Is Homeopathy a personalized nano medicine discovered in the 18th Century?
An overweight pre-diabetic 55 year old man presents with recently diagnosed hypertension and blood pressure averaging 150/90. A thin 63 year old female smoker presents with longstanding hypertension managed by medication with an average blood pressure of 145/83. The diagnosis for both of these patients is hypertension. Despite the differences in age, gender, lifestyle and presentation, both are prescribed a pharmaceutical to treat hypertension. Sounds like a straightforward medical approach, right?
What if instead of treating the hypertension, we treat the individual that has the hypertension.
This is a radically different approach. It requires a paradigm shift in how we provide health care.
Treat the person, not the symptom
Treating the individual instead of treating the disease requires looking beyond the symptom to the root cause of why that symptom is present.
The body is intelligent. It is, at all times, simultaneously coordinating a multitude of processes to keep us alive. Keeping us alive means keeping our systems in balance, or, in homeostasis. If an individual’s blood pressure is consistently elevated to the point of being diagnosed as having hypertension, there is a reason for that elevated blood pressure. That elevation is a response to something. And that something will be different for each individual.
“It is far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has.” Hippocrates
Can you see how prescribing the same medication to treat the symptom of the disease, ie. elevated blood pressure, is not a cure. The hypertension is not what needs to be cured. The hypertension is a signal - the body’s way of whispering that there is something out of balance. The imbalance is what needs to be cured. Treat that imbalance and the hypertension goes away.
Like cures like
There are a variety of treatment modalities that can correct an imbalance including changes to food intake, botanical medicine, exercise, improved sleep etc. The Naturopathic Doctor has many tools in their toolbox to assist the person in achieving a cure. One of these tools is homeopathy.
Homeopathy comes from the Greek word ‘homoios’ meaning similar and ‘pathos’ meaning suffering. This translates to “similar suffering”, “similar as the disease”, or “like cures like”. Homeopathy's opposite is ‘allopathic’ which means “other than the disease”. Allopathy describes the conventional medicine approach that treats symptoms with substances that produce the opposite effect. We are familiar with the allopathic approach to medicine as it is the paradigm with which we were raised. How does a homeopathic model work differently?
Homeopathy does not treat disease. It treats the person and every person expresses disease in a peculiar way. Symptoms are how the individual expresses the disease. One person may experience an upper respiratory tract infection with congested sinuses and a terrible headache, while the same infection manifests as a sore throat and clogged ears in another individual. Their “simillimum” are different. Homeopathy means treatment by the “simillimum”, to treat by providing a substance that causes similar symptoms.
In 1790, Samuel Hahnemann, MD concluded that true cure came from the individual, specifically, from the individual’s life force. When imbalanced, the individual manifests a set of signs and symptoms at a physical and emotional level that signal to the nature of the imbalance. In homeopathy, first the doctor identifies the totality of these symptoms then matches them with the substance that creates these very same symptoms. The patient is given a diluted and potentized form of this substance. The body’s life force mounts a reaction to the potentized substance and this reaction simultaneously addresses the root cause that is causing their original symptoms. This is the concept behind a homeopathic cure where “like cures like”.
Here is a concrete example of “like cures like”. An individual has a sudden fever that comes on quickly and is accompanied by intense pain. The patient doesn’t want to be touched and feels anxious and panicky. This is their totality of symptoms, which matches with the substance Aconite napellus. Aconite, or Wolfsbane, given in its undiluted crude form, would produce these same symptoms in the body. Yes, Aconite is quite dangerous and toxic - please don’t take it! However, a potentized remedy made out of Aconite (more on potentized remedies below) causes the individual to mount a response to the Aconite, and this stimulation to the life force also enables it to address the cause of their own symptoms.
This difference between how a crude substance can be toxic and a diluted substance can be curative is called hormesis. The hormesis curve below shows that a low dose of an agent will be beneficial whereas a high dose is toxic. Click here for more about hormesis.
