FAQs

It is remarkable how many normally smart people, including many health professionals, mistakenly assume that people with the same conventional diagnosis should be prescribed the same medicine even though they tend to have such different symptoms. While it may be more easy and convenient to give people with the same diagnosis the same medicine, individualization of treatment makes sense... and in homeopathy, it works wonderfully well.

In homeopathy, a medicine is not prescribed based on the disease that the person has but on the unique pattern or syndrome of symptoms that are experienced.

Jonas Salk, MD, the famed medical researcher, once said that there were two basic approaches to treating sick people: the conventional model of medicine which seeks to diagnose and treat a specific pathology and the holistic model of healing which seeks to strengthen host resistance. Needless to say, homeopathy is an integral part of this second school of thought in medicine.

There are no "homeopathic antibiotics" or "homeopathic anti-viral agents" because every correctly prescribed homeopathic medicine has the potential of strengthening a person's own immune and defense system in a way that helps to fight bacterial or viral infection.

It is commonly assumed that bacteria and viruses "cause" disease, and it is heretical to consider otherwise. And yet, most of us have various bacteria and viruses in our body right now despite the fact that we are not sick.

The reason that some people get ill and others do not is what biologists call "host resistance" and what physicians refer to as "susceptibility." Basically, it is understood that infection is the result of two factors: exposure to a pathogen and the person's present state of health. From this perspective, bacteria and virus are not the cause of disease but at best are a "co-factor" to disease.

One "take-home" message from this logical (and obvious) analysis of infectious disease is that taking a conventional antibiotic or antiviral drug may get rid of the pathogen, but they do not do anything to strengthen a person's host resistance or immune system. In fact, there is ample evidence that these conventional drugs actually increase the chances of re-infection.

The second take-home message is that one should consider ways to strengthen his or her own immune and defense system... and homeopathy is one important way to do this.

Homeopathic medicines are not just composed with different medicinal ingredients, and they are not just the use of smaller doses of medicines. Homeopathy represents a different approach to understanding disease and health.

Like modern-day physiology and pathology, homeopaths understand that symptoms are not just something "wrong" with the person but that symptoms are defensive adaptations of the human body in its best efforts to fight infection and/or to adapt to stress. From this perspective, it does not make sense to use pharmacological therapies to inhibit, control, or suppress symptoms since such methods tend to reduce the body's inherent self-healing responses.

Instead, homeopaths use medicinal agents that have been found to cause in healthy people the similar syndrome of symptoms that sick people experience. The very word "homeopathy" is derived from two Greek words, "homoios" which means Similar and "pathos" which means Suffering or Disease. This is why the basic premise of homeopathy is called the "principle of similars." Because symptoms are the ways that the body is trying to heal itself, it makes sense to use medicines that are similar to and that augment their body's wisdom, rather than suppress it. It is not a coincidence that allergy treatments is one of the very few conventional medical treatments that help strengthen the immune system to prevent or treat disease, and they use relatively small doses of substances for conditions that they are known to cause in overdose.

What also makes homeopathy different (and sometimes more difficult) than conventional medicine is that homeopathic medicines are not prescribed to treat a specific or localized disease but are prescribed to treat specific syndromes of symptoms of which one's disease is just one part. In other words, two people may have the common cold, but one would have a thin watery nasal disease that irritates the nostrils, frequent sneezing, and a mild headache, all of which are aggravated in warm rooms. The other would have thick yellowish nasal discharge that doesn't irritate the nostrils, nasal congestion alternating with nasal discharge, a cough that is relieved in the open air, and no thirst.

It is remarkable how many normally smart people, including many health professionals, mistakenly assume that people with the same conventional diagnosis should be prescribed the same medicine even though they tend to have such different symptoms. While it may be more easy and convenient to give people with the same diagnosis the same medicine, individualization of treatment makes sense... and in homeopathy, it works wonderfully well.

In homeopathy, a medicine is not prescribed based on the disease that the person has but on the unique pattern or syndrome of symptoms that are experienced. In the above example, the first person would be prescribed Allium cepa (the common onion), while the second person would be given Pulsatilla (an herb called windflower).

