Are combination homeopathic medicines really homeopathy?

[Dr. Jeff]

Robin just sent me an important email about an article that discusses homeopathy.

It is an interview with a person who sells combination products.

Combination products like the HomeoVet remedies they sell usually contain several medicines combined together.

Even though these contain homeopathically-prepared medicines, this is not homeopathy.

Can anyone tell me why?

Thanks.

Dr. Jeff

 

[Dr. Christina]

One of my biggest challenges over the last 20 years has been educating people about the difference between holistic and homeopathic approaches to health. This company sells not only combinations of homeopathically prepared (low potency) but essential, herbs and much more.

As you do your HMDM research on products, be sure to carefully read the ingredients as some herbal or flower essence products also have homeopathically prepared substances added. This was one thing that recently triggered the FDA to start investigating the sale of homeopathic products.

Also, notice at the top of the article it says "sponsored article". While advertorials can give us a lot of good information, they can also skew information towards their products, so as you research, make note if the information is coming from a company or person with vested interest.

Dr. C.

 

[jsqueglia]

Good Morning,
To answer Dr Jeff's question... Homeopathy treats each individual as an individual using 1 carefully selected remedy that best fits the totality of all the symptoms (of that particular individual).

I have attached a file of a combo remedy that a friend(knowing my alternative ways of living) excitedly brought the box for me to see what a great and easy medicine she had found for her aging Beagle. It was late, it was way too long a conversation for that hour and I am not sure at this point how I even responded. The box still sits on my desk....
Note the directions, the combination and each remedy is in equal parts of 12X, 30X and 1LM?? And you can give it every day! For me as a much more educated Thanks to HA!, Dr Jeff, Dr Christina and all the other wonderful veterinarians and staff, this particular remedy and all that it promises really kind of concerns me.

I too fell for the combo remedy many times since the 1980's when I first was introduced to homeopathy. I do not fault the good intentions of folks that really want to do the best for their pets and themselves. It was a learning curve for me too.
Unfortunately, marketing and advertising as Dr Christina points out, can quickly sell products if we are not savvy and careful before we buy.

Now a confession and a question or two....
my dog recently tore up his carpal pad. I let him take care of it until yesterday when he woke me up, as he was in a panic over his sore paw. Once I realized he was just being a hysteric and not about to die..I soaked it in Epsom salts and wrapped it w/ a gauze pad and cream(again given to me by a friend) that contains multiple remedies combined with lanolin, Petroleum and Mineral Oil. It was what I had to use at 5 AM. HP Healing Cream by HomeoPet.
He is fine today and I will keep him wrapped since our snow cover is slippery and crunchy with ice . He will survive.

Question #1? Are these combo remedies as much of an issue used topically? If used topically can they have an effect on
an individual that is being treated currently with a remedy? This particular dog has never had a constitutional remedy?

Question #2 slight diversion from topic but it's on my mind.... I have been trying to figure out what this dogs remedy would be.
I keep going back to Sulphur based on many rubrics and the 3 legged stool.

Are young Sulphur's(he's 2 yrs old) apt to be hysterical ,crying and undone when they wake up(AM) in pain?

A little clingy(only because he wants you to fix it NOW) but worse from touch. Touch equals grumpy, growly, screaming... LOL! Not a good way to wake up at 5AM.
This happened one other time when he wrenched his knee. (used Arnica and then one dose of Ruta and he was good as new) but that time he also woke up at 1 AM in the same type of panic .

Good topic. One I have been meaning to ask about.

If for some reason the attachment doesn't open. It is Dr King's Natural Pet Pharmaceuticals/Tomlyn Veterinary Science for Muscle,Joint and Arthritis www.drkings.com

Have a great day!

Jackie

 

[Dr. Christina]

Great post, Jackie.
Homeopathy treats each individual as an individual using 1 carefully selected remedy that best fits the totality of all the symptoms (of that particular individual).
This is true for acute problems, or to find the "constitutional" medicine. This is a misused term. Some consider it to mean a homeopathic medicine that will cure anything for that patient at anytime in their life. Others, myself included, use it to mean the best match (similimum) at this time for this patient, one that covers as many possible symptoms and that the animal responds to in a curative manner.

The way to find a medicine that fits the totality of symptoms is to use the materia medica which is compiled from testing, clinical practice and poisoning symptoms. Combination medicines have NOT been tested and do not have compilations in the materia medica.

Can they resolve some symptoms? Yes. The problem is they usually do not improve vitality and balance.

If they do not help, you have not learned anything, as you would giving a single medicine. One dog was limping and was given Rhus tox because she seemed to have joint pain. There was not much improvement, so she thought more about his symptoms and realized he did not like to move at all, a symptom that got worse after the Rhus tox, so gave Bryonia, which matched that symptom - and her dog's lameness resolved. Had she given a combination medicine she would be less likely to know what to do next if the combination for "lameness" did not work.

Now to answer your combo question, Jackie.

Question #1? Are these combo remedies as much of an issue used topically?
If used topically can they have an effect on an individual that is being treated currently with a remedy?
They can be absorbed through the skin, and on the skin they can be inhaled. However, often these topical preparations are using the tincture which is basically herbal, or a very low potency - like up to 10x, which will likely have little effect on the vital force. I have not had topical treatments with "homeopathic" preparations interfere with a healing response.

Dr. Christina

 

[RobinO]

When I saw this company's products, I was very concerned. Even though I'm a newbie at homeopathy, I know that "one size does not fit all," but I understand why they are taking the marketing approach they take. For those of us who come from an allopathic background, their model IS "one size fits all." If you have "X" issue, you take "Y" medication to stop the symptoms. That has ALWAYS bothered me because it doesn't look at the underlying cause. It's really easy and mindless to just grab "magic forumula for old achy cats" and pay the $30 or whatever it is, than to really take the time, consideration and reflection it requires to help restore vitality, right Dr Jeff?

