beyondhom Like cures like

Principle #1: Like cures likeThese are my notes on the subject. Feel free to send your comments.

Dhiru Nathwani

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Principle #1: Like cures like. A substance that produces symptoms in a      healthy person cures those symptoms in a sick person.
 

We do not know who discovered this principle or when it was discovered. But throughout recorded history, this principle of like curing like arose and disappeared from time to time. References to this principle are to be found in  ancient writings (Bhagavat: Canto 1, Chapter 5, Verse 33); (Jewish Bible: Mekilta); and include the following:

 

(1) Hippocrates (460-350 B.C.) - called the Father of Medicine in the West "By similar things a disease is produced and through the application of the like it is cured."

 

(2) Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) - Greek philosopher "Often the simile acts upon the simile."

 

(3) Galen (130-200 A.D.) - Greek physician, second only to Hippocrates among the founders of medicine in the West "Natural cure by the likes."

 

(4) Paracelsus (1493-1541 A.D.) - Swiss physician "Sames must be cured by sames"

 

(5) Dr. George Stahl (early 17th century) - Danish physician "Disease will yield to, and be cured by, remedies that produce similar affections."

 

Hahnemann was well aware of this principle. His contribution was to create a complete branch of medicine based on the main "like cures like" principle. He (i) found further principles flowing from this main principle and which are stated in his book [***below]; (ii) started developing the homeopathic materia medica by proving some medicines; (iii) developed the pharmacy of making homeopathic medicines; and (iv) discovered the potentization process. In other words, the whole medical science of homeopathy based on the main "like cures like" principle. Hahnemann's contribution to medicine remains unrivalled.

 

Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843 A.D.), a German physician, chemist and linguist. Gives up practice of medicine being disgusted with medical treatments of his day. Earns living translating medical textbooks. While translating a textbook written by William Cullen (a Scottish physician of great repute in his time), Hahnemann comes across a statement that the bitterness of quinine was the reason why it was effective in malaria. He disagrees with that statement because he knew other substances that were bitter but not effective in malaria. He takes a few doses of quinine - in those days quinine was used in the form of powder made from the bark of quinine tree - and develops the symptoms of malaria (1790) even though he was healthy and did not have 

malaria. He tests various medicines on himself, his family members, medical friends and students, and announces to the world (1796) about this branch of medicine, which he calls HOMOEOPATHY, from Greek words "homois" and "pathos" meaning similar suffering - a substance that produces symptoms in a healthy person cures those symptoms in a sick person (also spelt HOMEOPATHY, and also known as HOMEOTHERAPEUTICS, and also slowly becoming known as ULTRA-MOLECULAR MEDICINE). There is much more to homeopathy than this condensed definition, suitable for insertion in a dictionary, would suggest. You should also bear in mind that the diagnostic tools that we know today did not exist in Hahnemann's time. A homeopathic doctor of today uses all the diagnostic tools to find out the cause of the medical problem.

 

How does the “like cures like” principle work?

 

Two similar diseases - one weaker and the other stronger - cannot exist in a living body. The stronger disease which is the artificial disease created by taking medicine destroys the weaker disease which is the natural disease in a patient. Firstly, the artificial disease created by medicine is always stronger than the natural disease. Secondly, as we control the administration of medicine (using medicine in different potencies, how frequently we give the medicine, and knowing when to discontinue giving it), we also control the duration of the artificial stronger disease. [Read Aphor. 17 to 45 inclusive, from [see*** above] Hahnemann's ORGANON OF THE MEDICAL ART, translated into modern English by Wenda Brewster O’Reilley, PhD]. There are also other English translations under the title “ORGANON OF MEDICINE” by different  translators.  

 

But why? There are many, many phenomena for which we have no explanation. If you keep asking "why" you will come to a point where there is no explanation i.e. you will come to a dead-end. "Science" then codifies such phenomena into "laws" (i.e. principles) if such phenomena meet the following three criteria:

 

·   universal i.e. occurs all over the world

·   never-changing

·   verifiable by experiments

 

        Let me give you some examples of such phenomena. Physics: (1) Action and reaction are equal and opposite, Newton's Third Law of Motion. (2) Magnets have two poles, magnetism. (3) Apples always fall to the ground, gravity. Biology: (1) A sperm from a male must fertilize an egg from a female for babies to be conceived. (2) Antibodies are produced in a person after exposure to an infection or after receiving a vaccine. (3) All living things ultimately die. Chemistry: (1) Snow flakes have different shapes/designs even though made of water. (2) Steam, snow, or ice is water which is H2+O1 

The "like cures like" principle is not a man-made law (like some law passed by our 

Parliament, which can be changed so easily by passing another law) but a “scientific" one because it meets the three criteria mentioned above. Thus we have laws (i.e. principles) of homeopathy, physics, biology, chemistry etc. [Note: Most of the scientists who criticize homeopathy are completely unaware about these three criteria which their own fraternity have used to create (codify) laws of physics, biology, and chemistry!]

