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T
herapeutic
use
of
the
rebound
effect
of
modern
drugs
: “N
ew
homeopathic
medicines
”
R
ev
A
ssoc
M
ed
B
ras
2017; 63(2):100-108
101
doxical pharmacology,” similar to the one propagated by
homeopathy for over two centuries, proposing the use of
conventional drugs that cause an exacerbation of the
disease in the short term in order to treat the same disease
in the long term.
14-26
Similarly, since the beginning of our
studies, we have been suggesting the use of modern drugs
in accordance with the principle of therapeutic similar-
ity, proposing the use of drugs that cause adverse events
similar to the manifestations of diseases in order to treat
them homeopathically, using the rebound effect (para-
doxical reaction) in a curative manner.
2,3,9,10,11,13,27-33
In this study, we elaborate on this proposal in accor-
dance with the assumptions of the homeopathic model
and the fundamentals of modern pharmacology, describ-
ing existing research and a specific methodology for the
therapeutic application of the rebound effect of modern
drugs, suggesting the use of this practice in a complemen-
tary and adjuvant manner
34
in a myriad of diseases and
syndromes. As such, we hope to contribute to medical
knowledge, minimizing prejudice related to homeopathy
and encouraging an expansion of the art of healing.
T
he
principle
of
similarity
according
to
the
homeopathic model
In the development of the homeopathic model, Samuel
Hahnemann (1755-1843) used the phenomenological meth-
od of qualitative research to describe the effects of drugs on
human physiology and substantiate the principle of similar-
ity. Based on the study of the pharmacological properties of
dozens of medicinal substances of his time, in which a “sec-
ondary action or reaction of the organismafter primary drug
action” was observed,
35
Hahnemann enunciated an aphorism
to explain the possible effects of drugs on human health:
Every agent that acts upon the vitality, every medicine, de-
ranges more or less the vital force, and causes a certain al-
teration in the health of the individual for a longer or a
shorter period. This is termed
primary action
. [...] To its action
our vital force endeavors to oppose its own energy. This re-
sistant action is a property, is indeed an automatic action of
our life-preserving power, which goes by the name of
second-
ary action
or
counteraction
. (
Organon of medicine
, § 63)
36
He exemplifies this principle describing the primary actions
of medicines on various physiological systems and the con-
sequent secondary actions or counteractions of the organ-
ism, with opposite effects to the primary physiological
changes, which induce the organism to return to the state
prior to the intervention (conservation force or vital reaction
or life-preserving power):
(...) Excessive vivacity follows the use of strong coffee (pri-
mary action), but sluggishness and drowsiness remain for
a long time afterwards (reaction, secondary action), if this
be not always again removed for a short time by imbibing
fresh supplies of coffee (palliative, short duration). After
the profound stupefied sleep caused by opium (primary
action), the following night will be all the more sleepless
(reaction, secondary action). After the constipation produced
by opium (primary action), diarrhea ensues (secondary
action); and after purgation with medicines that irritate
the bowels, constipation of several days’ duration ensues
(secondary action). And in like manner it always happens,
after the primary action of a medicine that produces in
large doses a great change in the health of a healthy person,
that its exact opposite, when, as has been observed, there
is actually such a thing, is produced in the secondary action
by our vital force. (
Organon of medicine,
§ 65)
36
In order to provide clarification to readers not familiar with
the homeopathic terminology, the primary actions (direct
effects) of the medicines correspond to the therapeutic and
adverse effects of modern pharmacology, and the secondary
actions (indirect effects) of the medicines or reactions of the
organism correspond to the rebound effect of drugs or par-
adoxical reaction of the organism, which we will describe in
detail below. Similarly, the terms conservation force or vital
reaction or life-preserving power correspond to the homeo-
static mechanisms described by modern physiology, that is,
the property of living organisms tomaintain the constancy
of the internal environment through automatic self-adjust-
ments to physiological processes, ranging from simple cel-
lular mechanisms to complex psychological functions.
Whereas this reaction of the organism (secondary and
opposite reaction to the primary action of the medicine)
may manifest with all types of drugs, regardless of the
dose, and in any individual, Hahnemann raises the prin-
ciple of similarity to the category of “natural phenomenon”
(
Organon of medicine,
§ 58, 61, 110-112).
36
Proposing to administer substances to patients which
arouse similar symptoms in individuals submitted to “ho-
meopathic pathogenetic experimentation” (“pathogenetic
homeopathic trials,” similar to phase I pharmacological
clinical trials),
37,38
the principle of therapeutic similarity
aims to stimulate a curative homeostatic reaction, inducing
the organism to react against its own disorders.
T
he
principle
of
similarity
in
the
light
of
modern
pharmacology
2-13
Building a bridge between the principle of similarity and
modern scientific rationality, hundreds of studies de-