- Email: [email protected]
On food allergies and potencies
d i s c o v e r e d o n l y as a c h a n c e " s p i n - o f f ' f r o m a d i s e a s e o f t u r k e y s in a d e v e l o p e d c o u n t r y . L i k e o t h e r c a r c i n o g e n s , a f l a t o x i n u n d e r g o e s m e t a b o l i c a c t i v a t i o n (Fig. 8) a n d b i n d s t o D N A . T h e r e a r e u n d o u b t e d l y o t h e r c a r c i n o g e n s o f f u n g a l origin. T h e f u n g u s G e o t r i c h u m c a n d i d u m g r o w s o n t h e p i c k l e d c a b b a g e w h i c h is a d e l i c a c y in p a r t s o f N o r t h e r n C h i n a a n d h a s b e e n i m p l i c a t e d in t h e v e r y h i g h i n c i d e n c e o f o e s p h a g e a l c a n c e r in t h i s region. N i t r o s a m i n e s a r e also i n v o l v e d . 11 O t h e r f o o d s are c a r c i n o g e n i c w i t h o u t f u n g a l o r n i t r o s o c o n t a m i n a t i o n , t h e y i n c l u d e c y c a s i n w h i c h is p r e s e n t in t h e flour p r o d u c e d f r o m t h e p r i m i t i v e C y c a d p l a n t s u s e d o n t h e Pacific i s l a n d o f G u a m ; s a f r o l e f r o m safflower oil; p y r o l l i z i d i n e a l k a l o i d s f o u n d in " b u s h t e a s " p r e p a r e d f r o m v a r i o u s S e n e c i o species in the W e s t I n d i e s a n d o u r o w n S y m p h y t u m o ~ c i n a l e , j2 M o s t o f t h e s e p l a n t s e x e r t t h e i r m a i n c a r c i n o g e n i c effects o n t h e liver, s o m e a r e m e t a b o l i z e d t o f o r m N i t r o s a m i n e s a f t e r ingestion. A n u m b e r o f m e t a l s , p a r t i c u l a r l y t i t a n i u m a n d n i c k e l a r e c a r c i n o g e n i c as also is c i s - p l a t i n u m } 3 a c y t o t o x i c a g e n t . T h e r e is a n i n c r e a s e d i n c i d e n c e o f c a n c e r in a r e a s w h e r e t h e soil is m o l y b d e n u m o r zinc deficient. REFERENCES AND NOTES 1 But, of course adopted by Hahnemann as the motto for all editions of the Organon, except the first. 2 Campbell A. A reconsideration of provings. Br Horn J 1979: 68:169-72. 3 For the technical details see: Rather LJ. The Genesis of Cancer, section "Movement of the Blood" p. 19-26. Baltimore:The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978. 4 Procrustes was a mythical Greek robber who mutilated or stretched his victims to fit his bed. 5 Arseneau JC, Canellos GP, Johnson R, De Vita VT. Risk of new cancers in patients with Hodgkins disease. Cancer 1977: 40: 1912-16. 6 Brody RS, Schottenfeld D, Reid A. Multiple primary cancer risk after treatment for Hodgkins disease. Cancer 1977: 40: 1917-26. 7 Paracelsus. On the Miner's Sickness in Four Treatises. trans. Rosen G. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1941. 8 For instance, Kennaway EL, BiochemJ 1930: 24: 497. 9 Redrawn from Brookes P and Lawley PD. Evidence for the binding of polynuelear aromatic hydrocarbons to the nucleic acids of mouse skin. Nature 1964: 202: 781-4. 10 Veys CA. Bladder tumours and Occupation. A coroner's notification scheme. BritJlndMed 1974: 31: 65. 11 The Coordinating Group for research on Etiology of Esophageal Cancer in North China. The Epidemiology and Etiology of Esophageal Cancer in North China: A Preliminary Report: Chinese Medical Journal 1975: 1: 167-183. 12 Hirono Iet al: Carcinogenic activity of Symphytum OflicinaleJNC1 1978: 61: 865-9. 13 Leopold WR et aL Carcinogenicity of the anti tumour agent cis-platinum in mouse and rat. Cancer Res. 1979: 39: 913-8.
