by Dr. Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Dr. Robert Ullman
A Mind-Boggling Kind of Medicine
There are many myths about homeopathic treatment. But when you look closer, you will find that homeopathy is unlike any other form of medicine – in a good way! A single homeopathic medicine treats all of the symptoms of the patient, not only the chief complaint. The effect of one dose can last for months, or even years. There is no expiration date on the medicines- they can last for life. Ten different patients with asthma may need ten different medicines. The medicines are safe for newborns and pregnant moms yet powerful enough to arrest bleeding within minutes and to bring comatose patients back into waking consciousness within minutes. Absolutely any substance in nature can be made into a homeopathic medicine. These are a few of the mind-boggling yet true facts about homeopathy. Our form of medicine is not as straightforward as other modalities and strains many a mind to disbelief. Added to this confusion are a number of misconceptions that we would like to clarify in this article.
Homeopathic Medicine in Slow-Acting
This is an erroneous comment that we sometimes hear, especially when we travel in India. The pace of the reaction to a homeopathic medicine depends on the nature of the illness, the vital force of the patient, and the accuracy of the prescription. Response to acute illnesses are often very rapid. Judyth remembers when she was a student clinician at Bastyr University in 1982. She gave a dose of Pulsatilla to a sweet, little, blonde girl, complaining of a very sore throat, curled up lethargically in her mom’s lap. No sooner did Judyth turn around after administering the medicine that the child was racing up and down the halls oblivious to any pain or discomfort. Then there was the time Judyth turned her ankle running down the concrete steps to her house and fell to the ground in acute pain. On her way to a meeting, she was determined to reach her Arnica. After literally crawling up two flights of stairs, she grabbed a dose of Arnica 30C and felt ninety percent pain-free within five minutes. Able to drive to and attend her commitment, she needed one additional dose of the Arnica three hours later. Or the time she scalded herself with soup while shopping at a local coop. Another shopper, having witnessed the accident, expressed concern twenty minutes later. Judyth assured him that the pain of the burn was gone within seconds of taking Cantharis.
Granted, the above are first-aid situations. The response to acute illnesses, physical or mental, is often seen within twenty-four hours. We can’t tell you the number of times we have prescribed homeopathic medicines for bladder infections and received reports from the patients the symptoms either resolved or improved dramatically within twenty to thirty minutes. One patient suffered from a severe uterine hemorrhage. Within a day of taking Belladonna, it was as if a faucet were turned off. Another Judyth story: during her last and most excruciating miscarriage a number of years ago, even Demoral did not touch the pain. But moments after a dose of Aurum metallicum, she could finally relax and find relief from unrelenting, laborlike pain.
In chronic conditions, the response time may be longer. Many patients find initial relief within a few days to a week of taking the medicine. Whether the problem is temper tantrums of a child with oppositional defiant disorder, the wrenching pain of a ruptured disk, the agony of suicidal depression, or the heart palpitations secondary to a panic attack, the patient will notice an amelioration of symptoms within days to weeks of being medicated. By the time of the followup visit, generally six weeks, the symptoms are typically at least sixty to seventy percent better, sometimes more. In the case of depression, for example, it is likely that the homeopathy will act more quickly than an antidepressant.
There is Nothing in Homeopathic Medicines
Homeopathic medicines are prepared by a method of serial dilution. We, like most other homeopathic practitioners, most often use centesimal. or C, dilutions. These have been diluted one part mother tincture to ninety-nine parts water or alcohol. A 30C potency has gone through this process thirty times; a 200C two hundred times, a 1M one thousand times, and a 10M ten thousand times. We agree that there is nothing chemical or physiological in a potency higher than 30C, however there is some time of pattern of the original substance that remains. What exactly this pattern is has been argued widely, but the most promising theory to date has to do with water holding memory. When tested by nuclear magnetic resonance or chromatography, each medicine and each potency of that medicine is distinct and unique. So, although each homeopathic medicine is infused into sugar pills and look and taste identical, each has its own particular pattern and properties.
Homeopathy Doesn’t Work
This is what the naysayers insight although, consistently, they are the ones who have never tried homeopathy. It is true that an incorrectly prescribed homeopathic medicine may have no effect whatsoever on the symptoms, an accurate prescription can have definite, sometimes dramatic results. We and many other homeopaths not only take detailled notes during the homeopathic interview (even attempting to record the interview verbatim), but, with permission, may videotape patient interviews. We challenge anyone who dismisses homeopathy out of hand and insists it has no efficacy to watch these before and after videos. It is inconceivable to us, who have been treating patients day in and day out for twenty years and witness the positive results of homeopathy regularly, that anyone could say homeopathy simply doesn’t work. We are the first to admit that we may not understand how homeopathy works but, nevertheless, it does.
Homeopathic Medicines Act as a Placebo
We take a patient’s case, analyze the symptom picture, and choose the medicine we believe to be the best suited for the individual. In the case of chronic illness, we again see or talk to the patient six weeks or so later to evaluate. In many cases the patient reports a clear improvement and all are in agreement that the medicine has acted well. In some cases, however, there is no response whatsoever, despite our sincere efforts to understand the patient and select the correct medicine and the patient’s sincere desire to get well. We only wish in such a case that homeopathy were a placebo so that they would get well anyway. Rarely, in fact, it takes six or eight or even more incorrect medicines before the correct one is found. Each time the patient returns and reports no improvement, despite continued efforts and an ongoing therapeutic relationship.
