ABSTRACT
Methods of conservative and complex rehabilitation of patients with cicatricial eyelid malpositions are proposed. Conservative treatment included developed regimen of antihomotoxic agents, different techniques of graduated extension of scar tissues, special eyelid exercises. In complex management conservative treatment was provided along with surgery, in some cases botulinum toxin A was administered. Duration, time and priorities were determined.
Subject(s)
Blepharoplasty/methods , Botulinum Toxins, Type A , Cicatrix/therapy , Drug Therapy/methods , Eyelid Diseases/therapy , Eyelids/surgery , Minerals , Plant Extracts , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Botulinum Toxins, Type A/administration & dosage , Botulinum Toxins, Type A/adverse effects , Cicatrix/complications , Cicatrix/pathology , Cicatrix/physiopathology , Combined Modality Therapy , Eyelid Diseases/etiology , Eyelid Diseases/physiopathology , Eyelids/physiopathology , Female , Humans , Male , Materia Medica/administration & dosage , Materia Medica/adverse effects , Middle Aged , Minerals/administration & dosage , Minerals/adverse effects , Neuromuscular Agents/administration & dosage , Neuromuscular Agents/adverse effects , Plant Extracts/administration & dosage , Plant Extracts/adverse effects , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
This paper presents the case that certain types of homeopathic medicine may represent a form of hormesis, that is, either pre- or post-conditioning hormesis. An example of a post-conditioning model by van Wijk and colleagues demonstrated successful enhancement of adaptive responses using below-toxic threshold doses (i.e. hormetic doses) of inducing agents when administered subsequent to a highly toxic chemical exposure, thus satisfying a basic experimental biomedical standard. Of note is that this model uses exposures within a measurable predicted hormetic range, unlike most forms of homeopathy. This experimental framework (along with a pre-conditioning model developed by Bellavite) provides a possible vehicle by which certain aspect(s) of homeopathy may be integrated into mainstream biomedical assessment and clinical practice.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Physiological/drug effects , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug Therapy/methods , Homeopathy/methods , Humans , ToxicologyABSTRACT
Homeopathy is an empirical method of treatment. Hormesis, while stemming from within the rationalist tradition, has yet to be explained according to current pharmacological theory. Both share in common sub-threshold doses of toxic substances and an initial semi-toxicological insult followed by a greater compensatory (or healing) response. We question whether the differences between these fields may be amenable to scientific research. We identify five cardinal differences between homeopathy and hormesis: (1) Hormesis is a universal phenomenon, while homeopathy is highly specific; (2) Hormesis uses only measurable quantities of compounds, as opposed to homeopathy, which frequently administers medicines at dilutions far beyond the material range; (3) Preparation of hormetic solutions follows standard laboratory procedure, while homeopathy requires a sequential series of dilutions, each followed by vigorous shaking ('succussion'); (4) The effects of hormesis are moderate and temporary, while homeopathy claims curative and permanent responses and (5) Hormesis is a lab phenomenon observed primarily in healthy organisms, whereas homeopathy is a mode of treatment administered primarily to ailing individuals. We believe that all five of these differences are amenable to scientific investigation, and suggest comparing succussed to non-succussed diluted solutions as an optimal first evaluation. We conclude that while certain differences exist between hormesis and homeopathy, hormesis may in fact be a subset of homeopathy.