On food allergies and potencies A. C. GORDON ROSS, M.B., CHB, MFHOM T h i s h a s n o t b e e n a n e a s y p a p e r t o p u t t o g e t h e r , for c o m p l i c a t e d . T o b e g i n with, allergy is a m e d i c a l p r o b l e m a g r e e m e n t . V o n P i r q u e t w a s n o t far o f f t h e b e a m w h e n r e a c t i v i t y , " a n d I m a k e n o a p o l o g y for q u o t i n g C h a m b e r s Volume 71, N u m b e r
3,.luly
1982
t h e s u b j e c t is v a s t a n d in w h i c h t h e r e is n o real h e said it w a s " a l t e r e d sounder definition: "An 137
altered or acquired state of sensitivity; abnormal reactions of the body to substances normally harmless; hyper-sensitivity to certain antigens or other exciting substances." On the principle of "the hair of the dog that bit you", Dr Morris Owen of the Allergic Clinic at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, has been studying allergic reactions, not solely homaeopathic, to potentized allergens, and Dr Williams, in practice in Chiddingfoid, has used potentized allergens with some success in the control of hay-fever. There is a booklet Not All In The Mind by Dr Mackarness who suggests that a dilution of an allergic food can cut offthe allergic response. If we accept the definition than an allergen is any substance that can cause an allergic reaction, we see the definition is not complete, for "substance" is not a wide enough word, and many other factors are involved. "The weather in the streets is of less importance that the weather in the mind," and the weather in the mind is conditioned by family, environment, and hereditary inheritance. In my opinion, in all cases of allergy we homceopaths are right in stating that the secret of cure is caring for the patient, getting him to such a state of good health that dust, dissipation, and disease will pass him by: "This fortress, built by nature for herselfagainst infectionand the hand of war"... Writing this (at the end of August 1979), there came through the letter box today, that well-produced little magazine Prevention (Vol. 22/9 UK) in which there was an article "The Plight of the Food Junkie" by Bill Cottlieb. It says at the beginning: "Hives, rashes, sneezing--they're all easily recognizable as allergy symptoms, but many allergies are much more subtle than that." Richard Mackarness says in his book Eating Dangerously (Harcourt 1976) and quoted by Mr Cottlieb, that as a psychologist, he maintains: "The allergic irritation will produce recognizable mental or behaviour changes." Then Cottlieb gives a list of emotional problems caused by food addiction--(all from Protection Magazine)---"Increase in temper, screaming attacks, patient is mean or sulky, irritable, whining, impatient, quarrelsome, sensitive, easily hurt, unhappy, morbid, depressed, restless, tense, nervous, jumpy, fearful, anxious, irresponsible, erratic, uncooperative, unpredictable, pugnacious, or cruel, can't be pleased, is not open to reason, cries without cause, worried, feels terrible, contemplates suicide, is nervous and highly strung, chews clothes and bedclothes, has nightmares, loses pride in work, in clothing and in cleanliness, doesn't care, can't make decisions, loses interest in the opposite sex, has childish compulsions"... Now I have taken the trouble to write down all the symptoms listed, and I wonder what the psychologist would make of them? I guess he would be completely at sea, and would rely on reason, reassurance and commonsense, not easily found in allergic subjects. Contrast that with the homoeopathic approach. Almost all the symptoms mentioned can be found in Kent's Repertory, and if the doctor has the time, or a computer to help him, he can be sure of picking up a potentized medicine that will help that particular patient. He can be sure of this, for the symptoms listed have been experienced by others and noted carefully, and we have the antidote in homoeopathic medicines, proved time and again on healthy persons. 138
The British HomoeopathicJournal
Homoeopathic medicines can be made from almost anything. Plants, flowers, metals, spiders, etc. Certain remedies have little reaction in the crude state and excite few symptoms: Calcarea, Silicea, Natrum tour., Aurum met., Argentum met., Aluminium met. (Von Boenninghausen, Homoeopathy 10/3, 1941), but they are dynamized when potentized. Again I quote: "It is interesting to compare the provings of the lower dilutions with the potencies. In the former the symptoms produced are more often in the body physical: while those of the latter are manifest in the mental or spiritual spheres" (Annie C. Wilson, "The Homoeopathic Survey", April 1929. Quoted in Homoeopathy 4/6, June 1935). This is true from practical experience, so that the wise practitioner, if confronted with