Faq
Introduction to Homeopathy
Homeopathy, sometimes spelled as homoeopathy, is a form of complementary medicine. This means it can be used alongside regular medical treatments rather than replacing them. Often considered for a wide variety of health issues, homeopathy is suitable for people of all ages and treats both short-term and long-standing health conditions. It’s known for being a safe and natural approach to health and wellness.
At the heart of homeopathy is a holistic philosophy—this means it looks at the whole person, not just specific physical symptoms. A homeopathic doctor pays attention to the physical, emotional, and mental aspects of an individual when selecting a treatment. This comprehensive approach aims to treat the entire person to help them get better.
Homeopathy views symptoms as messages from the body indicating something is out of balance. The remedies used in homeopathy are designed to kickstart the body’s own healing abilities. They send a specific kind of signal that the body recognizes, prompting it to work towards restoring balance and healing itself. This method helps to encourage the body’s natural process of healing, aiming to remove the root cause of illness rather than just alleviating symptoms.
Homeopathy is a unique type of complementary medicine based on the idea that “like cures like.” This means a substance that can cause certain symptoms in a healthy person might be used to cure those same symptoms in someone who is ill. For example, think about how your eyes water when you chop onions. In homeopathy, an onion might be used to create a remedy for conditions like a cold or allergy, where one of the symptoms is watery eyes.
The way homeopathic remedies are made is called potentization, which involves diluting the original substance many times and shaking it vigorously between each dilution. This process is believed to increase the healing properties of the substance while removing any harmful effects it might have in its original concentration. As a result, homeopathic remedies are very diluted, making them non-addictive and safe to use for everyone, including babies and the elderly, without the risk of toxic side effects.
Homeopathic remedies are different from herbal remedies. While both can come from plants, homeopathic remedies are so diluted that they don’t contain a measurable amount of the original substance. This means they don’t have pharmacologically active ingredients that could interact negatively with other conventional medicines.
Let’s take the example of an onion, scientifically known as Allium cepa. In its undiluted form, chopping an onion can make your eyes water and your nose run. However, when used as a homeopathic remedy, Allium cepa is prepared through potentization to treat symptoms similar to those it causes in its raw form—like runny eyes and nose in a cold or hay fever. This is a practical illustration of the homeopathic principle of “like cures like,” using the common experience of peeling layers from an onion to demonstrate how something irritating can be transformed into a healing tool.
How does homeopathy work?
Homeopathy is a form of medicine that operates on the principle that “like cures like,” meaning a substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person can help to cure similar symptoms in a sick person. This method has been used by homeopaths for over 200 years, and many people report positive results.
One of the biggest questions about homeopathy involves how it works, especially since the remedies are highly diluted. In many homeopathic remedies, the original substance is diluted to the point where there may no longer be any molecules of the original substance left in the solution. Despite this, many users of homeopathy report benefits, suggesting that the remedies are somehow helping.
The theory among homeopaths is that during the preparation process, which involves diluting and vigorously shaking the remedy (a process called potentisation), the original substance leaves a kind of “imprint” or pattern in the water or alcohol it is mixed with. Homeopaths believe this imprint carries the healing information, and when taken, it communicates with the body in a specific way, prompting the body’s natural healing systems to activate.
Recent developments in physics have begun to explore how these imprints might be formed and sustained in the dilution process, although it remains a controversial and not widely accepted explanation in the scientific community. Essentially, homeopathy is seen by its practitioners and users as a way to naturally stimulate the body’s self-healing abilities through these informational imprints in the remedies.
The World Health Organisation defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. When I think of true health, I think of a child with plenty of energy, brimming with life. Homeopaths define health further as the ability to adapt to any stressful circumstances that may affect our lives – physical, environmental, or emotional. We may talk about a child’s level of health resonating at a high level, where they have a strong immune system, or at a lower level, where they are vulnerable and susceptible to disease giving us cause for concern.
Homeopathy is a system of natural complementary medicine that has been in worldwide use for over 200 years. Putting the patient at the center of their own healthcare. Homeopathy is a holistic system of medicine. This means that homeopaths take into account all parts of the person in order to treat them rather than just making a prescription based on the specific symptoms of the disease. Homeopathy treats every aspect of life at every level – mental, emotional, and physical.
In this way, homeopathic remedies not only alleviate the individual symptoms of the illness that a person manifest, but, deal with the underlying state to ensure that the disease does not return and the person remains healthy. Homeopaths refer to this as constitutional treatment.
Two persons can have headaches but depending on their individual state of the complaints, the medicine would be completely different. Thus, homeopathy does not have one remedy for headaches or for sore throat, rather there are a number of different remedies that take into account the whole state of the person during their time of illness.
