WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY?

Here are two views that complement each other.

- Alternative and complementary medicine has been receiving a lot of attention in the press in the last few years. Yet, few people realize that it is not a specific medical specialty. Rather, it is an umbrella covering a multitude of different methods of healing. Of all these methods, Homeopathy is probably one of the least understood. Let’s see if we can shed some light on this matter. First of all, we need to discuss the idea of energy medicine. Conventional medicine as we know it views the body as a big chemical reaction, which it strives to understand in great detail, in order to be able to change it. So, for example, when a person has a stomach ulcer, their doctor may give them a drug which interferes with their body’s ability to generate acid in the stomach and the ulcer heals up. By knowing how acid is made in the stomach we know how to block its production. It is amazing how much we know of all the chemical processes that go on in our bodies. Yet, when one of them goes out of whack, we can rarely explain why it happened. Yes, we can modify the runaway process by other chemicals (drugs), but the effect is often short lived, and as soon as the drug is discontinued the problem comes back. The more we study all these processes in conventional manner, the more detail we know, but we are no closer to understanding the underlying cause of the problem. So, we continue prescribing drugs, and more drugs, in an effort to get the patient to feel better. Some doctors believe we are looking for the explanation in the wrong place. They feel that the body’s chemistry, while important to be understood, does not contain the cause of disease. They feel there is a deeper level of control in the body. It is referred to as the body’s energy, or Vital Force. Chi, almost a household word by now, is the Chinese word describing the same concept. It is felt that this energy controls all of the body’s chemical processes, and when it is in balance, the person feels healthy. On the other hand, when the Vital Force is disturbed, the chemistry becomes disordered and one feels the symptoms on the physical level. So, for example, when we get too much acid in the stomach and it causes some irritation and possibly even an ulcer, a drug can decrease the acidity of the stomach contents, but the underlying disturbance in the Vital Force is untouched by the drug. Therefore, the symptom comes back as soon as we stop the drug. The answer is to treat the energy disturbance directly, and therefore get at the cause of the problem, rather than treating its effect. There are many methods to affect the body’s energy. The better known ones are acupuncture, healing touch, and some others. Homeopathy is one such method. Homeopathic remedies are, in effect, energetic messages administered in the form of a pellet or a drop of liquid, that can be taken by mouth. It may sound too incredible, but this two-hundred year old system of medicine has survived multiple attempts to discredit it, and its practitioners are now more numerous than ever. In fact, it now boasts a large body of medical research that proves its effectiveness as compared to placebo (a sugar pill). While it is quite effective in acute diseases like colds and flues, injuries, ear infections, infectious diarrhea, etc, it really shines in the treatment of chronic disease, where conventional medicine provides only a temporary, and often very inadequate, solution. Many sufferers with asthma and other lung diseases, migraines and other headaches, all kinds of colitis and irritable bowel syndrome, depression and anxiety, ADHD, eczema and other skin complaints, a host of autoimmune diseases, etc, etc, etc, can often be permanently relieved of their complaints with a single well chosen homeopathic remedy. In many cases they can be weaned off of the conventional medications they have taken for years to cope with their symptoms. Homeopathic remedies are chosen on the principle of similarity. That is, a substance that can cause a certain group of symptoms in a healthy person will cure a sick person presenting with similar complaints. The remedies used in Homeopathy are incredibly dilute, which creates a lot of skepticism in the minds of scientists. Yet, as I have already mentioned, well designed studies prove its effectiveness, and the documented experience of thousands of homeopaths working all over the world for close to two hundred years leaves little room for doubt.
I don’t have the space here to explain how the remedies are prepared and prescribed, or how they are tested to determine what they can treat. Neither can I give justice to Homeopathy’s rich history. All these subjects are covered in some of the boks and websites we have listed in Resources

by Jacob Mirman, MD

- Homeopathy is a safe, effective system of healing, used by millions of people worldwide for over 200 years. Homeopathic remedies are prepared from natural sources and are administered in minute doses. They are regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration. They are non-toxic and, when properly administered, can be safely used with infants, children, and adults.

Homeopathy is based on the principle that “like heals like.” That is, if a substance can cause symptoms in a healthy person, then it can stimulate the healing of similar symptoms in a sick person. Suppose a person has hay fever, with watery eyes and a burning nasal discharge. Rather than using an antihistamine to dry up the discharge, a homeopath might recommend Allium cepa—a tiny dose of onion, specially prepared by a homeopathic pharmacy in accordance with FDA-approved guidelines— because onion is known to cause watery eyes and a burning nasal discharge. Suppose a person can’t sleep because of agitation or an overactive mind. Instead of the person taking a conventional sleeping pill, a homeopath may recommend Coffea—a homeopathic preparation of coffee.

This principle of similars was developed into a system of healing called homeopathy (meaning “similar suffering”) by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann in the late 1700s, but the concept dates back to the time of Hippocrates. Two hundred years of clinical experience (along with research published in such medical journals as The Lanclet, Pediatrics, and the British Medical Journal) have confirmed homeopathy’s effectiveness; however, the exact mechanism by which homeopathy works is unknown.

Homeopathy treats the whole person—physical, mental, emotional—and considers each person individually. For example, a homeopath treating a cold sufferer does not presume that all colds are alike, but instead asks about the person’s unique symptoms: Is the person chilly or flushed? Is the nose running or stuffed up? Did the cold come on after stress, anger, or loss of sleep? Then the homeopath chooses a homeopathic remedy that best matches this person’s unique set of symptoms.

There are no known or suspected contraindications or drug interactions between homeopathic remedies and conventional medicines. Most homeopathic remedies are available over-the-counter. Consumers can learn to treat themselves for simple, self-limiting conditions safely at home, but people who have serious conditions should be treated by a professional homeopath. Many veterinarians and animal caretakers get good results using homeopathic remedies for animals.

Adapted with permission from the National Center for Homeopathy, 877.624.0613 — www.homeopathic.org