a jumble of symptoms in a food allergy would never dream of starting with a 12x potency, but would start with a 10M potency to get a positive result. There is really no mystery about our method of preparing our potencies. Our potencies are prepared either on a decimal or on a centesimal scale. The decimal, by diluting one part of the original substance with nine parts of the diluting medium (which can be distilled water or spirit) and after succussion, or shaking many times, one part of the diluent is further diluted with nine parts. These dilutions being recognized as lx and 2x and the process can be continued. Thus the 12x potency represents ~,000,06-0,000,000 or 1 over 1 plus 12 noughts--something the printer boggles at and the scientists scoff at. Accordingly, the centesimal potency more generally used is to them beyond belief, for it makes nonsense of Avogadro's Law. Here the thirtieth potency (my favourite) means the thirtieth centesimal potency, which is one over one with 60 noughts. While the 200th potency is one over one with 400 noughts, and the 1M potency, the thousandth centesimal, would be one over one with 2,000 noughts and, another of my favourites, the 10M potency is one over one with 20,000 noughts. In my experience, isolated practitioners, out on a limb by themselves, are so accustomed to making medicines, that if they prescribe for themselves, 10M is the potency to go for. Away back in 1938, Sir Walter Langton-Brown, in his Skinner Lecture, said that the pathological approach dealt with end results, and it led to a nihilistic attitude towards thereapeutics, for how could such profound changes (as found in the post-mortem room) be prevented by a bottle of medicine? (Hom 7/4, 1939). Again, in the same lecture, Sir Walter said that at the beginning of this century, the bacteriologist came into his own, but the weak spot in his approach was "the failure to appreciate the importance of the soil, and an over-stressing of the importance of the seed." The weakness in the homoeopathic approach is still that we cannot explain to the scientists why a remedy attenuated far beyond the realms of imagination, can have any effect whatsoever upon the condition of the patient: all we can say is that we know that it is so from practical experience, and that as knowledge about the pharmacology of the infinitesimal gets more understandable, some day our theory of the potency of microdoses will be accepted as commonplace. After all, it was not so long ago that Avogadro thought the molecule was the ultimate in smallness. Then came the atom, many of which make up a molecule. Then came the knowledge that an atom was not the ultimate, it was shown to be composed of Volume 71, Number 3, July 1982
139
electrons and protons and even they could be divided into charms and quarks. It cannot b e too strongly stressed that potentized medicine is not an essential part o f homeeopathic philosophy, it is purely the result of practical experience in prescribing. W e homoeopaths are difficult chaps for the o r t h o d o x to understand. M a n y years ago, I used to d o some work for a Life Insurance C o m p a n y . All they seemed really interested in, when granting a policy, was the blood pressure. Early in world war I had a patient doing very well out o f munitions, he was 52 and he wanted to insure himself for s He was perfectly healthy, but his blood pressure, when he c a m e to see me at 2 p.m., was 168/84. He was excited, for he had just landed a fine c o n t r a c t from the Ministry o f Munitions. I sent him a w a y and told him to relax and come b a c k at 6 p.m. When he did so his blood pressure was 178/86. I asked him how he had spent his afternoon. " D o e " , said he, " I went up to the Automobile Club and had four double whiskies to quieten m y nerves." H e was turned down b y this particular c o m p a n y , but he lived to be 79 and I gave up m y insurance work when I could not get the C h a i r m a n o f that c o m p a n y to agree that the family history o f the patient was far more important than an incidental blood pressure. In the case o f that particular patient, both his parents were alive, well over their three score years and ten. I was always sorry at that time I did not know o f the r e m a r k o f D r G u s t a v e M o n o d o f Vichy, who recorded that once, when Sir William Osier came into his office and saw his manometer, he r e m a r k e d : "This is the latest and greatest neurasthenia-producing machine that physicians ever invented. W h e n a patient asks: ' W h a t is m y blood pressure?', I answer 'Exactly w h a t it should b e ! ' " (Homveopathy 1933, 11: 343). I was comforted b y this pearl o f wisdom when I did m y own mother's blood pressure in 1945. It was 208/104 and yet she lived to be 84 years o f age.