What are potentized remedies?
A potentized remedy is a substance that has been diluted and agitated multiple times to the point where the remaining number of molecules of the source substance in the solution is less than Avogadro’s number (1). Going back to the Aconite nappellus example, an Aconite homeopathic remedy has no remaining molecules of aconite in it. The aconite was made into a tincture, it was titrated, and then agitated, and then titrated and agitated over and over again hundreds or even thousands of times.
This agitation, or what we call succussion, is critical to creating the potentized remedy. After each dilution, the substance is banged multiple times against a hard surface. The substance becomes increasingly diluted until there is no molecular (that is Avogadro’s number) substance left and then it is still continually diluted and agitated. This creates a potentized remedy.
So what remains in the remedy? And how can this remedy be effective?
Jared Zeff, ND, Lac provides a clear description for how a homeopathic potentized remedy works. It serves as “a packet of information”. This information is taken in by the body similar to how information on a USB key is transferred into a computer. If the USB key is compatible with the system it is inserted into, the information is downloaded and it causes some sort of change. If the USB key is not compatible, nothing happens. Similarly, if a homeopathic potentized remedy matches the patient’s totality of symptoms, their “simillimum”, it will be downloaded by the body, and this new information introduced to the system will contribute to removing the disturbance causing the symptoms. (2)
Many argue that the positive effects of homeopathy are due to the placebo effect. Their argument is that if a potentized remedy contains no Avogadro’s number of molecules from the original substance, the effect of taking the remedy cannot be physiological - it must be psychological. But here is where it gets really interesting.
Recent research reveals that the original substance may in fact remain in the remedy. This is explained as epitaxy. Epitaxy is the transfer of structural information from the surface of one substance (solid) to another substance (liquid) without any physical transfer. The role of succussion /agitating (or hitting the solution against a solid object) causes high pressures and creates nanobubbles that help retain the transferred structural information in the dilution. (3)
Are potentized remedies nano medicine?
Epitaxy means that despite multiple titrations, the substance does remain in the remedy. And now research is showing that scientists have identified nanoparticles of the original substance in homeopathic potentized remedies. Nanoparticles are particulates less than 100 nanometers. For more information on nanomedicine, please click here. Multiple studies using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) have found nanoparticles of the solute plus carbon and oxygen remaining in potentized remedies. Other studies have found nanoparticle and quantum dots in all potencies of a given homeopathic remedy. (4)
How do nanoparticles and quantum dots work in the body?
Nanoparticles act as enzymes and/ or modify enzymes.
Quantum dots have free entry through cell walls, nucleus, organelles, DNA & RNA, and activate epigenetic programming. Quantum dots are the information being delivered to our cells where living systems are being carried out. (4)
Iris Bell succinctly summarizes how homeopathic remedies work as nano medicine: "Homeopathic medicines are complex self-organizing nano-scale systems that generate unique low-intensity electromagnetic signals and/or quantum coherence domains. On contact with physiological fluids (e.g., blood plasma), there is evidence that nano-structures additionally adsorb individualized patterns of the recipient's own proteins on to their surfaces to create a unique protein corona coat (shell). Thus, the [person's] simillimum may generate a personalized biological identity upon administration... Low doses of such complex nano-structures initiate the adaptive processes of hormesis to mobilize endogenous healing of a disease state. The capacity for self-organization and self-similarity in complex systems is the key to future research on the nature of homeopathic medicines and systemic healing during individualized homeopathic treatment." (5)
My very layman’s interpretation of Bell’s summary is this: Homeopathic remedies work as nano materials that interact with and signal multiple systems in the body to initiate a cascade of responses. The patient’s specific set of individual symptoms is reflected in the patient’s cells and when it matches to the fingerprint of the remedy (the simillimum), this match allows these nano particles to connect and download information within these cells to evoke change at a genetic level.
