Marcus Zulian Teixeira NEW HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINES Use of modern drugs according to the principle of similitude Volume I Scientific Basis of the Principle of Similitude in Modern Pharmacology São Paulo Author’s Edition 2010 Copyright © 2010 Marcus Zulian Teixeira (editor) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the express permission of the editor. Legal deposit and Registration: 513962 (December 6, 2010) Copyright Office - Fundação Biblioteca Nacional (Avenida Rio Branco 219 - Rio de Janeiro/RJ - Brazil - 20040-008): http://www.bn.br/eda ISBN: 978-85-911526-5-0 (November 22, 2010) Brazilian Agency of ISBN - Fundação Biblioteca Nacional (Avenida Rio Branco 219 - Rio de Janeiro/RJ - Brazil - 20040-008): http://www.isbn.bn.br/ How to cite this work: Teixeira, Marcus Zulian. Scientific basis of the principle of similitude in modern pharmacology. In: ______. New homeopathic medicines: use of modern drugs according to the principle of similitude (Volume I). São Paulo: Marcus Zulian Teixeira, 2010, 377 p. Available at: https://pesquisa.bvsalud.org/portal/resource/pt/biblio-1147710 Prof. Dr. Marcus Zulian Teixeira http://www.homeozulian.med.br Lattes Curriculum(CNPQ) ii Scientific Basis of the Principle of Similitude in Modern Pharmacology SUMMARY Summary Introduction 06 Homeopathic method for the treatment of diseases 07 Rebound effect of modern drugs 13 Similitude in Homeopathy 16 Examples of homeopathic cures verified involuntarily by doctors of the Old School 17 Essay on a new principle for ascertain the curative powers of drugs 33 Principle of similitude 61 Homeopathic pathogenetic experimentation 79 Similitude in Pharmacology 93 Similitude in homeopathy 94 Conceptual comparisons between homeopathy and pharmacology 103 Scientific basis of similitude in pharmacology 106 Examples of similitude in modern pharmacology 109 Cardiovascular drugs 110 Neurological drugs, analgesic and anesthetic 139 Psychiatric drugs 162 Antiallergic and immunologic drugs 192 Hematologic drugs 206 Renal drugs 212 Gastrointestinal drugs 216 iv Pulmonary drugs 224 Ophthalmic drugs 229 Dermatological drugs 233 Gynecological and obstetric drugs 236 Rheumatic drugs 241 Use of the rebound effect in clinical therapy 243 Scientific Publications 247 Similitude in modern pharmacology 248 Evidence of the principle of similitude in modern fatal iatrogenic events 270 Anti-inflammatory, myocardial infarction, rebound effect and similitude 288 Bronchodilators, fatal asthma, rebound effect and similitude 292 Antidepressants, suicidality and rebound effect 298 Statins, vascular complications, rebound effect and similitude 315 Gastric acid suppressing drugs, rebound acid hypersecretion and similitude 331 Bibliography 350 v Scientific Basis of the Principle of Similitude in Modern Pharmacology INTRODUCTION Homeopathic method for the treatment of diseases Rebound effect of modern drugs Introduction Homeopathic method for the treatment of diseases1 In the systematization of the homeopathic method of treatment of diseases, Samuel Hahnemann makes four fundamental assumptions: principle of cure by similitude, proving of medicinal substances on healthy individuals, use of serially diluted and agitated medicines, and prescription of individualized medicines. To apply the principle of therapeutic similitude with previously tested substances, Hahnemann indicates to select the remedy that awakened the set of symptoms most similar to the ones exhibited by the patient (characteristic symptomatic totality) in order to stimulate the reaction of the organism against the natural disease. This principle might sound odd to modern ears, since it is the polar opposite for the enantiopathic method of treatment (principle of contraries) employed by conventional medicine for the immediate palliation of the symptoms of disease. All throughout the development of the homeopathic doctrine, Hahnemann kept a rational, scientific and experimental attitude, describing the phenomena awakened by drugs on human beings and seeking to correlate his clinical observations with the best evidence available in the contemporary medical-scientific literature. After his initial self-experimentation of Cinchona officinalis, Hahnemann sought for confirmation (strong arguments) through “analogy” and “enumeration”, by studying the clinical reports made by previous doctors. There he was able to find countless references that eventually led him to raise the principle of similitude to the level of a “natural law” and that also supported the use of inductive logic: for a substance to heal definite symptoms in ill human beings it must elicit similar symptoms in healthy experimental subjects. In the “Introduction” to Organon of homeopathic medicine,2 masterpiece of homeopathy, Hahnemann alludes to hundreds of homeopathic healings involuntarily made by doctors of the “Old School”, and thus grounds his initial observations on the principle of similarity on 247 bibliographic references: (i) “Murray, whom I selected from numerous other authorities, together with daily experience, informs us, that among the symptoms produced by the use of tobacco, those of vertigo, nausea, and anxiety, are the principal. Whereas Diemerbroeck when attacked with those very symptoms of vertigo, nausea, and anxiety, in the course of his close attendance on the victims of epidemic diseases in Holland, removed them by the use of the pipe”. 