Do Homoeopaths use Cortisone?
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2003 Sep / Oct VOL V NO 5.
Dr Prabha Patwardhan
Introduction: This question is raised often and again in
Homoeopathy. We thought it would be useful for references to ask Dr Patwardhan
for her article which appeared in the Sunday Oberver.
Do homoeopaths use cortisone, a steroid? This question is often posed by
some patients during the course of a consultation. The answer is a definite ‘No’.
Homoeopaths of integrity and commitment to their profession do not use cortisone
and in fact have no need to. Their Materia Medica is very rich in remedies with
a vast range of curative effects. I am an allopath who turned to homoeopathy
after experiencing a personal cure for a minor but irritating ailment which
allopathy was unable to cure. I then studied Homoeopathy and have been in
homeopathic practice for the last 15 years. My only regret is that I did not
study it earlier. Homoeopathy is a wonderful system of therapeutics and no one
who has seriously studied it has ever doubted its efficacy. Then why are people
having doubts about the medicines being adulterated with cortisone?
When I posed this question to my patients who voiced their doubts, they said
that either they or some friend had the medicines given by their doctors tested
(in most cases very reputable doctors) and they tested positive for cortisone.
I try to reason with them with the following arguments:
1. If one has been on long term cortisone, one would show some side effects like
Moon facies, weight gain, excessive body hair, osteoporosis, diabetes etc.
2. Cortisone is not a cure all for all the ills of the world.
3. Homoeopathic remedies have a very wide range of curative properties.
4. Using steroid would in fact be counter-productive as they would have a
suppressive effect.
In view of this why should any Homoeopath resort to using cortisone?
Recently I had an occasion to test these allegations.
One of my old patients who had changed to another homoeopath nearer her home,
telephoned me frantically to say that she had had her medicines checked and they
tested positive for steroids. I decided to send some of my medicines to be
tested at the same place. The medicines sent were:
I. Unmedicated Pills.
II. Cina 1M.
III. Belladonna 30.
IV. Sulphur 30.
All these medicines were sent in a base of a small amount of
lactose (Milk Sugar)
A report the following week, said, all of them tested
positive for steroids
I asked them to carry out the same test on plain lactose.
This also tested positive for steroids. It was now obvious that all these
medicines were giving a false positive test for steroids. (Cortisone is a
steroid)
The test used was the ‘Colorimetric method using
tetrazolium blue salts’. In this test, the reaction depends upon the reduction
of tetrazolium blue salt to give a highly coloured compound known as farmazan.
Under controlled conditions the amount of farmazan developed is proportional to
the quantity of steroid or any reducing sugars present in the material being
tested.
In fact for some years, tetrazolium salts have been used for
determination of reducing sugars. So if the drug contains any lactose, it will
impart a strong colour with tetrazolium blue salt which will give a false
impression of the presence of steroid. Secondly, if the alcohol used in this
method is not completely free from aldehyde, it will interfere with the reaction
and will impart some characteristic colour in the reaction and will impart some
characteristic colour in the reaction, which may again give a false positive
impression of steroid. So this method is not advisable to determine the presence
of steroids in the drug.
Most homoeopaths use lactose as a base for holding the pills
containing the homoeopathic remedy together in the powders. The pills themselves
are made of cane sugar, a reducing sugar. Moreover almost all homoeopathic
remedies have alcohol as a diluent. One can see how homoeopathic remedies,
either as pills, powers or in alcohol, are likely to give a false positive test
for steroids if this method is used.
Other methods utilized to test for steroids are:
1. Liberman buchard test.
2. Thin layer chromatography method.
3. UV absorption method.
The UV Absorption Method
Almost all steroids show UV absorption method between 235 to
240 NM in dehydrated alcohol or methanol in a clear solution. A complete
spectrum of this solution is taken in the range 400 NM to 220 NM on a suitable
spectrophotometer.
If any steroid (Cortisone) is present it will show maxima at
240 NM.
None of the four samples showed maxima between 230 to 250 NM
showing absence of steroids.
The same samples when adulterated with a steroid showed
maxima at 235 NM, showing absence of a steroid. (The steroid added was
clobetasone-17 butyrate which has maxima at 235 NM).
Figures I and II show the spectrum for Sulphur 30 and Sulphur
30 adulterated with a steroid, respectively. Figure I does not show maxima
between 230 to 250 NM, showing an absence of steroids. Figure II shows maxima at
235 NM, showing the presence of a steroid.
Conclusion:
Before accepting a claim that the tested medicine does contain a steroid, one
must find out what testing procedures were used to eliminate a possibility of a
false positive result. The recommended tests TLC and UV absorption method should
ideally be carried out at any of the public testing laboratories listed by FDA
(Food and Drug Authority). If tests conclusively prove that the medicine given
is indeed a steroid, under the guise of a homoeopathic remedy, then one must
confront the doctor and seek an explanation, or complain to the homoeopathic
council so that disciplinary action can be taken against the erring doctor.
Unsubstantiated allegations against any doctor are most unfair and damaging to
his most cherished, professional integrity and indeed to the profession.
