Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Homeopathy?
- Is Homeopathy New?
- What are Homeopathic Remedies?
- What to expect during a visit to a homeopathic practitioner?
- Which diseases can be treated with homeopathy?
- Can a pregnant woman or a newborn baby benefit from homeopathy?
- How does homeopathy deal with patients affected by mental stress, emotional problems, resulting from emotional trauma, severe grief, or the consequence of mood disorders such as anger, depression, or anxiety?
- Homeopathy is a complementary therapy
- How long has Homeopathy been used?
- How are homeopathic medicines made?
- If they are so dilute, how can they work?
- What is a High Dilution Homeopathic Medicine?
- How does homeopathy address patients with infectious diseases?
- Which conditions are outside the scope of homeopathy?
- What has been the position of conventional medicine towards homeopathy?
What is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy is a system of medical therapy that uses very small doses of medicines, or remedies. These remedies are prepared from substances found in nature. Nevertheless, homeopathy should not be confused with herbal medicine. These two systems of medicine are very different. Herbal medicine uses tinctures of botanical substances, whereas homeopaths use ultra-dilute “micro” doses made from not only plants but minerals or any other substance found in nature.
The homeopathic doctor chooses the proper remedy by following a special rule of nature called the Law of Similars. This law states “like cures like,” or that a medicine can cure a sick person if it can cause similar sickness in a healthy person. For instance, if you peel an onion, your eyes burn, itch, and water. You might also have a runny nose and begin to sneeze. If you had similar symptoms during a cold or allergy attack, such as a runny nose, watery eyes, and sneezing, a homeopathic micro-dose of the remedy Allium cepa (red onion) would help your body heal itself.
The word “homeopathic” is derived from the Greek words homeos meaning “similar” and pathos meaning “disease” or “suffering.” Thus, homeopathy means “to treat with a remedy that produces an effect similar to the disease or suffering.”
Is Homeopathy New?
The Law of Similars has been known since at least the time of Hippocrates (ca. 400 B.C.), but it was Samuel Hahnemann who fully stated the ideas of homeopathy in the early 1800s. He was a doctor and a chemist in Germany who lived from 1755 to 1843. He discovered the truth of the Law of Similars by testing small doses of medicine on himself.
By 1900, about twenty percent of doctors in the United States were homeopaths, but due to various political and social changes, homeopathy became relatively unknown in the USA until recently. There is wider acceptance of homeopathy in such countries as France, Germany, Mexico, Argentina, India, and Great Britain. In fact, the family doctor of England’s Queen Elizabeth is a homeopathic physician.
What are Homeopathic Remedies?
Any plant, mineral, or animal substance can be used as a remedy. The original substance is diluted in liquid repeatedly and vigorously shaken with each dilution. Unusual as it sounds, these very small amounts of remedies can act very strongly when used properly. Also, because the remedies are very diluted, they are extremely safe. The clinical experience of homeopathy shows that the micro-dose is effective: It works on comatose people, infants, and animals.
There are literally hundreds of high-quality, published basic sciences, pre-clinical and clinical studies showing that homeopathy works. These studies have been published in respected journals like the Lancet, Pediatrics, Rheumatology, and Annals of Internal Medicine, among others.
What to expect during a visit to a homeopathic practitioner?
I often spend 1 -1 ½ hours on your initial homeopathic consultation You will be asked to describe all your problems in detail as well as a complete description of everything that characterizes you, especially your feelings, sensations, sensitivity, psyche, and all that concerns your organism in terms of energy, sleep, appetite, digestion, etc. The better I understand you and your medical problems, the better I can individualize to find the specific and most specific homeopathic medicine remedy for your medical condition.
Which diseases can be treated with homeopathy?
This may sound strange but in homeopathy, we do not treat diseases but treat the person who is sick. Whether a person has a chronic or an acute disease, all of their symptoms, whether physical, mental, or emotional form a whole representing a state of imbalance very specific to this individual. The goal of the homeopath is to recognize through the unique expression of symptoms of a patient the pattern of disturbed energy and identify among the great number of remedies available the one most homeopathic, or most similar to, the patient’s disease.
Can a pregnant woman or a newborn baby benefit from homeopathy?
Since homeopathic remedies are devoid of all chemical toxicity, homeopathy is the ideal system of medicine for people of all ages, even the most sensitive like an expectant mother or a newborn baby. Difficulties during pregnancy and the delivery or its aftermath as well as all the problems experienced by the newborn can be dealt with very efficiently and without side effects with homeopathy.
How does homeopathy deal with patients affected by mental stress, emotional problems, resulting from emotional trauma, severe grief, or the consequence of mood disorders such as anger, depression, or anxiety?
As incredible as it may seem, all such emotional problems normalize with the application of the homeopathic remedy that is the most similar to the state of the patient. Patients who are already under psychotherapy find out as a rule that they recover far more rapidly after they begin homeopathic treatment.
