What is Homeopathy?
Here is a truly holistic and gentle system of medicine with a very long track record supported by a huge amount of medical literature, with recorded cures that are still unparalleled.
Before your head hits the pillow at night, you will have been subjected to a barrage of assaults which your immune system has elegantly dealt with, using it’s innate wisdom and sublime ability to heal itself.
But we do fall ill as life takes its toll, and our immune system can become out of balance as it becomes overwhelmed and compromised with what life throws at us, such as a life event, an injury - for any number of different reasons. This is when the body will throw out symptoms that we need to listen to. This is what a homeopath is here to do - listen to you. To create a space that is just for you to help explore what is happening. Together, in collaborative team work, we set the scene to allow the complete picture to come forth through interaction led by detailed questioning, and observations in an unprejudiced manner. It’s truly all about you.
So what is this Homeopathy? Other than a 200 year old system of natural medicine? How did it evolve?
A German Dr, by the name of Samuel Hahnermann, grew disillusioned with the medical practices of the day. Bloodletting, leeches and the administration of medicines with toxic side effects that were often worse than the disease itself. He experimented on himself to understand how medicines worked and discovered that if he took small amounts of Cinchona bark from which quinine is made, he would develop the symptoms of malaria. Once he stopped taking this, the symptoms went away. Thus by painstaking study, testing (proving) and years of meticulous research, Dr Hahnermann developed this unique system of holistic medicine.
The governing principle of homeopathy is that any substance which can produce symptoms in a healthy person can cure those symptoms in a sick person. A detailed individualized consultation is necessary to find patterns in you, and to match your patterns to a pattern in nature, thereby allowing a well chosen remedy to promote the body’s natural ability to heal itself. We treat the person with the disease, as opposed to treating the disease in isolation. Homeopathy is about why a remedy (medicine) is given, not about what is given. (I love the analogy - we don’t see a chicken pox walking down the street, we see a person with chicken pox.)
Remedies are made from everyday substances that people interact with; plants and minerals, are examples. These are diluted to infinitesimal doses, rendering them non-toxic. They are safe for young and old, regardless of any stage in life. Plus they are not tested on animals - animals can’t tell us their symptoms.
The basic tenets:
Simillimum. The remedy is the most similar to that which has caused symptoms in a healthy person. Known as Similia, similibus curentur
Single remedy. Remedies are tested (proven) one at a time and likewise prescribed on an individual basis.
Minimum dose. Dilution with succussion releases the strength or ‘potency’ of any substance and makes it a more effective medicine whilst eliminating any side effects.
Whole person. The homeopath takes the emotional as well as the physical and the general symptoms into account when prescribing. Known as Totality of symptoms. Treating a part of the body without reference to the whole person is always going to be a hit-or-miss affair as far as holistic medicine is concerned.