Developing Homeopathic Treatment Guidelines for Patients with Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C has been studied for a long time. Despite consensus that, overall, reduction in inflammatory activity prevents progression to fibrosis and increased mortality, that same reduction usually prevents progression to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma thus improving the quality of life of patients. In the Hepatology Service of the Hospital Universitário Antonio Pedro, linked to the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), many patients, even though they are regularly followed, are unable to follow the recommendations of conventional treatment – due to medication side effects or because they have achieved cure criteria at the end of therapy. Faced with this demand, we assume the challenge of designing homeopathic treatment guidelines for hepatitis C, based on the assumptions of this integrative practice and guided by Carillo’s Theory of Complex Systems. The project initially involved the participation of 42 patients. As a result, we studied the materia medica of Zincum metallicum and China officinalis for liver support, given their tropism for the liver, initiating one or another (or combining both).

Of the 42 initial patients, 4 withdrew from the protocol for personal reasons, leaving 38 participants. In the first consultation we prescribed the liver support remedies. In addition, we proceeded with semi-structured interviews, asking the patients about the most significant changes they were experiencing in their quality of life. Patients’ self-reported major symptoms were determined using the validated Likert-scale questionnaire, WHO–QOL 100 (World Health Organization–Evaluation of Quality of Life). After 14 months of homeopathic treatment, there was significant improvement in all symptoms reported by patients, in the order of 75%, demonstrating that homeopathy is a feasible adjunctive therapy, particularly addressing improvement in quality of life. Further studies are indicated.

Keywords: Homeopathy, hepatitis C, liver, welfare