“The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of the health.” — Samuel Hahnemann, Organon of the Medical Art
An Impossible Cure
Amy Lansky was a computer scientist with a Ph.D. from Stanford who did research at NASA’s Ames Research Center, the same place I worked as a computer scientist before I became an herbalist. She was not looking for alternative medicine. Then her young son Max was diagnosed with autism. Conventional medicine offered little hope, and a friend urged her to try a classical homeopath. Over time, with homeopathic treatment, Max’s autism resolved, to the point that he no longer met the diagnosis. Amy was so astonished that she left her career to study homeopathy, and in 2003 she published Impossible Cure: The Promise of Homeopathy, part memoir and part clear introduction to the whole system, written for skeptical, scientifically minded readers like herself. In the interview that goes with this chapter, she tells the story and explains why she believes homeopathy works, and why it is so hard for science to accept.
Impossible Cure is the best book I know for anyone who wants to go deeper. It is optional further reading; this chapter teaches what you need.
Homeopathy Is Not Herbalism
People often confuse the two, so let us be clear from the start:
- Herbalism uses measurable amounts of plants: a cup of tea, a dropperful of tincture. The medicine is the plant’s chemistry, working on the body.
- Homeopathy uses remedies made from plants, minerals and animal substances that have been diluted and shaken so many times that, in the common strengths, little or none of the original substance remains. The remedy is chosen by matching the whole picture of a person’s symptoms, not by the substance’s chemistry.
An herbal remedy of chamomile is chamomile tea. The homeopathic remedy Chamomilla is chamomile diluted far past the point of chemistry, chosen for a child who is screaming with teething pain, red in one cheek and furious unless carried.
Samuel Hahnemann and “Like Cures Like”
Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843) was a German physician who grew so disgusted with the medicine of his day (bleeding, purging and poisonous doses of mercury) that he quit practicing and earned his living translating medical books. In 1790, translating a textbook that said Peruvian bark (cinchona, the source of quinine) cured malaria because it was bitter and strengthened the stomach, he did not believe the explanation. So he took cinchona himself, while healthy, and developed the symptoms of malaria: chills, fever, weakness, coming in waves. When he stopped, the symptoms stopped.
From this experiment came the first principle of homeopathy, the Law of Similars: similia similibus curentur, “let like be cured by like.” A substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person can cure the same symptoms in a sick person. Onion makes your eyes and nose stream; homeopathic Allium cepa is a remedy for a cold with streaming eyes and nose. Coffee keeps you awake with a racing mind; homeopathic Coffea is a remedy for sleeplessness with a racing mind. The word homeopathy means “similar suffering.”
Hahnemann set out his system in the Organon of the Medical Art (1810), revised through six editions.
The Principles
- Like cures like. The remedy is the substance that would cause, in a healthy person, the symptoms the sick person has.
- Provings. To learn what a substance causes, healthy volunteers take it and record every symptom, physical, mental and emotional. The collected symptoms of each remedy make up the materia medica, the homeopath’s reference book. Hahnemann and his followers proved hundreds of substances.
- The minimum dose. Give the smallest dose that will stimulate healing. Hahnemann began diluting his remedies to avoid side effects and found, to his surprise, that they worked better.
- Potentization. Remedies are diluted step by step, and at each step the vial is succussed, struck firmly against a hard surface many times. Hahnemann believed the succussion releases the remedy’s healing power; he called it “potentizing.”
- The single remedy. Classical homeopaths give one remedy at a time, so they can see what it does.
- The whole person. The homeopath does not treat “a cold” or “arthritis” but this person, with all their symptoms: what makes them better or worse, their mood, fears, thirst, temperature, sleep and cravings. Two people with the same diagnosis may need different remedies.
- The vital force. Hahnemann taught that illness is a disturbance of the body’s vital force, the energy that keeps us alive and heals us, and that the remedy acts on that force, which then heals the body.
How Remedies Are Made and Labeled
A remedy starts as a mother tincture (for plants) or a ground-up substance (for minerals). One part is mixed with 9 or 99 parts of water and alcohol, and succussed. One part of that is diluted again, and so on.
| Label | Dilution at each step | Example |
|---|---|---|
| X (or D in Europe) | 1 part in 10 | 6X = diluted 1:10 six times, one part in a million |
| C | 1 part in 100 | 6C = diluted 1:100 six times; 30C = thirty times |
| LM (or Q) | 1 part in 50,000 | used by professionals for chronic cases |
The liquid is dropped onto small sugar pellets, which are what you buy. Common home strengths are 6C, 12C and 30C; professionals also use 200C and 1M (a thousand C dilutions). In homeopathy, the more diluted remedy is called the higher and stronger potency.
