Dr. Eugenio Federico Candegabe is Argentina's
foremost exponent of Kentian Homeopathy. He was born on 28 July
1924, and qualified in medicine at the University of Buenos Aires
in 1949. In 1954 he went on to study under Dr. Tomas Pablo Paschero,
with whom he subsequently worked closely. He is a founding member
of the Escuela Médica Homeopática Argentina “Dr.
Tomas Pablo Paschero” (E.M.H.A.), where he has been nominated
for Professor Emeritus.
Welcome to Hpathy Dr. Eugenio Candegabe!
It has been our wish to have you with us for a long time and we
are fortunate to have you with us today. We look forward to you
sharing your thoughts and wisdom with us.
KS: Could you please tell us something about yourself?
When did you decide to become a homeopathic physician and which
were the most important moments that influenced your decision?
EC: Ever since I was a teenager I believed that my vocation
was to become an engineer. But in the last year of the secondary
school, the first lesson in anatomy awakened my passion for medicine.
When I graduated in medicine in 1949 my first frustration was
not to find among the different practicing specializations, one
which could fulfill my desire to cure the ill human being, and
which did not merely relieve their pathology. Therefore I chose
pediatrics which is at least a holistic specialization and humanitarian
to relieve or cure an ill child.
But in 1952 happened the first event which linked me with homeopathy:
the cure of a three year old child which was affected by severe
constipation and which forced me to use a weekly enema, after
which a cardio-respiratory stimulant had to be injected due to
the fainting fits which always appeared after the enema. Then
I consulted Dr. Antonio Tabanera, an outstanding pediatric homeopath,
who after an exhaustive interrogation prescribed Nux vomica 30,
a single dose ... and within 3 days, to my surprise, a normal
evacuation began and he was totally cured.
The second event happened in the same consultation. The physician
was especially interested in the change of the child's character.
The anxiety of the parents was understandable. They were talking
about the physical defect of an intestinal coalescence which may
have needed a delicate surgical intervention! I then understood
that the readings of Freud, Adler, Jung and Steckel, which had
accompanied my entire career, opened the door to a different comprehension
of the pathology: it is about the disease human being!
The most important point of this moment was finally, that I had
a concrete answer to the question which I asked myself after three
years: Is cure limited to the mere relief of acute diseases or
the outbreak of chronic diseases, hoping that nature will cure
the patient? Is the removal of half the stomach of the patient
the only way to cure a gastro-duodenal ulcer ? To see the suffering
of this child and his parents disappearing "as if by magic"
answered my question. Since then I was sure about my vocation
and completely devoted myself to the study of homeopathy. I took
the three years course at the A.M.H.A (Asociación Médica
Homeopática Argentina), got my diploma in 1956 and presented
my thesis in 1960.
KS:
Argentina has produced many famous and well known homeopaths like
T.P. Paschero, J.M. Elizalde, A. Elizalde. F. Eizayaga. What do
you see as their special contribution to homeopathy and which
have inspired you the most?
EC: In reality, it was already Dr. Eizayaga who put me in contact
with homeopathy for the first time, before the above described
event. Already in 1949 I worked with him in the External Consultation
Services of the Department of Urology at the Hospital de Vicente
López. My first specialization was in Urology and I could
observe without any prejudices the benefits of homeopathy in this
early time. We both were already homeopaths and I always saw in
him the doctor with a passion for his profession, sure in the
prescription for acute diseases. His great contribution for homeopathy
was his enormous capacity for teaching, his homeopathic practice
and his Repertory, the first translation of Kent into the Spanish
language.
In Jorge Masi Elizalde I found the philosophical teacher, great
thinker, friend of a nightly conversation with a coffee, and great
expert of Homeopathic Philosophy, without any personal ambition.
Unfortunately he did not leave us any written works except for
what he wrote in the Journal of Homeopathy of the A.M.H. A. until
his death. I think it was at the end of the 50’s when he
wrote "The disease begins with a bad thought". "The
Doctrine is understood within one night, but in order to learn
the Materia Medica a whole life does not suffice", as he
used to say... Knowing that he has fulfilled his mission in life
he left a profound peace to us friends and students.
