Homeopathy: Introduction to Homeopathic Medicine

Homeopathy is a very complete medical system that works with the whole person and helping the body get rid of the disturbance that is caused. Homeopathy works best if you work with a qualified Classical Homeopath and not someone who dabbles in it or mixes it with other things (like herbs, kinesiology, etc.). It is a complete system in itself and doesn't work well unless done in what is called a "classical" way.

There is no one remedy for everyone. Homeopathy works with the individual by looking at everything about that person. A particular remedy is then chosen depending on all the symptoms and characteristics of that person.

Homeopathy works with minute, dilute and shaken substances.

The homeopath will meet or conference with you or you and/or your child.  Your Homeopath will ask you a multitude of questions to get a clear picture of everything about you and/or your child as well as observe you and/or them. 

Each substance that is a homeopathic remedy has the ability to cause certain symptoms in a healthy person.  For example. Arsenic will cause a certain set of symptoms if someone takes a poisonous dose. If your child had the symptoms that look like he had taken Arsenic, then Arsenic would be the remedy for him in very minute amounts. Now we know your child didn't take Arsenic but his/her symptoms match those of Arsenic and therefore Arsenic is his/her remedy. It works like that with all the remedies - more than 2,000 have been tested.

How these remedies are tested is called a proving. Over the last 150 years people have taken these substances in just the amount to cause symptoms in their bodies, mind & spirit and have recorded these symptoms in a controlled way - this is called a proving. These symptoms have been recorded in a vast index called a materia medica and indexed in repertories.

Your Homeopath will then choose a single homeopathic remedy that fits your total picture. When the homeopath comes up with all the symptoms for you, she will choose the most characteristic (unusual) symptoms for you and/or your child and the most limiting symptoms for you and find the remedy that most matches your symptom picture.

This remedy has been greatly diluted and for what we call the higher potencies (diluted a lot), if they were to test the substance, no single molecule of the original substance would be detected after a certain dilution. But we know the substance was there to begin with and it has only been diluted. This substance is also shaken in a certain way which seems to be very necessary.

Physicists are studying homeopathy to see if they can figure out how it works but no one is sure yet. We are sure that it works from experience since the middle 1800's. But how is still a mystery. It probably is something like the energy or vibration of the substance is imprinted in the water solution and works on an energy level in the person. But this is Quantum Physics. It doesn't matter to us how, but that it does work and we have a long tradition of experience that it does.

It seems that the body sometimes produces a certain set of symptoms when it has undergone a stress or exposure to something and is not able to handle it. A certain pattern of symptoms appears, individual to the person. These symptoms are the body's best attempt at getting back into balance. The best attempt and the safest for the organism.

What happens in allopathic (the medicine we grow up with) medicine is symptoms are looked at as bad and are suppressed or gotten rid of and it is assumed the person is cured or healed.

In homeopathy symptoms are looked at as the body's attempt to heal itself. If symptoms are suppressed or gotten rid of (like with antibiotics, Tylenol, anti-fungal creams, steroid creams, antibiotic ointments like Neosporin!, etc.) we are fighting the body's own healing mechanism. This is obvious to us now with a fever - if you suppress it with Tylenol, you are fighting the body. It is the SAME WITH ANY SYMPTOM the body has. You are fighting the body's attempt to heal itself. When the symptoms are suppressed it just drives the imbalance deeper into the person - into a more serious, deeper area. For example if an infant has eczema and steroid creams are put on its body to suppress the skin rashes, they often develop asthma later. Most allopathic medicine acts this way - in a suppressive way - ie. antibiotics, surgical removal of organs or growths, wart removal, etc.

Homeopathy works with the symptoms. The remedy chosen would cause the same symptoms in a healthy person and it appears that the remedy that matches the symptoms actually assists the symptoms by giving them an extra push. We seem to get stuck in certain symptoms and are unable to get out. They don't heal us, we just are stuck - like a stuck record. The answer is to help them out.

Homeopathy is best when practiced by a homeopath who follows the principles set down by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the 'developer' of homeopathy, in the Organon, and others who came after him and stayed with original principles. The homeopath would only use one remedy at a time and not mix remedies or therapies & would give those remedies in a water solution and not dry in most cases. Homeopathy doesn't work well with any other system for the most part and is most effective when not mixed with other systems. (Usually better also if not an MD - MD's still seem to have difficulty leaving the 180 degree different view of illness/symptoms that allopathic medicine has). But that is not 100% (there are a few who are excellent). Also some naturopaths specialize totally in homeopathy and that would work, but someone who doesn't do homeopathy exclusively would not do justice to homeopathy or your child (they may not even realize that, thinking they can mix and match therapies).

When you look for a practitioner you basically have to be assertive and be informed ahead of time and ask a lot of questions to determine if they are qualified, classical, etc. They should have attended a program of some sort and worked with a mentor and be full time practitioner with a lot of experience. It doesn't matter if they've treated whatever you or your child may be 'diagnosed' with as homeopathy doesn't work with diagnoses or disease names. It doesn't matter what the name of it is. What matters are the individual and characteristic and unique symptoms for you or your child. The most important is that they have extensive education and experience. This is because homeopathy doesn't treat the classification that has been given you or your child, only works with the symptom picture unique to you or your child.

If it is something chronic or something that could be potentially serious, it is not something you can do on your own with a kit or remedies you buy over the counter. A kit is for minor acute, temporary things like sore throat, cold, diarrhea, etc. A one time thing. If you have recurring sore throats, etc, that may be a sign of something chronic and you really should see a practitioner. Also something deep and chronic or potentially life-threatening requires an extremely experienced dedicated practitioner. It is an art as well as a science.

Homeopathy making a comeback in the US. It was run out 'on a rail' in the early 1900's by the AMA and drug companies as well as a diluting of the practice from within. It didn't decline because it didn't work. Very long horrible story. Basically homeopathic schools were denied funding with Rockefeller dollars (also medical schools that admitted women suffered the same fate). The money all went to male, allopathic schools. There were other issues too. It has made a comeback in the US since the 1970's and is growing rapidly because it works. It has always been strong in Great Britain (the queen and family have homeopathic physicians), Ireland, Europe, South Africa, India, Russia, & Central & South America.

But one thing that hasn't been understood is the last way that Hahnemann practiced and then wrote about in the 6th edition of the Organon - part of that is using water potencies. Very few homeopaths know about this or understand how to work with homeopathy that way. So its important to find one who does.

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