1 Teixeira MZ. O princípio homeopático de cura ao longo da história da medicina [The homeopathic principle of cure along the history of medicine]. Rev Homeopatia (São Paulo). 2007; 70 (1-4): 55-78. Available at: http://pesquisa.bvs.br/regional/resources/hom-7894. 2 Hahnemann S. Organon of homeopathic medicine. Third American edition. English version of the fifth German edition. New York: William Radde, 1849. 7 New Homeopathic Medicines: use of modern drugs according to the principle of similitude Scientific Basis of the Principle of Similitude in Modern Pharmacology © Marcus Zulian Teixeira Introduction (ii) “The hurtful effects which some writers (among others Georgi) ascribe to the use of the Agaricus muscarius, by the inhabitants of Kamtschatka, and which consist of tremors, convulsions, and epilepsy, became a salutary remedy in the hands of C. G. Whistling, who used this mushroom with success in cases of convulsions accompanied with tremor; likewise in those of J. C. Bernhardt, who used it with success in a species of epilepsy”. (iii) “[...] And whence could arise that curative power of arsenic which exhibits in certain species of intermittent fevers, (a virtue attested by so many thousands of examples, but in the practical application of which, sufficient precaution has not yet been observed, and which virtue was asserted centuries ago by Nicholas Myrepsus, and subsequently placed beyond a doubt by the testimony of Slevogt, Molitor, Jacobi, J. C. Bernhardt, Jiingken, Fauve, Brera, Darwin, May, Jackson, and Fowler), if it did not proceed from its peculiar faculty of excit ingfever, as almost every observer of the evils resulting from this substance has remarked, particularly Amatus Lusitanus, Degner, Buchholz, Heun, and Knape. We may confidently believe E. Alexander, when he tells us that arsenic is a sovereign remedy in some cases of angina pectoris, since Tachenius, Guilbert, Preussius, Thilenius, and Pyl, have seen it give rise to very strong oppression of the chest; Gresselius, to a dyspncea approaching even to suffocation; and Majault, in particular, saw it produce sudden attacks of asthma excited by walking, attended with great depression of the vital powers”. Hahnemann inaugurated homeopathy in 1796 with the publication of Essay on a new principle for ascertain the healing powers of drugs in Hufeland’s Journal (Journal der praktischen Arzneykunde)3,4 where he described the direct primary actions of drugs and the indirect secondary action of the organism (curative vital reaction) to them. Systematization of the pharmacological properties identified by Hahnemann in some examples results in the following descriptions: (i) Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). Direct primary action: decrease of the sensitivity of the external senses and diminution of intellectual abilities; deprives voluntary muscles from irritability and temporarily removes the influence of the power of the brain (for this reason it is used, according to the principle of contraries, in catalepsy and other disturbs with mental excitation, provoking temporary relief followed by worsening of the condition); the direct action lasts only a few hours. Indirect secondary action: improvement of mental weakness; tendency to epilepsy, hypochondriasis, and hysteria. (ii) Agaric (Agaricus muscarius). Direct primary action: furious and drunken-like mania (combined with revengeful and audacious determination, disposition to make verses, prophecies, etc.), exaltation of strength, tremors and seizures; direct action lasts between 12 and 16 hours. Indirect secondary action: successfully used in epilepsy (caused by fear) combined with tremor; it heals mental affections and possession similar to those it causes. 3 Hahnemann S. Essay on a new principle for ascertaining the curative power of drugs, and some examinations of the previous principles. Journal der praktischen Arzneykunde. 1796; 2: 391. 4 Hahnemann S. Essay on a new principle for ascertaining the curative power of drugs, with a few glances at those hitherto employed. In: Dudgeon RE. The lesser writings of Samuel Hahnemann.