Homeopathy is a type of medicine that makes no sense at all to the Western scientific paradigm. Science is mathematical, linear, and logical. Homeopathy is energy-based, non-linear, and intuitive or sensory. Scientific medicine works with a dose/response concept of what creates a pharmacological effect; homeopathic remedies are highly diluted, in a serial process which includes shaking against an elastic surface. From a scientific viewpoint, most of these homeopathic dilutions – anything over 12 C - do not appear to have a single molecule of the original substance left, so they can have no real effect. Homeopathy states that the more a remedy is diluted, the more powerful it is. No way do the two meet.

Here’s what’s interesting: while the science-based Western medicine has measurable results, and in many cases works very well (let’s ignore “side effects” for now), the non-linear homeopathy also is reported to work very well. It keeps trudging along, in spite of attacks and vituperation, because so many people use it and find it useful. You can’t argue with success. Critics maintain that it is a placebo effect in all cases. Whatever it is called, something happens. But my intention is not to argue in favor or against homeopathy and/or medicine, but to note some interesting observations that can be models for the prediction of effects.

Here I want to focus on some of the details of homeopathy that I have found most fascinating – the notion that “like cures like” and that of “proving” a remedy – and how often these details shows up in Western medicine without there being an awareness of it.

“Like cures like,” or the law of similars: this idea, proposed initially by the originator of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann, states that a condition that is created in a healthy person by a particular ingredient, can be cured in a sick person with that condition by the same ingredient, properly prepared and diluted with homeopathic techniques. For example, if a healthy person takes chinchona bark, or quinine, symptoms of malaria will appear; but quinine is known as a cure for malaria in those who are sick with this condition. The whole edifice of homeopathy is based on this concept.

“Provings”, a transliteration of the German for “tests” or “trying something,” are the trials used in homeopathy to determine the use of possible remedies. Homeopathic remedies are only tested on healthy volunteers, with their cooperation and agreement. This technique finds remedies by having the volunteers take a substance until symptoms appear; the remedy will then be considered as helpful against those symptoms. In other words, while taking the remedy in large doses may create the condition, taking it in a highly diluted version seems to help heal it. The results of numerous trials like these are compiled in treatises known as materia medica. Once again, the same ingredient can cure a condition as well as cause it, depending on the quantity or the dilution.

Now here is why I wanted to write this piece. I was reading the newsletter “Health and Healing,” from Dr Julian Whitaker, of the Whitaker Wellness Institute in Newport Beach, CA – vol. 20, No 12, December 2010. In the article “The Disease Worsens with the Treatment,” Dr Whitaker points out that

- antidepressants increase the risk of suicide;

- bisphosphonates (taken against osteoporosis) raise fracture risk;

- statins (taken to prevent heart attacks) increase the risk of heart failure.

In other words, like homeopathic remedies, the medical drugs can cause the very problem they are supposed to cure.

I have seen “package inserts” or warnings of other drugs, and more often than not there is an exacerbation of the symptoms that are supposed to be cured.

Interesting, don’t you think?

What I am proposing here is that we tentatively accept the possibility that the homeopathic principle of “like cures like” has some basis in fact. But not only does like cure like, too much of the remedy can make the disease condition worse.

This goes against the Western idea that if a little is good, more must be better.

In this case, the opposite is true. More makes it worse. Therefore, the medicine or drug may have a very positive effect – but only in the right amount. And how much would that be? Hard to say, but let’s assume that the right amount is just enough to have a positive effect on the problem – and no more. Taking more may make things worse. That is the prediction. Let’s note here that even water, which is the basis of life, and which we need unquestionably to keep alive, can kill when we drink too much of it.

[Here’s another question: what if all Western drugs had an equivalent homeopathic dose as choice? Would that improve the odds of avoiding side effects, which are known to cause close to 100,000 death a year? But that is a different discussion.]

The “homeopathic effect” is seen in other situations. I’ve seen happen with food many times. For example, salty food can be a good remedy for things like hangovers (caused by too much alcohol) and headaches from too much sugar or fruit. Something salty can flip those around within minutes. However, too much salty food will also cause a headache, which cannot be cured with more salt, but needs the “opposite”, such as fruit or juice. And too much fruit, or juice, can also create a headache! A martini after work may be relaxing – six martinis after work are too many. While a plant-based diet can be healing to people who have had too much animal food, too much of a plant-based diet may become imbalanced and create problems of its own.

I propose we keep what I like to call the “homeopathic principle” in mind, and apply it to all substances we use for healing: medicine, foods, natural remedies, herbs, supplements, and so on. That is, let’s be aware that we need to use the right amount of a remedy for the problem – not too much, not too little, but just right. And when we get to the “just right” amount, we stop. Ah! Not so easy. Learning how to do that can keep us busy for years.