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What Are Homeopathic Remedies?
Homeopathic remedies are at the center of homeopathic treatment and are prescribed to cause symptoms that may in turn cause the body to heal. Though remedies may be sold in powder, cream, and liquid form, they are most commonly found as pills.
What do Homeopathic Remedies Contain?
Homeopathic remedies are made from substances found naturally in the following:
- Animals: Remedies often contain animal-based substances, such as cuttlefish ink, oyster shells, and bee venom.
- Plants: Common plants used in remedies include dandelion, plantain, chamomile, marigold, and daisy.
- Minerals: Minerals used in remedies include iron phosphate, sodium chloride, and sulfur.
Toxins and Chemicals
A common misconception about homeopathy is that the remedies themselves contain toxins. This mistake is understandable, as labels on some homeopathic remedies do show ingredients, such as hemlock, that are in fact toxic at higher concentrations. Because of the rigorous diluting process used in preparing homeopathic remedies, however, there is only a tiny, nondangerous amount—or often no amount at all—of the toxin left in the finished remedy. Some of the normally toxic substances found in homeopathic remedies include:
- Mercury
- Arsenic
- Hemlock
- Snake venom
- Belladonna (also known as deadly nightshade)
In addition, chemical drugs such as penicillin, quinine, and streptomycin may be made into homeopathic remedies, though again the diluting process reduces these amounts.
Alcohol
Alcohol is a basic ingredient in many homeopathic remedies because it may be used as the diluting liquid in the succession process (see below). In conventional medicine, drugs must contain less than 10% alcohol, and that figure must be even lower in drugs for children. But because of how homeopathic remedies are made, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has, for the time being, waived any sort of rule limiting alcohol content. This may change in the future, because the FDA is still reviewing how necessary alcohol is to homeopathic remedies.
How Are Homeopathic Remedies Made?
In a prepared homeopathic remedy, few if any molecules of the active ingredients remain. This is because remedies are diluted in a series of steps in a process called succession:
- The appropriate amount of a substance is added to a dilution liquid (usually water or alcohol).
- The mixture is shaken vigorously.
- The diluted liquid itself is then diluted again and shaken again, diluted again, and so on for the number of suc-cessions called for in a particular remedy’s recipe.
The principles of homeopathy maintain that a substance’s power increases with each succession because the ingre-dient is more fully extracted with each round of shaking and diluting.
Safety Measures
Even though the succession process eliminates the possibility of being poisoned by a homeopathic remedy, there have been cases of ill effects reported to the FDA. The agency has investigated claims as they have come up but has always concluded that it wasn’t possible for the illness to have been caused by a homeopathic remedy.
Even so, there are several important precautions to be mindful of when you’re undergoing homeopathic care:
- Dilution of remedy: Make sure the homeopathic practitioner with whom you’re working has prepared a remedy with a high dilution, especially if the ingredient used is toxic in larger doses.
- Feeling symptoms: You may feel worse before you feel better, so keep this in mind if you have a particularly busy or demanding job or home life.
- Alcohol content: There have been no reports of dangerous effects due to the higher alcohol content of remedies, since an individual dose may be only a drop of liquid. Still, if alcohol is a concern to you for other reasons, inform your practitioner.
- Animal-based substances: Vegetarians and vegans should be aware that some homeopathic remedies are made from animal-based substances.
- Dosage: More doesn’t equal better, so never take more than the recommended dose of a remedy in the hopes that doing so will speed your healing process.
- Pregnancy: If you are a woman who is pregnant or nursing, be sure to tell this to your practitioner.
Regulation of Homeopathy
Though the FDA began regulating homeopathy in the late 1930s, it doesn’t subject homeopathic remedies to the same restrictions as conventional medicine. Most remedies don’t need FDA approval, since they contain little or none of the stated active ingredient and therefore are not seen as posing much of a threat.
Homeopathic remedies are not entirely without regulation, however. Though remedies for mild ailments such as headaches can be sold over the counter, remedies that claim to treat chronic or life-threatening diseases must be bought with a prescription. Additionally, the FDA watches to make sure that remedies don’t contain certain ingredients, such as vitamins or nonhomeopathic plants. Homeopathic remedies must also be packaged in the same way that conventional medicines are: in a tamper-resistant container with a label specifying:
- The ailment that the remedy purports to treat
- The remedy’s ingredients
- Instructions for safe use
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