Does homeopathy help? Should I take my medications on an empty stomach? Maybe homeopathy is an “old” and not developing method of treatment? And homeopaths continue to treat “the old fashioned way”: the same way homeopaths treated back in the 26th century

Doctor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Igor Yakovlev tells whether it is possible to be cured with the help of homeopathy

Myth 1: Homeopathy cures

– Homeopathy was proposed by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann at the end of the 17th century.. – He selected a substance that, in large doses, causes symptoms of illness in humans, and diluted it with water until not a single molecule of this substance remained in the solution. In addition, before each dilution, the test tube was shaken - homeopaths claim that this procedure enhances the effect of the substances and calls it potentiation. Sometimes homeopaths compare their method with vaccination, but we can study the mechanism of action of the vaccine, and in homeopathy there is simply no active substance, and therefore there is no object of study.

Unlike pharmacology, homeopathy has never claimed the status of a science. Abroad, the data of all clinical trials homeopathic remedies that have ever been carried out. These studies have shown that there is no proven effectiveness. The authoritative American agency FDA has issued a warning letter: remove information from all resources about the effectiveness of homeopathic medicines, because there is none.

Myth 2: There is a “memory of water”

– According to homeopaths, water at the molecular level has a “memory” of the substance that was once dissolved in it, and retains the properties of the solution after not a single molecule of the substance remains in it. Of course, this statement contradicts the laws of physics and chemistry. If you follow this logic, then you can get to the point that all water is homeopathic and has medicinal properties.

Homeopathic medicines do not contain a single molecule of active substance

Myth 3: Homeopaths do not treat the disease, but the patient

– Homeopathic remedies have not been proven effective in clinical trials. Homeopaths explain this by saying that researchers do not follow the principle of individual selection of medicines. Indeed, a homeopathic doctor used to ask a patient not only about his well-being, but also find out what dreams he had, and based on this information he prepared an individual solution. Back then, homeopaths really had a claim to individual approach to every person. But today homeopathic medicines are produced in factories, according to the same recipes, so claims for individual treatment are unfounded.

Homeopathic medicines have no proven effectiveness

Myth 6: Homeopathy helps some people

– Sometimes people read on forums or in social networks miraculous stories of salvation with help homeopathic remedies. Firstly, today pharmaceutical companies employ SMM managers who, masquerading as users, promote their product. Secondly, even if someone was actually cured with the help of homeopathic medicines, this does not mean anything. This is what distinguishes subjective assessment from objective scientific assessment. You can find 20, 30, 40 people who have been helped by homeopathy. But we must keep in mind that the assessment of proven effectiveness is based on hundreds of thousands, millions of cases - the statistical significance and reliability are completely different. With a subjective assessment, there are possibilities for systematic errors. Individual cases are not evidence, no matter how convincing they may seem. It is difficult for a person who is far from scientific knowledge to imagine how one can not believe own experience, but that’s what’s different scientific approach from household.

Typically, alternative medicine flourishes in those regions, in those countries and at times when the availability of evidence-based medical care. Perhaps this is some kind of alarming trend. The population is led into the illusion that they can figure it out themselves medical problem, in the effects of medications, after watching enough television programs, after reading advice on forums, they turn to alternative methods, probably disillusioned with official medicine, the professionalism of doctors, and the effect of drugs.

Myth 7: Homeopathic medicines are cheaper than traditional medicines

– When the German founder of homeopathy, Hahnemann, proposed this method, pharmacists were very indignant, because his product was much cheaper than what was then offered in German pharmacies. And people went to him only because his drugs cost practically nothing. But today the cheapness of homeopathic medicines is a myth. They are produced on an industrial scale and the price is determined by the market. Sometimes the lion's share of the price of a drug is not the cost of the active substance, but marketing costs. Perhaps some authors are not exaggerating when they write that you can buy a sugar solution at a pharmacy for the price of a drug that contains the active ingredient.

The man doesn't get effective treatment and throws money away. This has hidden danger homeopathy

Myth 8: Homeopathy is safe

– The drugs themselves are safe because they do not contain active ingredients. But if a person relies on the effect of a drug that does not work, then, of course, he is wasting time, which can be very precious. For example, with influenza and ARVI, the first two days of the disease are critical. And if a person takes a drug that doesn’t work, it increases the risk of complications, severe course illness and even death. Unfortunately, there are such stories, including in Perm. A person does not receive effective treatment and throws money down the drain. There is a hidden danger in homeopathy in this.