You Can’t Use Caffeine or Mint While on Homeopathy
There are varying beliefs about which substances or factors, interfere with or interrupt the action of homeopathic medicines. There are some who say that nothing at all will affect the correct medicine. We know of one doctor, a self-taught homeopath, who advises his patients to strictly avoid even garlic and cayenne. In our experience, there are a few things that are best avoided during homeopathic treatment although the more sensitive the patient to that particular influence, the more like an antidote will occur. We have found it best to stay away from coffee or coffee-containing products, at least until it is clear whether the medicine you have taken is the correct one. Other caffeinated beverages and substances do not have any disturbing effect on homeopathic treatment.
Other influences that we have found repeatedly to interrupt the positive effects of a homeopathic medicine are aromatic products made from trees such as eucalyptus, camphor, tea tree, and pine. In this day of ubiquitous aromatic substances, this is probably the biggest challenge to homeopathic medicines, though espresso-laced chocolate products run a close second.
I’ve Tried Homeopathy and It Doesn’t Work For Me
We have heard this complaint a number of times. First, much of what people mistakenly consider to be homeopathy is herbal tinctures or muscle testing or naturopathic medicine other therapies that have nothing at all to do with homeopathic treatment. It is a simple mater of confusion. Second, some say homeopathy is not effective for them because they’re only tried self-prescribed combination or low-potency medicines. Third, there are those who have tried one homeopath or one medicine and throw the baby out with the bath water. Although not everyone can be helped by any therapy, the likelihood that you as an individual can be helped with homeopathy if you continue treatment with an competent homeopath for at least one year is very high. The cutting edge of homeopathy is getting sharper by the month due to a plethora of new provings and breakthroughs so even if one homeopath has not been able to help you, another who is more experienced, embraces a different style of practice, or can just find a new insight or slant on your case, may well be able to find a medicine that will be well worth the wait.
You Have to Believe in Homeopathy for It to Work
Even folks who are skeptics can benefit from homeopathic treatment. We saw one of our longterm patients the other day and she reminded us that she was one of those who came to us and homeopathy out of desperation. Although it made no sense to her, it was her last resort. Now, years later and feeling terrific, she admits that she may not know how or why homeopathy works, but it does. As long as disbelief does not lead to sabotaging or abandoning treatment, homeopathy should work just as well as with those who are already in the choir, so to speak. Another way we know that homeopathy is not just for believers is that infants and animals, who have no vested interest or conviction in the effectiveness of homeopathy, can respond beautifully to homeopathy.
Homeopathy Works Better for Children than for Adults
It is true that children are sometimes easier to treat because they tend to be on fewer medications (although this is unfortunately changing in our current culture) and are less intellectualized and therapized. However, we often see even more far-reaching results with adults simply because they are more able to verbalize their symptoms and their state. A child’s freshness and candor can be more than made up for by the depth of experience of an adult. It is never too late to begin homeopathic care- even on one’s deathbed.
Homeopathy May Be Okay for Minor Problems But Not Serious Ones
Homeopathy shines in chronic, as well as acute and in severe, as well as minor, physical, mental, and emotional disease. We have seen tremendous results in patients with longstanding suicidal depression, intractable pain, and lifelong physical complaints. Although patients taking a collection of conventional medications may not present a clear enough symptom picture to find an excellent homeopathic match, a longstanding history of symptomatology is no impediment to successful homeopathic treatment. In India entire homeopathic hospitals ware devoted to care of the most serious illnesses.
Homeopathy Won’t Work for Infections
This is a common misconception that we face regularly in practice, especially since we treat so many children. Once a patient is diagnosed with an “infection”, be it a sinus infection, vaginal infection, mastitis, or a dental abscess, he or she is likely to spring for the magic antibiotic bullet. When used appropriately, antibiotics can be a lifesaver. When overused, they can lead to antibiotic resistance. Just yesterday a friend was recounting to us the story of some American armed forces members who had received so many antibiotics so casually for years that they actually died of strep throat! In our practice, we find that homeopathy works for infections a good ninety percent of the time. If we have a patient with rapidly progressing pneumonia or a cellulitis with red streaks up the extremity or a deep infection threatening bone, of course we refer immediately for antibiotics. But in a general homeopathic family practice, these are by far the exception, not the rule.
Homeopathic Medicines Made from Certain Substances are Dangerous
It may be a bit shocking to think of taking a homeopathic medicine made from poisonous snake or spider venom or the products of disease, such as tuberculosis. But, if you remember how homeopathic medicines are made and that only the impression or memory of the original substance remains, it soon becomes obvious that there is no danger at all of toxicity. Once we received a telephone call from a local emergency room inquiring as to whether a child who had ingested a bottle of homeopathic Arsenicum album (made from arsenic) was in any danger. She was not, regardless of how much she would have swallowed. One of the original ways that old homeopaths obtained information about which medicines could cure which symptoms was to study poisonings. But homeopathic medicines themselves, regardless of whether they are made from a scorpion or cyanide, are never poisonous.
Patients are the Best Advertisement for Homeopathy
Now that you know what is not true about homeopathy, we encourage you to do more reading or research or to treat yourself for acute conditions or seek the care of a competent homeopath to try it out for yourself. Many of the skeptics in homeopathic history are the ones who later became the most vocal proponents of its effectiveness.
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