Principles of homeopathy and the history of Pflueger’s homeopathic combination remedies

The German medical doctor Samuel Hahnemann, founder of homeopathy, established this method of natural treatment based on special rules. To be able to use homeopathic drugs for self-medication, it is helpful to look back to the history of homeopathy in order to understand some important terms. All the following information belongs to homeopathic single remedies as well as to homeopathic combination remedies
(with more than one active remedy) which Pflueger manufactures.

What does the name homeopathy mean?

The basis of homeopathy goes back to the Greek language and means “similar disease” (homoious = similar and pathos = disease). This means that in homeopathy the individual disease is treated with a tiny amount of a natural ingredient of which a large amount, applied to a healthy person, would lead to similar symptoms typical for the special disease.
For instance, after taking a special preparation of Gelsemium sempervirens (yellow jasmine), the healthy person will develop a temperature and a feeling of exhaustion (influenza symptoms). Knowing this, we understand why Gelsemium sempervirens is often given to patients with these symptoms or why it is an important part of homeopathic complex remedies for cold and flu. This so-called “rule of similar” (lat. similia similibus curentur) is one of the basic three principles of homeopathy.

How did Hahnemann come to his findings?

At the very beginning of his research, Hahnemann did an experiment on himself in taking some grains of bark from the plant China (drug testing). He came to the conclusion that China produces in healthy subjects intermittent fever (malarial fever) and that China is able to cure intermittent fever in patients. In this way, Hahnemann examined many different natural substances derived from herbal, mineral and animal origin by administering them to relatives and friends. His assumption that the same drug that cures symptoms when administered in very small parts would cause the problems when administered in huge doses was confirmed again and again.

Hahnemann’s consideration was to keep the amount of substance so small that the sick person could get cured without leading to aggravation of the symptoms. The above explained drug testing in healthy subjects is the second principle of homeopathy. Furthermore, the drug testing includes the drawing up of the so-called “drug-picture” which means the description of the range of possible manifestations, symptoms, and appearances. All proved substances are described in homeopathic textbooks (materia medica).

The terms potency and mother tincture.

The denomination of all remedies is in Latin. After the name there is a number and one of the letters “X”, “C” or “LM”. This denomination stands for the so-called “potency” of the substance. The word “potency” derives from Latin and means “power“ or “strongness”. It explains the way in which the used substance was processed. Hahnemann also provided exact instructions for potentizing the basic substances of homeopathic medicine. This works like following: the extract (mother tincture) of the plant is manufactured in accordance to the HPUS (Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States). The mother tincture will be mixed with an ethanol-water-mixture and vigorously shaken. This procedure leads to the swecond homeopathic potency, described in relation to the mother-tincture/ethanol-water mixture (1x):

Proportion mother-tincture/ Denomination of the first
ethanol-water mixture potency-step

1 : 10 1X
1 : 100 1C
1 : 50 000 1LM

Using the solution of the second step and repeating the explained procedure of mixing and shaking with the water-ethanol mixture will achieve the third step of potency. According to the proportions of the mixture, the 2X, 2C or 2LM is manufactured. The procedure is carried on, up to the desired potency. The potency steps of homeopathic tablets are carried out by using lactose (milk sugar) and the basic substance (trituration process).
The material substance decreases but the dynamic power, responsible for the healing process, increases. The “potentized solution”, in comparison to an “ordinary solution” shows immense advantages in the treatment of sick people. The potentization is the third principle of homeopathy.

What does “healing crisis” or aggravation mean?

Occasionally, the intake of a homeopathic drug may lead to an aggravation lasting up to 48 hours after intake. This aggravation is a positive sign, indicating that the remedy is suitable to cure the complaint and the condition begins to improve.

What kind of administration forms is available for homeopathic drugs?

Actually, there are far more than two thousand single remedies known, which are available in different potencies mainly as dilutions, tablets, globules, triturations and ointments.

How to choose the right medicine?

The rule of administering Aba single remedy is based on the experience and the recommendation of Hahnemann. The total of all symptoms completed by the so-called modalities of the sick individual has to be precisely documented to select the correct remedy for the patient. The modalities explain the condition of worsening and improvement, e.g., headache between 2 am to 4 am, worse lying down, better while walking outside in fresh air, etc. The target is to find the correct remedy for the individual, which in a healthy person would cause similar problems (= principle of similarity). The next step is to select the right potency and dosage. This decision is made on the basis of education and experience of the therapist. Absent a therapist, follow the directions on the label – low infrequent doses. To summarize we can say that, in classical homeopathy, every sick person shall get his “tailored” individual remedy.