Myth 9: Animals are helped homeopathic medicines

– Indeed, homeopathic medicines are used in veterinary medicine. I have no information on how justified this is, but I can assume that one of the motivations for this approach is the strict EU standards for agricultural products, including meat and dairy. There are WHO reports that talk about the content of antibiotics per kilogram of meat - the numbers are frightening! These are the same antibiotics that are used in human practice; they are found in literally every kilogram of beef, pork, etc. Perhaps one of the motives for using homeopathic medicines is the desire to reduce the drug burden on Agriculture. Does it work or not? Homeopaths use the fact that animals are treated with homeopathic medicines as an argument against the placebo effect. But this effect can occur at the veterinarian! The veterinarian may believe in the effect of the drug, and it may seem to him that the animal has truly recovered.

Unlike pharmacology, homeopathy has never claimed to be a science

Myth 10: Homeopaths are certified specialists

– At the Moscow Medical University and the Perm Pharmacy Academy, homeopathy is taught as an additional course; its study is not mandatory. But since 2017, they have tried to make homeopathy in Moscow compulsory subject. And this caused a wave of indignation among students. They stated that homeopathy is not a science. I think the university management will not insist on studying homeopathy in mandatory. It is impossible to officially obtain a homeopathic diploma in Russia.

Myth 11: In Western countries, homeopathy is approved by the state

– Homeopathy is popular in Ukraine and Germany. In Germany there is a homeopathic union, but it is not government structure. The state turns a blind eye to homeopathy. In Western countries, specialists often gather in professional associations, communities without relying on government support. European Medicines Agency, American Medical Agency medicinal products, World organization Healthcare authorities do not recognize homeopathy, but they do not call for its ban; they are calm about it.

Homeopathy is one of the most discussed medical methods, which has both its devoted supporters and no less fierce critics.

"The author drank poison"

The history of homeopathy began in 1791, when its author, Samuel Hahnemann, literally “drank poison.” Not the most successful doctor with a difficult life, he traveled around Europe for a long time, learned several languages, worked as a librarian for a Transylvanian baron, taught languages, accompanied doctors during their practice, but recognition did not come to him.

While translating medical books, he came across a mention of the symptoms of cinchona bark poisoning. Quinine in small doses was just beginning to be used to treat malaria. Hahnemann drew attention to the fact that quinine poisoning is very similar in symptoms to malaria.

Then Samuel decided to try a large dose of quinine on himself. Everything matched: trembling without chills, thirst, dullness of senses, stiff joints, numbness - all these symptoms were also present in malaria, which Hahnemann himself once suffered from. So he went to the ancient medical principle treating like like. He decided that the same substance in different proportions could both heal and cripple.

It is worth saying that Hahnemann was not a pioneer in this; both Hippocrates and Paracelsus were guided in their practice by the same principle. However, it was Hahnemann who was able to develop this principle to the point that he created an entire industry on its basis. traditional medicine.
Hahnemann did not stop with quinine and began to try various poisons on himself. He tried 60 on himself various substances, which were later included in his four-volume book “Pure Medicine”.

Homeopathy today cannot be considered a full component modern medicine, since it does not have a serious evidence base, does not meet the requirements of an educated, thinking, analyzing doctor of any practice. (V.A. Chipizubov, neurosurgeon) The principle of ultra-low doses, discovered by Hahnemann, is perceived with great skepticism by today's medicine. The whole point is that the substance is diluted in such proportions that in the final composition, according to the Avagadro number, not a single molecule of the original substance remains. Homeopaths have one answer to these arguments: the memory of water.

It is difficult to go against such an argument, which is convincing in its unprovability, although it is not entirely clear why water should “remember” the original substance, and not thousands of other impurities and chemical elements, carried in the air or once in the water supply (let’s imagine for a second the “cleanest” water supply early XIX century). By the way, experiments conducted by Dr. Cowan in 2005 showed that water molecules can indeed form a molecular metastructure, but it lasts much less than a second.