In Alfonso M. Elizalde I found the ideal partner for my first
20 years of homeopathy, from 1960 until 1980. From this time on
our path separated, but we both had the great satisfaction to
study, learn and to teach. From Alfonso I could recover his clarity
in the explanation of Homeopathic Philosophy and Doctrine - his
first writings are impeccable. I don't feel an authority to judge
his Thomistic point of view, but without doubt he awakened in
his students a more profound holistic and transcendent view of
the human being. With his premature and unexpected death at the
age of 70, I was deprived of a friend with whom I fought inch
by inch for the comprehension of this, possibly unfathomable science,
which homeopathy is.
It is difficult for me to speak about Dr. Paschero, in whom the
affection, gratitude and admiration conjoin in one person, and
with whom I maintained an incomparable friendship from the time
since I started as a student at the AMHA in 1953 until his death
in 1986. I confess that I felt confounded when I began the study
of the Materia Medica because all the remedies seemed to be similar.
I could not find a description of symptoms in the classical books
which allowed me to find a coherence and to distinguish them clearly.
Finally I found the solution for the problem when I read the
writings of Dr. Paschero about the Materia Medica, published in
the journal of the school in 1955: The symptomatology has to reflect
the suffering of the human being, a certain way to pass through
life, which makes the actuality coherent with his history and
is presented until his future. It is about comprehending, rather
than just memorizing Materia Medica. His entire work was the faithful
reflection of his life as a physician, teacher and human being.
On Saturday morning between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. he gave his master
classes in the first consultation with a patient, usually presented
by some of the teachers of the school. I remember that I recently
gave a class between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., making comments about
the clinical case of the previous week. With the repertory in
hand I analyzed the symptoms and compared the chosen remedy with
others which emerged from repertorization, and the reason for
its choice, because sometimes all the chosen symptoms appear in
several remedies. In this way I learned by teaching that the isolated
symptoms are of no value, if they are not accompanied by sense,
intentionality and purpose which define them. Those interested
in this topic can read about it in my first book on Materia Medica
published in German with the title "Candegabe/Vergleichende
Arzneimittellehre", or in English "Comparative Materia
Medica", (Beaconsfield Publishers Ltd). He was for me the
teacher of my choice and lead my first 30 years of homeopathy
until his death.
KS:
You said of Dr. Tomas Pablo Paschero that his work is like a "fresh
breeze" which has encouraged your scientific and personal
development. What made this beloved homeopath so special?
EC: I said before that my desire to learn the clarity of Paschero's
concepts paved my way. In effect, facing the questions which were
provoked by this difficult art to comprehend the Doctrine, the
Materia Medica and their practical application, Paschero let us
students look for our own answers, listening to us and respecting
our opinions, which were sometimes opposite. He ensured that the
discussion took course in pleasant ways and turned into a dialogue
where everybody contributed a particle of his truth in search
of the essential truth. His final conclusion was really always
more than a mandate "of someone who knows more", and
was "like a fresh breeze", giving us his peace and security
amid all the resentment which sometimes came up in our hot and
passionate discussions.
KS: You had dedicated yourself quite early in your career
to the education of homeopaths. Where do you see your mission
and the special contribution of the Online University Candegabe
(universidadcandegabe.org)?
EC: When I graduated as physician, the lecturing professor told
us before giving us our brand-new diplomas, about "the supreme
compassion which the physician must have with his patient, because
those who consult us are human beings which have lost the greatest
treasure in their life, which is their health". I found in
homeopathy the possibility to realize this ideal, which was proposed
when I got my diploma on the 11th June in 1949. That's why I dedicated
all my efforts to my patients: with each alleviated or cured patient
I felt the full satisfaction of fulfilled duty, and the greater
encouragement to study let me want to share my desires with my
colleagues and students. To investigate and teach was a duty for
me, to transmit the learning to others and to facilitate those
who followed me. Not because of the "triumph" of an
idea, but because of the joy and the good that it signifies, to
be able to help our fellow men in the course of life. I think
that my major contribution to homeopathy was the study of the
Comparative Materia Medica in my first 20 years of homeopathy.
