What is Malandrinum?
Malandrinum is a single homeopathic remedy. It is made from "grease", the crusty sore that forms on a horse's lower leg. Its Latin name is Malandria equi, and it is also sold as the horse grease nosode (a nosode is a remedy made from diseased tissue).
Like all homeopathic remedies, it is diluted again and again. At the common 30C strength, none of the starting material is left in the pellet or drops. Trials do not show that it does more than a placebo (a dummy pill).
Homeopaths have used it mainly for dry, cracked, itchy skin. Some also gave it for skin trouble after a smallpox shot. Long use inside a tradition is not proof that a remedy works, and that holds true here.
How does Malandrinum work?
No one has shown a way that Malandrinum could act in the body. At 30C, the pellet or liquid holds none of the horse skin matter it started from. So there is no known chemical route for an effect.
Homeopaths work from a rule they call "like cures like". The idea is that a tiny dose of a substance can treat the signs that same substance would cause in a healthy person. They also hold that water keeps a trace or pattern of what was mixed into it, which lab science has not backed up.
If you feel better while taking it, the best explanation is the placebo effect. That means you improve because you expect to, not because of the pellet. The relief can be real, but the remedy is not the cause.
Skin problems also come and go on their own. A rash that clears up during a course of Malandrinum may simply have run its course.
What forms does Malandrinum come in?
Malandrinum comes as small sugar pellets that you let melt under your tongue. Liquid drops in alcohol and water are also sold. Both are made the same way.
The strength is shown as a number and a letter, such as 6C, 30C or 200C. A higher number means more rounds of diluting. At 30C and above, no source material is left.
Pellets are usually made from lactose (milk sugar) or sucrose (cane sugar). Ask for the sucrose kind if milk sugar upsets you. There is no cream, no injection and no licensed medical form of this remedy.
Where it comes from:
Malandrinum comes from American homeopathy in the late 1800s. Horse "grease" was a well known animal sore of that time. Homeopaths turned it into a remedy of the nosode type.
Some homeopaths of that era gave it for skin trouble after a smallpox shot. A few even offered it in place of the shot. That use has no support and is not safe.
The remedy still sits in homeopathic reference books, but it has always been a minor one. No other healing tradition uses it.
Who should avoid Malandrinum?
- Do not use if you are relying on it to guard against smallpox, measles or any other disease that a vaccine prevents. It is not a vaccine and protects nobody.
- Do not use if you or your child is due a routine vaccine and you are thinking of skipping or delaying that vaccine. Never swap a vaccine for this remedy.
- Do not use if you are thinking of stopping a prescribed medicine or cream in order to try it instead.
- Do not use if you have a spreading skin infection with fever, pus, or red streaks running from the area. You need a doctor and probably an antibiotic (a medicine that kills bacteria).
- Do not use if you have a weakened immune system (your body's defence against germs), for example from chemotherapy, HIV or steroid tablets, unless your specialist agrees. Low dilutions may still contain traces of horse tissue.
- Do not use if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, unless your doctor or midwife has said it is fine.
- Do not use if you have lactose intolerance (trouble digesting milk sugar) and the pellets are lactose based. Ask for a sucrose (cane sugar) version.
- Do not use if you are giving it to a baby or young child with a fever or a new rash that a doctor has not yet checked.
When should you see a doctor?
See a doctor if a rash spreads quickly, weeps, crusts over, smells bad, or comes with a fever. Those are signs of infection that need proper treatment.
Go the same day if you see red streaks spreading from a sore, if the skin around it is hot and swollen, or if you feel shivery and unwell.
Also book a visit if cracked skin will not heal, if you have diabetes (high blood sugar) and a crack on your foot, or if a skin problem keeps coming back. And speak to your doctor or nurse before making any decision about a vaccine.
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