web analytics

Homeopathy: Toxic or Curative?

Joette Calabrese, HMC, PHom M

September 14th, 2014  |  13 Comments

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Ask Joette

Question: “Would you be able to speak to the concern about Belladonna and seizures? I successfully used it to fend off mastitis and later saw that a teething remedy with Belladonna as a main ingredient was pulled from the market because of a connection to seizures in children. Ever since, I have been a little nervous about homeopathy but not enough to send me to antibiotics!”

Answer: Hyland’s teething tablets were temporarily taken off the market a couple of years ago not because they had Belladonna in them and Belladonna can cause seizures but because the potency of the Belladonna in the product was not consistent from batch to batch. It was not a safety issue but one of labeling.

Hyland’s was founded in Los Angeles in 1903 by eight physicians. I have a particular fondness for this company because it is an example of good American business practices. Their teething tablets came out on the market around 1925 and have been a hit ever since. I used them myself when my children (now adults) were babies.

The concern about seizures is obviously unwarranted or the FDA would not allow homeopathic Belladonna 6, 12, 30, 200 or any product with Belladonna in it to be allowed on the market at all.

The problem lies in the reporting of the case. Reporters and the general public are sadly unfamiliar with homeopathy which creates confusion with their reporting.

A little clarification is in order. Homeopathy does NOT mean home remedies or natural remedies such as vitamins, supplements or old-fashioned kitchen remedies.

Instead, homeopathy is a medical paradigm that was established more than 200 years ago using a specific pharmacological method.

It utilizes a special method of dilution that allows substances that would be toxic to become not only non-toxic but, more importantly, curative.

Did you get that part? This is what homeopathy is and why it is so important. I’ll say it again because it’s a concept that is often misunderstood and ignored.

Homeopathy takes something that is toxic and makes it into a curative medicine, and this is done by a pharmacological process called potentization. This means dilution to a minuscule amount.

Let’s use Belladonna as an example. In its gross form as a plant, if eaten, it could indeed cause seizures, severe pain, redness, great heat, such as in very high fever, and shininess of the afflicted body part and, of course, much more as it is indeed a poisonous plant.

But as you learned in using it for mastitis, it cured your pain, redness, heat and shininess of the breast.

This method is based on the natural law of “like cures like.” This means that what causes illness in the gross form (as in the actual plant) will remove it once potentized, or diluted (as in the homeopathic medicine).

Let’s use another example. Rhus tox 12C or X, 30C or X or 200C or X is a grand remedy for arthritis, chicken pox and restlessness. It is homeopathically derived from poison ivy.

Would you eat poison ivy? Of course not! But if you did, it would cause horrible reactions, and if the media misunderstood, they would report “Rhus tox 12X causes pustules and anaphylaxis,” when indeed, in homeopathic formulation, with its intelligent dilution process, it does exactly the opposite…it cures those symptoms.

So you can safely use Rhus tox 12X for the pustules, itching and restlessness of chicken pox and never be concerned that it will cause these symptoms.

This distinguishes homeopathy from other medicines.

Take a look at any label on a homeopathic bottle. There is a number and letter after the ingredient. This number and letter tell you the potency of the remedy (or how much it has been diluted).

Hyland's Belladonna

For example, Hyland's Homeopathic Teething Tablets contained Belladonna 12X. This indicates that the Belladonna has been diluted a lot. How much? It’s been diluted 12 times to the 10th power. Twelve is the number of times it was diluted, and as you may recall from high school math, X represents 10.

For further explanation, here is how Hyland’s states it:

“To put the calculated amount of Belladonna in a Hyland's Baby Teething Tablet into perspective, the 0.0000000000002 mg of Belladonna alkaloids is THOUSANDS OF TIMES below even the therapeutic amounts of Belladonna used in conventional anti-spasmodic medicines that doctors sometimes prescribe (0.2 to 5 milligrams of Belladonna alkaloids).”

When the media reported on the recall of Hyland’s Teething Tablets, instead of understanding that the labeling was the contention, the reporters took off with what made a much more intriguing story: that Belladonna causes seizures. If you didn’t know that there’s no chance of that because of the potentization process, you might be frightened away.

Makes for a more interesting story, wouldn’t you agree? But it was indeed not the concern of the FDA … only the hype of media.

Hyland's Baby Teething Tablets were re-introduced with a new formula in July 2011. Parents continue to safely use these homeopathic tablets with young children to soothe pain and ease the irritability associated with teething.

And many others have found homeopathic Belladonna 12X to be most helpful for a variety of problems, as evidenced by your experience with mastitis, and, of course, by the millions who have counted on Hyland’s teething tablets.

