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The Principles…

Homeopathy was founded by a German chap by the name of Samuel Hahnemann. There are several concepts used in this form of medicine that is worth noting. Paraphrased in my own words, they are:

Principle 1: Like Cures Like

• This to me is somewhat like vaccination, where your illness is cured by a minute dosage of something that resembles it.

• Hahnemann, on using cinchona bark on himself, developed the symptoms characteristic of malaria i.e. periodic fevers and chills etc.

• With this, he began to testing out other herbs each of which bore some similarity to a particular illness type.

Principle 2: Symptom Pictures and Constitutional Remedies

• The literary and philosophical approach is similar to the way Western herbs were classified in the past; it is also similar to the way Chinese herbs have traditionally been classified.

• Each herb has a certain personality/constitution which matches the personality/constitution of the person being treated.

• For example:

  • Sulphur type: is lean, hungry, disorderly, stooped, prone to skin problems and infections, preoccupied with abstract concepts and occult concerns.

• Poison Ivy type: is depressed, restless, fearful, has stiff joints, headaches, chronic skin problems ,slwo to start the morning and better with movement and as the day passes.

Principle 3: Less is More

• Potency increased as doses became more minute

Are these principles applicable?

The first principle of ’similars’ aka ‘like cures like’ is not unlike the idea of vaccination, where a small dose of pathogenic substance creates the antibodies required to defend against a full-fledged infiltration. With this context in mind, I would think of medicine as necessary poison that whips your immune system into shape.

The second principle of herbs possessing personalities is similar to that of most herbal traditions. However, the law of similars, which holds true within the homeopathic framework, is not the cornerstone of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is very often uses the analogy of battle. This means that most herbs act counter to the nature of the pathogen i.e. a warm herb versus a cold pathogen, a descending herb against an imbalance characterized by upward motion. That said, many traditional herbal formulas include a herb or two which possess a nature similar to that of the pathogen （反佐药）.

The idea of matching a homeopathic remedy to the character of the illness is very much in line with Homeopathy’s emphasis on the big picture. In addition to the physical manifestation of an ailment, constitutional and emotional factors are taken into account. This is not to different from the Traditional Chinese Medicine worldview. However, as in the realm of TCM, diagnostics and treatment that focus solely on the physical aspect of disease is becoming more prevalent. This way of doing things is not only easier for research but also for application. Hence, it isn’t always bad, but we must always remember that the potential scope for treatment has been narrowed.

Possible uses include:

1. Poison Ivy for the pain and swelling of fibrositis

2. Oscillococcinum (dilution of duck’s heart and liver) for flu

3. Arnica and hypericum for post extraction dental pain relief

4. Pollen microdoses for hay fever

5. Arnica, Poison Ivy and Bryonia for Rheumatoid Arthritis

The third principle of small doses is certainly worth exploring, just that I’ve little left to write on.

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Source: James Gordon, M.D., Manifesto for a New Medicine