Wasps, bee stings and insect bites A. C. GORDON ROSS, MB, CHB, MFHOM After this arctic winter, some forecasters predict a hot summer, which, if it comes, will bring our old familiars, the wasps and bees and insect stings from midges. I was thinking o f this the other d a y when reading the British Medical Journal o f 17 M a r c h 1979. In its entirety I reproduce the query, and official answer o f an item that I think merits some consideration by hom0eopaths, for I think we have something better to offer than adrenaline. Is there a suitable form of treatment that patients who suffer from acute anaphylactic reaction to wasp stings can carry round with them--perhaps some form of injectable adrenaline? The Bee Association used to have an appropriate syringe for self-administered adrenaline, but this is now no longer available for patients who are anaphylacticallysensitive to bee or wasp stings. Those patients who are at risk from severe sting reactions should have available a disposable syringe and needles and a 1 ml ampoule of adrenaline 1/1000. Half of this ampoule should be given as a deep subcutaneous injection near to the sting site if this is possible. Patients should be fully instructed in self-administration. Tourniquets are usually not practical and are not advised. Since 80% of deaths are due to high airways obstruction, patients should carry with them a salbutamol bronchodilator 140
The British HomoeopathicJournal
On food allergies and potencies A. C. GORDON ROSS, M.B., CHB, MFHOM T h i s h a s n o t b e e n a n e a s y p a p e r t o p u t t o g e t h e r , for c o m p l i c a t e d . T o b e g i n with, allergy is a m e d i c a l p r o b l e m a g r e e m e n t . V o n P i r q u e t w a s n o t far o f f t h e b e a m w h e n r e a c t i v i t y , " a n d I m a k e n o a p o l o g y for q u o t i n g C h a m b e r s Volume 71, N u m b e r
3,.luly
1982
t h e s u b j e c t is v a s t a n d in w h i c h t h e r e is n o real h e said it w a s " a l t e r e d sounder definition: "An 137
altered or acquired state of sensitivity; abnormal reactions of the body to substances normally harmless; hyper-sensitivity to certain antigens or other exciting substances." On the principle of "the hair of the dog that bit you", Dr Morris Owen of the Allergic Clinic at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, has been studying allergic reactions, not solely homaeopathic, to potentized allergens, and Dr Williams, in practice in Chiddingfoid, has used potentized allergens with some success in the control of hay-fever. There is a booklet Not All In The Mind by Dr Mackarness who suggests that a dilution of an allergic food can cut offthe allergic response. If we accept the definition than an allergen is any substance that can cause an allergic reaction, we see the definition is not complete, for "substance" is not a wide enough word, and many other factors are involved. "The weather in the streets is of less importance that the weather in the mind," and the weather in the mind is conditioned by family, environment, and hereditary inheritance. In my opinion, in all cases of allergy we homceopaths are right in stating that the secret of cure is caring for the patient, getting him to such a state of good health that dust, dissipation, and disease will pass him by: "This fortress, built by nature for herselfagainst infectionand the hand of war"... Writing this (at the end of August 1979), there came through the letter box today, that well-produced little magazine Prevention (Vol. 22/9 UK) in which there was an article "The Plight of the Food Junkie" by Bill Cottlieb. It says at the beginning: "Hives, rashes, sneezing--they're all easily recognizable as allergy symptoms, but many allergies are much more subtle than that." Richard Mackarness says in his book Eating Dangerously (Harcourt 1976) and quoted by Mr Cottlieb, that as a psychologist, he maintains: "The allergic irritation will produce recognizable mental or behaviour changes." Then Cottlieb gives a list of emotional problems caused by food addiction--(all from Protection Magazine)---"Increase in temper, screaming attacks, patient is mean or