ABSTRACT
Homeopathy has been used for more than two hundred years to treat chronic disease using various approaches in a wide range of diseases. However, for acute disease and critical illness, application has been limited by inadequate training of homeopathic physicians and the small number of pertinent clinical studies. In view of the difficulty of practising homeopathy in Intensive Care Units (ICU), a protocol was developed to facilitate description of objective homeopathic symptoms with a ranking of symptoms appropriate for these situations (Protocol for Objective Homeopathic Semiology). Examples of favorable results with individualized homeopathic treatments for a series of cases of Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (sepsis) are described.
Subject(s)
Acute Disease , Homeopathy/methods , Intensive Care Units , Sepsis/therapy , Aged , Female , History, Ancient , Homeopathy/history , HumansABSTRACT
Samuel Hahnemann attributed fundamental importance to the principle of similitude, promoting it to a 'natural law'. Observing that enantiopathic or allopathic treatment produced enduring aggravation of the disease symptoms after a brief and transitory initial relief, he systematised homeopathic treatment, prescribing substances that provoke similar symptoms in healthy individual. Based on clinical and experimental observations, he anticipated the concept of homeostasis, dividing the effects of substances into: primary action of the medicine followed by secondary action or reaction of the organism. This reaction, known as the rebound effect or paradoxical action by modern pharmacology, used to awake the curative response of the body when the principle of similitude is applied, is responsible for several iatrogenic diseases when used on the basis of the principle of contraries. This study discusses the role of this paradoxical reaction of the organism in the fatal side effects of four important drugs, used according to the model of enantiopathic treatment of the symptoms. I present evidence relating to acetylsalicylic acid, rofecoxib, antidepressants and long-acting bronchodilators. The consequences of the allopathic treatment could be decreased if health professionals valued homeostasis, minimising the rebound effect of the organism by gradual suspension of palliative drugs.
Subject(s)
Evidence-Based Medicine , Homeopathy/methods , Iatrogenic Disease , Materia Medica/therapeutic use , Antidepressive Agents/adverse effects , Aspirin/adverse effects , Bronchodilator Agents/adverse effects , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug Prescriptions/standards , Humans , Lactones/adverse effects , Research Design/standards , Sulfones/adverse effects , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
Seeking to understand the individual in his symptomatic totality has been an aim of homeopathy since its beginning. Throughout its history, homeopaths have been concerned that inadequate treatment of acute diseases in childhood may lead to future chronic diseases. Hahnemann cautioned that by treating acute diseases with allopathic medicine, with strong doses of drugs, or suppressing local symptoms of those diseases, would increase the risk of future chronic diseases. Burnett proposed the theory of vaccinosis and warned of chronic manifestations subsequent to smallpox vaccination. French homeopaths, seeking the physiopathological origin of chronic diseases, correlated it to the abnormal reaction of the reticuloendothelial system (RES). Through the study of experimental pathology, Maffei attributed symptomatic manifestations to the imbalance between the immunological phenomena of allergy and immunity. He termed the sensitizing and pathogenic effects of medications and vaccines, 'metallergy' and 'parallergy', respectively. The hygiene hypothesis is based on evidence that the imbalance of immunological response in childhood, specifically among the Th1 and Th2 lymphocyte subpopulations, is responsible for the development of some allergic and chronic diseases in the future. The deranging factor for the predisposition to future allergic response (Th2) is the obstruction of natural manifestations of infectious diseases (Th1 response) in young children. Homeopathic treatment aims to equilibrate vital reaction, corresponding to an integrative physiological response, it may regulate Th1/Th2 imbalance. However, clinical trials to support this hypothesis are lacking.
Subject(s)
Acute Disease , Chronic Disease , Disease Susceptibility , Homeopathy/methods , Immunity, Innate , T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer/immunology , Adult , Child , Humans , Hygiene , Hypersensitivity/immunology , Th1 Cells/immunology , Th2 Cells/immunologyABSTRACT
The principle of the similitude, the basis of homeopathy, has correspondences in the clinical studies of secondary effects of many modern pharmaceutical agents through the observation of the rebound effects of these drugs. Through clinical pharmacology, I proposed a model on which to base the scientificism of the homeopathic model. We have studied the effects of the drugs in the human body using pharmacological compendia and recent scientific works, confirming the mechanism of the homeopathic medicines' action through the verification of the primary action of the drugs and the consequent secondary reaction of the organism in hundreds of pharmaceutical agents. Treatment exploiting the "rebound" effect (curative vital reaction) may also be observed. This work suggests a research methodology to scientifically base the therapeutic principle of similitude.
Subject(s)
Homeopathy , Pharmacopoeias, Homeopathic as Topic , Feedback , HumansABSTRACT
O referido trabalho visa o estudo e a compreensäo global do medicamento Magnesia carbonica, baseando-se no perfil psicodinâmico do experimentador e comparando-o com as características inerentes da substância em questäo
