Homeopathy

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What is Homeopathy ?

Practitioners of this controversial system of medicine believe that illness is a sign of an inner disharmony. Their approach is ‘holistic’, concentrating on the whole person – mental, emotional, spiritual and physical. Homeopathy developed in the eighteenth century alongside orthodox medicine. It relies very much on the body’s own considerable healing powers (basically, it stimulates the body to cure itself) and uses only mineral, plant and animal substances in its treatments.

In the late 18th century, a German physician named Samuel Hahnemann came upon a conclusion that the quinine-containing Peruvian bark (chinchona) cured malaria. He used himself as a subject and swallowed a dose of Peruvian bark. He began to feel feverish, drowsy, desperately thirsty, and agitated—all of which he recognized as symptoms of malaria. This caused Hahnemann to experiment further and form his theory that like cures like, or the Law of Similars. Technically speaking, the natural law of healing is– “Similia, Similibus Curentur” which means “let likes be treated by likes”.

Homeopaths regard a person’s symptoms as a sign that the body is trying to heal itself. The principle behind the remedies – which are highly diluted extracts of natural substances – the law of similar, acts in the way that vaccination with a small dose of a virus stimulates the body to produce antibodies against the disease. The theory is that if the substance were given to a healthy person it would produce the symptoms of a particular disease, but in someone who is sick the diluted homeopathic remedy will boost the body’s ability to heal itself. Also, the more dilute the dose, the greater its effect; the remedies are prepared in a way that is said to make them more potent with each dilution.

The aim of homeopathy is to treat the person rather than the illness. When prescribing medication, practitioners will therefore take into account a patient’s personality, feelings, habits, likes and dislikes, as well as stress factors. As a consequence, two very different people suffering from the same illness will not be treated with the same remedy; similarly, the same remedy can be used for a range of symptoms, depending on the needs of the individual.

How does homeopathy work ?

Homeopathic remedies start with simple substances, such as herbs, minerals, or animal products. These substances are first crushed and dissolved in a specified amount of a substance—usually grain alcohol or lactose, mechanically shaken and then stored. This is the "mother tincture". Homeopaths further dilute tinctures with alcohol or lactose, either 1 part to 10 (written as "x") or 1 part to 100 (written as "c"), and then succuss (shake) these tinctures, yielding a 1x or 1c dilution. Homeopaths can even further dilute these tinctures two times (2x or 2c), three times (3x or 3c), and so forth. These represent the potency, or the number of times that the remedy has been diluted. In many cases, the doses are so highly diluted that no detectable trace of the source material remains. In clinical practice, any dilution may be used, but the most common are the 6x, 12x, and 30x and 6c, 12c, and 30c. The more diluted the substance, the more potent its healing powers are thought to be.

This process between each dilution, when the remedy is vigorously shaken and banged, is called succession, which supposedly ensures the release and transfer of what homeopaths call ‘energy’ from the original substance to the remedy. It is believed that the greater the number of dilutions and successions, the greater the power of the remedy. The process of successive dilution and succussion is called potentization. You may wonder how homeopathy can possibly work if the original compounds are so diluted. Homeopaths reply that theirs is an ‘energy’ medicine that transfers healing power to the patient much like the jump start from the battery of one car to another. This energetic change gives the substance a deeper curative effect. Repeated dilution also removes all chance of chemical toxicity, allowing the homeopathic use of many substances that would otherwise not be safe to take as medicine.

Researchers also theorize that, during potentization, the energetic change occurring in the remedy substance and its medium of dilution (usually water), enables them to stimulate a person’s system to deal with stress and illness more efficiently. Homeopathic remedies do not have chemical action in the body, and thus work differently than nutrients or drugs.

Is homeopathy slow acting ?