Homeopathy is a complementary therapy
Homeopathy has been widely used throughout the world for more than 200 years. In 2000, the House of Lords Select Committee on Science & Technology cited homeopathy as one of the five Group One therapies, having “an individual diagnostic approach” along with osteopathy, chiropractic, herbal medicine, and acupuncture. Homeopathy as a Treatment Option https://www.cedhusa.org/data/Dr%20_Song_editorial.pdf
Homeopathy can be safely used alongside most conventional medicines.
How long has Homeopathy been used?
Homeopathy has been used in the UK for over two hundred years. It was Samuel Hahnemann, a brilliant doctor working in 1796 who developed the scientific and philosophical foundations of this gentler way of healing. These scientific principles form the basis of successful homeopathic practice today.
How are homeopathic medicines made?
These medicines are all made according to very specific methods as detailed and registered with the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States.
The raw extracts (from plants or animals) or triturations (from minerals and salts) are made into a ‘tincture’ with alcohol which forms the basis of the dilution procedure. Dilutions are made up of either 1 part tincture to 10 parts water (1x) or 1 part tincture to 100 parts water (1c). Repeated dilution results in the familiar 6x, 6c, or 30c potencies that can be bought over the counter: 30c represents an infinitesimal part of the original substance.
If they are so dilute, how can they work?
After each dilution, the mixture is vigorously agitated in a machine that delivers a calibrated amount of shaking. This is called succession. It is thought that this process leaves an energetic imprint of the medicinal substance throughout the body of water.
What is a High Dilution Homeopathic Medicine?
A 2C dilution requires a substance to be diluted to one part in one hundred, and then some of that diluted solution diluted by a further factor of one hundred. This works out to one part of the original substance in 10,000 parts of the solution. A 6C dilution repeats this process six times, ending up with the original material diluted by a factor of 100−6=10−12. Higher dilutions follow the same pattern. In homeopathy, a solution that is more dilute is described as having a higher potency, and more dilute substances are considered by homeopaths to be stronger and deeper-acting. The end product is often so diluted that it is indistinguishable from the dilutant (typically ethanol or pure water for liquids, milk sugar for insoluble solids). – Wikipedia
How does homeopathy address patients with infectious diseases?
Homeopathic treatment is ideal to optimize the body’s natural defenses against microbes. With the appropriate homeopathic treatment, people recover from infectious diseases, even the most serious ones, gently and rapidly. During past great epidemics such as diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, malaria, etc., homeopathy decreased mortality by 10 to 30 times versus conventional medicine. During the infamous Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-19, it has been estimated that 25 to 50 million people died worldwide. In the United States alone, 550,000 died, approximately 10% of the people afflicted with the flu. Homeopathic physicians documented then more than 62,000 patients treated with homeopathy resulting in a mortality of 0.7%. For people who were sick enough to be hospitalized, conventional medicine had a mortality of 30% while with 27,000 documented hospitalized cases, homeopathy was reporting a mortality of 1.05% (Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy 1921; 13:1028-43).
Which conditions are outside the scope of homeopathy?
If a patient has a problem that necessitates a surgical intervention, the homeopath will refer this patient to a surgeon. But as surgical interventions are a shock to the organism, homeopathic treatment will be ideal to prepare the patient for surgery and help them recover from the operation. Of course, cases with dislocation or fracture will be dealt with by an orthopedic physician. For less serious mechanical physical problems, patients will be referred to an osteopathic physician, massage therapist, or another appropriate therapist. Generally, people afflicted with genetic, congenital, or fixed metabolic diseases or with very advanced degeneration cannot always expect a full recovery, but more often a palliative relief with homeopathy, free of side effects usually expected when palliation is done with modern drugs.
What has been the position of conventional medicine towards homeopathy?
Since the beginning, conventional medicine has tried to halt the progress of homeopathy. At best, it accuses it of giving “placebos” despite double-blind studies which demonstrate the absolutely undeniable efficacy of homeopathic treatments. If homeopathy is so extraordinary, why is it not recognized universally? Although homeopathy has been practiced for more than two hundred years, it is still in its early period of growth. It is probably the most complex medical discipline to master because it is based on the pure observation of nature, and the strict application of natural law. Until very recently, of all the physicians who had studied homeopathy, only a very small minority had succeeded in mastering this discipline. Today with the general disillusionment in conventional medicine, homeopathy is beginning to bloom again and spread throughout the world. People find in homeopathy a system of medicine that not only displays more common sense by its respect for the whole person but is also more efficient in restoring health to the sick since it optimizes the extraordinary innate self-healing powers of the organism. With the advent of modern communication, the teaching of homeopathy has improved and better comprehension and practice of homeopathy have been observed.