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Written by Innovative Medicine Health Staff
April, 2005
“Homeopathy's aim is the complete restoration of perfect health."- Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (The Father of Experimental Pharmacology) |  |
“Homeopathy cures a greater percentage of cases than any other method of treatment. Homeopathy is the latest and refined method of treating patients economically and non-violently.”- Mahatma Gandhi |  |
“The introduction of homeopathy forced the old school doctor to stir around and learn something of a rational nature about his business. You may honestly feel grateful that homeopathy survived the attempts of the allopaths to destroy it.” – Mark Twain |  |
INTRODUCTION
Homoeopathy is a revolutionary, natural medical science that is both gentle and effective. This unique therapeutic system takes on a holistic approach as it aims to treat the whole individual. Disorders, diseases and illnesses are expressed through a variety of symptoms that may be emotional, mental,
and/or physical in nature. These symptoms are seen as an attempt for the body to restore balance and health.
“Similia Similibus Curentur” (let likes be cured by likes) is the philosophy behind homeopathy. It is based on the Law of Similars that states by matching the symptoms that are caused in healthy people by a certain substance, that same substance has the best chance of producing a curing response with diseased individuals that express those same symptoms.
Homeopathic remedies are prepared from natural substances to precise standards and work by stimulating the body's own healing ability. They are extremely safe because of they’re small doses, totally natural, and extremely effective when taken correctly.
CONVENTIONAL VS HOMEOPATHY
Conventional medicine defines health as simply the absence of disease. You assume that you are healthy if there is nothing wrong with you. To those that understand homeopathy and holistic medicine, health is much more than that. A healthy person is one who is free on all levels: physical, emotional, and mental. It is
clear that someone immobilized to a wheelchair has a serious physical limitation. But on a more subtle level, a person who cannot eat certain foods or is allergic to certain materials is also experiencing a lack of freedom. Someone who is constantly anxious or stressed over minute details is experiencing a lack of freedom
on the emotional level. A person who is distracted easily or has trouble remembering daily tasks is experiencing a constraint on a mental level. Homeopathy recognizes such limitations and attempts, through the use of the properly selected remedies, to restore the person to health and freedom, without any detrimental side effects.
Now let’s compare prescription drugs to homeopathic remedies. There is no question that prescription drugs help suppress and relieve symptoms. These drugs have been precisely produced to maximize symptomatic relief. But this quick relief comes with some consequences. Side-effects of many of the most popular pharmaceuticals can range
from nose bleeds to severe depression. These drugs also put stress on the liver because of their chemical composition and the need for the liver to filter out many of these chemicals and the byproducts they produce in the body. Homeopathy works in a much different way. These remedies aim to regulate the body’s own immune system and regulate the
proper functioning of organs safely and without any side-effects. Although this process may be quick, in most cases the regulation of an ill body that has been that way for numerous years may take some time to restore. But once this process of regulation is established, all symptoms will be relieved, and the body will once again be restored to its
healthy state. So in retrospect, while prescription drugs may provide quick relief of symptoms, the trade offs include side effects and continued use. And while homeopathic remedies may not always provide immediate results, they do offer a valid treatment of the whole body and restoration of health without any side-effects or life time use.
HISTORY
Homeopathy originated with the publication of the Essay on New Curative Principle by the German physician Dr. Samuel Hanhemann (1755-1853) in 1796, although it has already figured in some medical and philosophical systems of antiquity (Hippocrates, St. Augustine, and Paracelsus). Dr. Hanhemann was known as the Father of Experimental
Pharmacology because of his method of preparing and testing medications. Instead of using the preparations he made on sick people, Dr. Hanhemann tested them on healthy humans, to determine how the medicines acted to cure diseases. Through his vast experimentation, the doctor came up with the law of "Similia Similibus Curentur", or “Like Cures Like”.
Simply stated, the law says that a specially prepared remedy that produces symptoms in a healthy person will also cure those same symptoms when evidently present in a person with a disease or illness.
Over the last two centuries, the fortune of homeopathy has fluctuated widely. For most of the 19th century homeopathy enjoyed a rapid growth in Europe and North America, despite the occasional opposition of the medical establishment. This was followed by a dramatic decline of its use in the 20th century, almost disappearing in the US. Yet,
in what must be one of the last anticipated recent developments in medicine, homeopathy has staged a strong, worldwide resurgence in the late 1980s and into the 90s.
PHILOSOPHY BEHIND HOMEOPATHY
Very simply, homeopathy attempts to stimulate the body to recover itself. But to get a better understanding of exactly how homeopathy works, we have to take into consideration some standard holistic principles.
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 as a whole is attempting to heal itself. Instead of trying to stop the superficial problem
with suppressants, as conventional medicine does, a homeopath will give a remedy that will cause the problem in a healthy person, and thus stimulate the ill body to restore itself.
Second, we must see every case and symptom as that unique individual’s case or symptom. Our bodies are so different, and we each experience health problems in our own distinctive way. Yet conventional medicine acts as if all similar problems were alike. Orthodox medicine offers a series of suppressive drugs or a protocol for healing that only focuses
on the symptoms at hand and not the cause. Homeopathy looks for a substance or remedy that will heal that individual person.
