HOMEOPATHY

Non-pharmacological treatments

Homeopathy is a therapeutic method which clinically applies the Law of Similarity and uses medicinal substances in low or minute doses to activate our body’s defences to improve or cure the disease.

To establish a diagnosis and treat the disease, homeopathy not only takes into account any symptoms, physical examinations or other complementary tests, but adds a broader semiology that considers how the person perceives their problems while taking into account the individual as a whole.

How does it work?
The theory of homeopathy holds that the same symptoms that a toxic substance provokes in a healthy person may be cured by a remedy prepared with the same toxic substance, but in highly diluted form. The dilution factors may include :

• 1:10 D or X Potency
• 1:100 C Potency
• 1: 50,000 DM Potency

The mechanism of action is controversial, as it is unknown. Detractors of the treatment do not understand how homeopathy can be effective if there are no molecules of active substance. On the other hand, those in favour believe that it is an experimental science that does indeed work. Clinical trials are not conclusive either in favour or against.

How and when should it be used?
The greater the dilution, the greater the therapeutic potency. 5, 7 and 9 CH are used for acute conditions. Higher dilutions such as 30 CH are used in chronic conditions and for greater effect in the patient’s mental or emotional state.

Each product may be taken one or more times a day depending on the condition. It should be taken:

• separately from meals;
• without mixing it with aromatic substances that might interfere with absorption, such as tea, coffee, tobacco or mint.

What is recommended for its proper use?

• In the case of granules and globules, remove them from the container with the help of the stopper and put them in your mouth. Do not touch the product with your hands!
• Allow them to dissolve under your tongue.

What situations may give rise to problems related to these medicinal products?
None are known, which is why they are recommended for the elderly, children and pregnant or breast-feeding women.

Do these drugs interact with other medicinal products?
They do not interact with any drug, but the effectiveness of homeopathy is reduced by antihistamines and corticosteroids.

Rhinosinusitis responds well to homeopathy, especially acute cases which are mostly complications of acute rhinitis. The patient presents a nasal obstruction that yields a clear serous production that is transformed into increasingly denser mucopurulent rhinorrhea that may result in sinusitis.

The following are some of the most commonly used treatments:

Remedies for acute cases are symptomatic and are used for rhinitis and sinusitis as decongestives and mucolytics.

• Kalium bichromicum
• Kalium iodatum
• Hydrastis canadensis
• Sticta pulmonaria

Remedies that treat the underlying cause depend on the individual as a whole. The variation in emotional sensitivity is assessed, as are any mental symptoms, general subjective and objective symptoms and the modalities of rhythm, environment, position, etc. The treatment is thus personalised, and every patient must be studied.

• Pulsatilla
• Natrum muriaticum
• Thuya
• Hepar sulfur
• Silicea

Biotherapeutics are secretions or excretions (whether pathological or not), tissues or pathogenic organs on the basis of which the homeopathic medicinal product is prepared to heal the disease they provoke. They are used in chronic or recurring diseases

• Psorinum
• Tuberculinum
• Tuberculinum Aviaire
• Medorrhinum
• Pyrogenium

Symptomatic remedies:

Kalium bichromicum: For thick, viscous, yellow, yellow-greenish or bloody mucus that may form scabs that stick to the nasal fossae.
In acute sinusitis, 5 CH, 5 granules every 2 hours, favours rhinorrhea. Space out according to improvement.
In chronic sinusitis, 7 or 9 CH, 5 granules 2 times/day help to dry nasal production.

Kalium iodatum: For pain in the frontal sinuses. The rhinorrhea may be more or less abundant, but it is always burning.
5 CH, 5 granules every 2 hours. Space out according to improvement.

Hydrastis: For thick, rebellious, yellowish, viscose secretions, accompanied by fatigue and sometimes weight loss.
6X, 20 drops before lunch and dinner.

Sticta pulmonaria: For dry coryza, with pain at the base of the nose, which seems to be obstructed as there is no result when the nose is blown. Frontal headache.
5 CH, 5 granules every 2 hours. Space according to improvement.

Oscillococcinum: For prevention and for treatment of any flu or cold.
Treatment: Add one daily dose to the selected treatment.
Prevention: Take one dose weekly during the highest risk season.