21st Century Medicine: Four years using the Candegabe Algorithm in Practice
by Robert Bannan, LCH, LCCH
In 2009 I came across the Candegabe Algorithm (AKA the HUMA method). Despite initial skepticism I decided to give it an unbiased trial by testing it for a reasonable period of time - around three months without preconceptions - and allowing for my initial poor knowledge of its functioning. I had to learn by trial and error, and subsequently have been informed that other colleagues have trialed it but could not make sense of it. I was careful, kept notes and was able to get a thorough grasp of how to make the best use of it. Since that time I have used this wonderful new tool in hundreds of new and old cases and have been astonished at the efficacy and accuracy it enables in prescribing.
Background and History
At the LIGA Conference in Berlin in 2005, Dr. Marcello Candegabe met and had a conversation with Hans Peter Durr, the well known physicist and several times director of the Max Plank Institute. This fruitful five hour conversation impacted Durr’s thinking about his conference presentation and motivated Candegabe to return to Buenos Aires to develop the research which led to the creation of this new tool - the Algorithm. During the exchange Candegabe presented some of the problems of homeopathy to Durr who replied, “In my humble opinion, there should be many codes that relate medicines to patients," (as opposed to only signs, symptoms, observations and subjective descriptions from the patient). Candegabe began investigating other analog models, looking for the most stable and most objective parameters, factors which could be as far from human subjectivity as possible.
Working with the University of Buenos Aires, Candegabe put together a team of two mathematicians, a linguist and Latin expert, computer programmers and homeopaths to realize this project. It took them three years before they were satisfied with the consistency of results, and in 2008 the Algorithm was launched online: www.algoritmocandegabe.com. This is an ongoing project and improvement and updates to the data base take place at regular intervals.
What is it? How Does it Work?
The algorithm is a probability calculator based on statistical distribution methodology.
It works by translating the personal information of the patient (names, date of birth, etc.) into a numero-phonetic code using the international phonetic alphabet. It then compares the patient code to the numero-phonetic codes of the names of the remedies in the homeopathic materia medica. After comparative processing the algorithm gives a read-out chart listing the remedies that correspond to the patient’s personal information. This read-out typically contains somewhere between 30 to 40 remedies which are graded as follows: to their correspondence to the name; to the kingdom they belong to; and to consonant and key remedy parameters.
What you find yourself looking at after consulting the algorithm which takes no more than three to five minutes once you understand the system, is a group of remedies to consider for your case. In many instances you will be surprised to find that the remedies the algorithm is suggesting make perfect sense but that you would never have found your way to them in any other way. The algorithm does not favor well known or big remedies over small remedies since it does not consider symptoms or signs at all - this is one big advantage. The only consideration is the correspondence between the personal information of the patient and that of the remedies in the materia medica.
How can this be Homeopathic?
Well it’s not homeopathic, it is simply a mathematical probability algorithm. It’s a tool. Now this is where the work of the homeopath comes in. The case still has to be taken in full and with as much care. Clinical knowledge, observations and understanding of human nature are every bit as important as before. Nothing really changes other than you suddenly have access to a huge number of other substances you did not truly have access to before. The work is then to differentiate the remedies pressing for consideration. Once you understand the read-out of the algorithm and the qualifying elements (which are quite simple) there are often 5 or 6 remedies (at most) to consider for each case.
I emphasize, the algorithm read-out represents a phonetic correspondence between the name of the person and the name of the substances of the materia medica. In itself it means nothing about “homeopathicity”. The strange and wonderful thing is that as long as the rules of the algorithm are obeyed this correspondence, almost without exception, points to a very good homeopathic remedy or remedies for the patient.
This is not magic, rather it was a staunch scientific endeavor which developed this tool. A quote is in order to address the mysterious quality of this correspondence between name and remedy. Nobel Prize winner Eugene Wigner stated, “The miracle of the relationship between language, mathematics and the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift that we do not understand nor deserve. We should be grateful for it and expect it to remain valid in future research and extending, for better or for worse, for pleasure or even to our dismay, to other branches of knowledge”.
Findings
There are Pro’s and Con’s to any new tool and if it’s a good tool the con’s can usually be circumvented without too much trouble.
