR, Hoover R. (2007) The defining role of structure (including epitaxy) in the plausibility of homeopathy. Homeopathy. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17678814/

Rey L. (2003) Thermoluminescence of ultra-high dilutions of lithium chloride and sodium chloride.  Physica A. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/243219665_Thermoluminescence_of_ultra-high_dilutions_of_lithium_chloride_and_sodium_chloride

Amalia (Molly) Punzo, MD, CHCQM-PHYADV is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. She completed her residency and fellowship in Internal Medicine at Hartford Hospital in 1992. While in Connecticut, she began Hartford Hospital’s Inpatient Department of Integrative Medicine and outpatient Center for Integrative Medicine and Pain Management in Hartford, Conn. in 2000. Her interest in integrative health and homeopathy began shortly after starting private practice. She is a published author and has advocated and lectured on behalf of homeopathy and integrative medicine for decades. She served on the board of the National Center for Homeopathy from 2000 to 2010 and is a current board member of the American Institute for Homeopathy (AIH). She is an acting liaison between the AIH and the Academy of Homeopathy Education (AHE) to promote quality homeopathic education to licensed healthcare professionals. She and her husband currently reside between Florida and Maine.