Beyond about 12C (a dilution of 1 in 10²⁴), simple arithmetic says that probably not a single molecule of the original substance remains. This is the heart of the debate about homeopathy, discussed below. Homeopaths answer that the remedy works not by chemistry but by the “information” or energy imprinted in the water during succussion. Amy Lansky draws on research into the structure of water and on newer findings of nanoparticles of the starting material in high dilutions.
Acute and Constitutional Prescribing
- Acute prescribing treats a short, self-limited problem: a bruise, a sting, a cold, food poisoning, a fever, teething. Families can learn to do this at home with a handful of remedies.
- Constitutional prescribing treats a person’s long-term health and chronic illness. It takes a long interview (often one to two hours), a deep knowledge of the materia medica, and follow-up over months. Max’s autism was treated this way. Chronic and serious illness is the work of a trained classical homeopath.
Hahnemann also taught that chronic disease has deep roots he called miasms, inherited tendencies to illness, which constitutional treatment works to clear.
How to Take a Remedy
- Choose the remedy that best matches the person’s whole picture (see the table below).
- Use 30C or 6C for home acute care.
- Keep the mouth clean: no food, drink, toothpaste or strong flavors for about 15 minutes before and after.
- Tip 2–3 pellets into the cap of the tube (do not handle them) and drop them under the tongue to dissolve. For a baby, dissolve the pellets in a little water and give a few drops or a teaspoon.
- Repeat in acute cases every 15 minutes to every few hours, depending on how intense the problem is.
- Stop when the person clearly improves. Repeat only if the symptoms return. If there is no change after three or four doses, the remedy is probably wrong; choose again.
- Many homeopaths advise keeping remedies away from coffee, camphor and strong mint (including mentholated rubs and mint toothpaste), which they believe can cancel a remedy, and storing them away from heat, sunlight and strong smells.
Signs of Healing
Constantine Hering, the “father of American homeopathy,” described how healing proceeds, now called Hering’s Law of Cure: from the inside out (from the deeper organs toward the skin), from the top of the body down, from the more vital organs to the less vital, and in reverse order of when the symptoms appeared, so old symptoms may briefly return on the way out. Sometimes a remedy brings a short aggravation, a brief worsening of symptoms, before improvement; homeopaths take it as a sign the remedy has acted.
Home Remedies Every Family Should Know
A home kit of these remedies in 30C covers most everyday acute problems. Notice that each is chosen by the picture, not just the complaint.
| Remedy | Its picture | Common uses |
|---|---|---|
| Arnica montana | Bruised, sore, aching, says “I’m fine, leave me alone,” doesn’t want to be touched | Bruises, falls, sprains, shock after an injury, before and after surgery or dental work, overexertion. Arnica cream (an external herbal use) goes only on unbroken skin. |
| Hypericum | Shooting nerve pain | Crushed fingers and toes, injured tailbone, nerve-rich injuries |
| Ledum | Puncture wound or bite, the area cold, yet better from cold | Puncture wounds, insect bites, a black eye after Arnica |
| Apis mellifica (honeybee) | Swelling that is hot, pink, puffy and stinging, better from cold | Bee stings and swelling (with emergency care for any sign of anaphylaxis) |
| Calendula | Raw wounds | Cuts and scrapes; as a tincture or cream outside, it is an herbal antiseptic |
| Belladonna | Sudden, intense: high fever, red hot face, dilated pupils, throbbing, sensitive to light and noise | Sudden fevers, throbbing headaches, earaches |
| Aconitum | Sudden onset after a fright or a cold, dry wind; fear and restlessness | The very first hours of a cold or fever; panic after a shock |
| Chamomilla | Furious, inconsolable, one cheek red, better only when carried | Teething, colic, earaches in children |
| Nux vomica | Irritable, chilly, overdid it: too much food, drink, work or coffee | Indigestion, hangover, constipation with straining |
| Arsenicum album | Anxious, restless, chilly, burning pains better from warmth, sips of water | Food poisoning, vomiting and diarrhea, colds with a burning, watery nose |
| Gelsemium | Heavy, droopy eyelids, weak and trembling, chills up and down the back, not thirsty; anxiety before an event | Flu; stage fright and exam nerves |
| Pulsatilla | Weepy, clingy, changeable, wants company and fresh air, not thirsty, thick yellow-green mucus | Colds and ear infections in children, especially late in a cold |
| Bryonia | Worse from the slightest movement, dry, very thirsty, irritable, wants to be left alone | Dry coughs, flu, painful joints that hurt to move |
| Rhus toxicodendron (poison ivy) | Stiff at first, better with continued gentle motion, restless | Sprains and strains, stiff joints, poison ivy rash |
| Cantharis | Burning, scalding pain | Minor burns and scalds (after cooling), burning bladder infections |
| Ignatia | Grief, shock, sighing, a lump in the throat | Recent loss, emotional shock |
Homeopathic cell salts (or tissue salts), developed by Dr. Wilhelm Schüssler, are twelve mineral salts in low potency (usually 6X), such as Calcarea phosphorica for growing bones and teething and Magnesia phosphorica, dissolved in hot water, for cramps. They are a gentle companion to the herbal calcium formula.
