Homeopathic Prophylaxis – The Nontoxic Immunisation Option

Cathy Lemmon BA, LCPH, CHP, MARH, Founder and President of Homeoprophylaxis: A Worldwide Choice for Disease Prevention (HPWWC), Texas U.S.A.

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Abstract

This article shares some of the background of Homeoprophylaxis ("HP"), records of its effectiveness, and means whereby it can be used in clinical practice. It explores the immunization option available through homeopathy. The inherently safe medicine of homeopathy has had an immunisation option available and in use for more than 200 years that, as records are showing, offers immunity about 90% of the time.

Immunisation - this has become the item of the hour.

It is never pleasant to get ill. The desire to avoid illness has been one that has been pursued since essentially recorded history.

Several things should be kept in mind, however, when it comes to disease prevention – or prophylaxis.

One of these is that illness is a very necessary part of educating the immune system. Basically, health must be recognized as not being the absence of illness – something cannot be accurately defined by a comparison to its opposite. Health is essentially a cycling process of getting sick, getting better, getting sick again, and getting better again. Record has also shown that, once health is regained after illness, the body has obtained means that are making it stronger¹.

Immunity is also a very broad and misunderstood topic. To begin a more complete understanding of this, it is important to realize what immunity and immunisation are.

Common – or "conventional" – medicine presents commonly that immunisation and another word, "vaccination", are the same thing. I will here present to you that it is not. Vaccination is simply a form of immunisation – which is a full-body response to disease exposure. Homeoprophylaxis is another form of this.

Dr. Samuel Hahnemann himself, the founder of homeopathy, should ever be recognized as the one who first realized the prophylactic use of homeopathic medicines. At the same time as Edward Jenner was experimenting with cowpox in England, in Germany Hahnemann learned of the prophylactic use of the homeopathic Belladonna in the prevention of scarlet fever. As recorded in his Lesser Writings², Hahnemann describes how an outbreak of scarlet fever was beginning in a nearby village. Scarlet Fever, at this time, would spread rapidly, often turning into epidemics. So Hahnemann's help was urgently requested. Upon beginning his work there, he noted that, in a certain family where a couple children were afflicted by the scarlet fever, another child, a young girl, was not. He noted this to be remarkable, as this same young girl had a reputation of being one of the first to come down with a disease when it hit this village.

He also noted that she was taking homeopathic belladonna for a certain skin affliction that she had.

Being the brilliant scientist he always was, Hahnemann wondered if there might be a connection with that remedy and her not succumbing to scarlet fever. So he administered this same remedy to her other siblings who had not yet come down with the scarlet fever – and they did not contract the illness.

He subsequently treated the entire village and stopped a potential epidemic.

Word of this quickly spread, and it was soon thereafter that the king of Bohemia, who nearly lost his son to the smallpox vaccination, required the use of homeopathically-prepared belladonna as a prophylactic against scarlet fever³.

Word of Hahnemann's work spread to many nations. Specifically, England took a particular note. And in the first issue of the British Journal of Homeopathy (1843), there is shared a record of subsequent trials of homeopathic belladonna for the prevention of scarlet fever by some 19 homeopaths, each of which had very positive results with its use. One of these gentlemen even reported a written conversation he had with Hahnemann himself, as he sought his direction for this. Their different posologies and approaches are all shared⁴.

The research continued from this point, as far as looking into the prophylactic use of homeopathic medicines. Hahnemann also notes in his Lesser Writings about an exploration into homeopathic prophylaxis for cholera⁵.

Dr. Raj K. Manchanda, the director general of AYUSH in Delhi, presents that homeopathy actually first became well-known because of the effective prophylactic use of its medicines, when used in epidemics⁶.

Pertinent to know today, as well, is the fact that homeopathy actually has shone out again and again through its history in its effective use during times of epidemic and pandemic⁷.

Significant of note here is the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1920. Many records confirm that the mortality rate in homeopathic hospitals was significant less than in any conventional hospital – right around 1.05%, compared to about 30% and more in conventional hospitals⁸.

