DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS IN YOUR MEDICATION?

It doesn’t happen very often, however, every now and then one patient will ask where their prescribed remedy comes from.

This is not an issue, of course and I am happy to explain. If it is a plant remedy like Pulsatilla or Thuja or a mineral like Platina or Natrum Carbonicum, all is well. Some people have an issue with animal remedies, like Tarantula or Apis.

What can cause a total “freak-out” however, are nosodes: remedies made from human diseased tissues.

I had a patient who refused to take Carcinosin when she searched on Internet and found out that it’s made from cancerous tissue. She was an ex-nurse and she was convinced that by taking the remedy, she would develop cancer.

It was no use explaining that all homeopathic remedies are ultra-dilutions, to the point where there is not even one molecule of the original substance.

Other people object on moral grounds: they just don’t want to take something made from a “piece of another human being”.

It is understandable. When you think about it, it’s gross, I get it. Medicine is gross, though, have you not noticed? Have you ever been to a hospital? It can be pretty messy.

What about conventional medications? All squeaky clean and clinical, right?

WRONG!

There is this thing called Biopharmaceutical which sounds all scientific and modern and what-not. Until you read about it and discover that it’s made from all sorts of human and animal material: blood, urine, internal organs and so on.

We don’t usually even think about it, because we are so used to a nice doctor in white coat giving us a tidy box with pretty little pills and the names on the box mean nothing to us, they are unpronounceble!

LET’S DIG A BIT DEEPER…

Human plasma, for example, is very sought after in the pharmaceutical industry and various types of medication rely on supply of plasma from blood donors. If you ever gave blood to the Red Cross, you may have been asked to sign a consent form that makes you aware that part of your blood may be sold on to pharma companies for research purposes. In many parts of the US (the poorest areas) there are blood donor centres, where people can sell their blood for money (not much either). These centres, in turn, sell the blood on to multinational companies at a profit and then the blood is used to make drugs at considerable profit.

The controversial issue of using aborted fetus cells is well known. I don’t want to go too much into it, however, suffice to say that their use is not limited to pharmaceutical products.

Animal producsts like pig’s thyroids, were used to make thyroid medication until recently. Horses’ urine is still used to make a common drug called Premarin.

The first vaccine for small pox was made by literally picking the scabs from infected patients and inoculating the concoction into healthy individuals. The pioneer for that treatment was the Empress Katherine The Great of Russia, who offered herself and her children as guinea pigs. Like I said, medicine is a messy business.