- LONDON (Reuters) - Before
it emerged that Britain's Queen Elizabeth fortifies herself before speeches
with a cup of arsenic and onions in water to prevent sneezing, many people
may have been unaware of the heavy metal's medicinal benefits.
-
- But arsenic, best known as a handy poison in tales of
murder and sleuthing, is also one of the more commonly used remedies in
homeopathy.
-
- Homeopathy, seen either as a complement or alternative
to orthodox medicine, uses metals from across the Periodic Table and a
whole range of other substances from the plant and animal kingdoms. Its
basic principle is that "like cures like'' -- if a substance produces
certain symptoms in a healthy individual it can treat those same symptoms.
-
- Homeopathic remedies, normally administered in the form
of pills, are designed to kick-start the body's immune and defense systems
and improve a patient's overall health.
-
- THE ROOTS OF HOMEOPATHY
-
- German scientist Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of modern
homeopathy some 200 years ago, experimented with metals with a view to
rendering safe those used in conventional medicine. At that time mercury
was used to treat syphilis but, in its crude form, unfortunately killed
the patient. Hahnemann discovered that the more diluted the amount of mercury
administered the more effective it became in treating the disease.
-
- As homeopathy developed, it grew to include arsenicum
album (white arsenic) among some 30 polycrests -- key remedies. Patients
needing this remedy can have symptoms resembling those of arsenic poisoning.
They might be anxious that someone is trying to poison them, or take money
from them. They may be restless or suffer from nausea and vomiting.
-
- ``There is a correlation between what a substance produces
in its crude state and what it cures in its homeopathic state,'' said Robert
Lawrence, Technical and Training Manager at UK-based Helios Pharmacy.
-
- Homeopaths treat the whole patient -- on the mental,
physical and emotional level. Orthodox medicine (allopathy) tends to base
prescriptions on one or two specific symptoms and use drugs to block or
prevent something from happening in the body rather than curing it.
-
- ``Homoeopathic amounts are too small to interfere with
biochemical pathways,'' said Dr. Steven Kayne, Consultant Pharmacist at
the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital and Pharmaceutical Dean of the Faculty
of Homeopathy.
-
- METALS NOT TOXIC
-
- Meanwhile, the overuse and inappropriate prescription
of conventional medicine has meant that stronger and more toxic drugs are
being used to combat super-bugs and viruses, which have become resistant
to less powerful drugs.
-
- ``There is no toxicity (in homeopathic remedies) because
there is usually very little and sometimes none of the original substance,''
Lawrence said.
-
- In homeopathy the metal is ground down into a very fine
particle state before being taken into a liquid carrier and diluted further
still. Kayne noted molecules of the medicine can be found in low potencies
below 12c (where one drop is diluted in 100 drops 12 times in a row), but
none can be detected in those above 12c due to greater dilution.
-
- With higher potencies Kayne said it could be assumed
that there was no toxicity. With lower potencies he said: ``Clinical evidence
suggests there is not a problem, but theoretically there might be.''
-
- But he pointed out that arsenicum was frequently prescribed
in low potency 6c without any adverse side-effects other than the normal
aggravations, which indicated a remedy was working. Indeed, the problem
for many critics is that homeopathic medicines can be so diluted that there
is nothing identifiable in the final dose except water.
-
- But Lawrence said they still contained a certain essence
or dynamic of the substance. ``Logically it doesn't make sense, but even
modern nuclear physics doesn't make sense,'' he contested. ''It depends
on the mental modeling you use.''
-
- OTHER METAL REMEDIES
-
- Metals are used quite widely in homeopathy, usually in
the form of salts, but there is no common theme among them. With some metals,
as with other substances, their so-called characteristics can manifest
themselves in a patient, according to some homeopaths.
-
- The ``remedy picture'' for aurum (gold), for example,
can be for those prone to severe depression. The type may be quite acquisitive
and powerful and need to be best at whatever they do (going for gold),
but also have a low opinion of themselves.
-
- Such patients might be trading in the stock market, Lawrence
said, and the type to jump out of the window were share prices to plummet
sharply. Aside from this, aurum can also be used for a whole range of symptoms,
including mental exhaustion, digestive problems and heart and vascular
disorders.
-
- But Lawrence added that it was by no means always the
case that prescribing was so straightforward. ``It would be nice to have
a convenient schemata but it doesn't always work that way.'' Meanwhile,
Kayne warned against the dangers of self-treatment and stressed that prescribing
of remedies was too specialized and could only be done on an individual
basis.
-
- WORKING WITH ORTHODOX MEDICINE
-
- Kayne said homeopathy and orthodox medicine can work
in tandem and that this approach was adopted by most health professionals.
The Homeopathic Hospital of Glasgow is run by the UK's National Health
Service and there are three such others in the country. Homeopathy has
been part of the NHS since 1948.
-
- Homeopathy's increased popularity in recent years is
in part due to a widespread and growing interest in all complementary or
alternative therapies. Kayne said this had been partly fueled in the UK
by the Patients' Charter, whereby individuals have the right to say how
they want to be treated and also through the Internet. He said hits on
health care Web sites were second only to those for pornographic sites.
|