A Short History
Homeopathy spread across Europe and America within a few decades of Hahnemann’s discovery. In the cholera epidemics of the 1800s, homeopathic hospitals reported far fewer deaths than ordinary hospitals, whose treatments of bleeding and purging often hastened death; in the London epidemic of 1854, the London Homoeopathic Hospital reported a death rate of about 16%, against about 50% elsewhere. The American Institute of Homeopathy, founded in 1844, was the first national medical society in the United States, three years before the American Medical Association. By 1900 there were around twenty homeopathic medical colleges and many homeopathic hospitals in America, and a large share of physicians practiced homeopathy.
The Flexner Report of 1910 (Chapter 1) closed the homeopathic colleges along with the herbal ones. But homeopathy never disappeared. The U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, written by Senator Royal Copeland, himself a homeopathic physician, recognized the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States as an official drug compendium. Homeopathy is widely used in Europe, and in India it is part of the national health system, with its own colleges, hospitals and hundreds of thousands of practitioners. Britain’s royal family has been known for its loyalty to homeopathy for generations.
Safety
High-potency remedies (12C and above) contain little or nothing of the original substance, so they cause no chemical side effects and do not interact with medications. That makes homeopathy gentle and inexpensive. The real safety issues are these:
- Delay. The danger is not the remedy but waiting on it when someone needs emergency care. Use homeopathy on the way to help, never instead of it, for the emergencies in Chapter 1.
- Low potencies can contain real substances. Remedies at 1X–4X, and mother tinctures, contain measurable amounts of the starting material, which may be a poison (belladonna, mercury, arsenic). In 2016 the FDA warned against homeopathic teething tablets after testing found inconsistent and sometimes excessive amounts of belladonna in them; earlier, a homeopathic zinc nasal gel for colds was linked to loss of the sense of smell. Use well-made remedies from established pharmacies, at 6C or higher, for home care.
- Chronic and serious illness belongs with a trained, experienced classical homeopath, alongside whatever other care the person needs.
The conventional view. Most scientists and doctors consider homeopathy implausible, because remedies above 12C are diluted beyond the point where any molecule of the original substance is likely to remain, and no known mechanism explains how plain water and sugar could carry a specific healing effect. Large reviews have generally concluded that homeopathy’s effects are no greater than placebo: a 2005 analysis in The Lancet (Shang and colleagues) and a 2015 review by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council found no reliable evidence that it works for any health condition. Other researchers disagree: an earlier Lancet analysis (Linde and colleagues, 1997) found that the results were not explained by placebo alone, homeopaths point to positive trials and to laboratory research on highly diluted water, and millions of patients report real benefit. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission since 2016 has required homeopathic product claims to be backed by scientific evidence. Arukah presents homeopathy as a gentle traditional system with a long record of use, to be used for acute home care and with trained homeopaths, and never in place of emergency care.
Where Homeopathy Fits
Homeopathy and herbalism come from the same conviction: the body heals itself, and the healer’s job is to stir up that healing gently, treating the whole person, never forcing. Dr. Christopher used herbs as food for the body; Hahnemann used remedies as a nudge to the vital force. Many families use both: Arnica pellets and a comfrey poultice for a sprained ankle, Chamomilla pellets and chamomile tea for a teething baby.
If this chapter has caught your interest, watch Amy Lansky’s interview, read Impossible Cure, and keep a small kit of home remedies. Watch carefully what happens. That is how Hahnemann began.
Sources and further reading
- Lansky, A. L. Impossible Cure: The Promise of Homeopathy. R.L. Ranch Press, 2003; and “Interview with Amy Lansky, Author of Impossible Cure” (Eugénie Krüger Homeopathy, video).
- Hahnemann, S. Organon of the Medical Art (1810; 6th ed. 1842), ed. W. B. O’Reilly, Birdcage Books, 1996.
- Cummings, S., and Ullman, D. Everybody’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicines. TarcherPerigee, 2004.
- Boericke, W. Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica. 1901.
- Shang, A., et al. “Are the clinical effects of homoeopathy placebo effects?” The Lancet 366 (2005): 726–732.
- Linde, K., et al. “Are the clinical effects of homoeopathy placebo effects? A meta-analysis of placebo-controlled trials.” The Lancet 350 (1997): 834–843.
- National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia). NHMRC Information Paper: Evidence on the effectiveness of homeopathy for treating health conditions. 2015.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, warning on homeopathic teething tablets and gels, 2016; Federal Trade Commission, “Enforcement Policy Statement on Marketing Claims for OTC Homeopathic Drugs,” 2016.
- Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 (Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States).