About Homoeopathy
Homoeopathy
Homoeopathy focuses on the care of the whole person by methods that are both gentle and in tune with the body’s needs. It developed from investigations carried out in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by a German Physician, Dr Samuel Hahnemann.
“Like Cures Like”
The word Homoeopathy was coined by Dr Hahnemann from two Greek words, Homoios (like) and Pathos (suffering). The word neatly summed up one of the basic principles of homoeopathy, similia similibus curantur, meaning ‘like is cured by like’.
The appropriateness of homoeopathic medicines has been determined by monitoring the effects of various substances on healthy people. This is known as ‘proving’. A patient who displays signs and symptoms similar to those produced by the large toxic dose is given a minute dose of the same substance, to stimulate his or her body’s own defence system. In other words, both the illness and the remedy produce a similar set of symptoms.
The Homoeopathic View of Disease
Homoeopaths regard symptoms not just as the expression of disease, but as an indication of the body’s own attempts to heal itself.
Rather than labelling the disease, a Homoeopath seeks to discover the underlying cause of the problem. This may be mental, emotional, physical, environmental, or a combination of these factors.
The Homoeopath will question the patient closely in order to get a very complete picture of the whole person, because the prescription is based on the total state of the patient, not just the dominant symptom/s.
Then the Homoeopath will choose a remedy that stimulates the process that is already going on, one which follows through and works with the body’s own defence mechanism, resulting in a reduction of the symptoms and a return to health.
Chronic & Acute Disease
Dr Hahnemann’s observations led him to define two general classes of disease, acute and chronic. It is most important when using homoeopathy to differentiate between these two types.
He described an acute disease as ‘such affections which usually run their course within a brief period of time.’ Measles, for example, would be classed as an acute disease. Acute diseases can often be treated at home by a lay-person.
Chronic diseases, however, are deep-rooted conditions which usually worsen with time. This type of illness includes inherited tendencies, predispositions, and susceptibilities — such complaints as eczema, asthma, hayfever, allergies, diabetes and arthritis. Despite the body’s best efforts, it is usually unable to throw the weakness off. These should always be treated by a qualified Homoeopath. The symptoms that the patient is aware of are often only the ‘tip of the iceberg’, and the case requires skilled management to effect healing.
Homoeopathy Is Safe
Homoeopathic medicines are powerful in action, working with the body’s own defences, and when correctly prescribed do not give rise to undesirable side-effects.
It is however possible to produce unpleasant and unwanted symptoms, or an aggravation of a condition, by continuing with a remedy for too long. Because a remedy will, in minute doses, cure what it can cause, it follows that taking too much may have the toxic effect of causing symptoms.
It is tempting to try to treat chronic conditions at home, particularly as so many medicines on the shelves make claims to such cures, but at best they will only temporarily relieve some symptoms, and no lasting cure will result. Indeed, harm can be done.
The Homoeopathic Remedies
Homoeopathic remedies are quite different to conventional medication in strength, mixture, dosage and manufacture. They also, of course, differ in the way in which they cure, rather than suppress symptoms.
They are diluted to set formulae, and the various resulting potencies are administered by a Homoeopath in accordance with the patient’s needs. For the purposes of treating acute conditions at home, 30c is the best (and safest) one to use.
Store remedies in a dark place away from extremes of temperature, sunlight, and strong odours. Keep the containers closed at all times.
How to Take the Remedies
The best method is to dissolve a few [6 – 10] granules in a small amount (100ml) of water. The container for the remedy should be washed well with hot water and then put in the sun for 30 minutes to sterilize, before being used.
Shake / stir the mixture before each dose.
A plastic dropper-bottle is ideal for dispensing remedies.
Take three doses of 5 – 10 drops in the mouth, 30 minutes apart.
If the condition has not improved at all the wrong remedy has been chosen.
If there is an improvement, continue with the remedy and phase it out (E.g. 3 doses 30 min apart, then 3 doses 1 hr intervals, then 2 hourly, etc.).
When the conditions are gone stop taking the remedy. Start taking it again if the conditions return.
In severe conditions a dose can be taken every 5 to 10 minutes (e.g. pain) for up to 6 doses.
If the condition is not severe (e.g. cough or cold) take a dose three or four times a day.
This liquid form of the remedy serves when a lotion is needed, for external application.
There are over 3000 remedies from which the Homoeopath can prescribe just the right one for a particular patient with his/her symptoms.
Choosing the Remedy
For some conditions there are a number of remedies from which to choose and it is important to differentiate between them.
The modalities, < WORSE FOR… and > BETTER FOR… are important guide-lines. Some modalities are common to the remedy, no matter what the disorder. Also look at whether the patient is chilly or hot, their thirst (or lack of thirst), etc. etc., and any concomitant symptoms.
Bryonia and Rhus tox are good examples of remedies which are similar in the joint pains, but Bryonia is < for movement of any sort and wants to keep quite still, while Rhus tox is a little < on starting to move but is then much better for gentle movement.
Not all the remedy symptoms need to be present in the patient, but the patient’s symptoms must be in the remedy.
If the condition worsens, or does not improve after a reasonable time, consult your homoeopath. |