Homeopathy is a scientific, reliable and natural system of medicinal therapy, which has been in existence for 200 years. It is a curative system of therapy that restores health by stimulating the body′s own mechanisms of defence and repair.
Origins and principles:
Homeopathy developed from scientific investigations carried out by a German physician, Dr Samuel Hahnemann, in the late eighteenth century. He was so distressed by the toxic side effects of medications used in his time that he explored ways of restoring the sick individual to health in a gentle, thorough and effective manner.
He experimented on himself and his students, and found that quinine produced a fever and illness in a healthy person similar to that found in malaria − this is called a proving. When a diluted dose of quinine was given to a patient suffering from malaria, it effected a rapid cure − this, he called the law of similars.
Homeopathy vs Allopathy:
The homeopathic approach to diagnosis and therapy is that the whole body must be considered as a single organism. Homeopathy sees symptoms as the body′s reaction against illness, as it attempts to overcome the illness and seeks to stimulate the body′s own Vital Force, rather than suppress the reaction.
This is in stark contrast to the conventional or western approach, which uses drugs to counter the disease by acting in an opposite manner (allopathic medicine) by suppressing the symptoms. Modern drugs can be lifesaving in acute situations, as can advances in surgery, but they do not provide the ideal treatment option for chronic diseases, which are suppressed with drugs − with the consequent return of all symptoms when the drugs are stopped.
Fundamental Laws:
Homeopathy is based on 2 fundamental laws:
1.The Law of Similars:
The statement ″like cures like″ was used by Hahnemann to describe the basic principle of Homeopathic treatment. It means that any substance will produce certain reactions or symptoms if given to a healthy individual for a long enough period.
These symptoms, if found in a real person, can be cured by the diluted medicinal substance that produced them in the healthy individual.
The Homeopathic medicine, which is matched with the patient′s symptoms is called a ″simillimum″.
2.The Law of the minimum dose:
The selected homeopathic medicine should be given in a form that is not harmful to the patient. This law states that the healing power of a substance is in direct ratio to it′s degree of serial dilution,when each step of dilution is accompanied by a period of agitation (succession, grinding or shaking).
By this process, the therapeutic information of the remedy is imprinted upon the solvent and is progressively amplified, resulting in increased potency − this is a phenomenon of quantum physics and it is the quantum form of the remedy that renders it capable of providing the curative stimulus.
What to expect:
The first consultation may last for 1−2 hours during which a detailed history and physical examination will be performed. A remedy and other medicines may be given as an initial treatment.
After the first consultation and prescription there will usually be a follow up appointment in 4 weeks (unless the condition is acute) − this is to give the medicine and the patient′s immune system to respond.
This response might include an exacerbation of symptoms (called an ″aggravation″) which normally resolves after a short time. The longer a disease has been present and/or suppressed with drugs, the longer it may take for some resolution.
In acute situations, Homeopathic treatment can work quickly, contrary to popular opinion.
Homeopathic Medicines:
Homeopathic medicines are available in a variety of forms- most commonly as liquids, tablets, pillules, granules, powders, injections, suppositories or creams.
Observe the following precautions as far as possible when taking Homeopathic medicines:
Who can Homeopathy benefit?
Almost anyone can be helped with Homeopathic treatment.
Homeopathy is not the treatment of choice in surgical emergencies, serious infections, life threatening conditions, organ failure, malignancies, diabetes, hiv etc.
Some examples of Homeopathic treatment: