Homeopathic Remedies: Sources, Examples & Provings

by Heidi Stevenson

Homeopathic remedies come from a wide range of materials. They may be made from plant, mineral, or animal sources. The selection of the first ones, tested by Samuel Hahnemann, was based on his extensive knowledge of chemistry and botany. Thus, they were predominantly made from plants and minerals, with a smattering from animals, such as Amgra grisea, which comes from the intestines of whales.

Since Hahnemann's time, homeopaths have not stopped finding, testing, and adding remedies to the Materia Medica. At this time, there are well over 3,000, and the number is increasing more rapidly now than ever before.

Much information on remedies comes from historical knowledge of their effects, medical records of poisonings, toxicology, and from a history of their use homeopathically. However, before being included in the Materia Medicas, remedies go through a process of testing to see what properties they contain. Hahnemann's native language was German, so he used the term prufen, which means to test in German, to describe the process. In English, it sounds much like proving, so that's the term used for the testing process.

Provings

The method for doing provings was outlined by Hahnemann. Several people, preferably ones who are good observers of themselves and relatively healthy, taking a substance and then record what symptoms develop. All alterations from normal, including physical symptoms, mood, emotions, dreams, anything that the prover thinks might be a result of the remedy, or anything outside the ordinary.

Nowadays, provings are often done blind. That is, the person who organizes the proving is the only one involved who knows what substance is being tested. This prevents assumptions coloring the results. Generally, there are also supervisors who are responsible for the welfare of the provers and for collecting their notes. Lengths of provings vary, largely dependent on how long symptoms crop up and how much time can be put into it. Most, though, last several weeks, and some can go on for years.

The person who organized the proving takes the notes and then goes about the usually immense task of organizing them, identifying what symptoms should be considered significant, and what themes have arisen.

Ultimately, of course, cured cases are the arbiter of a proving's accuracy. Nonetheless, provings are the foundation for any remedy's inclusion into the homeopathic materia medica.

Remedy Sources

Most homeopathic remedies come from substances that can do harm, that are poisonous. Of course, they are in a greatly attenuated form that cannot harm. Thus, as documented below with Arsenicum album—a poisonous mineral, Naja tripudians—a snake poison, and Digitalis—the poisonous plant foxglove, it's often easy to comprehend why many substances have been developed into remedies.

There are many remedies that are more subtle. One of homeopathy's most commonly used ones is Natrum muriaticum, which is common salt. Obviously, it takes a lot of salt to be poisonous, and it is absolutely necessary for life. However, in excess, especially over a long period of time, salt can do great harm.

Remedy Examples

Arsenicum album

In its unpotentized state, Arsenicum album, commonly called arsenic, like many homeopathic remedies, is a deadly poison. It causes organ death, neurological damage, and when ingested over a long time period is known to produce neurotic behavior.

Because it was in many of the cosmetics used by wealthy women in the 19th century, perhaps the high-strung neurotic behavior attributed to women of the Victorian era was the result of chronic arsenic poisoning. It is now well known as a homeopathic remedy for high-strung people—the sort of person who is beyond meticulous, who is obsessed with order and tidiness. Panic attacks, fear of death, and restlessness are all characteristic of the Arsenicum patient.

Arsenic's ability to poison virtually all organs is reflected by Arsenicum's ability to resolve a host of symptoms, such as liver damage, conditions that produce profuse and foul discharges, gastrointestinal disorders, and enlarged spleens. Just as arsenic deranges the gastrointestinal system, Arsenicum can be used to treat eating disorders.

Naja tripudians

The poison from Naja tripudians, a species of cobra, is made into a homeopathic remedy. The poison is a neurotoxin, which can paralyze the medulla, the part of the brain involved with autonomic functions. As with other homeopathic remedies, the effects of a substance in gross quantities are the things that the potentized form can resolve.

Loss of strength and control over bodily functions, such as the bladder sphincter, are hallmarks that Naja has been known to cure. Just s the snake's poison causes rapid putrefaction of tissues, turning body parts septic and blue, the application of potentized Naja can resolve septic conditions. Poison of this cobra can result in blurred speech, speechlessness, and ultimately fading into insensibility. The patient who doesn't speak or has retreated into unconsciousness and has physicial symptoms may respond to Naja.

Digitalis

The lovely foxglove plant is a deadly poison, resulting in gastrointestinal upset and, most notably, heart and circulation problems. It slows the heart, which is why, in allopathic medicine, it's used whe the heart palpitates, beats abnormally fast. In homeopathy, though, Digitalis is used to treat heart that is struggling to keep up, with the symptoms that are frequently associated with that, such as labored breathing.

Cyanosis, turning blue, occurs when a patient's circulation is unable to get adequate oxygen to tissues. This is a keynote for use of Digitalis. Heart patients who are fearful and anxious about the future are likely candidates for Digitalis.

Remedy Selection

These are only three of more than 3,000 homeopathic remedies, and are discussed in very little detail. Each has a long history of homeopathic use with an enormous body of information gleaned from it. Details of their use can run to dozens of pages. The homeopathist's task is to compare the patient's symptoms—physical, mental, and emotional—with symptoms elicited by the substance from which a remedy is made. If the correct remedy is found from among the huge number of options, and an appropriate potency is used, the results can be stunning.