Jonas Salk, MD, the famed medical researcher, once said that there were two basic approaches to treating sick people: the conventional model of medicine which seeks to diagnose and treat a specific pathology and the holistic model of healing which seeks to strengthen host resistance. Needless to say, homeopathy is an integral part of this second school of thought in medicine.

There are no "homeopathic antibiotics" or "homeopathic anti-viral agents" because every correctly prescribed homeopathic medicine has the potential of strengthening a person's own immune and defense system in a way that helps to fight bacterial or viral infection.

"Do Homoeopaths use medicines that contain steroids to deliver results?", is often the question posed by many of my patients during the course of consultation. The answer is a definite “NO”.

Homoeopaths with integrity and commitment to their profession do not use steroid and in true sense have no need to. Their materia medica (knowledge of curative medicines) is very rich in remedies with a vast range of curative effects. Homoeopathy is a wonderful system of therapeutics and no one who has seriously studied it has ever doubted its efficacy. Then why are people having doubts about the medicines being adulterated with steroid?

When homoeopathic medicines given by reputable doctors were tested for steroids, the results came out to be positive... CONFUSED???

Lets logically reason this out.

1. If one has been consuming steroids on a long term basis, side effects like moon faces, excessive body hair, osteoporosis, diabetes, etc. would be evident

2. Steroids are not a "cure all" solution for all the problems of the world

3. Homoeopathic remedies have a wide range of curative properties

4. Using steroids would in fact be counterproductive as they would have a suppressive effect

In view of all above points, why should any homoeopath resort to use of steroids? Resting the logical reasoning part lets come to the practical part.

"Colorimetric method using Tetrazolium blue salt" was the test method used which indicated that homoeopathic medicines contained steroids. The fundamental underlying principle of this test is the reduction of Tetrazolium blue salt to give a highly coloured compound known as "Farmazan". Under controlled conditions, the amount of Farmazan developed is proportional to the quantity of steroid present in the drug. But the basic fact that was overlooked was that not only do steroids produce this reaction but also reducing sugars produce the same deep colored compound.

In fact, for some years Tetrazolium salts have been used for determination of reducing sugars. So if the drug contains any lactose, it will impart a strong color with tetrazolium blue salt , which will give a false impression of presence of steroid. Secondly if the alcohol used in this method is not completely aldehyde free it will interfere with the reaction and will impart some characteristic colour in the reaction which may again give a false positive impression of steroid. So this method is not advisable to determine the presence of steroid in the drug.

Most homoeopaths use lactose as a base for holding the pills containing the homoeopathic remedy together. In the powders the pills themselves are made of cane sugar, a reducing sugar. Moreover almost all homoeopathic remedies have alcohol as a diluents. One can see how homoeopathic remedies, either as pills, powders, or in alcohol are likely to give a false positive test for steroids if this method is used.

Hence before accepting a claim that the tested medicine does contain a steroid, one must find out what testing procedure were used to eliminate the possibility of a false positive result. Other methods that are utilized to test for steroids are:-

1.Liberman Buchard test

2.Thin layer chromatography method

3. UV absorption method

Almost all steroids show UV absorption between 235 to 240 nm in dehydrated alcohol or methanol in a clear solution. A complete spectrum of this solution is taken in the range 400nm to 220nm on a suitable spectrophotometer. If any steroid is present it will show maximum at 240nm.

It was decided to test homoeopathic remedies for steroid using the UV absorption method. None of those containing lactose or alcohol or the raw medicine showed positive test result, hence clearly indicating absence of steroids.

Homoeopathy is absolutely safe & can be prescribed during pregnancy or to lactating/nursing mothers.

These infinitesmal minute doses, which have been prepared in dilutions which donot cause any toxicity, pathogenecity; but on the contrary help the person's individual constitution & immune system & are useful for the Mother-to-be's general resistance as well as for problems encountered during pregnancy like nausea, vomiting etc. without any iatrogenic risk

The name of the medicine is not disclosed for the benefit of the patient. If the patient after knowing the name of the medicines starts taking it according to his or her whims and fancies; it will distort the disease picture and in the future treatment of the patient will be much more difficult. Also certain medicines have to be changed and given as per the state of the disease and recovery.