sulky, irritable, whining, impatient, quarrelsome, sensitive, easily hurt, unhappy, morbid, depressed, restless, tense, nervous, jumpy, fearful, anxious, irresponsible, erratic, uncooperative, unpredictable, pugnacious, or cruel, can't be pleased, is not open to reason, cries without cause, worried, feels terrible, contemplates suicide, is nervous and highly strung, chews clothes and bedclothes, has nightmares, loses pride in work, in clothing and in cleanliness, doesn't care, can't make decisions, loses interest in the opposite sex, has childish compulsions"... Now I have taken the trouble to write down all the symptoms listed, and I wonder what the psychologist would make of them? I guess he would be completely at sea, and would rely on reason, reassurance and commonsense, not easily found in allergic subjects. Contrast that with the homoeopathic approach. Almost all the symptoms mentioned can be found in Kent's Repertory, and if the doctor has the time, or a computer to help him, he can be sure of picking up a potentized medicine that will help that particular patient. He can be sure of this, for the symptoms listed have been experienced by others and noted carefully, and we have the antidote in homoeopathic medicines, proved time and again on healthy persons. 138
The British HomoeopathicJournal
Homoeopathic medicines can be made from almost anything. Plants, flowers, metals, spiders, etc. Certain remedies have little reaction in the crude state and excite few symptoms: Calcarea, Silicea, Natrum tour., Aurum met., Argentum met., Aluminium met. (Von Boenninghausen, Homoeopathy 10/3, 1941), but they are dynamized when potentized. Again I quote: "It is interesting to compare the provings of the lower dilutions with the potencies. In the former the symptoms produced are more often in the body physical: while those of the latter are manifest in the mental or spiritual spheres" (Annie C. Wilson, "The Homoeopathic Survey", April 1929. Quoted in Homoeopathy 4/6, June 1935). This is true from practical experience, so that the wise practitioner, if confronted with a jumble of symptoms in a food allergy would never dream of starting with a 12x potency, but would start with a 10M potency to get a positive result. There is really no mystery about our method of preparing our potencies. Our potencies are prepared either on a decimal or on a centesimal scale. The decimal, by diluting one part of the original substance with nine parts of the diluting medium (which can be distilled water or spirit) and after succussion, or shaking many times, one part of the diluent is further diluted with nine parts. These dilutions being recognized as lx and 2x and the process can be continued. Thus the 12x potency represents ~,000,06-0,000,000 or 1 over 1 plus 12 noughts--something the printer boggles at and the scientists scoff at. Accordingly, the centesimal potency more generally used is to them beyond belief, for it makes nonsense of Avogadro's Law. Here the thirtieth potency (my favourite) means the thirtieth centesimal potency, which is one over one with 60 noughts. While the 200th potency is one over one with 400 noughts, and the 1M potency, the thousandth centesimal, would be one over one with 2,000 noughts and, another of my favourites, the 10M potency is one over one with 20,000 noughts. In my experience, isolated practitioners, out on a limb by themselves, are so accustomed to making medicines, that if they prescribe for themselves, 10M is the potency to go for. Away back in 1938, Sir Walter Langton-Brown, in his Skinner Lecture, said that the pathological approach dealt with end results, and it led to a nihilistic attitude towards thereapeutics, for how could such profound changes (as found in the post-mortem room) be prevented by a bottle of medicine? (Hom 7/4, 1939). Again, in the same lecture, Sir Walter said that at the beginning of this century, the bacteriologist came into his own, but the weak spot in his approach was "the failure to appreciate the importance of the soil, and an over-stressing of the importance of the seed." The weakness in the homoeopathic approach is still that we cannot explain to the scientists