Pflueger’s homeopathic combination remedies and their long history

For Hahnemann, the only feasible way to know the effects of a homeopathic medicine was the testing of a remedy on a person. The symptoms of the observed served as fields of application.
However, for Hahnemann, the treatment of chronic diseases remained a challenge. He came to realize and described that the chronic diseases of a person are a multi-functional process with factors such as a flawed lifestyle (distress, nutrition), wrong medication or genetic strain. He drew up a list of remedies with a wide-ranging effect and gave them one after the other or alternately. The way he was handling things clearly shows that one remedy for an illness often does not suffice. Corresponding with a friend, Dr. Julius Aegidi, he praised and confirmed the latter’s methods, since he had treated 233 patients with dual remedies successfully and had thus achieved a swift and safe recovery.

Since Hahnemann had not published these findings, most successors of Hahnemann refrained from the use of dual or combined homeopathic remedies. In the middle of the 19th century, though, Count Cesare Mattei, the physician Zimpel and the pharmacist Sauter created combinations of proven remedies for different fields of application. These complex remedies, according to Zimpel and Theodor Kraub, a follower of Count Mattei, are made use of to this day and rightly so, due to proven therapeutic success.

Since the plants used in homeopathy contain no single substances but hold minor or major complexes of active agents, it is illogical that it is not permitted to use the complex.
Traditional Chinese Medicine was probably facing the predicament of combining different remedies thousands of years ago. Today it has highly effective combinations in which every single drug has its own special task and is indispensible for the overall effect. This result was achieved because the search for effective combinations had been approved and documented.
Thanks to the thorough work of physicians and pharmacists, combination homeopathic remedies are applied. They combined different suitable remedies according to the symptomatic appearance of the patients and administered them at the same time. Single remedies were combined that aimed at different weak points in order to cover a wide range of symptoms. The employment of homeopathic combination remedies is based on the observed effect on the patients, i.e. empirically obtained facts. The observations allow the following conclusions:

1. The combined and intensified single remedies do not harm each other in their effect.
2. New remedies are created which show a better effect than the single components.

The ill patient is supported by the use of a homeopathic combination remedies in his / her resistance (on a wider range than with single remedies). The endogenic reactions that have been activated are stimulated moderately, a process that leads to a quicker, more secure and complete recovery. A chronic disease is a complex event in the organism that has lost its balance. It will require a number of steps to enable the body to redress the balance. Complex homeopathic remedies offer a start on this way. The aim and the claim of combination homeopathy is to treat and - if possible – to heal a disease with all the advantages of a homeopathic treatment on an optimum scale. The realization of modern medicine, that the treatment of chronic diseases requires the stimulation and - if necessary – the mending of blocked flows, warrants the use of combination remedies. While orthodox medicine relies on the substitution of an emerged defect in biochemical flows or the continuous blocking of an exceeding reaction in the body, a homeopathic combination remedy works on lifting the blockade through the activation of various physiological flows such as the secretion performance of liver, gall bladder, kidneys, bladder, lungs or intestines. The same accounts for metabolic reactions in the cell or the cell membrane.

Pflueger’s beginnings and history

The homeopath Georg Pflueger, grandfather of Horst Pflueger, owner and general manager of today’s Pflueger Germany, knew about the history of single remedies and homeopathic combination remedies. On the basis of the daily routine in his practice and the experience and the knowledge of other contemporaries (homeopaths, physicians, pharmacists and biologists) the line of Pflueger combination remedies was created in the1930’s. For years they worked on the compositions, and they were optimized according to the empirical results of the treatment. George’s son, Alexander, produced his father’s combinations on an industrial scale, with the idea of obtaining a maximum quality. Safe, effective and organic are other guidelines on Pflueger’s expectations of their own remedies. The changes in lifestyle and the living conditions since Hahnemann influenced the frequency and the severity of illnesses and created new ones.

The development of natural sciences and medicine have broadened our insight into the nature of diseases considerably. Laboratory medicine, modern screening techniques and microbiology have often disclosed the causes and the importance of symptoms. Therefore, Pflueger can look back on 75 successful years of service to patients, homeopaths and physicians in Europe. Through decades of documentation in medical reports and clinical double blind trials, performed in hospitals and published in medical journals, Pflueger forwards knowledge and experience to patients and health professionals every day. Time and again new remedies are being developed - following the necessities of life.