 

A medicine (whether chemical, synthetic, herbal etc.) is said to be "homeopathic" when symptoms in a patient match the symptoms produced by that medicine in its “proving”. [Proving means giving a medicine to healthy persons to find out what symptoms are produced in them by that medicine.] Before we match the symptoms in a patient with the symptoms produced by a medicine in its proving, we arrange the symptoms in a patient in a certain order of hierarchy/importance (mental symptoms first; general symptoms second; and particular (local) symptoms last]. We then match the uniqueness of each symptom whenever such uniqueness is shown in a symptom. There are seven factors of uniqueness, which we will look at in subsequent lessons along with the hierarchy/importance of symptoms. To summarize, what we are doing is to give to a patient a medicine which creates in him the duplicate of, or mimics, his illness reflecting the totality of symptoms in him.  

 

We will also study in subsequent lessons why we potentize medicines and also the effects of potentizing. Potentization is a two-step process of serial dilution and applying vigorous agitation (called succussion) for each new dilution. [This process reduces/removes (i) aggravation of symptoms in patients and (ii) toxicity of toxic substances. You MUST read Chapter III of “Homeopathy, Medicine of the New Man” and Chapter 7 of “The Science of Homeopathy”, both by George Vithoulkas, who received the 1996 “Alternative Nobel Prize”]  

 

What distinguishes homeopathy from other therapies is NOT the dilution process or the diluted medicines but the pre-testing of a medicine on healthy persons to find out what symptoms are produced in them. [See notes for Principle #2: Proving]. Homeopathy is already woven into medical practice. Examples: radiation treatment for cancer; conventional vaccines; desensitising agents for allergies; digitalis and nitroglycerine for heart conditions; Ritalin, a stimulant drug, given to hyperactive children to calm them down; fecal transplant (presently not in common use).

 

The two-step dilution process is validated by Nobel laureate Prof. Luc Montagnier (using DNA fragments) and Prof Rustum Roy (using Raman spectrometry). 

 

[For reasons explained above, the bulk of homeopathy is practised by using medicines in potentized form whether powders, globules or tablets which are kept in clean mouth for absorption and not swallowed. Liquid medicines are kept in the mouth for a short while before swallowing. Keep these medicines away from cell-phones and microwaves because of deactivating effect. Airport x-rays do not seem to have this effect.   

 

Homeopathic dilutions work in animals, small children, and unconscious persons who are not susceptible to placebo effect. [Do we know how allopathic drugs produce side effects or how gravity works or how general anaesthetics work?] 

 

Quinine was to Hahnemann what the falling apple was to Newton and the swinging lamp to Gallileo.

 

Like gravity, homeopathy never changes or never becomes obsolete because it is based on "scientific" principles (see my notes above).

 

Ontario passed Homeopathy Act, 2007, to regulate homeopathy. Even before this, homeopathy was specifically recognized as a medical specialty by The Medical Act of Ontario [see section 3 of The Medical Act R.S.O. 1950 and section 14 of The Medical Act R.S.O. 1970] for about 100 years until 1974. 

 

(A) For what is homeopathy, you MUST read the introduction in Dr. James H. Stephenson's "A Doctor's Guide to Helping Yourself With Homeopathic Remedies” to know what are homeopathy’s six core principles.

 

(B) About the diseases which respond to homeopathy and its limitations, read 

(a) Chapter 3 of Dr. Hamish W. Boyd's "Introduction to Homeopathic Medicine"; 

(b) Chapter XXX of Dr. Francisco Xavier Eizayaga’s “Treatise on Homoeopathic Medicine”; and (c) Chapter 6.2.7 of Drs. Paolo Bellavite and Andrea Signorini’s  "Homeopathy: A Frontier In Medical Science”. 

 

(C) For trials in homeopathy, read (1) Report from Switzerland: “Homeopathy in Healthcare – Effectiveness, Appropriateness, Safety, Costs”, Bornhoft, Matthiessen, 2011 English translation from German (2) “Healing With Homeopathy: The Doctors’ Guide” by Dr. Wayne B. Jonas** and Dr. Jennifer Jacobs [**former director of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health in the U.S., which later became National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)]. Appendix III in this excellent book gives a list of some trials in homeopathy and their statistical analysis. (3) “Impossible Cure” by Amy L. Lansky, PhD. Chapter 7 describes some trials and gives an evaluation of meta-analysis of trials in homeopathy. (4) “The Emerging Science of Homeopathy: Complexity, Biodynamics and Nanopharamacology” by Dr. Paolo Bellavite and Dr. Andrea Signorini (5) For trials and research, click/search for research on the websites of (i) National Center for Homeopathy (ii) Homeopathy journal [formerly British Homeopathic Journal] (iii) Faculty of Homeopathy (incorporated by an Act of British Parliament). Read also their “We answer the critics” (iv) International Journal of High Dilution Research.  

 

For an excellent overview, read (1) “The Patient, Not the Cure” by Dr. Margery G. Blackie, (now former) physician to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.    

