The role of homeopathy in diabetes based on the scientific papers published in peer reviewed journals is encouraging. Though the condition is not curable, it can be managed well with homeopathy. Its homeopathic management is broadly based on two aspects: (i) condition specific hypoglycaemic drugs in low doses and (ii) symptomatic management based on peculiar symptoms. In the later, perhaps patient may be put on either conventional or other form of hypoglycaemic drug/s. Role of constitutional and antimiasmatic intercurrent drugs will be useful in both the cases.
Peer reviewed publications of role of homeopathy in diabetes are of wide range.1-9 They include both types of diabetes (1 & 2), different complications, different models (human, animal, in vitro), mode of action, etc. If utilized properly, homeopathy can be used effectively. Since this author has already touched upon approaches like constitutional, miasmatic, condition specific drugs, low potency and mother tinctures in this journal in the past, this article is mainly focuses on commonly reported peculiar symptoms and key indications of diabetes and their drugs.
Interesting facts about diabetes found in recent studies
Women with PCOS are more prone to get type 2 diabetes10
Polycystic ovary syndrome is a widespread condition among women of reproductive age, and a new study suggests that it may also put these women at a significant risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The research was carried out by Denmark-based scientists and the findings were published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Women with PCOS often have insulin resistance, which is a condition wherein the muscles, fat, and liver do not respond properly to the hormone, so the body keeps producing more of it. Excessive insulin production is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. But as the authors of the new research report, there are insufficient prospective population-based studies to date that have studied the connection between PCOS and type 2 diabetes. The authors point out that BMI and glucose levels are the most reliable predictors of type 2 diabetes in women with PCOS. Older age, on the other hand, should not be considered a good predictor, given that the women in the current study were diagnosed with diabetes before the age of 40.
Insufficient sleep raises type 2 diabetes risk in children11
Researchers from St. George’s, University of London in the United Kingdom set out to examine the potential link between sleep duration and type 2 diabetes risk in children. The team was led by St. George’s professor Christopher G. Owen, and the findings were published in the journal Pediatrics. As the authors of the new research explain, the possible associations between the length of sleep and the risk markers for type 2 diabetes have not been sufficiently studied. Prof. Owen and colleagues examined 4,525 multiethnic children aged between 9 and 10 years, all of whom were living in the U.K. They took the children’s body measurements, including height, weight, blood pressure, and bioimpedance – a measure of how well the body resists electric current, which gives insights into body composition. The researchers took blood samples and tested the children’s predisposition to type 2 diabetes using a plasma glucose test.
Peculiar symptoms and key indications related to diabetes12-20
| Abnormal urination; irritation during urination. | Hygrophilia sphinosa |
| Aching in kidneys, worse before and better after urinating | Lycopodium clavatum |
| Burning all over the body; diabetic carbuncle. | Gymnema sylvestre |
| Constant craving for raw articles | Tarentula hispanica |
| Constipation in most cases of diabetes, rarely diarrhea | Lac vaccinum defloratum |
| Copious urine, of a clear yellow colour, or thickish and whitish | Carbo vegetabilis |
| Covering both diabetes insipidus and mellitus | Argentum metallicum |
| Decoction of the shells as a drink for diabetes, but look out for severe headache. | Phaseolus nanus |
| Diabetes and insipidus; much thirst with profuse flow of wine in every two hours. No other remedy causes in so marked degree the diminution and disappearance of sugar in the urine. | Syzygium jambolanum |
| Diabetes from excess of carbohydrates or proteins taken with the meal | Elaterium |
| Diabetes insipidus with “a sense of sinking in the pit of the stomach with great debility | Apocynum cannabinum |
| Diabetes mellitus and insipidus with skin affections; jaundice; dropsy etc. | Cephalandra indica |
| Diabetes of nervous origin | Phosphoricum acidum |
| Diabetes originating in dyspepsia or assimilative derangement | Uranium nitricum |
| Diabetes originating in dyspepsia or due to assimilative derangements | Acidum phorphoricum |
| Diabetes with lung affections | Calcarea phosphorica |
| Diabetes with melancholia | Helonias dioica |
| Diabetes, especially in children. | Crataegus oxyacantha |
