You Ask
What is Homeopathy ?
Homeopathy was founded by Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel
Hahnemann, more familiarly known as Samuel Hahnemann. Hahnemann was born in Meissen, Saxony Germany
April 10, 1755 and died in Paris France July 2, 1843.
He was trained as a conventional medical doctor who, over
time, became appalled by the methods engaged by the medical profession of his
time, which seemed to kill more patients rather than heal them. After experimenting on himself with Quinine,
an alkaloid derived from Cinchona bark, he discovered that Quinine was able to
cure the symptoms of Malaria due to the fact that it could cause the same symptoms as Malaria,
when given repeatedly to healthy people.
Hahnemann's first principle of homeopathy was Similia similibus curantur, meaning, likes
are cured by likes, which was an idea that Hippocrates and Paracelsus both
observed centuries before. This theory was completely opposed to the philosophy
of the medical profession which was based on contraria contrariis curantur or opposites are cured by opposites, in
other words, fight disease by using medicine, which produces effects
opposite to the effects produced by the disease.
The term homeopathy comes from the Greek homoios
("similar") and pathos ("suffering" or
"sickness").
The next logical step for Hahnemann was to conduct further
experiments to validate his first principle, by testing a multitude of
substances made from animal secretions and venoms, plant roots and flowers, and minerals. The term used for this process is "Provings". Homeopaths "prove" remedies on numbers of
healthy people, known as provers, and collate the results. The symptoms, experienced by most of the
provers for one substance, are recorded in our materia medica. A materia medica is a reference work listing remedies and their therapeutic actions, and used clinically to
address similar symptoms in ailing people.
Homeopathic remedies are prepared by a controlled process of
successive dilutions alternating with succussion i.e. strong shaking, until the
resulting medicine or remedy, contains no recordable molecules of the original
substance, creating an infinitesimal potency.
This is known as The Law of
Potentization.
Homeopaths treat
the patient according to their symptoms rather than treating based on the name
of a disease. In other words, a patient comes in
complaining of a headache, conventional medicine would likely prescribe a
headache pain reliever, whereas a homeopath will ask many questions about the
modalities, i.e., What does the pain feel like?, When is the pain worse?, Where
exactly is the pain?, What makes it better or worse?
That said, a well
trained homeopath is also educated in the sciences of Anatomy and Physiology,
and Pathology. Homeopaths treat the person as a whole person
rather than separating their mental aspects from their physical aspects; or
focusing only on the chief complaint being presented. A homeopath wants to know
how is this person, sitting in front of me, experiencing eczema, anxiety, or asthma
differently from anyone else suffering from the a similar ailment. We don't only want to know the patient has a
cold, but how are they experiencing this particular cold. Or if they have a phobia, what is
characteristic to the way they experience it compared to the way anyone else
experiences fears or phobias. [Please refer to my previous article "Strange Rare
Peculiar" on this blog for greater detail at http://www.homeopathicsolutions.blogspot.com/2012/07/strange-rare-peculiar.html].
A Classical or
Hahnemannian Homeopath, such as myself, prescribes one remedy at a time, and
does not suggest anyone use "combination remedies", i.e. numerous
remedies combined in one bottle, and labeled as "Cold Remedy", "Headache
Remedy" etc. The problem with "combination remedies" is that if
there is an improvement, or worse, an aggravation from it, we cannot know the
offending ingredient. Or, if there is an improvement we cannot know which
remedy was responsible. The worst drawback from taking a "combination
remedy" is that if it is taken repeatedly, and one of the substances
causes a "proving" we do not know which remedy caused it. The indiscriminate mixing of these substances
to make the combination will often include remedies that cancel or antidote
each other. "Combination Remedies"
are manufactured, with the idea to "simplify" the choosing of a remedy
for those unfamiliar with homeopathic case taking. The often negative consequences and or
additional symptoms resulting from their use, are not easily resolved.
The question is often asked, "Are homeopathic remedies
placebos?". Even though there may
be placebo results from using homeopathic remedies, there is no question that
homeopathy is effective in treating babies or animals, neither of which
can be included under the heading of placebo effect when their presenting
symptoms are resolved. A baby or an animal cannot say, "Since my mother gave me something to make me feel better, I do! There are well
designed clinical and laboratory studies on the effectiveness of homeopathic
treatment, many published in both conventional medical journals and
complimentary medical journals, proving that positive results after taking a homeopathic remedy are not due to the Placebo Effect.
When you visit a homeopath for the first time, the initial interview
may last between one to two hours. This
enables the homeopath to get a full picture of the person, what makes them
unique from other people mentally, emotionally, physically, and how they have
responded to stress and illness in their life. We need to understand what events in the person's life preceded their illness, how the
symptoms have progressed, and to understand how their vital force has or is
already attempting to heal itself. The
uniqueness of the patient and symptoms leads us to the remedy that stimulates
the vital force to further heal the disharmony of the patient.
The relationship
between homeopath and patient is a true partnership in healing. A big part of the job of the homeopath is to
educate rather than commandeer the patient.
Good Health,
© Lynn Cremona 2012, all rights
reserved.