I first learned about homeoprophylaxis more than twenty years ago, when researching into alternative forms of immunisation. In doing this, I came across the work of a gentleman who has become known internationally for his research into homeoprophylaxis. Dr. Isaac Golden, of Australia, actually received his Ph.D. in homoeoprophylaxis, and has done meticulous work documenting the use and effectiveness of HP.

He has been a keynote speaker for every one of the international conferences of organization I founded, Homeoprophylaxis: A Worldwide Choice for Disease Prevention (HPWWC). HPWWC is a nonprofit organization for the encouragement, education, and further use of homeoprophylaxis to educate the immune system. We have been presenting international conferences – in Dallas, Texas, USA; the Netherlands; and India – and supporting and promoting the use of HP on a local level, within individual countries.

And because of his invaluable research, I am pleased to be able to share that Dr. Golden is our major point of reference for an HP study we are embarking on here in the USA, which will eventually also include many other nations as well.

SOME DOCUMENTATION OF HOMEOPROPHYLAXIS

Homeoprophylaxis has actually been very well-documented. I will here share just a few key studies that have been done.

Figure 1 is of a couple of trials of homeoprophylaxis that took place in Brazil in 1974 and in 1998. This study was utilizing Meningococcinum prophylactically when known exposure to meningitis was present. The rate was so effective, as documented in the 1974 study, that this was repeated in 1998 – and for this they also did a 12-month follow-up, which further confirmed a lasting effectiveness of HP.

Figure 1 – Meningitis Homeoprophylaxis Studies – Brazil

What is becoming a very well-referenced study from Cuba in 2007 and 2008 confirmed that Homeoprophylaxis works very well preventatively against leptospirosis⁹.

In 2010 a study was released regarding a tremendous study done in Andra Pradesh of India lasting from 1998 – 2001 regarding a homeoprophylactic approach for Japanese Encephalitis (JE). Within three years of the implementation of an HP protocol, there were no further reported cases of JE in this area¹⁰.

Additionally, a 2011 study also done in Brazil showed, via a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, that the homeopathic Influenzinum worked effectively, showing that those who did not take this nosode were actually three times more likely to contract Influenzinum¹¹.

HOMEOPROPHYLAXIS AS SEEN TODAY

In 2015 I wrote a paper for Homeopathic Links referencing the use of HP worldwide. My research for this work showed that there was only one nation that actually had governmental recognition that there was more than one single option available for immunisation. This nation is India. While there has been international call for a nontoxic means of immunisation since the time of Hahnemann and Jenner¹², the fact that homeoprophylaxis is an option that has a long-standing record of effectiveness is still not widely known.

This is why Homeoprophylaxis: A Worldwide Choice for Disease Prevention (HPWWC) began doing international conferences.

This is also why HPWWC is doing an increasing amount of localized effort. I, personally, work with homeopaths around the world to help further establish both the knowledge and use of homeoprophylaxis. I have personally presented about HP throughout the US as well as several nations in Europe. While in India this last January, I was able to meet with many homeopaths there and even speak briefly with some students at JIMS Homeopathic Medical College. I was very pleased to learn that HP is being taught in many homeopathic universities in India.

Sadly, though, because vaccination is so widely presented, the promotion and even use of HP, at this time, still remains a controversial topic to practise, much less present about. It is seen by many, even within homeopathy, as simply being a "knee-jerk reaction" to the common immunisation practise done by conventional medicine, which is already known to be a multi-billion (US) dollar industry. Much can be and is being said about this particular topic in many forums, so it will not be explored here, except to say that, again, the call for the use of homeopathic medicines prophylactically has been made since Hahnemann's time.

Homeoprophylaxis is effective, and it works.

To quote from a few well-known persons from homeopathic history,

"Who can deny that the perfect prevention of infection . . . would offer infinite advantages over any mode of treatment, be it of the most incomparable kind soever?"

– Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, founder of Homeopathy, "Cure and Prevention of Scarlet Fever" (1801), from The Lesser Writings, pg. 377

"We must look to homoeopathy for our protection as well as for our cure. . . and these remedies . . . will enable you to prevent a large number of people from becoming sick."