| Diabetes, large quantities of urine of low specific gravity | Acidum aceticum, Acidum phosphoricum, Rhus aromatica |
| Diabetes, mellitus and insipidus; prickly heat; pimples; itch; emaciation; weakness. | Syzygium jambolanum |
| Diabetes, with aching in the small of the back; excessive thirst, mental apathy | Acidum phosphoricum |
| Diabetes, with excessive thirst and emaciation and also tympanitis | Uranium nitricum |
| Diabetes, with impaired memory; dryness of mouth | Kalium bromatum |
| Diabetes, with impotency | Coca, Acidum phosphoricum, Moschus, Sulphur |
| Diabetes, with obstinate sleepiness. | Uranium nitricum |
| Diabetic condition, profuse and frequent urination, as an intercurrent | Medorrhinum |
| Diabetic gangrene | Lachesis muta |
| Diabetic ulcers | Syzygium jambolanum |
| Dry skin with scabies, aggravation at night; small pimples, carbuncle | Abroma augusta |
| Dryness of mouth, tongue and throat; tongue cracked; hectic fever | Plumbum metallicum |
| Emaciation and weakness is pronounced, micturition is frequent, and the urine is profuse and turbid, and the gastric indications of the remedy are present. | Argentum nitricum |
| Extreme thirst, the tongue is dry and parched, there is a voracious appetite. | Lacticum acidum |
| Frequent inclination to make water, with abundant emission | Argentum metallicum |
| Gonorrhoea and diabetes associated with burning sensation during urination; haematuria. | Ficus indica |
| Great general lassitude; heaviness of limbs; loss of strength; emaciation | Secale cornutum |
| Great thirst emaciation, diuresis, incontinence of urine, and prostration. | Uranium nitricum |
| Interstitial nephritis and diabetes insipidus, when the quantity of urine is increased and the specific gravity is low. | Rhus aromatica |
| It has relieved glycosuria, and has modified diabetes mellitus. | Radium metallicum |
| Palliative in diabetes, with impaired mental power, dryness of mouth, etc. | Kali bromatum |
| Peculiar sweet smell about the patient | Pyrogenium |
| Prickly heat in upper part of the body; small red pimples, which itched violently; old ulcers of the skin; diabetic ulceration; old ulcers of skin, probably of a diabetic foundation. | Syzygium jambolanum |
| Profuse urination; weakness and exhaustion after urination; sugar in the urine; diabetes mellitus. | Cephalandra indica |
| Pruritus of diabetes | Manganum aceticum |
| Renal and urinary affections, especially diabetes. | Rhus aromatica |
| ‘Sugar-killer’ – excellent medicine for diabetes mellitus, also effacious in poisonous snake-bites. | Gymnema sylvestre |
| Urinal discharge (imperceptively), thirst, starchy urine; Urine of high specific gravity | Abroma augusta |
| Weakness of the heart due to diabetes; palpitation and pain | Aegle folia |
| Weak-sightedness due to suffering from diabetes, eyes are of the closed | Abroma augusta |
| When symptoms appear with great rapidity and accompanied with weakness. | Thyroidinum |
| Whitish urine, with a sweetish smell and taste, passes off in excessive abundance, with prostration, emaciation and inextinguishable thirst | Psorinum |
References
- Ka Lun Aaron To et al. Individualized homeopathic treatment in addition to conventional treatment in type II diabetic patients in Hong Kong – a retrospective cohort study. Homeopathy, May 2017Volume 106, Issue 2, Pages 79–86.
- Chaturbhuja Nayak et al. A prospective multi-centric open clinical trial of homeopathy in diabetic distal symmetric polyneuropathy. Homeopathy, April 2013, Volume 102, Issue 2, Pages 130–138.
- Vivienne Weinstock. Pancreatic recovery and injection free status has been achieved with insulin dependent diabetics by adding homeopathy to the usually prescribed mix of insulin, diet and exercise. Homeopathy, February 2016Volume 105, Issue 1, Pages 40–41
- Sathish Sampath et al. Effect of homeopathic preparations of Syzygium jambolanum and Cephalandra indica on gastrocnemius muscle of high fat and high fructose-induced type-2 diabetic rats. Homeopathy, July 2013, Volume 102, Issue 3, Pages 160–171
- Rashmi Santosh Tupe et al. Syzygium jambolanum and Cephalandra indica homeopathic preparations inhibit albumin glycation and protect erythrocytes: an in vitro study. Homeopathy, July 2015, Volume 104, Issue 3, Pages 197–204
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- Katrine Hass Rubin Dorte Glintborg Mads Nybo Bo Abrahamsen Marianne Andersen. Development and risk factors of type 2 diabetes in a nationwide population of women with polycystic ovary syndrome. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, jc.2017-01354, https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2017-01354. Published: 29 August 2017
- Alicja R. Rudnicka, Claire M. Nightingale, Angela S. Donin, Naveed Sattar, Derek G. Cook, Peter H. Whincup, Christopher G. Owen. Sleep Duration and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes. Pediatrics, August 2017
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