Homeopathy is based on the core principle that ‘like cures like’ i.e. a substance that can cause symptoms if taken in large doses, can be used in minute doses to treat similar symptoms. The idea that a substance can be damaging in large amounts, but beneficial in small amounts is not new to science, in fact, this concept (‘hormesis’) has been around for decades and is increasingly well-documented in such fields as biology and toxicology.
There are even examples of ‘like cures like’ in conventional medicine e.g.
The stimulant amphetamine-based drug Ritalin is used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Small doses of allergens such as pollen are used to de-sensitize allergic patients.
All homeopathic remedies are highly diluted and therefore have no side effects. Hahnemann’s discoveries were a turning point in the history of medicine and since then homeopathy has proved itself a safe and highly effective therapy, to the point where today 450 million people around the world use homeopathy as their principal form of medicine.
Homeopathy is a form of medicine that operates on the principle that “like cures like,” meaning a substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person can help to cure similar symptoms in a sick person. This method has been used by homeopaths for over 200 years, and many people report positive results.
One of the biggest questions about homeopathy involves how it works, especially since the remedies are highly diluted. In many homeopathic remedies, the original substance is diluted to the point where there may no longer be any molecules of the original substance left in the solution. Despite this, many users of homeopathy report benefits, suggesting that the remedies are somehow helping.
The theory among homeopaths is that during the preparation process, which involves diluting and vigorously shaking the remedy (a process called potentisation), the original substance leaves a kind of “imprint” or pattern in the water or alcohol it is mixed with. Homeopaths believe this imprint carries the healing information, and when taken, it communicates with the body in a specific way, prompting the body’s natural healing systems to activate.
Recent developments in physics have begun to explore how these imprints might be formed and sustained in the dilution process, although it remains a controversial and not widely accepted explanation in the scientific community. Essentially, homeopathy is seen by its practitioners and users as a way to naturally stimulate the body’s self-healing abilities through these informational imprints in the remedies.
The life force, which is frequently referred to as a “spirit like” force and “dynamics” and manifests itself in living things as vitality, is non-material. Instead, we might use terms like overall health, resistance, and immunity in today’s English. A battery or generator would serve as the life force and an electric current would serve as the vitality if you were to imagine a living thing as an electrical device. If you see a spinning top, someone might think of the life force as what keeps it spinning and the vitality as the force that propels objects outward, both of which maintain the spinning top’s balance and uprightness.
The idea of life force is found in many other therapeutic systems, including “vis mediacatrix naturae” by Aristotle, “chi or Qi” in traditional Chinese medicine, and “prana” in Hinduism. The vitality, which is the body’s life energy, manifests itself when the organism is out of equilibrium.
The organism is prompted by vitality to restore balance by producing symptoms. It was not unusual to view of all living entities as having a vital principle that electrified, coordinated, and brought together the processes of an organism during the 18th century when homoeopathy was developed. Historically, homoeopaths were able to conceptualise the subtler physical, chemical, and biological changes that occur in a sick person using this vocabulary.
I frequently get asked if homeopathy is suitable for babies and young children, if it is safe, or whether a milder potency should be given. These little ones are far fitter and healthier than many of us older folk and respond really well to the treatment. Their energy systems are far less tampered with and so will often react very quickly, needing only a few doses of the remedy. As we grow up and are prone to more chronic diseases, then homeopathic treatment becomes more complex and needs more frequent prescriptions.
There are a number of advantages.
• One of the least obvious and relevant to children is that the medicine tastes nice, in fact, they are often viewed as magic pills.
• Homeopathic remedies are non-toxic and thus are completely safe and have no side effects.
• Homeopathic medicines are not suppressive and it cures the root problem of keeping the patient healthy. Some medical treatment is palliative, such as pain relief, but much more suppressive. If the symptoms of an acute infection such as tonsilitis are suppressed, then the body does not have the chance to heal itself. Moreover, antibiotics commonly given for those complaints leave the child at a lower level of health after the infection unless remedial action is taken. The drugs have prevented the symptoms from reaching their peak and thus re-establishing a better balance of health.
• Homeopathic medicine is holistic, taking into account every aspect of the child. Homeopaths look for the underlying cause and take this into account in constitutional prescribing.
Homeopathy Research Institute | HRI – Homeopathy FAQs (hri-research.org) to answer more FAQ about Homeopathy.
The Society of Homeopaths – Society of Homeopaths (homeopathy-soh.org) Has some great iformation (add the icon)
www.hri-research.org
www.facultyofhomeopathy.org
www.cheonline.co.uk
www.homeopathyforhealthinafrica.org