In my second book "“Introducción al estudio
metodológico de la Materia Médica " (Introduction
to the methodological study of the Materia Medica) I demonstrate
my applied methodology, strictly following Hahnemannian principles,
so that every homeopathic physician can continue with this type
of investigation, if he wants, and which gave me personally so
much satisfaction.
KS:
Your book on Comparative Materia Medica has made a valuable contribution
to homeopathic teaching and understanding of Materia Medica. Why
is it necessary to be familiar with humanity in the deepest interior,
to apply the analytically memorized details of the Materia Medica
?
EC: Kent teaches us in his Philosophy that in order to understand
the remedies we need first to know the diseases of the human being.
For Kent the pathology is not the disease, which is but the result.
According to his opinion, the disease of the patient is the peculiar
and unknown way to live ones pathology. More clearly, if the pathogeneses
reveals to us a particular way to get ill, how can we evaluate
its significance if we do not try to understand human nature ?
The patient is nothing more than a sum of symptoms, and what individualizes
the patient is the interrelation of symptoms in their intentionality,
sense and purpose. All this is written in my two already published
books. And now I ask you a question: How can we distinguish a
Mozart symphony from a Rock concert if both musical compositions
utilize the same 7 notes and some sharps and flats ? Think about
this a bit and you will find the answer.
KS:
As a Kentian you lay special emphasis to the "mental symptoms"
as the "antechamber of the clinical picture". Why is
it necessary to understand the diseased patient in order to understand
the symptoms?
EC: Hahnemann tells us that the recently born is the most
invalid being on the planet. Moreover, he is the only one who
knows that he will die. Thenceforward the whole life is a continuous
adaptation, and in this adaptation, which is always different
for each person, he demonstrates his individuality. Therefore
the types of his anxiety, sensitivity, fear, illusionary sensations,
affectivity, aggression, intellect, work and attitude are the
necessary guidelines to know the patient. If we know to choose
the essential of each of these items after comprehending all the
mental symptoms of the remedy, then we have the Minimum Characteristic
Syndrome: I call these symptoms the leading symptoms.
If we repertorize these as an ideal patient, then there emerge
several remedies which cover all these, and others which cover
some but not all symptoms. But if we add to each rubric those
symptoms which I call determining, that means
those which lent the guiding symptom an especially distinctive
character, and if I repertorize these in a second step, then there
begin to appear the similarities and differences. And the one
or the other will let us see the individuality finally. If this
happens then the remedy converts into a person. In other words,
it can be that the repertorization of a case leads us to an unexpected
remedy. Then I refer to Kent who writes in the preface of his
monumental repertory: "If there emerge several remedies from
the repertorization of a given case, then read the Materia Medica
and look for the remedy which is most similar to the patient being
investigated. Apparently I did not invent anything. I only followed
Kent faithfully and what he wrote in the forward, which only a
few read.
KS:
Could you explain the significance of the "Minimum Characteristic
Symptom" in the comparative analysis of remedies?
EC: The "SMVM" as I prefer to call the "Minimum
characteristic Syndrome", tries to summarize 7 to 10 rubrics,
the archetype of each remedy as an ideal person. This is realized
if we add to the first repertorization a second repertorization
with the determining symptoms. That is, the first repertorization
allows one to select those remedies for comparison which match
at least half of the chosen symptoms. In this way the similarities
and differences emerge and each remedy is better understood, not
only regarding the symptoms which they have likewise, but also
those symptoms which are missing in the first repertorization.
But I repeat, this is clearly described in my two books. But in
the second book I explain my applied method, the why, the reason
and the obtained results.