Finally, we need to view homeopathy from more than a chemical sense. Proponents of homeopathy state that the dilution of a plant extract or chemical to a certain point, such as homeopathies are diluted, leaves the extract or chemical untraceable and therefore useless. But this is not the way to view homeopathy, as it is the process of dilution and the
information contained in the dilution that makes homeopathy work. More information on the rationale and justification of this idea can be read later in our Validation of Homeopathy Section.
THE HOMEOPATHIC PROCESS
The process of making homeopathic remedies is very distinct and important. The actual process is what makes a remedy effective and potent.
The production of a homeopathic medicine is known Serial Agitated Dilution. This term is coined for the process of making the biological activity of the substance more potent as it is diluted. The word “potentization” is also used for this process. This “potentization” leaves a remedy more potent as it is diluted and successed further and further.
First, a specific herb, plant or mineral is dissolved in pharmaceutical grade alcohol (beet alcohol is sometimes used rather than ethyl alcohol for desired alkaloids) and a mother tincture is produced. The fresher and more natural (no pesticides or hormones used) a plant is, the more potent the remedy. From this mother tincture, the succussion process begins.
Succussion is a term used for homeopathics that deals with banging or shaking of a remedy by machine or preferably by hand. This captures and transmits the energy and information imprints of the original substance into the diluted neutral material. A mother tincture is mixed with 10 parts or 100 parts of alcohol and distilled water. This process of succussion is continued
after every dilution until the desired potency is achieved. The more succussed and diluted a remedy, the more powerful and deeper acting medicine is produced which is released as kinetic energy without toxicity.
VALIDATION
Although validation and the effectiveness can be linked to hundreds of years ago when Dr. Samuel Hanhemann conducted experiments and research of his own on the efficacy of his homeopathic remedies, more contemporary research is arising that proves the validation of homeopathy and its usefulness in modern day medicine.
Validation of the potency of homeopathies and the dilution process can now be witnessed through the research of Shui Yin Lo, a former visiting associate professor in the chemistry department at California Institute of Technology. Lo made a discovery that water, when combined with a substance and vigorously shaken, begin to cluster. These clusters grow bigger and stronger
as dilution and shaking (succussion) continues. The clusters start to assume a form that mimics the structure of the original substance itself, so even though the chemical can no longer be detected in a chemical sense, its "image" and information is there, taken on by the water molecules. This discovery validates the “potenized” theory behind homeopathics and its efficacy.
BENEFITS OF HOMEOPATHY
The benefits of homeopathy include:
• | SAFE - Homeopathy is safe. Unlike other pharmaceutical drugs, homeopathic medicines usually do not have any side effects. The dilution and small doses make it safe for children and the elderly. |
• | EFFECTIVE – Homeopathy can be extremely effective for both acute and chronic cases. Homeopathy does not see a disease as incurable, but rather sees the body as always being curable. Homeopathic medicines, if selected properly, may give results faster than any other system of medicine. |
• | NATURAL – Made from plants and herbs, homeopathic medicines contain no harmful chemical additives and are not synthetically produced. |
• | HOLISTIC – Homeopathic medicines aim to treat the whole body, not just a symptom. |
• | STRENGTHEN – Homeopathic remedies strengthen the immune system as well as the mind (mental state) of an individual and allows for further prevention from disease and illness. |
• | ALTERNATIVE – Whereas homeopathy looks to cure or heal an individual with no detrimental side effects, conventional medicine often prescribes long term use of pharmaceutical drugs that have numerous side effects or life threatening surgery. |
• | QUICK – Homeopathics begin to work almost immediately. Although continued use of remedies is necessary for the body to fully recover to a healthy and natural state, homeopathy is a quick acting form of medicine. |
• | INEXPENSIVE – Compared to pharmaceutical drugs, homeopathic remedies are relatively inexpensive. |
• | NO LIMIT – Homeopathy really has no limits as to what it can be used for. Because it is such an individualistic and holistic approach, homeopathic remedies |
SO WHO USES HOMEOPATHY?
Homeopathy is very popular in Europe, especially France, England, Scotland, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Greece. Approximately 40% of French people use homeopathic medicine. Homeopathy is also very popular in India (over 100,000 homeopathic physicians) and South America (Argentina especially because its greatest hero in the 19th century, General San Martin, was known to carry a homeopathic medicine kit when he traveled). Although homeopathy in the United States is not as popular as it is throughout most of the world, the acceptance to the philosophy is on the rise. Increased media coverage, publications, and research have begun to inform the public of homeopathy’s impressive healing benefits.
Homeopathy today and in the past has been used and advocated by some famous people such as Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, The Royal Family of Great Britain, Mark Twain, John D. Rockefeller Sr, England’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paul McCartney, Martin Sheen, Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, Jane Fonda, Pamela Anderson, Rosie O’Donnell, Cybill Sheppard, Jane Seymourr, David Beckham, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, JD Salinger, Ashley Judd, Olivia Newton-John, Martina Navratilova, Borris Becker, and Pat Riley.
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• | The proper way to take Homeopathics – 7 Rules for taking Homeopathics |
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• |  - UNDA homeopathic remedies (password protected) |
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