Description of Homepathy
What is homeopathy?
Homeopathy is a system of medicine which involves treating the individual
with highly diluted substances, given mainly in tablet form, with the aim of
triggering the body’s natural system of healing. Based on their specific
symptoms, a homeopath will match the most appropriate medicine to each
patient.
Like with like
Homeopathy is based on the principle that
you can treat ‘like with like’, that is, a substance which causes symptoms when
taken in large doses, can be used in small amounts to treat those same symptoms.
For example, drinking too much coffee can cause sleeplessness and agitation, so
according to this principle, when made into the homeopathic remedy
Coffea, it could be used to treat people with these symptoms. This
concept is sometimes used in conventional medicine, for example, the stimulant
Ritalin is used to treat patients with ADHD, or small doses of allergens such as
pollen are sometimes used to de-sensitise allergic patients. However, one major
difference with homeopathic medicines is that substances are used in ultra high
dilutions, which
makes them non-toxic.
The science
Homeopathic medicines (which homeopaths
call remedies) are prepared by specialist pharmacies using a careful process of
dilution and succussion (a specific form of vigorous shaking).
As yet,
science has not been able to explain the mechanism of action of ultra high
dilutions in the body, but laboratory experiments have repeatedly demonstrated
that homeopathically prepared substances cause biological effects. For example,
the hormone thyroxine prepared as a homeopathic ‘30C’ dilution can slow down the
process of metamorphosis of tadpoles into frogs.1 Find out more...
One theory is that during the production of a homeopathic medicine, the
dilution and agitation processes cause an interaction between the original
material (e.g. a plant such as Belladonna) and the water and alcohol it is mixed
with. This creates tiny new structures (nanostructures) which are the ‘active
ingredient’ and remain present even when the sample has been diluted many, many
times.2 Find out
more...
There is also a growing body of research evidence
that homeopathic medicines have clinical effects.
Its origins
The principle of treating “like with like”
dates back to Hippocrates (460-377BC) but in its current form, homeopathy has
been widely used worldwide for more than 200 years.
It was discovered by a German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann, who, shocked with the
harsh medical practises of the day (which included blood-letting, purging and
the use of poisons such as arsenic), looked for a way to reduce the damaging
side-effects associated with medical treatment