The pace of action of homeopathic medicines depends upon many factors. If the disease is of recent origin, the cure should be achieved within a short span of time. In such cases, if the selection of the medicine, its potency and repetition schedules are correct, then homeopathic medicines also work quickly. In chronic cases, it takes more time in achieving desired results. Homeopathic medicine, if correctly chosen, will never palliate the disease, rather it eradicates the disease permanently and completely, for which it is quite natural that more time may be required.

Does homeopathy first aggravate the disease and then cure ?

Rather than simply suppressing symptoms of a disease, homeopathic remedies act as catalysts that aid the body's inherent healing mechanisms. Therefore, instead of trying to suppress the symptoms, as a conventional doctor most likely would, a homeopath may use remedies designed to heighten them.

Hence, sometimes, after taking Homeopathic medicines, the patient’s complaint may aggravate in certain rare conditions. Firstly, if the patient has taken non-homeopathic medicines (prior to the administration of homeopathic medicines), then those medicines might have suppressed the ailments and after application of homeopathic medicines, some of those suppressed complaints may reappear. In such case, the patient blames homeopathy for such aggravation, which is not a fact.

An example includes that of cold. Suppose you have a cold and your eyes and nose are running. Rather than giving an antihistamine to dry those secretions up, a homeopath might prescribe allium cepa, a remedy made from onions to encourage more tearing and nasal discharge.

Secondly, when the homeopathic medicine, rightly chosen for a patient, is employed in slightly higher potency than required, there may be a transient intensification of the existing symptoms of the patient (homeopathic aggravation). But this aggravated condition is mild and does not persist for a long time, and is followed by cure.

What happens during a visit to the homeopath ?

An initial visit to the homeopath can take from 1 to 1½ hours. Typically, on your first visit, you will be asked detailed questions about your symptoms, as well as about your moods, interests, foods preferences, urination and energy level to gather the ‘total’ picture needed to tie together the mind and body.

Because homeopaths treat the person rather than the illness, the practitioner interviews the person at length, asking many questions and observing personality traits as well as unusual behavioral and physical symptoms. Determining the person's condition also includes a physical examination (such as muscle testing or blood pressure reading) and possibly laboratory work.

Theoretically, a homeopathic diagnosis should be threefold, including physical symptoms (e.g., feverish), current emotional and psychological state (e.g., anxious, restless), and overall constitution of the individual (this includes more enduring qualities related to a person's creativity, initiative, persistence, concentration, physical sensitivities, stamina). The right remedy for a particular condition addresses all of these aspects and requires a highly individualized diagnosis.

Is it true that some particular foods are prohibited during Homeopathic treatment ?

Whether or not certain foods and drinks can upset the effectiveness of the medication is the subject of debate. Some practitioners advise avoiding tobacco, coffee, mint and strong-tasting or smelling foods and drinks for 30 minutes before and after the remedies or even throughout the treatment.

It is not true that onion, garlic, tea, coffee, alcohol, tobacco, perfumes etc. will negate/nullify the effects of the homeopathic medicine, but there are certain substances which antidote the effects of particular homeopathic medicines. For example, tea and raw onion neutralize the actions of Thuja occ. and use of camphor is contra-indicated for most of the homeopathic medicines. As such, those substances that have neutralizing effects on the specific homeopathic medicines should be restricted while using those medicines. However, it is an established fact that the homeopathic medicine will act better in non-addicts. Besides, the homeopathic medicines should be taken on clean tongue where there is no influence of other strong smelling substances.

Can diabetics take homeopathic pills which contain sugar ?

Homeopathic medicines are prepared in dilutions initially. The sugar of milk (powder) and globules are then used as media for dispensing these dilutions. Thus, these pills/powders become the vehicles only to retain the medicinal properties. The amount of sugar in these powders or pills is negligible; hence they are harmless as far as diabetics are concerned. Still, in severely affected diabetics or those diabetics who need homeopathic treatment for a long time, such medicines can be given in distilled water also.

Can homeopathic medicines be taken along with allopathic medicines ?

