Matridonal Remedies in Daily Practice by Dr. med. Heinz Wittwer

Matridonal Remedies in Daily Practice by Dr. med. Heinz Wittwer. ISBN: 978-3-9525090-0-5; 7.5” x 9.5”; 196pp; high quality paperback; $50 USD Published by Emyrss (see www.nature-reveals.com ). Translated from the 2019 German edition, Muttermittel in der taglichen Praxis

This is a book about matridonal remedies; those remedies—sarcodes—made from substances whose original source has a direct connection to pregnancy, birth and lactation and ‘...so relate to the beginnings of a human being in utero. ‘Matridonal’ meaning ‘given or gifted by the mother,’ and thereby emphasizing the great contribution mothers offer to the creation of human life'.—p. 8.[1]

Heinz Wittwer (b. 1955) decided to study medicine after attending an alternative medical conference in which he heard about homeopathy. Once finished with those formal medical studies, he embarked on his serious homeopathic education. His teachers and mentors included doctors Jost Kunzli, Wolfgang Springer and Andreas Richter. Additionally, he took the 3-month Augsburg Homeopathic Course circa 1993.[2]

Dr med. Wittwer, in just under two hundred pages, presents remedies which have proven their efficacy over the last decade or so: Lac humanum, Lac maternum, Oxytocinum, Folliculinum, Placenta humana, Vernix caseosa, Amnii liquor (amniotic fluid) and Chorda umbilicalis (umbilical cord). Progesterone, menstrual blood and possibly sperm are substances which could belong to this group, but at this point there is not enough experience with these in order to reliably use them in practice.[3]

All eight remedies have been proven yet many of the proving symptoms are non-specific in that they can be present in all matridonal remedies. Most remedies do possess some specific identifying characteristics, for example, Amniotic fluid, which like the others, has an intimate relationship with water yet distinguishes itself from the other remedies, according to Dr. Wittwer, because of its prominent desire to bathe, swim or enjoy diving. The author does stress that in nearly all cases multiple matridonal remedies will have to be prescribed (see cases 5, 6, 9, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26 and 28).

Interestingly, when ‘...Lac humanum symptoms appear, then this is a sign that the treatment can soon be completed’.—p. 9.

How about one of Dr Wittwer's cases?

Why not, but due to space considerations, allow me to summarise.

Case #16 concerns a 26-year-old female who impressed Wittwer with her radiant qualities and unusually warm heart energy. Her allopathically diagnosed complaint was neurodermatitis; however, the mental and emotional conditions were the most apparent and important.

After giving birth to a healthy baby girl, she was ‘just not herself anymore’. She was unable to give or receive affection from her husband. However, affection for her daughter was strong and considered normal.

She related her childhood somewhat, principally, to her abandonment by her mother at the age of 10 years. It seems she has not, to this day, come to peace with that situation.

During her pregnancy, which was a very nauseous one, she received homeopathic care and many remedies. Oxytocinum helped her the most but after 2 weeks and, in spite of repetitions, that remedy was of no further help: the nausea and vomiting persisted. Sometimes those symptoms were so extreme that she had to be hospitalised. Finally, the pregnancy ended and, along with it, that misery. Unfortunately, complications began during labour and she was forced to undergo a caesarean procedure. It goes without saying, her pregnancy was quite an ordeal.

Wittwer does not offer a discussion in the usual narrative manner but in a terse, outline form and in two sections (sections which conclude this and every case)—‘Finding the Remedy’ and ‘Progress’.

In ‘Finding the Remedy’, the first section, he suggests three points which indicate a matridonal remedy: (1) she considers separation (from her husband) then rejects that thought (alternating and opposing moods), (2) heartful radiance (warm hearted) and (3) responded well to the previous matridonal remedy (Oxytocinum).

In the next part of ‘Finding the Remedy’, (indications for selection of remedy) he offers four points: (1) she cannot allow closeness with her husband > Chord-u; (2) she becomes angry and cold > Plac., Chord-u, Oxyt., Lac-h; (3) she suffered from extreme nausea in pregnancy > Chord-u. (4) she abandoned in childhood, hurt by mother > Chord-u.

The final part of ‘Finding the Remedy’ section is prescription and with no further discussion, Chord-u. 200C is prescribed; one dose every 2 weeks.

‘Progress’, is the second section, and for this case, he offers six points (4 weeks since the Rx) ‘(1) has stomach pain and diarrhoea a few hours after taking the remedy; was very tired after- wards, already went to bed at 8:30 pm; (2) woke the next day with headache (headache after taking a remedy is always a good sign in her case); was relaxed the whole day, but mood was rather down; (3) in a good mood from the third day after taking the remedy; (4) has stronger feelings for her husband and her child; is in love with her husband again; 5) is more relaxed, happier, and no longer so stressed (this was also confirmed by her husband), after disappointments can pick herself up much more quickly; 6) the skin is worse, the water retention in the feet has disappeared’.—p. 109.

There the case ends, with no further discussion.

This is a short case but by no means the shortest and as I mentioned there is no discussion or commentary. This is in opposition to Case #20, ‘Intrauterine Trauma’, which is presented in much greater detail (18 pages) of a 51-year-old male followed for almost 3 years.

Some of the 33 cases in this book seem incomplete, for example, #15, ‘Something is Upsetting’ in which the father brings his 5-week-old infant to Heinz. Here the chief complaint is of restlessness and whining occurring only in the evenings. There is no discussion and Oxytocinum 30C is given twice which proved curative. Then in about 6 months, two doses of Calc. carb. 30C were administered. Again, there is no further explanation or discussion.

To be fair, the author does, in a generalised fashion, discuss his ‘method of finding the remedy’, in a separate two-page section of the book.