More information about the recall and Hyland’s response can be found at http://www.hylands.com/news/hylands-teething-recall.php.

The Difference Between Homeopathic and Conventional Medicine

The foundation upon which homeopathy rests is that the substance from which it is made will cause a set of symptoms that when harnessed by diluting the substance to a great degree will actually remove the suffering of those same symptoms.

Conventional drugs, on the other hand, tender a product that still carries all of the original toxic characteristics. They call them side effects.

I call them the effect.

And they often don’t cure. Instead, they kill microorganisms or cover up symptoms while in the wake can cause a good deal of other suffering in the end.

Interestingly, pharmaceuticals don’t even try to minimize, let alone eliminate the poisonous aspect of their products. Instead, they sell them with a warning that this or that could occur. In fact, in many cases, their commercials are burdened with caveats and warnings.

There are no such lists of side effects with homeopathy pills.

Everything in life is a matter of degrees. In the case of homeopathy, the pharmacological procedure of dilution minimizing the impact is taken to an extreme degree to ensure the safety of the medicines.

It’s the only medicine that takes this commitment to such great lengths.

____________________________________________________

My Homeo-tip: Not one for leaving you without a useful tip from my practice, let me build on what Hyland’s product offers.

If you find that Hyland’s Teething Tablets help your child, but the pain of teething seems to still break through repeatedly, you might want to do what I did with my babies years ago.

If the child is irritable, Chamomilla 200C or X twice daily for a few days often completes the work.

When using combination remedies that can be purchased at Walmart, Whole Foods and other large and small grocery stores, follow the directions on the bottle.

When using single remedies or remedies in a kit, learn as much as you can, so you can cure your family yourself.

And if my message of self-healing intrigues you, consider looking at my online courses, 

Good Gut Bad Gut; A Homeopathic Strategy to Uproot Seemingly Unrelated Illness in Body and Mind

Now stay home and cure your family. And then pass on the good word to other families.

 

I am a homeopath with a worldwide practice working with families and individuals via Zoom. I'm also a teacher and most importantly, a mom who raised my now-adult children depending on homeopathy over the last 31 years. I lived decades of my life with food intolerances, allergies, and chemical sensitivities until I was cured with homeopathy, so I understand pain, anxiety, and suffering. You may feel that your issues are more severe or different than anyone else’s, but I have seen it all in my practice and in my work in India. My opinion is that nothing has come close to the reproducible, safe and effective results that my clients, students and I have achieved with homeopathy.

Call today and learn how homeopathy might just be the missing piece in your health strategy.


Joette is not a physician and the relationship between Joette and her clients is not of prescriber and patient, but as educator and client. It is fully the client's choice whether or not to take advantage of the information Joette presents. Homeopathy doesn't "treat" an illness; it addresses the entire person as a matter of wholeness that is an educational process, not a medical one. Joette believes that the advice and diagnosis of a physician is often in order.


We've provided links for your convenience but we do not receive any remuneration nor affiliation in payment from your purchase.


The Author disclaims all liability for any loss or risk, personal or otherwise incurred as a consequence of use of any material in this article. This information is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.



 

13 thoughts on “Homeopathy: Toxic or Curative?”

  1. megan says:

    AWESOME. right on time. 2yr old cutting last molar and is very upset for 2 nights now. Will check to see if it came thru last night. if not will do the 2 times a day thing. stead of up every few hrs for more 30c so we can sleep.
    Thanks for the sleep!!!!!!!

  2. Chuck says:

    My sister got me into all this homeopathy stuff a couple years ago. She has used it for over 15 years and thinks it is very safe to use. She does a lot of studying on the computer so I trust her. And Joette of course!

  3. Jill C says:

    Yus! My favorite is when modern medicine decries homeopathy as something that could not possibly work, because it is so dilute. Then gets their panties in a bunch because homeopathy has toxic stuff in it.
    Well, which is it?

  4. Dorothy Romanczuk says:

    So, as to the potency, is 12x, 30, 200x, 1M weak to strong or the opposite? And, what dosage would you start for allergic runny nose?

    1. Joette Calabrese, HMC, CCH, RSHom(Na) says:

      12x is the least potent and 200x is more potent. For an allergic runny nose, without know which remedy you’ll be using, I couldn’t say. but many times a 6x or 12x will work.

    2. Anke says:

      By the same token, while 200x is the more powerful remedy, it is also the more dilute – tricky, but that’s the way homeopathy works 😉

  5. JC says:

    Joette this is a good explanation and I would go further with nitro glycerine which is used in the medical field today for heart pain and is a homeopathic! Few people recognize it as such because they just need the product for a medical issue.