Birth of a cult

However, over time, Hahnemann's technique began to acquire the features of a real cult. The doctors of traditional medicine, whom Hahnemann contemptuously called allopaths (from a combination of the words “other” and “disease”) hated Hahnemann. Pharmacists also hated him. This is not surprising - both of them lost considerable profits from the advent of homeopathy. The hated Hahnemann with a bag full of toxic substances, began to wander around Europe.

The effectiveness of homeopathy was demonstrated by Hahnemann during the epidemic of cholera and typhus that spread across Europe. Hahnemann was on horseback. In his clinic, each patient was greeted with a kind word, asked about life, children and the weather - Hahnemann was sure that each patient needed an individual approach, so he was both a psychologist and a brother for patients. Of course, people came to his clinic in droves. The alternative was to go to traditional doctors, which were treated with bloodletting, harsh laxatives, mercury and hot forceps.

Now homeopathy is the lot of people who are either afraid of doctors, or disillusioned with classical, university medicine, or simply desperate (V.A. Chipizubov, neurosurgeon)

Healthy skepticism and the Russian nobility

Traditional medicine even today treats homeopaths as sectarians, even despite the fact that not the most people gave homeopathy its due. last people. In Russia in the 19th century, Hahnemann’s teaching was not even a fashion, but a craze, albeit not without its persecutors. Representatives of the upper classes of Russian society were delighted with the obscure language of homeopathy, all these flies and volatile ointments, which then seemed to be the secret language of alchemy. A perennial family practice homeopathic treatment emphasized a kind of membership in secret circles.

In "War and Peace" there is a lot of evidence of the Russian nobility's passion for homeopathic medicine. Even Tolstoy’s eternal ideological opponent, Dostoevsky, paid attention to her. “Homeopathic lobes can be the strongest,” says the writer through the mouth of one of his heroes. Vladimir Dal, who healed homeopathic methods even eye diseases.

But homeopathy cannot be completely discounted and consigned to oblivion. There are many, albeit scattered, cases where people recovered after treatment with homeopathic remedies. Placebo? - Maybe. Taking into account the fact that any product must be at least non-toxic, when recommending homeopathy, the doctor follows the minimum, but at the same time, the main principle of medicine - do no harm. This is such a “convenient thing” - homeopathy. (V.A. Chipizubov, neurosurgeon).

Homeopathy remains a mystery. Doctors are convinced that it’s all about the placebo effect, children love homeopathy for the possibility of healing with small sweet peas, and adults, convinced of their life experience that the world is not always the abode of logic and common sense they just believe in miracles.

These rules have been adjusted over many years of practice. I am sure that a high-quality homeopathic medicine, even taken without rules, will also have an effect, but for it to work correctly, you should adhere to the following recommendations.