Every so often one comes to a page printed in the colour red. On these eight pages, which seem to act like thoughtful pauses, the author presents interesting topics to reflect upon, for example, ‘In Conversation with the Unborn Child’, ‘Mother's Breast’, Sensing the Mothers', ‘For all Mothers (this page is duplicated)’, ‘Boris Brott’, ‘Abortion’ and ‘SAFE’.

Each of the eight remedies receives two pages of Materia Medica, a section which he calls ‘remedy pictures’. The first page contains introductory comments followed by a reference listing and the second page, the Materia Medica of the discussed remedy. He also capsulises each remedy with an aphorism: Lac humanum (to be the baby or the mother), Lac maternum (not being fully present/incarnated), Oxytocinum (dysfunctional ties of love—disturbance of the basic sense of well-being in interaction with others), Folliculinum (loss of one's self), Placenta humana (was unwanted as a foetus and still is), Vernix caseosa (everything comes too close; has no possibility of setting boundaries), Amnii liquor/fluid (going into resonance with each other OR refusing to go into resonance, searching for heavenly protection OR refusal of), and Chorda umbilicalis (problems with bonding; cannot sever loveless ties; has lost a vital bond).

The final chapter of seven pages is titled ‘Matridonal Remedy Repertory’ and contains four sections: ‘Ailments from/Causes’ ‘Mental and Emotional Symptoms’, ‘General Symptoms’ and ‘Physical Symptoms’.

Despite several layout issues, that is, the font size is rather small, this book is beautifully produced. The paper is a heavy, glossy stock; cover and binding are most durable.

There is no general index nor is one really needed. No separate bibliography section exists as citings and references are scattered throughout. Reference citings could have used a greater attention to detail as one cannot often discern if the item is an article (many have incomplete page numbers or lack a title) or a monograph. This reference, ‘Rupal Shaw. Homoeopathic Links 2/2014, p. 89’, is but one such example illustrating this lack of detail. If you would like to supplement your reading, you might choose to listen to an audio introduction to the subject by searching ‘Heinz Wittwer’ within <https://www.homsym.de/categories/autoren>. There you will find both MP3 and CD recording formats (available only in the German language) of this material.

In order to address the shortcomings of this book, I chose to offer a detailed footnote, #1. In other words, if one truly wants to grasp this subject, having several of those references will provide key, essential information.

It is my suggestion that along with this work, at the very least, purchase Assilem's book and you will be on firm footing.

About the Author

Jay Yasgur, RPh, MSc, received his BSc Pharmacy degree in 1976 from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA. This coincided with the start of his holistic health care studies: six years later, his intense involvement with homeopathy began when he attended massage school in Florida and became involved with a holistic health clinic established by A. J. Trofe, a naprapath. Since then he has written many articles, presented talks, edited several books and produced his opus, Yasgur's Homeopathic Dictionary and Holistic Health Reference. This book is currently in the 6th ed. which became available for sale in October 2020. Together, Linda Lillard, Jay Yasgur and Gwyneth Evans (widow of Julian Winston) reprinted Winston's The Faces of Homoeopathy which had been out-of-print. Mr. Yasgur, also in 2020, published Glen Dupree's Homeopathic Thesaurus.

Yasgur continues to work on the scholar's edition of his dictionary which will eventually be made available to the homeopathic community. He may be contacted at [e-mail].

I reviewed this work for the American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine (104:2, Summer 2011, p. 104) and commented it to be ‘quirky, amusing and overflowing with wisdom’ and metaphor. By the way, Ms. Assilem has been interviewed numerous times, that is, Geraldine Alferoff's interview in Homeopathy in Practice, Oct. 2003 (a British journal), is one such example.

Though not quite within the matridonal realm, there are several other works of importance which you should be aware of. Those include, Patricia Hatherly's the Homoeopathic Physician's Guide to Lactation (2004; essential reading, containing a plethora of references), her The Lacs: Materia Medica & Repertory (2010; 20 lacs are discussed in 700 pages) and Harry van der Zee's Miasms in Labour (2000) and his Homeopathy for Birth Trauma (2007); Harry discusses many of the pertinent aspects of childbirth as well as associating the miasms with the birth process. It continues where his 2000 opus left off: both are innovative. van der Zee, along with Corrie Hiwat, edited Homoeopathic Links: The Materia Medica of Milk: Collected Articles (2002).

Lastly, visit Assilem and Hatherly's websites as both contain a vast amount of information.

² Augsburg, Germany, was the location of a 3-month certificate of instruction in homeopathy for German-speaking doctors from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Attendees were in class Monday through Friday for 7 hours each day. Each instructor taught for 3 to 5 days:

‘Nice was -the learning together with colleagues for 3 months, -the fact that what you learned from Dr. A. was called “nonsense” by Dr. B. (you realized, that there was more than one form of truth) -to get in contact with many renowned homoeopaths (that was where I met Dr. Springer)’.

‘When I did the course circa 1993 there were 54 participants. This course still exists, but the name has changed because it is not in Augsburg anymore but has moved first to Stuttgart and now to Wiesbaden and the number of participants is now down to 3 or 4’.—Heinz Wittwer (email communication, March 31, 2020).

The course was initiated by Dr Leonhard Wecker of Germany in the early 1990s.

³ I was surprised to learn that the first, or at least, very early proving of Amnii liquor was conducted by the noted Swiss classical homeopath, Dr. med. Pierre Schmidt. It was published in the Journal of the American Institute of Homoeopathy (20/1927, pp. 236–248). I imagine it was published on the continent at some point.

Publication History

Article published online:
31 December 2020