Arsenicum album

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In homeopathy, arsenicum album (Arsenic. alb.) is a solution prepared by diluting aqueous arsenic trioxide generally until there is little amounts of Arsenic remaining in individual doses. It is used by homeopaths to treat a range of symptoms that include digestive disorders and, as an application of the Law of Similars, has been suggested by homeopathy as a treatment for arsenic poisoning. [1] Since the arsenic oxide in a homeopathic preparation is normally non-existent, it is considered generally safe, although cases of arsenic poisoning from poorly prepared homeopathic treatments sold in India have been reported. [2] When properly prepared, however, the extreme dilutions, typically to at least 1 in 1024, or 12C in homeopathic notation, mean that a pill would not contain even a molecule of the original arsenic used. [3] While Anisur Khuda-Bukhsh's unblinded studies have claimed an effect on reducing arsenic toxicity, they do not recommend its large-scale use, [4] [5] and studies of homeopathic remedies have been shown to generally have problems that prevent them from being considered unambiguous evidence. [6] [7] [8] There is no known mechanism for how arsenicum album could remove arsenic from a body, and there is insufficient evidence for it to be considered effective medicine (for any condition) by the scientific community.

Contents

Use in homeopathy

Arsenicum album is one of the fifteen most important recommendations in homeopathy. In classical homeopathy, people are sometimes assigned a constitutional type, named after the homeopathic remedy applied, partly on the idea that people with similar physical or mental characteristics who suffer from similar symptoms can be treated effectively with their constitutional remedy. [9] "Arsen. alb." types are "tense, restless ambitious individuals" with a tendency toward hypochondriasis, pessimism, need for reassurance, and a meticulous attention to neatness and detail. [1]

For homeopathic use, arsenicum album is prepared by separating arsenic from iron (as in arsenopyrite), cobalt, or nickel by baking at high temperatures. The powder is then ground and diluted with lactose. In the final dilution, statistically most pills will contain zero molecules of the original arsenic used; some might contain a single molecule. The final product is sold as tinctures (liquid), tablets, pellets, or powder.

Key homeopathic uses include attempting to treat anxiety and "fear caused by insecurity", digestive disorders and mucosal inflammation, and ailments characterized symptomatically by burning pain. It was also used once for treatment of syphilis. [1] Without treatment, syphilis can severely damage its patient's heart, brain or other organs, and can be life-threatening. Syphilis can also be passed from mothers to unborn children. [10]

Research studies

Several studies have been done into Arsenicum album; however, homeopathic studies are known to have problems, such as evidence of bias, lack of rigour, and failure to blind the experimenters or subjects to which group is being analyzed that prevent them from being considered definitive evidence for any effect. [6] [7] [11] In addition, the ideas behind homeopathy are scientifically implausible and directly opposed to fundamental principles of natural science and modern medicine, which means that poorly conducted, small, or unblinded studies are not considered scientific proof of efficacy. [3] [12] [13]

Related Research Articles

Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method to test plausible therapies by way of responsible and ethical clinical trials, producing repeatable evidence of either effect or of no effect, alternative therapies reside outside of medical science and do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural "energies", pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources. Frequently used terms for relevant practices are New Age medicine, pseudo-medicine, unorthodox medicine, holistic medicine, fringe medicine, and unconventional medicine, with little distinction from quackery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homeopathy</span> Pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine

Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a disease in healthy people can cure similar symptoms in sick people; this doctrine is called similia similibus curentur, or "like cures like". Homeopathic preparations are termed remedies and are made using homeopathic dilution. In this process, the selected substance is repeatedly diluted until the final product is chemically indistinguishable from the diluent. Often not even a single molecule of the original substance can be expected to remain in the product. Between each dilution homeopaths may hit and/or shake the product, claiming this makes the diluent remember the original substance after its removal. Practitioners claim that such preparations, upon oral intake, can treat or cure disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Placebo</span> Substance or treatment of no therapeutic value

A placebo is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets, inert injections, sham surgery, and other procedures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bach flower remedies</span> Solutions of brandy and water used as a homeopathic remedy

Bach flower remedies (BFRs) are solutions of brandy and water—the water containing extreme dilutions of flower material developed by Edward Bach, an English homeopath, in the 1930s. Bach claimed that the dew found on flower petals retains the supposed healing properties of that plant. Systematic reviews of clinical trials of Bach flower solutions have found no efficacy beyond that of a placebo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quackery</span> Promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices

Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, qualification or credentials they do not possess; a charlatan or snake oil salesman". The term quack is a clipped form of the archaic term quacksalver, from Dutch: kwakzalver a "hawker of salve". In the Middle Ages the term quack meant "shouting". The quacksalvers sold their wares at markets by shouting to gain attention.

In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expectations, observer's effect on the participants, observer bias, confirmation bias, and other sources. A blind can be imposed on any participant of an experiment, including subjects, researchers, technicians, data analysts, and evaluators. In some cases, while blinding would be useful, it is impossible or unethical. For example, it is not possible to blind a patient to their treatment in a physical therapy intervention. A good clinical protocol ensures that blinding is as effective as possible within ethical and practical constraints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chelation therapy</span> Medical procedure to remove heavy metals from the body

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The British Homeopathic Association (BHA) is a British charity founded in 1902 by John Epps to promote the pseudoscience homeopathy and advocate for its training and research. The BHA was re-branded in 2021 to Homeopathy UK. It seeks to encourage the use of homeopathy within general and specialist healthcare, and provides a listing of homeopathic practitioners. From 1902, the BHA co-sponsored the Missionary School of Medicine, a school of medicine for medical missionaries. The charity also campaigns for more homeopathy in Britain's National Health Service (NHS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscillococcinum</span> Homeopathic product

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The Faculty of Homeopathy was formed in 1944 from the British Homeopathic Society. It was incorporated by the Faculty of Homeopathy Act 1950, which confers an educational function on the Faculty. The Faculty promotes the development of homeopathy.

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Edzard Ernst is a retired British-German academic physician and researcher specializing in the study of complementary and alternative medicine. He was Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, the world's first such academic position in complementary and alternative medicine.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Placebo-controlled study</span>

Placebo-controlled studies are a way of testing a medical therapy in which, in addition to a group of subjects that receives the treatment to be evaluated, a separate control group receives a sham "placebo" treatment which is specifically designed to have no real effect. Placebos are most commonly used in blinded trials, where subjects do not know whether they are receiving real or placebo treatment. Often, there is also a further "natural history" group that does not receive any treatment at all.

<i>Trick or Treatment?</i> 2008 book by Singh and Ernst

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Anisur Rahman Khuda-Bukhsh is a professor of zoology at the University of Kalyani in West Bengal, India, and a homeopathy researcher. In 2003, he published a study which claimed that homeopathic Arsenicum album reduced arsenic-caused liver toxicity in mice. He has also done research on treating arsenic-induced diabetes in mice using a product consisting of insulin wrapped in a coat of nanoparticles; Khuda-Bukhsh and his collaborators describe this product as "nano-insulin". Nature Asia describes an article published in peer review journal of Integrative Medicine about the action of homeopathy in gene expression.

