Answers Your Homeopathy Questions

What Is Homeopathy?
What Are The Origins Of Homeopathy?
What Is The Materia Medica And How Was It Developed?
How Does Homeopathy Compare With Allopathy?
What Is A Homeopathic Consultation?

WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY?

HOMEOPATHY is a therapeutic approach based upon on experimentally verified law of pharmacology - THE LAW OF SIMILARS: "A pharmacologically active substance administered to a person in good health triggers a series of symptoms. These can be cured by the same substance when given in micro doses to a patient having these problems" Thus, Ipecac in large dose causes vomiting: in a small dose diluted and energized according to Hahnemann's method becomes one of the remedies for nausea and vomiting. Opium in a significant dose paralyzes the smooth muscles of the intestine; in a homeopathic dose it becomes one of the elements for treating constipaton. 'Simila Similibus Curantur' Likes are cured by the likes, that is, substances which in a strong dose cause symptoms, heal these same symptoms when they are administered in a small dose.

WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF HOMEOPATHY?

The founder of homeopathy was a physician from Germany named Samuel Hahnemann. He was born in Meissen in 1755. Deeply disturbed in his medical convictions by the weakness of the therapeutic practices of the period, he gave up his medical practice to explore other alternatives and deepen his understanding. Thus in 1790, while translating the 'materia medica' of a Scottish doctor by the name of Cullen his attention was drawn to an article discussing quinine. He found by experimenting on himself that the Chinchona bark would cause toxicological symptoms such as fever attacks and various other disorders similar to thos which it cured when used in small doses.

Struck by this concidence, he continued to experiment and was able to verify that this reaction mode observed with quinine could be repeated with many other substances. It was no longer a coincidence but a valid General Law. The account of his theories and experiments were published in 1810 in "The Organon, or The Art Of Healing."

Experiments with these crude drug substances on healthy subjects are called "provings or pathogenesis." The collection of these "provings" of "drug pictures" constitutes the "HOMEOPATHIC MATERIA MEDICA" used by homeopathic physicians.

WHAT IS THE MATERIA MEDICA AND HOW WAS IT DEVELOPED?

The sixty experiments initiated by Hahnemann have since been enormously enlarged, and a vast range of substances have been studied by his disciples. In the "Homeopathic Materia Medica", the remedies are generally classified in alphabetical order. The entire set of psychic and organic/physical symptoms displayed by healthy but sensitive individuals is meticulously recorded for each remedy.

Homeopathy considers the entire syndrome of the patient's symptoms, hence the expresson "therapy for the total man" so often used by homeopathic doctors. For healthy but sensitive individuals, the number of symptoms listed in the pictures of pathogeneses of the remedies is very important. These symptoms generally do not appear all at once either in the patients or in the experimental subjects; some subjects are more sensitive than others and thus have more complete syndromes. However, some of these signs appear very frequently and they are therefore very characteristic. For example, one pale cheek and one ruddy cheek in a baby indicates chamomilla.

HOW DOES HOMEOPATHY COMPARE WITH ALLOPATHY?

A homeopathic remedy acts as a stimulant on the reactions of the organism. A small dose of an active product alerts the organism by a kind of signal, perhaps of diencephalic orgin, which results in making it as resistant as possible to the toxic aggression. Allopathy, on the other hand, generally acts by a substitutive or inhibitive action. Homeopathy and allopathy are thus not completely incompatable. They are two different approaches to the difficult art of healing, and in certain cases the two treatments can be administered simultaneously.

WHAT IS A HOMEOPATHIC CONSULTATION?

Thanks to the materia medica the homeopathic doctor knows different symptom patterns which represent homeopathic remedies. When a patient comes to him (or her) he (or she) will, by asking detailed questions, attempt to learn the characteristics of the patient, taking into account not only the details of the patient's disease but also his particular reaction modalities. It is the comparison of the pathogenic symptoms which will enable the doctor to determine which homeopathic remedy to prescribe. This remedy is called the "SIMILIMUM". In practice the homeopathic doctor does not generally prescribe a single remedy but several, for it is difficult to cover the whole pattern of symptoms displayed by a patient with a single remedy. However, some homeopathic doctors called Kentists try to do this. We will explain here the compelte homeopathic prescription practiced by a large part of the homeopathic medical body. In general it includes:

a) The terrain remedy which takes into account profound characteristics, even the patient's diathesis;

b) One or more symptomatic remedies, similima of the disorders caused by the disease;

c) A drainer making it possible to stimulate one or several elimination organs, which facilitates the action of the similmum.

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