What is Homeopathy?

Homeopathy is a system of medicine that is based on the Law of Similars. The truth of this law has been verified experimentally and clinically for the last 200 years.

The Law of Similars is based off a physics law of nature.  Positively charged particles repel positively charged particles.  Negatively charged particles repel negatively charged particles. Like charges repel.   This example is best illustrated with magnets.  If two positively charged magnets are put together, they repel.  It is this principle that provides explanation to how and why homeopathy is effective.

For example: Historically if your child accidentally ingested certain poisons, you may have been advised to administer Syrup of Ipecac to induce vomiting.  Ipecac is derived from the root of a South American plant called Ipecacuanha. The name, in the native language, means “the plant by the road which makes you throw up.” Eating the plant causes vomiting.

When a group of healthy volunteers took this substance to determine the effects of this drug, they found that the drug induced other symptoms as well. The mouth retained much saliva. The tongue was very clean. There was a cough so severe that it led to gagging and vomiting. There was incessant nausea. Normally a person feels better after vomiting however a person who takes Ipecacuanha does not feel better after.

Such an experiment, using healthy volunteers, is called a proving, and it is the homeopath’s source of information about the action of a drug.  These symptoms obtained by the proving are the first bit of information needed when applying the Law of Similars.

If a person were suffering from a gagging cough after a cold, or a woman were experiencing morning sickness with incessant nausea that is not relieved by vomiting, then Ipecacuanha, administered in a minute dose, especially prepared by a homeopathic pharmacy in accordance with FDA approved guidelines, can allay the “similar” suffering.  These symptoms of the sick person are the second bit of information needed when applying the Law of Similars.

By administering a homeopathic medicine that is similar to a persons disease state as illustrated above is a practical application of the Law of Similars.  The effect of applying the Law of Similars in medicine is to stimulate the body to react; no two similar substances can exist in the same place.  Therefore, when the correct homeopathic medicine is given the body will act to correct the diseased state.

This law of nature has been written about for centuries. However it was not until the late 1700’s that this law of nature was systematically applied in medicine.  Dr. Samuel Hahnemann was a medical pioneer and developed the principle into a system of medicine called homeopathy, “homeo” meaning similar and “pathy” meaning disease.  Homeopathy has been used successfully for the last 200 years.

How does homeopathy differ from conventional medicine?

Homeopathy attempts to stimulate the body to recover itself. Let’s look at an example: the common cough.

First, we must accept that all symptoms, no matter how uncomfortable they are, represent the body’s attempt to restore itself to health. Instead of looking upon the symptoms as something wrong which must be set right, we see them as signs of the way the body is attempting to help itself. Instead of trying to stop the cough with suppressants, as conventional medicine does, a homeopath will give a remedy that will cause a cough in a healthy person, and thus stimulate the ill body to restore itself.

Second, we must look at the totality of the symptoms presented. We each experience a cough in our unique way. Yet conventional medicine acts as if all coughs were alike. It therefore offers a series of suppressive drugs something to suppress the cough, something to dry the mucus, something to lower the histamine level, something to ease falling asleep.

Homeopathy, on the other hand, looks for the one substance that will cause similar symptoms in a healthy person. The person with a cough characterized by being worse when breathing cold air, and sounding like a deep bark, will need a quite different remedy than the person whose cough is loose in the morning, dry in the evening, and better when sitting up in bed. We characterize both as “coughs” but they are different illnesses in the individuals, and therefore require different homeopathic treatment.

Health is defined by freedom of disease.  A healthy person is a person who is free on all levels: physical, emotional, and mental.  In the conventional medical thought, each system of the body is different and not related.  In conventional medicine a person can be declared “healthy” because a physical exam is normal.  However, this leaves many patients frustrated because they just don’t feel right.  In homeopathy each system of the body provides clues towards the entire state of the person as a whole.  This will lead to freedom of disease on all levels.

An important basic difference exists between conventional medical therapy and homeopathy. In conventional therapy, the aim often is to control the illness through regular use of medical substances, even if the medication is nothing more than dietary supplements. If the medication is withdrawn, however, the person returns to illness. There has been no cure. A person who takes a pill for high blood pressure every day is not undergoing a cure but is only controlling the symptoms. Homeopathy’s aim is the cure: “The complete restoration of perfect health,” as Dr. Samuel Hahnemann said.

What are the medicines?

Homeopathic medicines are drug products made by homeopathic pharmacies in accordance with the processes described in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States the official manufacturing manual recognized by the FDA. The substances may be made from plants such as aconite, dandelion, plantain; from minerals such as iron phosphate, arsenic oxide, sodium chloride; from animals such as the venom of a number of poisonous snakes, or the ink of the cuttlefish; or even from chemical drugs such as penicillin or streptomycin. These substances are diluted carefully until little of the original remains.

A plant substance, for example, is mixed in alcohol to obtain a tincture. One drop of the tincture is mixed with 99 drops of alcohol (to achieve a ratio of 1:100) and the mixture is strongly shaken. This shaking process is known as succussion. The final bottle is labeled as “1C.” One drop of this 1C is then mixed with 100 drops of alcohol and the process is repeated to make a 2C. By the time the 3C is reached, the dilution is 1 part in 1 million! Small globules made from sugar are then saturated with the liquid dilution. These globules constitute the homeopathic medicine.

Although such infinitesimal quantities are considered by some to be no more than placebos, the clinical experience of homeopathy shows that the infinitesimal dose is effective: it works upon unconscious people and infants, and it even works on animals.

It is important to remember, however, that a medicine is homeopathic only if it is taken based upon the similar nature of the medicine to the illness. A medicine labeled as “homeopathic” will work only if it is homeopathic to the symptoms presented.