Beginner's Guide to Homeopathy

The system of homeopathy was founded by the German Physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, in the late 18th century. During his time conventional medicine included such crude practices as bloodletting which made Hahnemann search for finer alternative methods of treatment. Hahnemann had heard that herbalists were using the Pruvian Bark to cure symptoms of malaria. Hahnemann consumed the bark himself and observed that he had developed symptoms similar to malaria.

Further research led him to the 'theory of similars' or 'like cures like' which states that any substance that can produce, in a healthy person, symptoms similar to a particular disease, can cure the same symptoms in a diseased person. Subsequently Hahnemann found that the more he diluted the medicinal substance, shaking the solution violently between dilutions, the more potent it became. Hence the term 'potency' is used in homeopathy. In classical homeopathy each dilution is 1/100 i.e. one part medicinal substance and 99 parts water. To prepare the 2nd dilution one part of the 1st dilution is mixed with 99 parts water and given 10-20 violent shakes. Thus the 2nd dilution is 1/100000 that is 1 part medicinal substance in 10000 parts of the solution. The common starting dilution is 30th potency.

Homeopaths believe that each subsequent dilution and shaking makes the medicine more potent. The more chronic or insidious the disease is, the higher is the dilution required. However practitioners of modern medicine refuse to believe that at such high dilutions, where the original substance is literally absent, the medicine can actually work. In late 19th century about 15% of the doctors practicing in the US were homeopaths but with the advent of modern medicine homeopathy almost disappeared from American soil. However since 1980 the popularity of homeopathy has been rising in the USA and UK and you can find homeopathic practitioners in most towns and cities.

Dr. Hahnemann had recorded the basic homeopathic principles in his book 'Organon' which still remains the basis of homeopathic practice. Homeopathic medicines or remedies are prepared from naturally available substances from both the mineral and the living world. Any new medicine is first proved i.e. it is administered to healthy volunteers called 'provers' and the symptoms developed subsequently are recorded over many days. The provers eat simple food during this period so that other symptoms do not interfere. This process is known as a 'proving'.

After several such provings the symptoms for that medicine are recorded in what is known as the Homeopathic Materia Medica. Till date more than 2000 medicines have been proved and recorded in the Materia Medica. Interestingly only about 40 medicines were available to Hahnemann but he had achieved many miraculous cures. Later in late 19th century Dr. J.T.Kent, an American, who organized the Materia Medica in the easy to use Repertory, is also credited with many wonderful cures. Today there is no self-respecting homeopath who does not possess Kent's Repertory or one based on it.

Classical homeopathy is based on three principles, viz. the minimum dose, the single medicine and the law of similars. Homeopathic medicines are given in the minimum possible dose. The high degree of dilutions ensures this. Homeopathic medicines work by stimulating the body's 'vital force' and immune system, which then takes up the healing process. Therefore only a very small stimulating dose is necessary. As the medicines have been proven singly, medicines are also administered singly.

Finally according to the law of similars the homeopathic physician notes all the relevant symptoms in a diseased person from head to toe, including mental and emotional symptoms and tries to match these symptoms with the symptoms in the Materia Medica according to their importance. The medicine whose important symptoms match with the important symptoms of the patient is then administered. The dose is repeated only if the progress slows down. If there is no improvement at all either the potency is adjusted or the symptoms are re-evaluated and another medicine is given.

Once the most suitable medicine has been selected it is either taken as drops or as sugar globules soaked in the medicine. According to Hahnemann and other classical homeopaths the most similar medicine should be administered in a single dose and the changes in the symptoms of the patients should be observed over a period of several days. If the medicine and potency are correct then at first the mental and general symptoms will be cured and only then symptoms particular to the disease will be cured. This ensures cure of the highest order. Classical homeopaths believe that administering medicines based on symptoms particular to the disease by disregarding mental and general symptoms will either lead to total failure or at the most a temporary remission of the disease symptoms especially in the case of a chronic disease.

Today homeopathy is used as a form of complementary medicine like chiropractic and acupuncture. However homeopathy is considered as the most holistic form of medicine because it takes into account all the symptoms of the patient as well as the disease including the mental, emotional and physical symptoms. Homeopathic medicines have no side effects and hence they can be safely given to even newborns. As even the smallest dose works, the cost of homeopathic treatment is quite low. As there are more than 2000 homeopathic medicines in the Materia Medica almost all mental, physical and emotional symptoms are covered. As the symptoms and not the name of the disease are taken into account it is possible that the same medicine is prescribed for two different diseases.

Homeopathy is used to treat diseases ranging from a simple cold to the most serious diseases like blood pressure, diabetes and even cancer. Conventional medicine is unable to cure most diseases whose etiology is not known, for example the auto-immune diseases like arthritis, rheumatism, etc. A number of expensive diagnostic procedures are also used by the practitioners of modern medicine. On the other hand although in some cases a few diagnostic procedures may be used to check the progress of cure, homeopaths base their prescriptions solely on the symptoms that the patient feels and the physician observes.

Homeopathy is also used to cure diseases in animals. The same principles are applied here. In order for homeopathic medicine to work the disturbance in the body's vital force or the life force energetic level, which according to homeopathy is the cause of the disease in the first place, should match with the energy of the medicine. Otherwise the medicine is just inert. According to well known homeopaths there is only one medicine in a particular potency that will match a diseased state at a particular time and unless the remedy and diseased state are perfectly matched the will be no improvement. The great Dr. J.T.Kent had stated that a homeopathic failure is not the failure of the medicine, it is the failure of the doctor to administer the right medicine in the right potency.

Source - Beginner's Guide To Homeopathy by T.S.Iyer, 2nd Edition, ISBN10:8131902552, ISBN-13: 978-8170210092