Although nothing of medicinal nature is permissible while taking homeopathic medicines, in many cases, it is observed that certain patients after continuing allopathic medicines for a long time, with relief in their symptoms become drug dependent. They then react adversely to homeopathic medicines when the conventional drugs are abruptly stopped. This usually happens in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus, hypertension, bronchial asthma and epilepsy. In such cases, instead of withdrawing the allopathic medicines abruptly, their doses can be gradually decreased, along with homeopathic medicines. In doing so, finally the treatment of the patient can be shifted to homeopathy alone.

However remember, if a patient who is on homeopathic treatment develops certain emergency which cannot be controlled by homeopathic medicines and warrants immediate attention, then allopathic treatment should be given accordingly. Once such emergency is controlled, the patient can then resume homeopathic treatment.

Do homeopathic medicines have side effects ?

Homeopathic medicines have no side effects. Actually, the term ‘side effects’ of a medicine is a relatively new term and relates to modern pharmacology. The conventional drugs are aimed at one area of the body such as the cardiovascular system, kidneys, the gut etc. hence, though they have a primary area of action, they also have other effects on other areas of the body. These usually undesirable effects are known as side effects. An example is of streptomycin which is an excellent anti-tuberculosis drug but the one which may cause deafness, which will be termed as a side effect.

In case of homeopathic medicines, this is not the case. This happen as homeopathic medicines are not employed against one particular area or organ of the body, rather these are chosen on the basis of the totality of symptoms of the patient and target the patient as a whole. Therefore, side effects, such as tissue destruction, do not occur under homeopathy.

The safety and non-toxicity of homeopathic remedies is reassuring; however, they still must be chosen carefully on the basis of specific information—and used correctly—or they may affect the symptoms only superficially, or have no effect at all. To work correctly, they must be chosen to match the way an individual’s system expresses its unique response to the current stress and illness. Even within the same diagnosis, different people respond to different remedies.

Limitations of Homeopathy

By homeopathy, any ailment – acute or chronic, local or general, can be treated except diseases where surgery is absolutely necessary. However, there are many pseudo-surgical diseases which can be treated by homeopathy, like enlarged tonsils, nasal polyps, kidney stones, warts, piles, anal fissures and fistula, tumors of uterus, ovary, breast etc.

But, homeopathy has limited scope in the following cases:

What illnesses and conditions respond well ?

Conditions that respond particularly well to homeopathic treatment include:

How to Use Homeopathic Remedies

Self-care with homeopathy for moderate, short-term illnesses and injuries can be quite rewarding. A correctly-chosen remedy can work gently and efficiently to relieve discomfort and help the body in healing itself without toxicity or side-effects. However, If an illness or condition is chronic or serious, it is best to consult an experienced homeopath for a remedy that suits the person’s needs.

Choose the remedy whose description most closely matches the symptoms you express. When a remedy’s pattern of action is similar to the person’s response to the stress or illness, it can help the natural defenses more efficiently overcome the problems and return the person to a better state of health.

For self curing, the best system works like this. Take one dose of the selected remedy and wait for a response to show. If relief of important symptoms is noted—or if the person starts to improve in general—the remedy is acting. Continue to wait and let it do its work. Do not give another dose unless improvement stops.

Further doses of the remedy should be taken according to how you responding, not on a pre-set schedule. Intense or painful situations may require more frequent repetitions. For instance, in severe discomfort (as with a burn or throbbing headache) a dose may be needed every few minutes to an hour. In moderate conditions, such as flu or indigestion, a dose once every few hours may be indicated. In many situations, one dose of a correctly-chosen remedy will be enough to stimulate the body to heal itself.

If no response is evident after a reasonable amount of waiting, give another dose and wait again. If no response is seen after several repetitions, review the important symptoms and choose another closely-indicated remedy.

Lower potencies (6X, 6C, 12X, 12C, 30X, 30C) are the most appropriate for non-professional self-care situations. A 30 will often act more quickly and deeply than a 6 and need fewer repetitions—but, the higher the potency, the more precise the remedy choice must be to bring results.