Immunology and Homeopathy. 5. The Rationale of the ‘Simile’

Abstract

The foundation of homeopathic medicine is the ‘Similia Principle’, also known as the ‘Principle of Similarity’ or also as the ‘Simile’, which reflects the inversion of pharmacological effects in healthy subjects as compared with sick ones. This article describes the inversion of effects, a widespread medical phenomenon, through three possible mechanisms: non-linearity of dose–response relationship, different initial pathophysiological states of the organism, and pharmacodynamics of body response to the medicine. Based on the systemic networks which play an important role in response to stress, a unitary and general model is designed: homeopathic medicines could interact with sensitive (primed) regulation systems through complex information, which simulate the disorders of natural disease. Reorganization of regulation systems, through a coherent response to the medicine, could pave the way to the healing of the cellular, tissue and neuro-immuno-endocrine homeodynamics. Preliminary evidence is suggesting that even ultra-low doses and high-dilutions of drugs may incorporate structural or frequency information and interact with chaotic dynamics and physical-electromagnetic levels of regulation. From the clinical standpoint, the ‘simile’ can be regarded as a heuristic principle, according to which the detailed knowledge of pathogenic effects of drugs, associated with careful analysis of signs and symptoms of the ill subject, could assist in identifying homeopathic remedies with high grade of specificity for the individual case.

Nonlinear Response Amplification Mechanisms for Low Doses of Natural Product Nanomedicines: Dynamical Interactions with the Recipient Complex Adaptive System

“…Homeopathic medicines have enjoyed widespread use in treatment of acute and chronic conditions, including infections [15,64,154] and cancers [20,109,172]. During over more than two centuries of real-world use, millions of people in many different countries have reported excellent safety, tolerability, and clinical benefits from these natural product-based nanomedicines [58,154].…”

“…The magnitude of those effects is nonlinear, i.e., it can be disportionately larger than the magnitude of the original stimulus [62][63][64]. As in any complex system, such effects occur distant in time and space from the original interface with NPs [95].…”

“…Low dose stimulation of biological adaptation networks provides an explanatory mechanism for why sublingual, olfactory or even topical administration can produce far-reaching changes in biological networks [62][63][64]. Homeopathic medicines have traditionally been administered sublingually.…”

“…Individual differences among organisms lead to divergent outcomes upon interaction with NPs [51]. Living systems such as human beings, animals, and plants are Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) [62][63][64]75]. A CAS is a system or indivisible collection of multiple interconnected, interdependent, interactive parts embedded within a larger environment.…”

“…The treatment goal is to stimulate endogenous plasticity via self-amplifying functional networked changes across the organism as a whole, rather than to suppress expression of specific symptoms [59,60]. If they occur, the majority of "side effects" in homeopathy are early transient worsening of pre-existing symptoms, prior to evolution of improvements [1,61].Low dose stimulation of biological adaptation networks provides an explanatory mechanism for why sublingual, olfactory or even topical administration can produce far-reaching changes in biological networks [62][63][64]. Homeopathic medicines have traditionally been administered sublingually.…”