why a remedy attenuated far beyond the realms of imagination, can have any effect whatsoever upon the condition of the patient: all we can say is that we know that it is so from practical experience, and that as knowledge about the pharmacology of the infinitesimal gets more understandable, some day our theory of the potency of microdoses will be accepted as commonplace. After all, it was not so long ago that Avogadro thought the molecule was the ultimate in smallness. Then came the atom, many of which make up a molecule. Then came the knowledge that an atom was not the ultimate, it was shown to be composed of Volume 71, Number 3, July 1982
139
electrons and protons and even they could be divided into charms and quarks. It cannot b e too strongly stressed that potentized medicine is not an essential part o f homeeopathic philosophy, it is purely the result of practical experience in prescribing. W e homoeopaths are difficult chaps for the o r t h o d o x to understand. M a n y years ago, I used to d o some work for a Life Insurance C o m p a n y . All they seemed really interested in, when granting a policy, was the blood pressure. Early in world war I had a patient doing very well out o f munitions, he was 52 and he wanted to insure himself for s He was perfectly healthy, but his blood pressure, when he c a m e to see me at 2 p.m., was 168/84. He was excited, for he had just landed a fine c o n t r a c t from the Ministry o f Munitions. I sent him a w a y and told him to relax and come b a c k at 6 p.m. When he did so his blood pressure was 178/86. I asked him how he had spent his afternoon. " D o e " , said he, " I went up to the Automobile Club and had four double whiskies to quieten m y nerves." H e was turned down b y this particular c o m p a n y , but he lived to be 79 and I gave up m y insurance work when I could not get the C h a i r m a n o f that c o m p a n y to agree that the family history o f the patient was far more important than an incidental blood pressure. In the case o f that particular patient, both his parents were alive, well over their three score years and ten. I was always sorry at that time I did not know o f the r e m a r k o f D r G u s t a v e M o n o d o f Vichy, who recorded that once, when Sir William Osier came into his office and saw his manometer, he r e m a r k e d : "This is the latest and greatest neurasthenia-producing machine that physicians ever invented. W h e n a patient asks: ' W h a t is m y blood pressure?', I answer 'Exactly w h a t it should b e ! ' " (Homveopathy 1933, 11: 343). I was comforted b y this pearl o f wisdom when I did m y own mother's blood pressure in 1945. It was 208/104 and yet she lived to be 84 years o f age.
Wasps, bee stings and insect bites A. C. GORDON ROSS, MB, CHB, MFHOM After this arctic winter, some forecasters predict a hot summer, which, if it comes, will bring our old familiars, the wasps and bees and insect stings from midges. I was thinking o f this the other d a y when reading the British Medical Journal o f 17 M a r c h 1979. In its entirety I reproduce the query, and official answer o f an item that I think merits some consideration by hom0eopaths, for I think we have something better to offer than adrenaline. Is there a suitable form of treatment that patients who suffer from acute anaphylactic reaction to wasp stings can carry round with them--perhaps some form of injectable adrenaline? The Bee Association used to have an appropriate syringe for self-administered adrenaline, but this is now no longer available for patients who are anaphylacticallysensitive to bee or wasp stings. Those patients who are at risk from severe sting reactions should have available a disposable syringe and needles and a 1 ml ampoule of adrenaline 1/1000. Half of this ampoule should be given as a deep subcutaneous injection near to the sting site if this is possible. Patients should be fully instructed in self-administration. Tourniquets are usually not practical and are not advised. Since 80% of deaths are due to high airways obstruction, patients should carry with them a salbutamol bronchodilator 140
The British HomoeopathicJournal