– James Tyler Kent, Lectures on Homoeopathic Philosophy (compilation); © 1954; B. Jain, India)

"As the Law of Similars excels in the power to cure, it excels more forcibly and certainly in the art of disease prevention."

– Dr. A.H. Grimmer, 1949

UTILIZING HOMEOPROPHYLAXIS – SOME SPECIFICS

There are many different methods of HP in use today. I will address these generally here.

Please understand, as well, that the actual means of administration is something that varies. In some countries, administration must be done by the licensed medical professional. In other countries, administration can be done by the lay person. What is presented here will be done so with a focus on what is done and provided through HPWWC.

Additionally, studies are still consistently showing that, while no method of disease prevention will ever be 100%, the proper use of homeopathic prophylaxis is standing at about 90% effectiveness¹³.

Fundamentally speaking, there are two separate means of utilizing homeoprophylaxis – 1 – HP for long-term prophylactic use (e.g. for school children); and 2 – HP for short-term prophylactic use (e.g. for travel, for seasonal illnesses).

The actual use of homeopathic medicines that is required for each of these is different, and this is very important to understand clearly.

For short-term prophylaxis, the need for prevention is only "short term". Seasonal illnesses are only present during certain seasons of the year (the flu season, for example). And there are many countries with different climates where different diseases are present (such as malaria and yellow fever in many nations of Africa, dengue and chikungunya in many Asian countries). When traveling, the amount of time spent in a certain country, the time of year during which travel will be taken, and what disease/-s are specifically in and active – or not in and active –in the country/-ies must each be taken into consideration. To help people with HP in circumstances such as these is very doable. And, for this, the homeopath must take the individual case into account, following the homeopathic principle of individualization.Lower potency nosodes/remedies have proven to be very appropriate for use in this.

Long-term HP is approached differently, as long-term immunity is sought. This takes into consideration diseases more prevalent and commonly-occurring (or potentially doing this). Childhood immunisation programs and protocols are in place in many nations throughout the world. What HPWWC has begun doing to reach around the world is looking at the immunisation protocols in place and/or promoted in each country and working out a program from this. In the United States, HPWWC has taken what is currently recommended on the CDC's schedule and worked this down to, currently, focus on 8 diseases. We work to promote the fact that, again, health is not simply the absence of disease – and that immunity is a full-body experience, not simply the presence of antibodies/titers (which can be more thoroughly discussed at a later time).

The most effective approach for long-term immunisation through homeopathic means involves the use of lower-potency as well as higher potency remedies/nosodes, and this is done over a more extended period of time.

HPWWC has a specific protocol for long-term HP, this being easily adaptable for use in other nations.

THOUGHTS FOR RIGHT NOW

Lifetime immunity can only happen through the natural contraction of disease. Work is being done to conclude whether the energetic exposure to disease, as is offered through homeopathic prophylaxis ("HP") offers the same sort of benefits. However, because homeopathy has, from its very beginnings, been known to work with the body, it may well be so.

Some diseases, of course, are generally best if avoided. These include mononucleosis, which can kill within a short 24-hours after contraction. And even the mild pertussis can be very dangerous for the youngest infants and the elderly. So when the question is presented as to whether prevention of a disease should be sought, I generally leave this decision up to the individual.

In conclusion, I will present that there has long been a call for homeopathic prophylaxis. The time could not be better than now to become familiar with this and utilize this in practise. It is not to be in direct competition with any other form of immunisation. Rather, it is best for HP to be seen for the effective option it is, if immunisation is being sought. Patients should be presented the fact that they have more than one single option for immunisation, and be allowed and supported as they make this choice for themselves. Homeoprophylaxis has already withstood more than 200 years of usage and trial – this is evidence that stands for itself. Studies today are continuing to show its effectiveness to be at about 90%¹³.

The time is now to begin learning even more about homeoprophylaxis. Homeoprophylaxis is what the world is calling for in greater and greater volume. I will be happy to share more – and please contact me if you have further questions at this time. For now, though, please familiarize yourselves with this and be prepared to help make this a part of homeopathy that helps bring this form of medicine more solidly into public knowledge and use.

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