Homeopathy & theory in practice
Fever
The whole system of homoeopathy is based mainly upon the principle that overcoming disease is accomplished by drugs capable of producing, in a healthy individual, similar symptoms to those of the disease to be treated.1
This is the therapeutic similitude principle aka like with like.
Established theoretical concepts are fundamental to individualised homeopathy, which as a science is evolving its understanding of health and disease.
A much more recent theoretical construct introduced to homeopathy in 2010 is The ‘‘continuum’’ of a unified theory of diseases which proposes that:
a return of acute inflammatory states with high fever is a predictor of improvement in chronic diseases during individualised homoeopathy treatment.2
This year (2024) saw the publication of Association between Acute and Chronic Inflammatory States: A Case- Control Study3 which retrospectively sampled forty reports of diagnosed chronic inflammatory conditions with at least six months of follow-ups from worldwide homoeopathic medical practices, finding:
‘the chronic inflammatory disease patients were able to put up acute inflammatory response with fever only around the time they showed clinical improvement in their chronic condition. The cases that did not improve rarely showed any acute inflammatory response with fever.’
To know established theory provides understanding and expectation of outcomes !
‘In contrast to frequent claims, the available MAs of homoeopathy in placebo-controlled randomised trials for any indication show significant positive effects beyond placebo. Compared to other medical interventions, the quality of evidence for efficacy of homoeopathy was similar or higher than for 90% of interventions across medicine.4 Accordingly, the efficacy evidence from placebo-controlled randomised trials provides no justification for regulatory or political actions against homoeopathy in health-care systems.’5
International Academy of Classical Homeopathy. Homeopathy article from the Encyclopedia Papyros-Larousse-Britannica. [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2024 Apr 10]. Available from: https://www.vithoulkas.com/research/scientific-papers/ homeopathy-article-encyclopedia-papyros-larousse-britannica
Vithoulkas, G and Carlino, S. 2010. The “continuum” of a unified theory of diseases. Medical Science Monitor [online]. 16(2): SR7-15. Available from: https://medscimonit.com/abstract/index/idArt/878341
Mahesh et al., 2024. Association between Acute and Chronic Inflammatory States: A Case-Control Study. Homeopathy. Feb 9. Available from: https://www. thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0043-1777119
Howick et al., 2022. Most healthcare interventions tested in Cochrane Reviews are not effective according to high quality evidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Clin Epidemiol. Aug;148:160-169. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35447356/
Hamre et al., 2023. Efficacy of homoeopathic treatment: Systematic review of meta-analyses of randomised placebo-controlled homoeopathy trials for any indication. Systematic Rev. Oct 7;12(1):191. https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-023-02313-2#Abs1