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Isopathy refers to the decision to ignore the symptom picture and give the substance which caused the problem in the first place. It is common in isopathy to give a product of a disease (nosode) for the disease itself, thus administering the same thing in an attenuated form. Many people use it as a shortcut to repertorizing.
Classical homeopathic practice is to administer similar wholly foreign agents to diseased conditions but using the symptom picture as the first and primary guide to the remedy. If the symptoms do match the patient, then by all means use the nosode. Isopathy was introduced by Dr. Lux in 1823 who along with Hering taught that the toxins were capable of a cure.
The medicinal effects of a substance are not always the same as the effects of its use. Rhus tox is rarely effective in poison ivy rashes especially after the first stages. Mercury is only one possibility in many for the abuse of mercury.
My personal experience with isopathy in using Rhus tox for a poison ivy cure was a very bad one. There was some minimal relief in using the isopathic remedy but after two days of intense itching I consulted the repertory for Rhus tox poisoning and found many more remedies, one of which was marvelous in reducing the itching and redness. I thought of taking a dose of Idiot 3x but realized that it wouldn't work either as well as some of my constitutionally based remedies I'd already repertorized.
The more modern paranoia of aluminum pots is based on the logical fallacy of isopathy. Because they've been able to find aluminum in people's brains, people quickly decided that it came from cooking utensils made of aluminum ignoring the fact that our digestive systems pass the stuff straight through. There is no basis for that belief as research keeps coming up empty for that theory.
Aluminum, long suspected of promoting Alzheimer’s, apparently doesn’t, judging by review of dozens of studies covering every kind of exposure to aluminum – including antiperspirants, antacids, cookware, canned foods, drinking water, and even inhalation of aluminum on the job. Nor is there any evidence that such aluminum exposure contributes to other health problems in people with normal kidney function. - Consumer Reports on Health (October 1998)
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