• Homeopathy is among those forms of therapy worldwide that offer interesting aspects for the future.
• Homeopathy is innovative, economic and impresses with sustainability and with the minimal use of original remedies, as well as with the maximal success of the therapy.
• Homeopathy has a rich body of therapeutic experience due to its long tradition that can be integrated very well into modern pharmacy and medicine.
The task of IHF and IHAK is to investigate the active principle and to establish new additive procedures of homeopathy e.g. in oncology, in intensive care medicine and in the production of remedies.
Therefore it is necessary to regard the procedure of homeopathy that has been known for centuries in a new light.
The questions that are asked are:
• How does the memorising of the remedy take place?
• How is the information of the remedy transmitted in the body after administration?
• Which biochemical procedures are evoked?
• How is the original substance changed in the course of the homeopathic preparation?
• Which new remedies can be expected in the future from this principle?
For this it is necessary to use the most modern techniques and research methods (physics, chemistry, biochemistry) in order to research the active principle of homeopathy.
The results of research that can be expected are of great importance due to their minor use of original material (often in the area of 1 gram) in regard to the economisation of resources.
Synergetic effects as e.g. reduction of side effects of remedies through homeopathic remedies is an important therapy approach especially in the area of cancer research.
Medicine and pharmacy are considered excellent partners by homeopathy, as only a remedy that was produced exactly will trigger that healing reaction in the patient that the physician intends.
Homeopathy is a well-tried form of therapy which is currently conquering our planet.
A short overview of pharmaceutical aspects of homeopathy:
The production of potentiated remedies is done according to legally prescribed pharmacopoeias in pharmacies as well as in big industries.
Homeopathic preparations are produced from substances, materials or concentrated preparations according to a homeopathic technique (definition of the European pharmacopoeia).
In homeopathy potentiated remedies are used that come from different areas of nature, from biochemical and synthetic original substances.
The founder of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann, knew approximately 150 remedies; today approximately 4000 substances are processed according to homeopathic instructions. Ca. 65% of the remedies are obtained from the flora, around 30% are from minerals and metals and approximately 5% are biochemical substances.
The original substances are produced according to certain rules that are defined in pharmacopoeias. With increasing dilution and succussion (potencing) an increase of effect can be observed.
The better the remedy accords to an individual clinical picture, the greater the probability is that a healing reaction will take place.
As the organism is anxious to keep up its balance, it answers to the stimulus of a remedy that is similar to a clinical picture in terms of an active regulation.
The basics of homeopathy go back to its founder Samuel Hahnemann and are largely summarised in three kinds of reference works:
• The Materia medica of potentiated remedies is one of the
most comprehensive medical and pharmaceutical collections of toxicological,
botanical and pharmacological data, which were compiled over the course of two
centuries.
• In Repertories, the symptoms from remedy testings, which
were carried out on healthy people, as well as toxicological and clinical observations
are documented.
• The instructions for the production can be found in pharmacopoeias
that are continuously updated.
As mentioned above, approximately 65% of all remedies come from the flora.
Entire plants, parts of the plants or dried plants are used for the production
of the remedies. During the choosing of the plants botanical and pharmacological
aspects have to be observed, e.g. origin and quality of the plant, plant constituents,
storage life, as well as an as gentle storage and processing as possible.
Many of the plants are toxic and an exact pharmaceutical processing is needed
in order to guarantee the healing effect, e.g. Aconitum Napellus
(also known as common monkshood), Atropa Belladonna (also known
as deadly nightshade)
One of the most well-known homeopathic remedies, by means of which one can explain the effects best, is Allium Cepa, the common onion.
You have surely once cut onion and subsequently fought tears and a runny nose. If you once should have a simple cold with which you get these symptoms, you can use Allium Cepa as a remedy.
However, also other plants are used in classical homeopathy, e.g. Arnica Montana (also known as leopard’s bane) which has proven itself as a first aid remedy.
Homeopathy also uses unusual materials, which only attain the remedy character because of a special preparation:
Spongia Tosta, a sea sponge, belongs to the most important cough remedies.
Cuprum, from metallic copper, is a spasm remedy of high value; Phosphor, Acidum Silicicum (silicea) and also Sulphur are traditional homeopathic remedies.
Also chemical compounds such as Ferrum Phosphoricum or Natrium Chloratum are essential remedies of every homeopathic medicine chest.
In principle many other substances could be tested as homeopathic remedies; this is an important field of research for homeopathy.
New studies are concerned with the production of homeopathic remedies from classical remedies such as e.g. aspirin.
I hope to have shown the most interesting aspects of homeopathy and to have roused your interest in this innovative therapy.
Ilse Muchitsch
Literature:
Partly taken from the book “Homöopathie in Intensiv- und Notfallmedizin”. Ed.
Michael Frass, Martin Bündner. Elsevier Verlag, München (in print).