Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a low-cost, nontoxic system of medicine used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. It is particularly effective in treating chronic illnesses that fail to respond to conventional treatment and is also a superb method of self-care for minor conditions such as the common cold and flu. 

The word homeopathy derives from the Greek words homoios, meaning “similar,” and pathos, meaning “suffering.”  Homeopathic remedies are generally dilutions of natural substances from plants, minerals, and animals.  Based on the principle of “like cures like,” these remedies specifically match different symptom patterns or “profiles” of illness and act to stimulate the body’s natural healing response.

Throughout its over 200-year-history, homeopathy has proven effective in treating diseases for which conventional medicine has little to offer.  However, due to its low cost, which threatens pharmaceutical profits, as well as its divergence from conventional medical theory, homeopathy has been continually attacked by the medical establishment.  Nonetheless, homeopathy is practiced around the world, with an estimated 500 million people receiving homeopathic treatment.  The World Health Organization has cited homeopathy as one of the systems of traditional medicine that should be integrated worldwide with conventional medicine in order to provide adequate global health care in the 21st century.

In the United States, an estimated 3,000 medical doctors and licensed health-care providers practice homeopathy, and the number continues to rise annually.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognizes homeopathic remedies as official drugs and regulates their manufacturing, labeling, and dispensing.  Homeopathic remedies also have their own official compendium, the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, first published in 1897. Homeopathy is far more recognized in Europe as a viable medical therapy than it is in America.

How Homeopathy Works

Homeopathy was founded in the late 18th century by the celebrated German physician Samuel Hahnemann, known for his work in pharmacology, hygiene, public health, industrial toxicology, and psychiatry.  Dr. Hahnemann formulated the principles of homeopathy:

• Like cures like (Law of Similars)
• The more a remedy is diluted, the greater its potency (Law of the Infinitesimal Dose)
• An illness is specific to the individual (a holistic medical model)

Like Cures Like

The same substance that in large doses produces the symptoms of an illness, in very minute doses cures it. Allergies are treated in a similar fashion by introducing minute quantities of the suspected allergen into the body to bolster natural tolerance levels.

The More Dilute the Remedy, The Greater Its Potency

Most people believe that the higher the dose of a medicine, the greater the effect.  But the opposite is true in homeopathy, where the more a substance is diluted, the higher its potency.  Dr Hahnemann discovered this Law of the Infinitesimal Dose by experimenting with higher and higher dilutions of substances to avoid toxic side effects. In fact, any homeopathic remedy over 24X potency (24 successive dilutions and succussions) will have no chemical trace of the original substance remaining.

Illness is Specific to the Individual

While the conventional medical treatment for this condition is the same for most everyone (some sort of analgesic or anti-inflammatory drug), homeopathy recognizes over 200 symptom patterns associated with headaches and has corresponding remedies for each.

Excerpted from Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide (Celestial Arts)

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