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The infinitesimally low concentration of homeopathic preparations, which often lack even a single molecule of the diluted substance, has been the basis of questions about the effects of the preparations since the 19th century. Modern advocates of homeopathy have proposed a concept of "water memory", according to which water "remembers" the substances mixed in it, and transmits the effect of those substances when consumed. This concept is inconsistent with the current understanding of matter, and water memory has never been demonstrated to exist, in terms of any detectable effect, biological or otherwise.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lockie, Andrew & Geddes, Nicola (1995). Homeopathy: The Principles and Practice of Treatment. Dorling Kindersley Publishing. pp.  52–53. ISBN   978-0-7894-0148-9.
  2. ↑ Chakraborti, D; Mukherjee, SC; Saha, KC; Chowdhury, UK; et al. (2003). "Arsenic Toxicity from Homeopathic Treatment". Clinical Toxicology. 41 (7): 963–967. doi:10.1081/CLT-120026518. PMID   14705842. S2CID   25453468.
  3. 1 2 Ernst E (2005). "Is homeopathy a clinically valuable approach?". Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 26 (11): 547–8. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.385.5505 . doi:10.1016/j.tips.2005.09.003. PMID   16165225.
  4. ↑ Khuda-Bukhsh, Anisur Rahman; Pathak, Surajit; Guha, Bibhas; Karmakar, Susanta Roy; Das, Jayanta Kumar; Banerjee, Pathikrit; Biswas, Surjyo Jyoti; Mukherjee, Partha; et al. (2005). "Can Homeopathic Arsenic Remedy Combat Arsenic Poisoning in Humans Exposed to Groundwater Arsenic Contamination?: A Preliminary Report on First Human Trial". Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2 (4): 537–48. doi:10.1093/ecam/neh124. PMC   1297497 . PMID   16322812.
  5. ↑ Mallick, P; Chakrabarti Mallick, J; Guha, B; Khuda-Bukhsh, AR (2003). "Ameliorating effect of microdoses of a potentized homeopathic drug, Arsenicum Album, on arsenic-induced toxicity in mice". BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 3: 7. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-3-7. PMC   521186 . PMID   14570596.
  6. 1 2 "The evidence of bias weakens the findings of our original meta-analysis. Since we completed our literature search in 1995, a considerable number of new homeopathy trials have been published. The fact that a number of the new high-quality trials (e.g. [14,15]) have negative results, and a recent update of our review for the most “original” subtype of homeopathy (classical or individualized homeopathy), seem to confirm the finding that more rigorous trials have less-promising results. It seems, therefore, likely that our meta-analysis at least overestimated the effects of homeopathic treatments." Linde Klaus (1999). "Impact of Study Quality on Outcome in Placebo-Controlled Trials of Homeopathy". Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 52 (7): 631–636. doi:10.1016/S0895-4356(99)00048-7. PMID   10391656..
  7. 1 2 Ernst E (2002). "A systematic review of systematic reviews of homeopathy". Br J Clin Pharmacol. 54 (6): 577–82. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2125.2002.01699.x. PMC   1874503 . PMID   12492603.
  8. ↑ Report 12 of the Council on Scientific Affairs (A–97), American Medical Association, archived from the original on 2009-06-14, retrieved 2007-07-25
    Linde K, Jonas WB, Melchart D, Willich S (2001). "The methodological quality of randomized controlled trials of homeopathy, herbal medicines and acupuncture". International Journal of Epidemiology. 30 (3): 526–531. doi: 10.1093/ije/30.3.526 . PMID   11416076.
    Altunç U, Pittler MH, Ernst E (2007). "Homeopathy for childhood and adolescence ailments: systematic review of randomized clinical trials". Mayo Clin. Proc. 82 (1): 69–75. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.456.5352 . doi:10.4065/82.1.69. PMID   17285788.
  9. ↑ Lockie, Andrew & Geddes, Nicola (1995). "The development of Homeopathy, The influence of Hering and Kent". Homeopathy: The Principles and Practice of Treatment. Dorling Kindersley Publishing. p.  17. ISBN   978-0-7894-0148-9.
  10. ↑ "Syphilis - Symptoms and causes". Mayo Clinic. Archived from the original on 2008-03-09. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  11. ↑ Report 12 of the Council on Scientific Affairs (A–97), American Medical Association, archived from the original on 2004-12-11, retrieved 2007-07-25
    Linde K, Jonas WB, Melchart D, Willich S (2001). "The methodological quality of randomized controlled trials of homeopathy, herbal medicines and acupuncture". International Journal of Epidemiology. 30 (3): 526–531. doi: 10.1093/ije/30.3.526 . PMID   11416076.
    Altunç U, Pittler MH, Ernst E (2007). "Homeopathy for childhood and adolescence ailments: systematic review of randomized clinical trials". Mayo Clin. Proc. 82 (1): 69–75. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.456.5352 . doi:10.4065/82.1.69. PMID   17285788.
  12. ↑ Johnson T, Boon H; Boon, Heather (1 January 2007). "Where Does Homeopathy Fit in Pharmacy Practice?". American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 71 (1): 7. doi:10.5688/aj710107. PMC   1847554 . PMID   17429507.
  13. ↑ Shang A, Huwiler-Müntener K, Nartey L, et al. (2005). "Are the clinical effects of homoeopathy placebo effects? Comparative study of placebo-controlled trials of homoeopathy and allopathy". Lancet. 366 (9487): 726–732. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67177-2. PMID   16125589. S2CID   17939264.
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