(2) "Discovering Homeopathy: Medicine for the 21st Century" by Dana Ullman.     

I recommend that you buy “Healing With Homeopathy: The Doctors’ Guide” [see**above] The other books that you may wish to buy are (1) "The Family Guide to Homeopathy" by Dr. Andrew Lockie; (2) “Easy Homeopathy” by Dr. Edward Shalts; (3) "The Family Health Guide to Homeopathy” by Dr. Barry Rose* [*Executive Dean, Faculty of Homeopathy, England]; (4) "The Canadian Guide to Homeopathic Self-Medication" by Dr Philippe Picard and others. 

 

For health care professionals, I recommend that in addition to all of the above, they also buy (1) "Homoeopathy for Physicians" by Dr. Cohn H. Lessell; (2) "The Essentials of Homeopathic Therapeutics" by Dr. Jacques Jouanny; (3) "The Essentials of Homeopathic Materia Medica" by Dr. Jacques Jouanny; and (4) "Homeopathic Therapeutics: Possibilities in Chronic Pathology" by Drs. Jouanny, Crapanne, Dancer, and Masson. [some books published by Boiron]

 

Please do a Google search for “Q.E.D. on Homeopathy” and watch an amazing BBC documentary (about 30 minutes) posted by Dailymotion, others are scratchy. Make sure you watch the full documentary and not the truncated version with important segments of the documentary missing, posted by some anti-homeopathy groups. 

 

(A) For details about how each homeopathic medicine is made, refer to The

Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States [HPUS]. The HPUS is given legal recognition by The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 1938, passed by the US Congress. 

 

(B) Health Canada has approved homeopathic medicines by giving them the status of “drugs” by issuing them drug identification numbers [DIN numbers]. Ontario has passed The Homeopathy Act, 2007 to regulate homeopathy. Thus under the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in the Auton case [2004] 3 S.C.R.page 657, homeopathic treatments should be made available under our government-funded health care system at least in Ontario, if not across Canada. 

 

 We live in the best of times. Modern hospitals (well-equipped with advanced diagnostic, mechanical, and surgical tools), trained medical manpower, "free" healthcare system, "free" drug plans, nursing homes, home care, attendant care, and rehabilitation services. When we sing and dance about our healthcare system, we are referring to this part.

 

We live in the worst of times. High rate of failure of allopathic drugs to cure a vast majority of diseases; serious side effects, adverse drug reactions, multiple allopathic drugs to treat different symptoms in a patient thus exposing him to more risk; creating new illnesses in patients as the result of being on allopathic drugs; expensive tests and periodic follow-ups; need to take allopathic drugs frequently, continuously; their high cost to patients and the government; and benefits outweighing the risks - all benefits going to allopaths and the drug industry, and all risks to patients! And we are still continuing to give official approval to this situation! Res ipsa loquitur (i.e. the thing speaks for itself).

 

We should not be surprised by this sorry state of affairs. Because homeopathy - especially its principles which constitute the "science and art of medicine" - is not taught to students in our medical schools, we have the dual problem of exploding  health care costs, and continuing human suffering as allopathy mostly palliates patients instead of curing them.

 

(a) According to the BMJ Evidence Centre, only 13% of the 2,500 treatments in current use are rated as beneficial, 23% likely to be beneficial, 8% as trade off between benefits and harms, 6% unlikely to be beneficial, 4% likely to be ineffective or harmful, and 46%, the largest proportion, as unknown effectiveness. 

 

(b) “Assessing the Efficacy and Safety of Medical Technologies,” compiled by the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, found that only 10 percent to 20 percent of the techniques used by allopathic doctors are empirically proven. (1978:7)

 

(c) According to statistics published in 2000 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), at least 106,000 deaths occur every year in the U.S. from the negative effects of drugs. These statistics also show extra deaths from hospital errors (27,000); hospital infections (80,000); and unnecessary surgery (12,000). Similar situation, albeit with reduced numbers, exists in Canada.  

 

These are inconvenient truths, unpalatable to some interests. 

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Principle #1: Like cures like. A substance that produces symptoms in a healthy person cures those symptoms in a sick person. 

Principle #2: Proving. If so, what symptoms are produced when a medicine is given to healthy persons? A proving is a drug trial on healthy persons. Refer to “Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica”, a 3-volume set by Dr. J. H. Clarke.

Principle #3: Healing mechanism (vital force). Why does a medicine produce symptoms in a healthy person in a proving, and cure those symptoms in a sick person? What controls the healing mechanism?

Principle #4: Potentization. How to stimulate healing mechanism (vital force)  without aggravating symptoms in a sick person or why are homeopathic medicines potentized?

Principle #5: Totality of symptoms in a sick person. How to apply the “like cures like” principle when treating a sick person? Repertorization. Kent’s Repertory.

Principle #6: One medicine at a time. Why one medicine at a time?

 

Books from:(1)Minimum Price Homeopathic Books(2)Boiron(3)Amazon/Alibris.