1. Take the homeopathic remedy 2-3 peas (or 2-3 drops) 30 minutes before or after eating and brushing your teeth, 1 hour after taking chemical medications. Plain water You can drink it regardless of taking homeopathy. If the product is recommended to be taken once a day, it is necessary to take it at approximately the same time, plus or minus an hour. Choose the time of day when you feel best. Homeopathy infants can be given regardless of feeding time.
2. Try not to touch the peas with your hands, pour them into the lid required amount or use a disposable spoon. If any amount of the drug has spilled onto a dirty surface, do not return the globules back to the packaging; it is better to throw away the fallen peas.
3. Do not change anything in your usual daily routine and diet (if you drink coffee or Coca-Cola, then continue to drink, just do not drink homeopathy with them).
4. In cases acute diseases, when appointing two or more various homeopathic remedies- they are taken simultaneously, one after the other, without a break between them, from high to low . For example, a person takes a constitutional drug Calcarea carbonica 6s once a day in the evening, continuously. Against the backdrop of the beginning of an exacerbation with cold symptoms a recommendation was received to take Belladonna 30c every 4 hours (taken by alarm clock, including at night). In one of the receptions, 2 remedies are combined, in the sequence Belladonna 30c (high dilution), then Calcarea carbonica 6c (low dilution).
5. If two or more dilutions are prescribed the same means — they are taken simultaneously, one after the other, without a break between them, in dilution sequence from low to high. For example, Calcarea carbonica 6c is taken first, then Calcarea carbonica 12c is taken immediately. As a result, both drugs are simultaneously in the oral cavity.
6. Common the mistake is to stop taking it acute drug (in our case Belladonna), as soon as visible state is improving. Do not do that! External symptoms may have weakened, but the disease still continues in a latent form, so acute drug(Belladonna) taken every 4 hours (or as recommended) until you get further recommendations by changing the reception frequency.
7. If you are seeing a homeopath, then independent use of additional homeopathic medicines is absolutely excluded, except those recommended.
8. When you start taking homeopathic medicines It is recommended not to stop taking medical (chemical) medications without consulting the specialist who prescribed them. Discontinuation regular medications will definitely lead to a change in well-being and then it is difficult to assess the impact of homeopathy. Certain period of both chemical medicines and homeopathy must be taken together. Take the homeopathic medicine an hour or two after taking the conventional (chemical) medicine. It is necessary to inform the homeopath about all changes in the intake of conventional (chemical) medicines and food additives, as well as starting/stopping/changing a diet.
9. It is necessary to contact a homeopath no later than two weeks after starting to take the homeopathic medicine. If the drug is of high quality, then changes should and will occur. Keep a homeopathic diary and record the main changes since you started taking the homeopathic medicine.
10. To achieve stable results, it is recommended to adjust further use of homeopathic medicines in consultation with a homeopath every 6 weeks. Continuing to self-administer medications without advice may lead to undesirable results and is entirely your responsibility.
11. It is recommended to store homeopathic medicines in a metal box in a dry, dark place, at room temperature, away from sun rays, heat sources and electromagnetic radiation (microwaves, refrigerators, Cell phones, televisions), sources of strong odors.
12. Do not carry medications with you or on yourself unless necessary.
13. Do not use or pour the drug into other containers, incl. in those in which homeopathic medicines were previously stored.

Homeopathy is a whole industry alternative medicine, created by Samuel Hahnemann in the 18th century, in which it is believed that all diseases are cured by several principles.

• Like cures like.
• Minimum doses of medications are needed.
• It is not the disease that needs to be treated, but the person.

This is the theory on which homeopathic medicines are made.

In the 18th century, the popularity of homeopathy was understandable because official medicine at that time she was not far from her, and the treatment process was more reminiscent of torture and experiments than helping the patient. But for some reason they still believe in it.

How are homeopathic medicines prepared?

A substance is taken that causes symptoms similar to those of the disease. After all, like must be treated with like. Important: the symptoms that the person himself experiences are taken as a basis; tests have nothing to do with it. For example, a symptom is cough. We need to find a substance cough-inducing. Regular book dust will do the job just fine.

So, let's take the conventional book dust. To turn it into a homeopathic pill, you need to perform several rituals. First you need to dilute it.

In homeopathy, especially high dilutions are used. X denotes a tenfold dilution, C a hundredfold dilution. Let's take it standard breeding 30C. It means that book dust should be placed in a test tube with water in a ratio of 1:99. Then take a drop from the resulting solution and place it again in a test tube with water (or alcohol, which is a little more fun), where there are already 99 drops. And so 30 times.

Each test tube must be shaken 10 times. This is also an obligatory part of the ritual, without which the medicine will not turn out correctly.

The final solution will be water and nothing else. Not a single molecule that was in a lump of book dust will be in a test tube. In the 18th century, when Hahnemann invented homeopathy, people already guessed about this. After the discovery of atoms, the guesses were confirmed.

Where does the current effect come from if there are no molecules of the substance?

There are also studies that talk about the benefits of balls and solutions. It is only when they are tested that they do not meet scientific standards.

An individual approach also plays a role here. It is very convenient to say that homeopathic treatment can't be verified evidence-based medicine, because homeopathy is not for statistics, these are individual medicines (which does not prevent manufacturers from churning out and selling hundreds of drugs in pharmacies that supposedly will save everyone).

Is homeopathy harmful?

For your wallet. It is impossible to harm yourself with something that does not exist.

Homeopathy can harm only in two cases.

• If you refuse official treatment in favor of sugar grains soaked in the “memory of water.”
• If homeopaths decide not to dilute active ingredients to the desired condition and the ingredients were in large quantities in the tablets.

Why is homeopathy so popular?

