Homeopathy
Homeopathic preparations
Homeopathic medicines involve giving patients preparations that are
so dilute that they frequently contain none of the original substance.
The manufacture of homeopathic medicine involves two major underlying principles:
dilution and succussion. The homeopath dilutes in two main ways –
decimal or D (mother tincture diluted 10 times), and centesimal or C (mother
tincture diluted 100 times). For example, this means that D15 is the original
mother tincture diluted one in 10, 15 times. Between each dilution a period
of at least 10 seconds of active agitation of the medication occurs. This
active agitation, or succussion, appears to be an essential part of the
manufacture of homeopathic medicines.
In allopathic medicine, when prescribing a drug, we often give large doses and
tend to work on the principle that the bigger the dose the greater the therapeutic
effect. Homeopathic prescribing adopts the opposing view: the smaller the drug
dose, the more potent its effect.
Does Homeopathy work?
There has been quite a lot of research into homeopathy which can roughly be divided into three areas. The first involves studies on animals, for instance looking at whether homeopathic medicines added to the drinking water of farm animals may stop recurrent abortion in pigs or mastitis in cows. There have been relatively few animal studies but the majority have been positive and suggest that homeopathy is of therapeutic value. A number of laboratory studies have also occurred looking at whether homeopathy can promote the excretion of toxic substances (for instance, arsenic) from poisoned plants and animals. Some studies have looked at the effect of homeopathy on specific reactions that can be produced by enzymes in test tubes, while others have looked at the potential for homeopathy to inhibit or excite the growth of plants in certain specific conditions. Again these studies largely suggest that homeopathic preparations, even though they may be too dilute to contain any material substance, are having clear effects on biological systems. The third area involves clinical trials conducted on humans to treat certain specific conditions. It is possible, although difficult, in the context of such an individualised treatment, for homeopathy to fit into the conventional model of a randomised, double blind, controlled trial. This effectively means that patients are allocated treatment at random and neither the patient nor the doctor knows whether they have received true homeopathy or a pill that looks and tastes exactly the same. It does appear from these studies that homeopathy has an effect greater than that one would expect from purely a placebo, although not enough clinical research has been done for us to state categorically that homeopathy "works" in any specific condition. For those interested in a more detailed and scientific assessment of the clinical effects of homeopathy there are two key papers, Kleijnen et al (Clinical trials of homeopathy. British Medical Journal, 1991; 302: 316-323) and Linde et al. (Are the clinical effects of homeopathy placebo effects? Lancet. 1997; 350: 834-843).