KS:
The miasmatic disposition determines the personality structure
and development of the human being. What significance do you attach
to the analysis of miasms in your practice?
EC: Hahnemann writes in § 5 of the Organon: "... Useful
to the physician in assisting him to cure are ... the most significant
points in the whole history of the chronic disease, to enable
him to discover its fundamental cause, which is generally due
to a chronic miasm. " The question already contains the affirmation
that the miasmatic predisposition determines the personality structure
and development of the human being. Here is an example: A patient
has the following three evident symptoms: meticulousness, amelioration
from occupation and intolerance of contradiction. We see that
4 remedies emerge clearly: Lycopodium, Sepia, Sílica and
Thuja, among others. But if we neither find any generals nor locals
which help us to individualize the case then these apparently
sycotic symptoms are not sufficient to identify a remedy picture
clearly, even if the causa fundamentalis and its profound genesis
qualifies its homeopaticity according to "its way to act".
In this way we will see that "the emotional indifference
to everything" belongs to the sycotic Sepia. Or that the
tremendous disability, timidity, fear of failure and modesty,
give Silica its tubercular basis. The hypertrophy of the ego,
irritability, anxiety of conscience and ceremonial obsession characterize
the sycotic base of Thuja. The disability, vulnerability, pride,
tendency to command and desire to succeed, are always related
to the tri-miasmatic mixture of Lycopodium.
From the miasmatic point of view, the idea of the vital attitude,
the way to live and to work, and the sense of life which is discovered
through the entire history of the human being, the intentionality,
search for success, in one word, that which the patient is
looking for in his life, is what gives sense and value to his
symptoms in ultimate instance. Some are emphasized, others
are rejected, depending on whether they coincide with the idea,
sense, intention and purpose of his life. This is what gives sense
to the variability, what breaks every scheme if it is not flexible,
what qualifies the soul and human psyche. To complete: understand
the patient. He is the ultimate source which will let us find
his simillimum and not the miasmatic classification which is generic.
The patient is always new, particular and individual.
KS: You mentioned the enormity of the iatrogen, chronic
artificial medicinal diseases in our current era. How did this
influence your 50 plus years of practice and therapeutic outcomes?
EC: If you refer to the iatrogen diseases caused by allopathic
medicine, these were a relative obstacle according to my experience.
The worst has been the suppression of a symptomatology, which
represents a way of relief for the patient, like the elimination
of polyps, warts, eczema, suppression of diarrhea, without considering
the totality of the patient. Nevertheless, I experienced in the
children's hospital in Buenos Aires between 1960 and 1962, that
the homeopathic treatment of epileptic children was an amazing
success, although allopathic medicines were applied simultaneously.
Some cases even got 15 different medicines each day !! This for
sure did not ameliorate and wherefore these patients were almost
incurable, according to allopathic terms. From this I have learned
not to take allopathic medications away in de-compensated patients,
cardiac patients or patients with severe pathologies, epilepsy,
cancer... Personally I have the impression, corroborated in my
practice, that the well indicated homeopathic remedy acts in the
same way, and once the patient ameliorates then the allopathic
medication is reduced gradually.
KS:
When you left your allopathic practice to practice homeopathy,
many patients were surprised about your complete turn and stopped
consulting you. What motivation and encouragement can you give
to homeopaths and homeopathic students so they travel the right
path?
EC: Currently, medical insurance has almost finished with private
medicine. The relationship of physician-patient almost does not
exist. I can tell the physician who begins practicing homeopathy
that it is not so drastic, and advise that he starts to treat
chronic diseases; that he tries to cure the asthmatic patient
and allows the use of the usual medicines in crisis. In the course
of time the patient will continue with you and will use allopathy
less and less.
Fifty years ago medicine was different. Already being quite secure
to leave the patients, I could dare the decision and I lost 90%
of my patients. But within three years I tripled my consultation
from the few which stayed. My advice is the following: go slowly,
prescribe if you are quite sure and you will see with surprise
that the remarkable cure of chronic diseases which you obtain
every now and then, will give you the strength to go on, because
you will never see this with allopathy. In our school we never
leave the graduated physician without our help. Every physician
knows if he needs help in the beginning, he will always find a
teacher in our school who assist him, give him reassurance.
