Homeopathy - some facts and myths.

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Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, a German physician was upset with the treatment procedures involved at that time as he felt that many of the procedures did nothing to cure & instead speeded the death of the patient. Eventually he gave up his practice and tried to get his living by translating scientific books, being proficient in no. of languages.

While translating Cullen’s Materia Medica he was dissatisfied with the explanation given by him about the action of China (a medicine made from Peruvian bark) in treating malaria for over 300yrs., consequently leading him to experiment on himself with that medicine and coming up with the theory of ‘law of similars’.

Homeopathy is a system of medicine which works on the principle of ‘law of similars’ or ‘like cures like’, which means ‘a substance that can cause certain picture of symptoms in a healthy person will cure the same picture of symptoms when met in a sick person.’

Homeopaths treat the sick person with a remedy that would produce similar symptoms if given to a healthy person. It’s our job to know all the symptoms the patient has in order to choose a remedy from the homeopathic Materia Medica, which can produce similar symptoms.

The immune system in our body constantly strives to maintain health in every living being. It always tries to combat with the causes that may contribute to the disease and in this process the body shows some signs and symptoms which we generally perceive them as disease symptoms. Signs and symptoms are not the sequel of disease process but of a curative process. Those are the result of diseased organism’s efforts in maintaining the harmony inside by pushing the disease out to the periphery.

In homeopathic treatment a remedy which exactly matches to this symptom picture is given to the patient, which boosts the immune system stimulating it in its efforts to remove the disease from the organism whereas Allopathic medicines work in the opposite way and suppresses the symptoms rather than curing. The immune system tries to combat the disease despite the opposing effects of allopathic medication and that’s why most of the allopathic medicines stop being effective after frequent prescribing and hence increased in power in order to suppress the symptoms completely, driving the disease more deeply only to be expressed as something more serious later. For example, asthma is the most frequent complication following the suppression of eczema.

· In homeopathy we treat the sick person as a whole taking into account the mental, emotional & physical symptoms but not the disease in particular in contrast to the allopathic system of medicine where only the physical symptoms are taken into account and treat the disease in particular. Long before a particular organ or system is effected in a particular disease, the whole organism feels some sort of discomfort emotionally, mentally and physically producing symptoms such as weakness, loss of concentration, disinterest, dullness, etc. which are not perceptible to any laboratory tests and homeopathy plays an important role at this stage and restores the health back. While the conventional (allopathic) system of medicine cannot be of any help until the symptoms have been progressed enough to be labelled as a disease.

· Every individual is unique and hence every person reacts differently to the same stimuli and we call this as ‘individualization’, which is a unique feature of homeopathy. Every person reacts differently when exposed to similar stress (physically, mentally or emotionally) or similar weather conditions, etc. and the same principle applies to the disease stimuli too and hence every person should be treated separately based on his individual expressions of illness which leads to a complete cure.

· When a person is sick, he not only feels the physical pain but also some sort of mental and emotional pain, the severity being different depending upon one’s susceptibility. In homeopathy, we try to deal with the sick individual as a whole considering the physical, mental & emotional derangement not merely concentrating on the physical ailments and hence the patient’s general health gets better along with the cure of disease, improving the quality of life. While in conventional medicine they treat the physical symptoms of the disease ignoring the mental & emotional symptoms. If these mental & emotional planes are left undealt with, treating only the physical disease, health is not regained in whole leaving the body weak, rendering it more susceptible to disease stimuli.

· Patients who are new to homeopathy may be confused or sometimes irritated with the innumerable questions posed by the physician. But this questionnaire helps the physician in individualizing the patient, leading him to the accurate remedy. For example, ten persons suffering with common cold will get a different homeopathic remedy each depending upon their individual symptoms, cause, modalities, their reaction to it (irritable, dull, sleepy, etc.), etc.

· Most of the people feel that homeopathic medicines are slow in action and are useful only for chronic cases (long suffering illness),which is not at all true. Homeopathic medicines are equally effective in acute cases such as fever, cold, cough, food poisoning, sunstroke, headache, etc. and can cure the ailments as quick as in an hour or a day or so depending upon the intensity, frequency, duration of the disease and the individual’s susceptibility, etc.

· It is absolutely safe for pregnant and lactating women and even for infants when taken under the supervision of a well-trained homeopathic physician.

· ‘Homeopathic medicines initially worsen the symptoms in order to bring a cure in the sick’ – This is a common myth prevailing in peoples mind. Initially when homeopathy was found, there were some aggravations after taking the prescribed medicine as the medicines prepared were in material doses but with successive progression and constant research in the field, the material dose in the medicine has been decreased to an infinitesimal amount not leading to any initial aggravations during treatment. Though there is some initial aggravation in some cases/individuals, it is either unnoticeable by the patient or very mild in nature (though noticed) and the patient feels a general improvement in health regardless (well-being feel is noticed by the patient) of this initial aggravation.

· Most of the people feel that in case of infections antibiotics are must and homeopathy has nothing to do in such cases. Well, I have to say that it is a wrong notion and there are ample evidences of so many infections being treated with homeopathic medicines and no antibiotics are required in most of the cases except in rare cases where the infection is substantial and the body has lost the vitality to recover.

· There is nothing like some has to be under strict dietary restrictions during homeopathic treatment. Dietary restrictions to be followed in some cases are solely concerned to that specific disease.

· Mostly people feel that one cannot take allopathic medicines when on homeopathic treatment. Well, this is also not at all true but it should be informed to the homeopath while you take any allopathic medication either prior/during the homeopathic treatment and should follow the instructions/suggestions given by him regarding it.

P.S. – Being a bit busy I could not post this article early and feel sorry for that.
[/JUSTIFY]

 

You are most welcome dear and I am glad to hear that from you.

Hahaha:rotfl. Yes dear, kids love them a lot. My kids too insist in taking those sugar pills and hence I always have blank pills (empty pills without medicine) and give them whenever they ask.:hide:

Hey, actually I wanted to add one such picture to the article but could not as I was in hurry in the morning and thought of adding later on but you made it fulfil by posting in your comment.

Regards,
Latha.

 

Thank you Rgs. I hope you got some basic information regarding homeopathy from my post.

Regards,
Latha.

 

I am glad that my post was informative and I am sorry for my delayed reply Anu. I was quite busy during the last few days and hence this delay.
Yes, asthma and eczema can be cured completely by homeopathy. Homeopathic medicines improves one's resistance power and so body becomes strong enough to combat the triggers reacting less and less to them.
But in case of persons in whom the problem is very chronic and has used so much of allopathic medication (on inhalers for asthma, using steroid ointments for eczema) by the time they approach for homeopathy and the inner vital force has weakened to a drastic extent, homeopathy can make the life better than before. We can't promise complete cure in some of these cases.
Please feel free to drop by if you have any more doubts.

Regards,
Latha.