Because it is money and there is a demand for it. Medicine does not help everyone and not always, simply because it is impossible otherwise. But people want to believe that a good doctor will come, sew back the legs torn off by the tram, like Aibolit, and we will again jump like bunnies.

A real doctor can't do that.

And then a homeopath appears on the scene, who says that these doctors know nothing, they treat one thing and cripple another (in the latter, homeopaths are right: medicine is far from perfect). But a homeopath will cure you using a specially developed magic recipe.

In general, there is a lot of magic in homeopathy, because it is impossible to explain without magic how starch and sugar can cure a person.

But there are weeds!

Sometimes added to homeopathic medicines herbal ingredients V therapeutic doses. And this is no longer homeopathy in the strict sense of the word. Sometimes pharmacies have separate shelves for homeopathic medicines, on which both homeopathy and preparations with herbal extracts are located.

This is a deception that only plays into the hands of homeopaths. A logical chain is activated: with herbs - that means natural; means harmless; This means it will help and not harm. There are many holes in this chain (not all herbs are equally useful, and their uncontrolled use can kill; herbal medicine is generally more complicated than chamomile tea). But the main thing is that completely working herbal medicine is mixed with absolutely insane homeopathy.

Some homeopathic medicines were officially supported by our Ministry of Health. This is also not a reason to pay for them.

And it helped me!

We congratulate you. You strong body, who coped well with the disease. Or your case is a manifestation of the placebo effect, which still exists.

And in double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, there are people in the placebo group who are cured. You are one of those.

What's the life hack?

Nothing, we just care.

We are read by adults who can decide for themselves whether to take homeopathic remedies or not. But for some reason, homeopathy is recommended as a medicine for children.

While on the playground parents will say that they refused vaccinations because the homeopath advised so, they will take their children to church, and not to the hospital, and kill them trendy diets, we will talk about it.

What is homeopathy and should you be afraid of it? Elena Belova, homeopath and former doctor pediatric intensive care unit, answered the most popular questions from mothers about “pseudoscience.”

What is the fundamental difference between homeopathic treatment and conventional treatment?

What is a disease? This is an excessive reaction of the body to a pathogenic factor received from the outside. Classical medicine sends “heavy artillery” to help the body - and other “chemistry” with the prefix anti-. This is indispensable in in case of emergency, but may disrupt operation immune system, and the body will stop fighting on its own.

What does homeopathy do? Sends another microscopic drop of disease - ultra-small doses of poison, prompting the body to react correctly and heal itself, turning on those forces that were turned off or turned on incorrectly.

How does a homeopath choose medicines?

What are homeopathic medicines made from? Are they harmless to children?

Literally anything can become the raw material for homeopathic remedies: poisons, minerals, plants... All this is diluted and applied to grains of milk sugar in ultra-small doses: decimal, hundredth, etc.

Homeopathy is based on the theory of small doses. Everyone knows the saying of Hippocrates: “Everything is poison, and everything is medicine. The dose makes it both.” The poison has been used in classical medicine for centuries, but homeopathy does not allow dilutions harmful to the body.

There is no peculiarity; for a homeopath it makes no difference who to treat: an adult or a child. The principles are the same.

How to give homeopathic granules to small children?

Drops are easier to give to infants. To give the granules, take a regular syringe, disconnect the needle and pull out the plunger. Place peas soaked in water inside, and then squeeze the child’s cheek so that he has time to dissolve and not immediately swallow the medicine. It is advisable to wait at least an hour after feeding or give half an hour before meals.

Are homeopathy, herbal medicine and placebo the same thing?

No, homeopathy has nothing to do with therapeutic effect self-hypnosis. There are statistics that homeopathy works best on the elderly, small children and animals. What kind of placebo effect can a cat or baby have? A is the same classical medicine, only based on herbs.

For which diseases does homeopathy help better than evidence-based medicine?

In front of everyone skin diseases, allergic and fungal infections, you can immediately contact a homeopath. Recently in three months active treatment I helped a girl with eczema. Before this, the child was itching for two years, could not sleep peacefully, they tried all kinds of hormonal ointments on him...

Is it possible to combine homeopathic treatment with classical treatment?

Yes. The exception is herbal medicine, chemotherapy and some serious medications that specifically suppress the immune system for autoimmune diseases.