ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can result in several prognoses and lead patients to look for appropriate complementary or alternative treatment options according to their personal situation and available health care. Patients with mild symptoms or those who have not yet reached the maximum severity of their condition are those who seek outpatient care, where homeopathic treatment might be considered, given the well documented history of this medical system in several epidemics in the past. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the homeopathic treatment used for symptomatic cases of COVID-19 in March and April 2020 with cases treated in March and April 2021. METHOD: This is a retrospective observational study based on the analysis of the medical records of symptomatic COVID-19 patients treated on an outpatient basis with homeopathy at the Hahnemanniano George Galvão Institute in São Paulo, Brazil. We analyzed 54 cases, divided into two samples (27 cases in each year), similar in relation to age, gender and origin of the patients. RESULTS: The development was distinct in the 2 years, with improvement of symptoms after 3 days of the first homeopathic prescription in 2020 whilst in 2021 the improvement occurred from the sixth day onward. The most frequently prescribed homeopathic medicine also differed in the two samples (Antimonium tartaricum in 2020; Arsenicum album in 2021), which indicates the different disease characteristics at these two moments of the epidemic. CONCLUSION: In 2020, the symptomatology of the cases was mainly acute and the main medicine was Antimonium tartaricum. By comparison, in 2021 a greater interference from individuals' previous chronic miasmatic disease may explain the change in the main medicines used that year, with Arsenicum album being the most prescribed in the cases studied.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Homeopathy , Materia Medica , Humans , COVID-19/therapy , Brazil , Materia Medica/therapeutic use , PhytotherapyABSTRACT
A Leishmaniose Tegumentar Americana (LTA) é uma doença infecciosa, que evolui com destruição tecidual. O tratamento convencional é associado a efeitos adversos graves que podem resultar em abandono da terapia. Objetivo: Mostrar a homeopatia como uma opção terapêutica para o tratamento da LTA sem submeter o paciente aos efeitos deletérios do tratamento convencional. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo de um caso de leishmaniose tegumentar americana atendido em um consultório particular. O paciente havia sido tratado com homeopatia clássica por um longo tempo. A intervenção foi feita por um medicamento individualizado a cada consulta. Vários medicamentos homeopáticos foram administrados, sendo um de cada vez. Resultados: Todas as manifestações da doença, incluindo a úlcera, foram curadas em 5 meses, sem efeitos colaterais e sem sinais de recaída após 12 anos de seguimento. Conclusão: O tratamento homeopático individualizado isoladamente foi eficaz para curar um caso de LTA em apenas alguns meses e seus efeitos permaneceram após 15 anos de seguimento. Ensaios clínicos controlados randomizados são necessários para demonstrar a eficácia do tratamento homeopático.
American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) is a tissue destructing, potentially disfiguring vector-borne disease. Conventional treatment is associated with severe adverse effects which might result in dropout. Methods: Case report of an ACL patient presenting with a severe leg ulcer. The patient was followed up at a conventional specialized service but received individualized homeopathic treatment alone. Results: All manifestations of disease including the ulcer were healed in 5 months with no side effects and no signs of relapse after 13-year follow up. Conclusion: Individualized homeopathic treatment alone was effective to heal a case of ACL in just few months, the effects lasting after 15-year follow up. Randomized controlled trials are necessary to demonstrate the efficacy of the homeopathic treatment for ACL.
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Adult , Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous/therapy , HomeopathyABSTRACT
The current COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) epidemic has proved challenging due to its high impact on physical and mental health. According to Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, in an epidemic the most severe symptoms of the clinical condition presented by the population in question should be the basis for selecting the medication that is as similar as possible to them, and which should be administered to individuals who have been exposed to the disease but have not yet developed it. This medicine is called the genus epidemicus. This study aims to demonstrate the reasoning used to propose the homeopathic medicine Antimonium tartaricum (Ant-t) as a genus epidemicus in the COVID-19 epidemic. It was decided to develop the reasoning based on the respiratory symptoms described in the epidemiological bulletins presented by the Health Surveillance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health of Brazil, as these symptoms are the most serious of the disease. After repertorization, it was confirmed in the Materia Medica that Ant-t has a high degree of similarity with these respiratory symptoms, including the most serious situations, of COVID-19. Homeopathic Ant-t is thus a possible prophylactic genus epidemicus in the COVID-19 epidemic; further studies are needed to test this conclusion.
