The substances homeopaths use as remedies are pretty scary sometimes; no two-ways about it.  I mean, Arsenic, Mercury, Ignatia (known for its high amounts of strychnine)?  I have often thanked my homeopathic education when reading a good murder mystery; I can identify almost every poison used in an Agatha Christie novel thanks to homeopathy.

But of course, that begs the question – how could we possibly use these substances safely?  Every homeopath I know has stories of patients going to a health food store and having some well-meaning store attendant tell the person that the prescribed remedy is toxic. The attendant usually recommends something “safer”, to the chagrin of the homeopath. Sometimes patients will google their remedy and see that it’s listed as a horribly toxic substance. I had one woman come in frantic because she saw online that the remedy I recommended may cause death. What gives?

This is where the very controversial issue of homeopathic dilutions comes into play.

Homeopathic Dilutions

For those who may not be aware, homeopathic remedies are traditionally diluted many times.  Tens, hundreds or even thousands of times.  They are dilute enough that you could take a whole bottle of homeopathically prepared Arsenic and not get any Arsenic poisoning.

This preparation is controversial in the medical community, as many people argue that such high dilutions cannot possibly have an effect on the body.  Recent research has shown that to be false (1, 2, 3, 4). (Although, hundreds of years of successful homeopathic practices have also shown that to be false, but in the current climate of “if it’s not in the Lancet, it doesn’t exist”, that doesn’t really seem to matter.)

Why are dilutions used at all?

Homeopathy was founded a couple hundred years ago by a German doctor named Hahnemann.  He discovered underlying principles of homeopathy, but used pretty toxic substances as medicines, like Mercury.  This was common at his time. Arsenic, Mercury, Sulphur, toxic plants like Belladonna, Aconite, Stramonium, all were used in medicine in the 1800s. Hahnemann didn’t like giving high doses of such toxic compounds because people would get sick from the medicines (shocking, I know).  So, over time, he gave smaller and smaller doses of these substances, until they turned into the highly diluted products we have today.  He didn’t find that the medicine worked less well when he diluted them. In fact he found the medicine worked just as well as it did at high doses, but with fewer side effects.  The homeopathic profession then, by convention, uses the same method he developed by experimentation hundreds of years ago.

What about a substitute?

You might ask why we continue to use these substances, and why we don’t just use substances that are safer and don’t need to be diluted. And the reason for that is pretty simple.  We know how to use the medicines we have safely, and we have great data on how to use them effectively.  We cannot just replace Mercury with something else because we have an incredible amount of data on how to use Mercury safely and well. Each substance in the world has unique   properties that we can use medicinally, and these more toxic substances are no exception. Furthermore, something being “toxic” really just means that it has a strong effect on the body. If you think about it, a medicine is something that needs to effect the body strongly. Therefore toxic substances are not useful in medicine despite their toxicity, but useful because they are toxic. We just have to be careful about dosing.

Conclusion:

So the short answer is: no, your remedy is not toxic.  You can take the entire bottle at one time, even of Mercury, and you will not get the slightest bit of Mercury poisoning.  Remember that everything in life is poisonous at a certain dose, and medicinal at a different dose.  Homeopathic doses are FAR below the poisonous dose for every substance used.  I have patients who cannot take one pill of conventional medication without getting horrible side effects, but have no problems with homeopathic medicine.  Homeopathic medicine is by far the safest and most gentle medicine I have ever encountered (which is why I love it!).