Homeopathy: Toxic or Curative?

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).

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 10^th 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.

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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.