It’s worth mentioning here that Candegabe himself does not allow any of the students in Buenos Aires to use or even discuss the algorithm before they have graduated the thorough three year classical homeopathic training and I am very much in agreement with this measure. To encourage the uninitiated to use this tool without the necessary grounding in homeopathy would be akin to offering a compass to a blind man. It could easily encourage poor habits if not given its proper place and perspective in practice.
One of the challenges of using the algorithm is the fact that I was often faced with a remedy, or sometimes several remedies, that I had no knowledge of, had never used before and had a paucity of information in our literature. The tendency is to not see these remedies and to lean towards other remedies in the read-out that may not score as well but that you are more or less familiar with. This is an all too familiar habit with repertorization as well, although of course the repertories always put forward the better known remedies to begin with and finding lesser known remedies therein is a mighty challenge. The reason for the algorithm is to enable the consideration of all remedies. The proper use of the algorithm will also offer you a clinical training in the deployment of the lesser known and used remedies. This may present a challenge at first, but as confidence in the system grows you will see the spectrum of remedies you are using broaden and the results in your practice improve accordingly.
Before I could get consistent results there were a number of important technicalities that I had to work through. This was made easier once I took the time to understand what the algorithm is actually doing and what the read-out actually represents. Being based on a numero-phonetic code the input of the data for the patient is of absolute fundamental importance. So when taking the case, asking for the persons full name and middle names as they appear on the birth certificate with proper spelling is vital. The used name or nickname or name the individual most identifies with is another vitally important element to define as clearly as possible as irregularities or changes in the spelling of this will change everything. Again, the phonetic element is of prime importance and vowels and vowel sounds must be represented as accurately as possible. Then there is the question of which language was the birth certificate in. In many countries, for instance countries with a Slavic language, it’s important to represent the name not just literally but phonetically as well or to strike a balance between these two. The original alphabet of the Slavic countries was Cyrillic and therefore there are incompatibilities with the Latin basis of the algorithm. This can be compensated to a large degree by listening to the how the name is pronounced and impeccably representing this in phonetic form. There are a few subtleties here that go beyond the scope of this paper but most people will find they can learn to get around this most of the time. I doubt Chinese names for instance would work with the algorithm and so there are some limits here. Spending some time at the start of a consultation getting the full name and nicknames is often an enlightening moment as many things come associated with the name and sometimes fundamental elements of the case will be brought into focus simply by doing this.
Another potential problem can be when you have generated an algorithm that is in fact not a good representation of the name or you used the wrong nickname. Initially I had found myself in the position of trying to find a way to make the remedies presented fit the case since I had enough good cases to have confidence in the algorithm but not enough experience to recognize when perhaps the read-out was not right for the name and therefore the read-out was incorrect.
Being a numero-phonetic code the change of even one letter, particularly vowels, can and usually does have a profound impact on the remedies put forward. So the input is all important; fortunately one can now edit each patient’s read-outs and get another read-out without having to use a second credit so one can run three or four algorithms if need be for anyone.
In the end we are doing homeopathy and we need a good similimum for our patient. The algorithm as a tool and servant will work beautifully if used properly and wisely, but if made the final arbiter in prescribing it could cause more trouble than no tool at all.
We always need to be circumspect as homeopaths and a new tool requests more rather than less circumspection from us initially. None the less I recommend to everyone to give this tool an honest trial in your practice, it has been a great boon to me and my homeopathy and my thanks and appreciation go to Candegabe and his team in Buenos Aires for having the courage and determination to bring this work to the profession.
A couple of very abbreviated cases as examples:
Case 1:
51 year old woman with large cystic tumor on the back of the neck presents not for aid with this as it’s untreatable she says but she has vesicular eruptions on her fingers which are worse wetting and she is working serving in a tavern and often has to have her hands in water. They are also worse in the winter and when she feels stressed. It is now so bad she cannot make a fist without her skin splitting.
She also complains of post nasal drip, allergies and back pain. She used to get bronchitis frequently and severely, better since stopped smoking following a bout of pleuritis.
Had painful menses and bad PMS, and was on anti-conception pill for many years.
Gets chilled easily.
There is degenerative arthritis in the family on both sides and her hips and knees are increasingly painful now.
She is a pleasant woman but quite suppressed and it is not easy for her to express herself spontaneously. She has a fear of embarrassing herself, is nervous and shy of what other people think of her. She has a fear of being ridiculed.
