Homeopathic Medicine:

What is it? How does it work?

What conditions can it help or cure?

Homeopathic medicine is a holistic discipline that recognizes and makes use of the body’s own power, called the Vital Force, which animates all living things. This article will provide Inner Tapestry readers with an introduction to homeopathy.

What exactly is homeopathy, and how does it cause improvement? Many people think it’s vitamins or herbs, and most know that it’s natural medicine. Everyone’s heard of it, but it’s a far more precise complete system of medicine than most people know. It is a form of holistic medicine that can facilitate the process of not only healing the mind and body but of returning a person to overall wellness, strength, function and happiness.

A homeopath can use the wisdom of homeopathy to improve both acute symptoms and the overall health of a person with a chronic condition.

For example, let’s consider a case of migraine headaches. Allison B. had for years been plagued with migraines. They got worse over several years, until when one occurred, it could put her out of commission for several days. She had already seen her medical doctor, and a specialist, but the medicines they had prescribed didn’t always work and had side effects that left her exhausted and “washed out.” She was losing time from her job and feeling like an ineffective parent. By the time Allison decided on homeopathy, she was “at the end of my rope.”

Homeopathy was not entirely new for Allison. She had once, on the recommendation of a friend, used Arnica Montana to help relieve pain in her head and neck after she slipped and fell while hiking.

Aware of homeopathy but not knowing much about it, she went to her local health food store and spent $5.95 for a homeopathic remedy (Iris versicolor) recommended by a clerk there. She found that if she took the remedy at the start of a migraine, the headache would be noticeably milder and would pass more quickly than usual. She was pleased with the result, and wondered if a homeopathic practitioner could do even better.

Traditionally trained medical practitioners use medications to remove or change symptoms, while a homeopath wants to understand both the person and the symptoms in order to find a single curative natural substance. Allison’s main symptoms were “bursting” headaches in her right temple, nausea, and a visual aura. With an extensive history of her illness, plus a deep understanding of her general functioning, her homeopathic practitioner prescribed Natrum muriaticum, homeopathically prepared table salt. When Natrum muriaticum is taken in a large dose, it will produce precisely the symptoms, which had plagued Allison. After Allison took the remedy, she rarely had another migraine, and when she did, it was mild and brief. The remedy also made her more happy, calm, focused and energetic. “Everyone notices that I’m more relaxed,” she reported.

Many conditions are amenable to homeopathic treatment. Acute care, or first aid, includes effective treatment of colds, flu, coughs, bronchitis, broken bones, tendonitis, concussions, hemorrhoids, burns, surgical trauma and many other conditions. These changes in health respond rapidly to the well-chosen remedy. People new to homeopathy, like Allison B., are surprised at how quickly they feel better.

What’s amazing about homeopathy is its ability to cure the second category of problems, the chronic conditions that people live with, medicate and only dream can be cured. The list is long: anxiety, depression, digestive disorders, respiratory problems, skin conditions, long-held grief, IBS, ADD, PMS and more conditions and diseases than can be listed. While acute and first aid care can be safely dealt with at home, professional homeopaths take on chronic illnesses.

The well-chosen remedy will do more than cure common symptoms. Over weeks or months, the remedy keeps acting, and the Vital Force gently reestablishes a healthy balance. The person treated with homeopathy is likely to feel very good: energetic, happy, and improved physically, mentally, and emotionally. The goal of the trained homeopath is to restore to the person a sense of relaxed well-being and confidence, so that he or she feels and functions better. Said one patient, “It’s as if my entire being got a jump start!”

Allopathy is the name given to conventional medicine. Allopathy is the method of treating diseases by using agents that produce effects different from the effects of the disease. For example, an anti-inflammatory drug is often prescribed to fight inflammation in the body. We are all accustomed to the practice of allopathy. One person typically has a number of allopathic physicians and several prescription medications, each to deal with just one disease or dysfunction.

Homeopathy, unlike allopathy, is an energy medicine. The definition of homeopathy derives from the Greek word homoios meaning similar and pathos meaning suffering. That is, a substance that causes a constellation of symptoms in a healthy person will cure a person who suffers from those same symptoms. The making of a homeopathic remedy adds to and liberates energy from the single substance that is the basis of the remedy.

A homeopathic remedy is made in a very particular fashion. Plants, minerals, animals and chemicals are the starting point for a remedy. The chosen substance is ground for a full hour, then diluted a number of times, then shaken (“succussed”) vigorously. These dilutions and succussions continue until nothing material is left of the original substance of the remedy; only the spectrum of energy of the underlying substance remains. In this way, some powerful substances can be safely employed as remedies.

An important principle of homeopathy is use of a minimum dose. Thus only one remedy is used at a time, and it is a remedy made from only one substance. The homeopath recommends the fewest administrations of the remedy that will be useful, and in the lowest potency that is matched to the person’s needs. The aim is for the Vital Force to work with the remedy to ensure a rapid and gentle cure. The practitioner can then follow changes related to each remedy separately.

Homeopathic remedies are tested (“proven”) on a number of healthy people to ascertain the remedy’s true effects. Careful routinized observation is carried out by provers and observers so that practitioners know the full range of physical, mental and emotional effects from each remedy. “Proving” remedies on healthy people limits the observed effects to those of the remedy itself, eliminating the interaction of illness and the remedy. By contrast, an allopathic medicine is tested on sick people with a certain defined disease, which means that the full range of effects of those medicines is never learned. Homeopathic provings are supplemented by records of clinical experience over time. All effects of the energy in the remedy are thus learned and harnessed.

Homeopathy operates very differently from allopathy. A remedy helps stimulate the body’s innate healing mechanism, with improvements felt in the physical, mental and emotional spheres. The remedy is carefully chosen to match all the symptoms the person exhibits. By contrast, allopathic drugs generally suppress symptoms and often do not treat underlying conditions, that is, the disease process remains even if the symptoms are improved. For example, symptoms of gastritis can be controlled through allopathy, but the disease is likely to flare up at some point without medication. Remedies do not have side effects, while allopathic drugs can cause side-effects in many people.

Where did this amazing system of medicine originate? Homeopathy was developed over the course of a long, productive life by a brilliant and tireless German physician named Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843). Dr. Hahnemann was a physician for years, then became disillusioned with the crude and brutal medicine of the day, including purgatives, bleeding, and blistering plasters. He turned to medical translating, and in the course of his work, read about a new treatment for malaria, Cinchona (Peruvian) bark. He experimented by taking the bark himself, and found that he developed the symptoms of malaria! Hahnemann concluded that an effective drug must produce symptoms in a healthy person that are similar to the disease the drug will treat. This principle became known as the “Law of Similars.”

Homeopathy was a popular form of medicine in the 1800s and 1900s. Homeopaths even had their own medical schools in this country. Although homeopathy fell out of favor later in the 1900s, it is now enjoying a bit of a renaissance among people seeking a gentle yet effective natural form of medicine.

Stephen Kottler, HMC practices updated classical homeopathy at Androscoggin Homeopathics, Inc., 471Main St., Lewiston, ME 04240. He can be reached at 207-576-6722. www.MeHomeopath.com. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .