Iatrogenesis

AJHM Editorial   (April 2016 Issue – Volume 109 Number 2)

.. A single symptom is no more the whole disease than a single foot the whole man.   This method (allopathic) is all the more objectionable because it treats a particular symptom (in a merely enantiopathic and palliative way) with the result that it returns much worse than before after a short alleviation.

Aphorism 7, The Organon of Medicine by Samuel Hahnemann, MD (1755-1843)

Welcome to the April e-journal of the American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine (AJHM).   In this issue, we present a case by Dr. Ronald Dushkin of a physician with recurrent prostatitis/urethritis who developed a multi-drug resistant infection after numerous courses of antibiotics which led to a severe decline in his health and a medical leave from his hospital position.   Homeopathic treatment resulted in the complete resolution of his symptoms and his return to work.

This case should cause us to reflect on a number of critical issues:

First, although antibiotics are invaluable for acute life-threatening bacterial infections ⁽¹⁾, their widespread overuse and misuse for numerous conditions that would have been self-limiting or easily treated with homeopathy and other forms of complementary/alternative medicine have caused disastrous global consequences.   Studies estimate that antibiotic resistant infections may kill up to 10 million people a year and cost the world’s economies some $100 trillion annually by the year 2050 (drug resistance has caused an estimated 700,000 deaths globally in 2014 alone). ⁽²⁾   Dr. Margaret Chan of the World Health Organization has recently stated that Earth may be approaching a time when things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill.

Second, Dr. Dushkin’s patient was fortunate that he eventually sought homeopathic treatment and that the numerous courses of drugs he received did not do irreparable harm. This is not always the case.   As homeopathic physicians,   we have seen countless patients through the years who have never been well since taking numerous prescriptions for conditions that only worsened over time.   This is not just a result of drug side effects –   for over two hundred years,   homeopathic physicians have observed that in many susceptible individuals, the temporary suppression of their disease symptoms with allopathic treatment (before the advent of modern drugs, doctors used bloodletting, mercury, arsenic, opium, sulphuric acid and other toxic treatments) results in a deeper manifestation of the disease and more complicated and severe mental, emotional, and physical symptoms. ⁽³⁾

This may help partly explain the explosion of debilitating diseases in our youth today (which was in fact predicted by many homeopaths centuries ago!).   What has been occurring in the last few decades may be more pervasive, insidious, and heart-wrenching than even the deaths that have occurred from iatrogenic causes – a global assault on the immune systems of our children that is literally robbing them – and our future generations – of the opportunity for healthy and productive lives (see Dr. Ronald Whitmont’s Chronic Illness and The Human Microbiome, AJHM autumn 2015).   Just witness, for example, the explosion of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) – Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis- in the pediatric population today ⁽⁴⁾ that has resulted in the use of stronger, more powerful immunosuppressant drugs that may contribute to a future generation of adults who will no longer be able to combat the common cold.

We will be discussing this very important phenomenon of suppression that is so central to homeopathic principles in future editions of this Journal.   We will also discuss other possible causes for the epidemics of autism, cancer, autoimmune diseases and pediatric IBD such as environmental toxins, stress, and poor nutrition in a future column on Obstacles to Cure.

For now, it is the purpose of this journal to regularly and consistently publish cured cases of numerous diseases with homeopathic medicines so that the reader can understand that – in many conditions- there is indeed a gentler, safer and often more effective treatment that can be used as a first resort rather than as a last desperate attempt by many to find some help after all conventional treatments have been exhausted.

Susanne Saltzman, MD

Editor, AJHM

References:

(1)   Homeopathy has had an extensive record of successful use in epidemics (including diseases that are known to have a very high mortality rate, such as cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid fever and yellow fever) as well as severe acute bacterial infections such as pneumonia,   puerperal or childbed fever, and septicemia.   See: The American School of Homeopathy and the International Hahnemannian Association: The High Point of Homeopathy:  

PART I -Liga News 2015; No. 15 (Aug.): 14-17, by Andra Saine, N.D., F.C.A.H.

http://www.homeopathy.ca/articles_det42.shtml

PART II -Liga News 2015; No. 16 (Dec.): 14-19. by Andra Saine, N.D., F.C.A.H.

http://www.homeopathy.ca/articles_det43.shtml

Part III, Homeopathy and the Pneumonias (email editor for article, susannesaltzman@aol.com)

(2)    http://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/11/drug-resistance-to-kill-more-than-cancer-by-2050-study.html

(3)   Aphorisms 74-76.   The Organon of Medicine by Samuel Hahnemann (sixth edition)

(4)   P. Malmborg, H. Hildebrand.   The emerging global epidemic of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease causes and consequences.   Journal of Internal Medicine , Volume 279, Issue 3, pages 241 258, March 2016