WHAT IS HOMEPATHY?

Homeopathy is a natural science, using various plant, mineral, or animal materials to stimulate an ill person’s natural defenses. Homeopathy is based on the law of similar, “Simila Similibus Curener” or “Like Cures Like”-that is, if a substance can cause symptoms of disease in a healthy person then it can heal a sick person suffering from similar symptoms. For example, everyone knows that chopping an onion makes your eyes sting and water and your nose run and burn. A homeopathic preparation of the humble onion, Allium cepa, may be used to cure patients with a cold or hayfever if they too have stinging, watery eyes and a runny, burning nose.

HOW DOES THE CONCEPT OF HOMEOPATHY DIFFER FROM THAT OF CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE?

The homeopath regards symptoms as the body’s healthy attempt to restore itself to balance. That is why a homeopath will choose a remedy that supports the symptoms-rather than opposing them or suppressing them as in conventional medicine. In conventional medicine, the cold or hayfever sufferer is given an anti-histamine to dry up the runny nose and watery eyes artificially. Unpleasant side effects like sleepiness and constipation often result. With the correct homeopathic remedy, however, there are no side effects and a person is restored to health naturally with an attendant sense of well-being.

Homeopathy recognizes that each person manifests his or her dis-ease in a unique and slightly different way. That is why two people with the same disease will not necessarily receive the same homeopathic remedy. A cold sufferer with a stopped up nose and dry eyes would receive a different remedy than the one with a runny nose and watering eyes. Unlike the “one size fits all” approach to prescribing often used in conventional medicine, a homeopath chooses a remedy that matches the unique symptom profile of the individual. Conventional medicine seeks to control illness through the regular use of medications; if the medicine is withdrawn, the person’s symptoms return. For example, the daily use of drugs for asthma (or any chronic disease for that matter) alleviates the symptoms but does not cure the underlying problem. In homeopathy the ideal is that a person needs just enough of the homeopathic remedy to stimulate their healing response. In other words, homeopathy seeks to heal a person so that they do not need any medications—homeopathic or otherwise.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MODERN AND CLASSICAL HOMEOPTHY?

Classical homeopathy tries to prioritize symptoms and find a single homeopathy to treat the whole symptom picture that is presented by the client. Modern homeopathy realizes that because of all the stresses in our environment such as electromagnetic waves, radio waves, poor diets, emotional and physical stresses, economic, and global stresses that the body needs more than one remedy to stimulate the body to heal successfully. Modern homeopathy utilizes the multiply remedy approach to help heal the body.