Subject(s)
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Homeopathy/methods , Pharmacology/methods , Toxicology/methods , Drug Therapy/methods , HumansABSTRACT
Homeopathy is the best known medical analogue of hormesis, others include hormoligosis and paradoxical pharmacology. Homeopathy is based on the concept Similia similibus curentur ('Let like be cured by like'); the exploitation of secondary effects of drugs, the body's reaction rather than the primary pharmacological action. The most controversial aspect of homeopathy is its use of 'ultramolecular' dilutions in which a single molecule of the starting substance is unlikely to be present. Classical pharmacological actions in vivo have been reported with dilutions as high as 10(-22)mol/L, but homeopathic medicines may be far more dilute than this. There is growing biological evidence including independent reproduction that in vivo effects may occur at such dilutions. In a systematic review, 73% of experiments showed an effect with ultramolecular dilutions including 68% of high-quality experiments. Physical and physico-chemical work suggests that homeopathic preparations contain stable ordered supramolecular structures, gas nanobubbles and dissolved silicates may be involved. Homeopathy may contribute to the generalizability and reproducibility of hormesis effects. It also raises the question of the threshold of hormesis effects.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Physiological/drug effects , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug Therapy/methods , Homeopathy/methods , Xenobiotics/pharmacology , Humans , Pharmacology/methods , Toxicology/methodsABSTRACT
Homeopathy is an ancient and complex therapeutic method that is rediscovering its scientific foundations. Hormesis is a frequently observed phenomenon that has been rigorously reported with precise dose-response curves. The therapeutic method based on the principle of 'like cures like' should not be confused with hormesis, which has several different implications from those of homeopathy. Yet, because both these approaches to nature and medicine are very broad in scope, they do end up having some points of contact. Thus, the well-established and consolidated field of hormesis can help cast light, through its ideas and research methods, on the possible mechanisms of action of remedies in ultra-low doses.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Physiological/drug effects , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug Therapy/methods , Homeopathy/methods , Xenobiotics/pharmacology , Humans , Pharmacology/methods , Toxicology/methodsABSTRACT
Is hormesis related to homeopathy? Despite the superficial similarity of the low dose of the applied stimulus, there are compelling reasons for maintaining hormesis and homeopathy as unrelated. Homeopathy originated in the medical knowledge vacuum of the 19th century, prior to the acceptance of the germ/gene bases of disease. Homeopathy was never grounded on empirical scientific evidence. Hormesis, on the other hand, has always been an empirical science, involving properly controlled experiments. Hormesis is a concept in toxicology that involves biphasic dose responses in biological systems, wherein low doses of stressors can have beneficial effects and higher doses have harmful effects. Hormesis, as it applies to toxicology, is a necessary and useful concept describing adaptive organismic responses to applied stressors. Conversely, homeopathy is a medical doctrine based on the erroneous belief that substances which cause the symptoms of a disorder will cure the disorder when given to patients in small doses. To suggest that homeopathy is a form of post-exposure conditioning hormesis assumes that homeopathic practitioners employed the scientific method with measurable experimental end-points and proper controls, and that their 'provings' had actually determined the correct compound, at the correct dose, required to cure a disorder. Because many homeopathic preparations are diluted to a point where none of the starting solutes would likely remain, the idea of a beneficial or harmful hormetic dose becomes moot. Without supporting scientific evidence for the efficacy or purported mechanisms of homeopathy, the term hormesis should not be linked with it in any way.
Subject(s)
Disease Transmission, Infectious/history , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug Therapy/methods , Homeopathy/history , Disease Transmission, Infectious/prevention & control , Epidemiologic Methods , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Homeopathy/methods , Humans , Stress, Physiological/physiology , Toxicology/methods , Toxins, Biological/pharmacologyABSTRACT
Postexposure conditioning, as a part of hormesis, involves the application of a low dose of stress following exposure to a severe stress condition. Depending on whether the low-dose stress is of the same type of stress or is different from the initial high-dose stress causing the diseased state, postconditioning can be classified as homologous or heterologous, respectively. In clinical homeopathy, the same distinction is found between isopathic and homeopathic application of low-dose substances. Homeopathy is unique for its Similia principle, which implies that substances causing symptoms in healthy biological systems can be used to treat similar symptoms in diseased biological systems. The evaluation of the Similia principle in an experimental set-up requires the analysis of a complex sequence of 'damage-disease-treatment-effect' events. The process of recovery from an insult is then monitored and a possible beneficial effect on this recovery process, upon application of a range of substances in low dose, can subsequently be analyzed using molecular and functional parameters. It is then possible to compare the effect of treatment with the degree of similarity between the diseased state and the effects caused by homologous and/or different heterologous substances. Beneficial effects of postconditioning mild stress conditions have been described in terms of an increase of the synthesis of stress proteins. In this commentary paper, we present additional information on this aspect. The experimental data suggest that the beneficial effect of the low-dose stress condition used as heterologous postconditioning is related to similarity in molecular stress response.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Physiological/drug effects , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug Therapy/methods , Homeopathy/methods , Stress, Physiological/physiology , Cell Culture Techniques , Cells, Cultured/drug effects , Heat-Shock Proteins/drug effects , Humans , Pharmacology/methods , Toxicology/methodsABSTRACT
The scientific foundations of hormesis are now well established and include various biochemical and molecular criteria for testing the hormetic nature of chemicals and other modulators. In order to claim homeopathy as being hormetic, it is essential that, in addition to the hormetic biphasic dose response, homeopathic remedies should fulfill one or more molecular criteria. Since stress response pathways, such as heat shock response, antioxidative response, autophagic response and unfolded protein response, are integral components of the physiological hormesis, it is important that homeopathic drugs be tested for these pathways if these are to be considered as hormetins and to cause hormesis.