Interesting fact: Samuel Hahnemann MD lived from 1755-1843 and knew nothing about nanomedicine. His research and documentation was based on what he saw and experienced clinically. Michael Farrady was the father of nanoscience and he lived roughly in the same era from 1791-1867. I just love interesting coincidences!
ES Rajendran MD provides our concluding remarks: “Homeopathy is a material science operating at the cellular biologically active nanounits that fundamentally regulates life”... Homeopathy may be viewed as personalized nano-medicine. (4) This is mind blowing!
Dare to know homeopathy
Dr. Hahnemann’s defining work on homeopathy, Organon of the Medical Art, starts with the phrase: Aude Sapere, or Dare to Know. Hahnemann's approach to curative medicine required a paradigm shift from the conventional medicine of the day. Hahnemann dared the the doctors of his day to consider a different approach to healing. Two hundred years later, understanding homeopathy still requires a paradigm shift in how we view disease and wellness. But now our advances in medicine and research, such as nano medicine, are providing scientific proof to support Hahnemann’s work written in the 18th Century.
Even despite this scientific proof, it is still difficult for us to change the paradigm of how we view disease and health. Challenge yourself. Allow yourself to explore a different paradigm to health and healing.
How to get started with homeopathy
Interested in trying homeopathy? Get started by identifying your constitutional remedy. This is the homeopathic remedy that matches who you are physically and mentally based on your life experiences and your ancestry. Taking your constitutional remedy strengthens your life force and helps you to overcome any obstacles on your path to wellness.
To get your constitutional remedy, book a homeopathic appointment with me, either in person or via video call. Prior to the appointment you will be sent a lengthy questionnaire to complete. During our 60 minute session together we will look at who you are as an individual and how your symptoms manifest for you. You will be prescribed a homeopathic remedy that matches the totality of your symptoms. 6-8 weeks after taking your remedy, we will meet again for 45 minutes to assess what changes have occurred.
How will you know if the homeopathic remedy is working? Your symptoms will start to reduce, your energy will improve, and your spirit will lighten. An added benefit is there are no negative side effects.
Discover the benefits homeopathy can bring to your health. Homeopathy is for people of all ages and all infirmities. It is especially powerful with children due to them having, generally speaking, a strong life force. Homeopathy treats you - the individual - by providing a personalized and natural treatment that is effective at the level of your genetics. Learn more about how to sign up for your Homeopathic intake and remedy here.
Sources:
Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopic and Energy Disperive Spectroscopic Studies of Centesimal Scale Potencies of the Homeopathic Drug Lycopodium clavatum E.D. Rajenfran, MD - Abstract available at: http://www.lmhi-congress-2017.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Proceeding_Rajendran_R02_EN.pdf
Jared Zeff, ND, Lac presenting at 2020 Homeopathy Summit as referenced at this URL: https://homeosummit.com/homeopath-track/day-5?goal=0_0988d6f5f9-05205e37de-418652953&mc_cid=05205e37de&mc_eid=430a7ea64d
Homeopathy, 2007. Erratum to: Rao ML, Roy R, Bell IR, Hoover R. The defining role of structure (including epitaxy) in the plausibility of homeopathy. Homeopathy 96( 2007):175-182. 96(4), p.292.
Homeopathy A Material Science and Personalized Nanomedicine! New Challenges and Opprtunities. Presented by Prof Dr ES Rajendran, MD (Hom), PHD in 2017. Available at: http://www.lmhi-congress-2017.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Proceeding_Rajendran_R02_EN.pdf
Bell, I., 2019. The Complexity of the Homeopathic Healing Response Part 2: The Role of the Homeopathic Simillimum as a Complex System in Initiating Recovery from Disease. Homeopathy, 109(02), pp.051-064.
Rajalakshmi, M., 2012. Demystifying Homeopathy: In the Light of Nano-Science. Journal of Homeopathy & Ayurvedic Medicine, 01(03).
Rajendran, E., 2018. Homeopathy Seen as Personalised Nanomedicine. Homeopathy, 108(01), pp.066-070.