Dreams of falling, bottomless falling and knowing you have to wake yourself up before you hit bottom.
This woman did well in most areas with Staphisagria in various potencies over a period of three years with a dose of Causticum at one point. The eruption continued to return and the tumor on the neck and joint pain continued to slowly aggravate during this time.
I ran an algorithm for her. The symmetry was a number 9 meaning she could be any kingdom so no help there. Below are the top scoring remedies. On investigation Anthrokokali struck me as the best remedy being best described as a cross between Causticum and Graphites. With this remedy used over a period of fifteen months she was able to resolve the skin issue, the tumor on the neck cleared up entirely after 2 months! The joint pains improved 90% only playing up in winter when particularly cold.
Anthrokokali 9
Aurum iodatum 9
Ginkgo biloba 9
Jalapa 9
Arsenicum album 9
Phosphorus 9
Prior to the algorithm the chances of finding my way to this remedy would have approximated zero. I now have two good cases of this remedy. It is important to look at all the remedies that the read-out is giving highest grading to. Sometimes, as in cases like this, the source of the remedy will tell more about its nature than the materia medica can. Using a form of group analysis, and extrapolating similarities to Causticum and Graphites, it was easy for me to see the correspondence between Anthrokokali and the client. The proving information confirmed this.
Case 2:
Ady is three going on four but she is fully convinced she has the measure of anyone!
Presenting rectal prolapse for the second time, with great distress, bloody mucus preceded by a clear diarrhea.
In the past she had sometimes had little rabbit poops, in little dark balls.
Potty training had been an issue and then she had started having “accidents” not long before the prolapse happened the first time.
Tonsils red and vascular enlarged on both sides. Little white crypts in them. Complains a lot with her throat pain.
She is very, very possessive of her mother who is now heavily pregnant!
She has feet smelling like vinegar. She loves olives and pickles.
The most characteristic feature is her attitude. Extremely bossy, her mother says she’s worse than a 15 year old. She is very, very strong willed and very dominating, bossing all the adults around. Her mother says she is definitely the boss in a family of bosses!
Very jealous and doesn’t like to share.
She loves to hide, it’s her favorite game.
She sweats all night and gets really hot, not only when she is sick, all the time. Drenches the pillow around her head.
I am alone with her in the consultation room for a period of time during which time she tells me, in reply to a question, “You’re not too smart are you” “I’m the smartest one on the earth”.
My observation at the end of the interview: She is three and is so smart, so aware, so able to give definitive answers even unasked and totally unaided, she is so independent I think it even scares her a little. I capitalized, CLEAR, COMPLETE, CONCRETE, SO DEFINITE, THERE CAN BE NO DISCUSSION ABOUT IT.
Muriatic-acid brought no meaningful reaction from her so to the algorithm.
Her Symmetry was 4 emphasizing the Mineral remedies first of all so these need to be given preference in the analysis.
Vegetable Aconitum napellus 8
Vegetable Angustura vera 8
Mineral Plutonium nitricum 8
Vegetable Chelidonium majus 6
Mineral Ferrum sulphuricum 6
Vegetable Sambucus nigra 6
Vegetable Solanum nigrum 6
There are but two mineral remedies to consider, Plutonium-nitricum scores highest with 8 leaving Ferrum-sulph only an interesting second.
Plutonium-nitricum 200C one dose and both the prolapse and the throat are resolved. The power play however is only just beginning! I sympathize with her strong parents since even they are clearly outgunned here.
This was the first time I used Plutonium-nitricum in the case of a child and as it does in many cases, the algorithm helps develop a deeper, broader understanding of the remedies in the different phases of their process.
I could give many dozens of cases of mineral, organic, animal, botanical cases to demonstrate the utility of this new tool, this is just a taste. I hope it will encourage you to give the algorithm an honest trial.
In winter 2013-2014 Robert will together with Miranda Castro be offering a short training and supervision in the use of the algorithm to help homeopaths get to grips with the subtleties of the system quickly and easily. We will focus on the process of generating an algorithm for anyone and the areas that need special attention.
In some cases the name is simple and unambiguous, others require more care to represent properly. How to read the resulting list of remedies and tips in approaching lesser known remedies. We are hoping to develop an ongoing project with a community of colleagues to realize the potential of this new tool, both for prescribing and in the development of clinical materia medica for many of our little known, little used remedies.