    Then there is snake bite venom. We know of several brave people, some dead and some still goin at it to collect snake venom. It is not always safe to receive snake venom to block or combat a venemous bite, but you know you need help or in some cases you will die. Hello Crotalus Horr, or Platain or…the safer route is my choice with homeopathy. I know how it has blessed my world for so many, my five children, grandchildren, a down cow, myself innumerable times. The down cow was on her way to being buried if we could not get her up and homeopathy and lots of prayer got this cow up in short order. It shocked all who were helping, including the vet who knew nothing of homeopathy.

    Get educated, save money and be well

  6. Rose says:

    Thank you.

  7. Joe says:

    This may not be something you can answer here. I assume it is best to find the single remedy or exact combination of a couple of remedies to heal your problem, but is is still safe to use a combination remedy such as King’s Anxiety and Nervousness remedy which has a combintation of all of the different anxiety/nervousness remedies. I assume it’s like throwing out a big net and some of the remedies will work but some are not doing anything. I’m just curious if those unneeded remedies are actually doing harm. I think I have heard you recomend Hyland and Borion combo remedies. Not sure if you like only hylands and Borion or if others are safe too.
    I’m going through the gateway class, but still trying to put all the pieces together
    Thanks!

    1. Joette Calabrese, HMC, CCH, RSHom(Na) says:

      I don’t know what King’s Anxiety is so I can’t comment, but I trust Boiron and Hyland’s. They should be used for acutes, not daily for many months for a chronic condition.

  8. Steve says:

    Hi Joette, my wife and I have been through one of your courses and really appreciate all of your insight and passion around homeopathy. We’ve been using it for years now. I could use your input on a situation that happened yesterday at work, though. A co-worker was commenting about his baby’s teething problems, and I recommended using Teething Tablets (that’s what we did for our son and they were effective). Well, he did a search online and the first thing that came up was “Hyland’s Teething Tablet Recall” (https://www.hylands.com/faq-about-discontinuation-teething-tablets-and-gel). I was pretty embarrassed. Sure enough, after checking the dates (your article was written in Sept 2014), Hyland’s officially discontinued use of their products oin April 2017: Hyland’s Baby Teething Tablets, Hyland’s Baby Teething Tablets Nighttime, and Hyland’s Baby Teething Gel. With another baby on the way ourselves, I’m left wondering: What should we do? What happened? Do you have an update for this article? A CNN article had these excerpts: “The FDA concluded that the products have mislabeled the amounts of belladonna alkaloids they contain…after finding that the products contain varying amounts of belladonna…concerns with the product’s manufacturing process and…production, packaging and testing protocols.”(http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/14/health/hylands-teething-tablet-fda-recall-bn/). Thanks, Joette, for any insights you can help us with here.

    1. Joette Calabrese, HMC, CCH, RSHom(Na) says:

      Here is the statement from Ronald D. Whitmont, MD, president of the American Institute of Homeopathy: “The FDA’s actions in this matter appear to constitute a gross dereliction of duty. Premature warnings without even rudimentary scientific inquiry suggests prejudicial intent. The FDA, whose mission statement is to protect public health by assuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs, has erred, and their actions might be interpreted as an attempt to railroad homeopathy out of the public marketplace, which they were successful in doing with respect to homeopathic teething products. (17) Of course, this scenario will not surprise most people who have been paying attention lately, but allowing these messages to remain unchallenged is unconscionable.”

      For his full statement and a breakdown of the cases sited go to http://homeopathyusa.org/journal/ajhm-journal/ajhm-issues-2017/president-s-letter.html

      For the record, Hyland’s teething tablets were a mainstay of raising my now adult children. Nothing of significance has changed in their formula.

      Beware of news on homeopathy, especially Wikipedia.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow Joette


Categories

Books & CDs

Joette’s Materia Medica

I designed it especially to provide a framework to guide you through your remedy choices. It is perfect for busy mothers and others who love curing their families themselves.

Protect Yourself from the Flu

Deal with the flu without drugs and expensive commercial products.

Combo Pack: Top 7 Products

Go from clueless to clued-in…in the fastest way possible.

Cell Salts: Learn Homeopathy at Home

The easiest, safest and most inexpensive way to treat your whole family.

Homeopathy in First Aid

Learn to choose the correct homeopathic remedy to give on the way to the emergency room or better yet,
avoid the trip altogether.

Cure Yourself and Your Family with Homeopathy

Homeopathy is inexpensive, non-invasive and profoundly curative.

Secret Spoonfuls: Confessions of a Sneaky Mom with Kid Pleasing Recipes – CD & Booklet

Boost and maintain optimum health with simple foods, instead of vitamin pills.

See More Products