We have a 3 year degree program in our school. The student employs
the classical Materia Medica's, but utilizes for his education
especially the classes regularly given by the chair. In this way
they receive in three years and during 300 annual hours, the guidelines
given by the professors. Currently we have among the full, associate
and assistant professors nearly 80 physicians with more than 15
years of experience, who teach the theory and practice in external
consultations with patients. Homeopathy is sublime, the art is
noble, the satisfaction to be able to help, the sensation of fulfilled
duty, which should be beyond all doubts, the solitude which the
rejection of the official medicine implies, and these should be
the guide which motivates the physician to follow his way despite
all adversities which he has to face, in the course of his education.
KS:
What would you recommend to homeopathy students regarding the
study of MM? How can we best grasp the vast extent of the materia
medica and essence of the remedies?
EC: The teaching physician, the professor, has a sacred
mission: To be at the service of the student. To understand him
as a human being. As Jorge Masi-Elizalde said, the study of the
Materia Medica needs a whole life, and I would say, many lives.
Since each element, every substance, mineral, animal or plant
can develop a pathogenesis, I ask myself: How many useful remedies
will there be: 100, 1000 or 100000?
Kent already answered the question: Comprehend the human being
and their diseases which are their wrong efforts of adaptation.
To learn to realize a good clinical history means to take those
homeopathic symptoms which Hahnemann points out in § 153
Organon, then repertorize, evaluate and think. It is impossible
to know even a part of the Materia Medica, but it is possible
to learn how to take the case, and as Hahnemann said, if the case
is taken well then the first and most important part of our work
is done. A good repertorization will bring us to the differential
diagnosis of several already known remedies. "To comprehend
rather than to memorize" that is the most important point
- to know what you are looking for. Today we see the appearance
of new methodologies in search of the desired "simillimum".
This means that we are still not satisfied with what we know.
But I'm sure if we revise what we have learned in the classical
works, and if we don't discuss, but conduct a dialogue, if we
summarize instead of subtract, and multiply instead of divide,
and if we realize that everybody has only a particle of the truth,
then we can really progress and build solid fundaments for the
future.
KS:
When can we expect to read your book on "The solitude of
the homeopathic physician" (La soledad del medico Homeopata)?
Could you give us a small glimpse of its content?
EC: Here I gave a small part of the book which will summarize
my memories. For the time being it is only in my mind. I have
to write it, I know, and think that it will also be useful for
myself. I think God will not deprive me, to leave this dream unfulfilled.
Perhaps this book will be ready this year for publication. I hope
it will be useful for all those who love homeopathy.
KS:
Kent said "If you love homeopathy, she will love you back".
When looking back on the past and all the difficulties, insecurities
and "solitude" of a homeopath, would you travel the
same path again? What meaning has homeopathy had for your life?
EC: When I qualified as a physician I conceived the human
as an almost perfect machine. Homeopathy guided me in the search
of the human soul and the spiritual being pre-existing in him.
By means of my practice as a homeopathic physician I developed
my capacity to understand humanity and myself, to respect the
suffering of others, and had the ability to help them. I had the
great luck to help my family, to conceive the universe as a wonderful
creation, and to realize pragmatically that "the whole is
in all its parts". I'm sure I will be in peace when I finish
my life as a physician, because I will have achieved my destination.
This is the best legacy one can leave to future generations.
KS:
Thank you very much for this fascinating interview Dr. Candegabe.
I hope everyone will feel inspired to explore your books and I
look forward to your next book!
The interview was translated by Dr. María Gabriela
Ruscica (E.M.A.H.), Alan Schmukler and Katja Schütt.
Katja Schütt
Associate Editor
Homeopathy 4 Everyone (Hpathy.com)
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