I worry because this sort of mindset won't stop at this one company. I get it. We're all busy with many plates spinning. It would be a lot easier to have a result you can depend on, that's right for your pet, that will work, without you having to take a case, review rubrics, try and try again. I still don't even know if anything I'm doing is helping my cats, but at least I've learned not to throw money at it to make it go away.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Thanks Jackie, Robin and Dr. C. for the great discussion.

Jackie-exactly (combination homeopathic medicines) are not chosen based on totality.

They can't be since, as Dr. C points out, they were never proven.

Without a proving, the *specific* symptoms which the medicines can both cause and cure are not known.

Symptom production is based on the individuality which is determined during the initial homeopathic evaluation and is based on symptoms and their manifestations, modalities, etc.

Individuality is never based on a diagnosis as diagnoses are just labels for a group of symptoms.

This is the chief difference between anti-pathy which works directly against symptoms and diagnoses and homeopathy which uses symptoms as clues to help working with the body.

Combination remedies "for" itching, arthritis, incontinence, fears, etc. do not work with the body.

At best, they are "allopathic" (which is a term that Hahnemannn coined).

Meaning that they don't work directly with or against the body but might help based on some physiological response to the medicine.

This physiologic response is determined during the drug company drug approval process.

Which really just determines that a drug is *probably* safe and mechanism of action.

Maybe @novasimpson will explain more about the conventional drug approval and clinical indication processes.

Anyway, I'm getting off track and was about to get on my soapbox about another disconnect between science and healing, but instead I think I'll sign off and come back to this thread later.

Thanks to everyone for contributing to a stimulating conversation!

Dr. Jeff

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi again-

Regarding Jackie's questions #1:

Are these combo remedies as much of an issue used topically? If used topically can they have an effect on
an individual that is being treated currently with a remedy? This particular dog has never had a constitutional remedy?

It depends on the sensitivity of the individual to the remedies in the combination topical product.

As Dr. Christina said, topical remedies can have systemic effects. Especially if they are used on broken skin.

Hahnemann also talks about using remedies deeply when applied anywhere on the body. Similar to the use of Arnica cream after overexertion.

That being said, topical combination products are often fine to use. When you do, keep an eye out for "unrelated" systemic changes as these can be a result of the topically-applied homeopathically prepared medicines.

So yes, to answer the other part of your question, these remedies can have constitutional effects.

If one of the homeopathic medicines in the combination is similar enough to your dog's imbalance, it can act curatively, palliatively or suppressively. Just like an internal remedy. Even though he was never treated with a systemic remedy.

Question 2:

[/QUOTE]
I keep going back to Sulphur based on many rubrics and the 3 legged stool.

Are young Sulphur's(he's 2 yrs old) apt to be hysterical ,crying and undone when they wake up(AM) in pain?

A little clingy(only because he wants you to fix it NOW) but worse from touch. Touch equals grumpy, growly, screaming... LOL! Not a good way to wake up at 5AM.
[/QUOTE]

Fantastic you are looking for 3 symptoms to use in order to find a helpful remedy for your pup!

Ideally, these would be 3 totally separate symptoms vs. 3 aspects of one symptom.

Before answering further though, I have a question for you.

Why and how often is your pup waking at 5am? Did this only happen once or twice after an overexertion before bed?

The Persistence of the symptom is very important to determine it's relative importance.

Depending on your reply to the above question, this symptom may already fulfill the other 3 Ps by being Prominent, Problematic and Peculiar.

Here is a useful rubric for sudden waking with pain:

SLEEP - WAKING - pain, with: (25) am-m. Aml-ns. ant-c. ARS. ars-h. bapt. both-ax. cham. Chin. chr-ac. Eup-per. Kali-c. kali-n. LACH. merc. merc-c. mur-ac. myric. Nat-m. ph-ac. ran-a. raph. sel. staph. tell.

And another for waking 5am:

GENERALS - NIGHT - midnight - after - 5 h: (18) aloe apis bov. CHIN. cob. dros. helon. kali-c. kali-i. nat-c. Nat-m. nat-p. ph-ac. Podo. rumx. sep. sil. Sulph.

Note that Sulphur is in one but not the other.

Yet Sulphur can indeed cause (and cure) this symptom.

Rubrics are frequently incomplete as they are only extractions by the author from his/her clinical experience and the materia medicas.

That's another reason why a well-rounded case is important.

Crossing just these two rubrics which looks at the overlapping remedies just has China officianalis (which is Peruvian bark and the first homeopathic medicine ever proven!) and Natrum muriaticum (which is table salt!).

So once again the answer is that it depends on the context of the symptom within the totality of the individual.

Thanks again for the great discussion.

Dr. Jeff

PS- If you would like to start a separate post about your young pup and his pain episodes, we can discuss his journey to balance in greater detail.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi Robin-

From my observations of what you're doing to help your kitties, you're doing a lot to help them.

In addition to not throwing money away.

You're right that just because combination remedies are not homeopathic to the individual that these remedies will continue to be sold.

As you pointed out, our lives are busy and we're often looking for the quick fix.

Whether it's a drug or a combination remedy (I think the latter is worse, but that's a separate thread).

Sometimes these products work well to palliate or suppress a single symptom.

The problem comes in the long run.

Unfortunately, the immediate results and longer term effects are often not mindfully considered together.

Mindful medicine is not commonly practiced nowadays because doctors are so busy with sick patients.

That's why it's up to you to be your pets' guru.

Doctors are just the guides and provide needed information for your HMDM Step 2 research.

The true nature of combination remedies is one important piece of info that you learn as you walk this homeopathic and holistic path.

Dr. Jeff