Trick or Treatment—The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine (Electronic book text)

Materials that will not dissolve in water, such as granite, are ground down and then one part of the resulting powder is mixed with 99 parts lactose (a form of sugar), which is then ground again to create a 1C composition. One part of the resulting powder is mixed with 99 parts lactose to create a 2C composition, and so on. If this process is repeated 30 times, then the resulting powder can be compacted into 3 °C tablets. Alternatively, at any stage the powder might be dissolved in water and the remedy can be repeatedly diluted as described previously. In either case, the resulting 3 °C remedy is, again, almost guaranteed to contain no atoms or molecules of the original active granite ingredient.

As if all this was not sufficiently mysterious, some homeopathic pharmacies stock 100,00 °C remedies, which means that the manufacturers are taking 3 °C remedies, already devoid of any active ingredient, and then diluting them by a factor of 100 another 99,970 times. Because of the time required to make 100,000 dilutions, each one followed by a vigorous shaking, such remedies can cost more than £1,000.

From a scientific perspective, it is impossible to explain how a remedy that is devoid of any active ingredient can have any conceivable effect on any medical condition, apart from the obvious placebo effect. Homeopaths would argue that the remedy has some memory of the original ingredient, which somehow influences the body, but this makes no scientific sense. Nevertheless, homeopaths still claim that their remedies are effective for a whole range of conditions, from temporary problems (coughs, diarrhoea and headaches) to more chronic conditions (arthritis, diabetes and asthma), and from minor ailments (bruises and colds) to more serious conditions (cancer and Parkinson’s disease).

Although we have listed various diseases, it is important to point out that Hahnemann and his descendants do not see themselves as treating diseases in a conventional sense. Instead they focus on the individual symptoms and the characteristics of the patients. This is best illustrated by describing how a homeopath typically deals with a case.

The homeopath starts by conducting a detailed interview with the patient, asking about both physical and psychological symptoms. This will result in several pages of notes detailing every symptom, including where each one occurs in the body, when they arise and any activities that affect these symptoms. For example, even if the chief complaint is earache, the notes will include meticulous descriptions of everything from the patient’s bunions to any recent constipation. Homeopathy is a highly individualized therapy, so the consultation may even ask about the patient’s personality, emotional wellbeing, apparently trivial matters from their past and preferences for food, colours and smells. This whole interview process usually lasts for more than an hour and the outcome is a complete analysis of the patient’s symptoms.

As the ultimate goal is to find a homeopathic remedy that best fits all the symptoms that have been described, the next stage is to consult the Materia Medica, the encyclopaedia that lists the remedies and what they should be used for. Although Hahnemann identified just a few dozen remedies in his early writings, the homeopath William Boericke included over 600 in his Materia Medica in 1901, and today The Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States recognizes over 1,000. Trawling through all these potential remedies is all the more complicated because each remedy treats numerous symptoms and so its entry can run to more than a page. For instance, Figure 3 shows the entry for Aceticum acidum, better known as acetic acid or the chemical associated with vinegar.

Ideally the homeopath is looking for the simillimum, which is to say the remedy that offers a perfect match with the patient’s symptoms. In order to find this optimal remedy, the homeopath might refer to a repertory, which is organized according to each symptom followed by the remedies associated with it (as opposed to a Materia Medica, which is organized according to each remedy followed by its associated symptoms). Poring through a repertory can still be a major task, so the homeopath will tend to focus on very special and peculiar symptoms to help narrow the search. For example, according to Boericke’s Materia Medica, ‘Face: distortion of mouth, trembling of jaw, facial paralysis; more left side’ coupled with ‘Stool: bloody, black, and offensive. Gelatinous, yellowish green; semi-fluid, with urinary suppression’ means that Cadmium sulphate is the ideal remedy.

Figure 3