Homeopathic Remedies

Homeopathy cures a larger percentage of cases than any other system or school of medicine.
Mahatma Ghandi

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The basic philosophy of homeopathy is that the body has an innate capacity to maintain health and the ability to re-establish balance if disease occurs. Homeopathic remedies help to heal the body by enhancing the defensive responses of the immune system. Because they work with the body (as opposed to against the body's symptoms as conventional medicine does), the remedies are intended to be an amplification of the body's natural order and healing processes. This system of medicine uses remedies that are made from natural substances (animal, vegetable, and mineral) diluted to very small amounts. These medicines are manufactured according to strict pharmacological methods and are safe and non-toxic with no side effects. They are commonly sold without prescription and have been in use throughout the world for about two hundred years.

The crucial point to understand about homeopathic medicine is that remedies are given to aid the body's efforts to heal itself. Homeopathy treats the patient - not the disease. In contrast, conventional drugs are generally prescribed to control or suppress symptoms. As a result of this suppression, the body's immune system cannot fully perform its function, and the disease may be driven deeper.

The fundamental principles of homeopathy to remember are:

• The body is a self-regulated system with the innate capacity to heal itself.
• The natural healing processes of the body can be enhanced by giving an ill person extremely dilute doses of substances that in large doses would cause similar symptoms of illness when given to a healthy person.
• A person who is ill must be treated according to the specific and unique symptoms he displays. It is the person who is treated, not a specific illness.
• Treatment must take into account the mental and emotional states of the ill person as well as the physical symptoms.
• The substances used for remedies, when prepared by a strictly controlled procedure, become more and more potent as they undergo a specific process of progressive dilution.

How does homeopathy work?

Symptoms are the body's defence mechanism. A homeopath observes the symptoms and behaviours of and ill person, and questions his or her reactions to different conditions in order to find the correct remedy. Unlike conventional medicine, which treats symptoms, not causes, homeopathic medicines help the body strengthen organs and symptoms so it can defend itself. Here are two examples to demonstrate this difference between the two systems:

Karen has a headache every day at about 4pm. Her GP gives her a quick physical exam and prescribes Aspirin for the pain. He says he can't find anything wrong and that she should call him if her headaches get worse.

Debbie has a headache every day at about 4pm. She goes to a homeopath that asks her many questions about the stresses in her life, what she has been eating, and other questions about her general environment and her specific disposition in different circumstances. He asks her to describe the kind of headache she has and when it started, what makes it feel better or worse, and so on. He takes extensive notes about her replies and finds that not only does she have headaches, but also she isn't sleeping well at night and feels very anxious. He consults various homeopathic reference books and gradually narrows down to one or two remedies which best matches what she has told him he gives her one dose of a remedy at he pharmacy to use for the next few days.

In Karen's case, the doctor's goal was to stop the pain of the headaches. In Debbie's case, the doctor goal was to give her an overall picture of her condition, and pick one of a number of possible remedies to restore her system to well being. When you are exposed to stress or infection there are usually several or many bodily responses. For instance, there may be an inflammation, a fever, a cough or a rash. These signs indicate that there is a fight going on inside the body and that the body has activated its defence system in order to maintain balance. A fever, for example, is a form of resistance to a bacterial or viral infection. Recent research has shown that a fever increases white blood cell mobility and activity and aids in the natural production of interferon, an antiviral substance. The homeopathic approach does not try to suppress the fever. Instead, the homeopathic method uses a medicine, which in a healthy person would cause the unique symptom of fever that the sick person is experiencing. To find the correct remedy the homeopathic physician asks such questions as: "What time of day did the fever begin? Is there thirst with the fever? Does the fever make the patient feel chilly?" Essentially, the homeopathic approach uses all outward indications as well as reactions to conditions to determine how the patient is sick. Homeopaths believe that to suppress a fever with Aspirin or other powerful drugs actually reduces the body's capacity for healing. Another example is the mucus produced with a cold. The body uses mucus to carry away the waste products of the infection. Since the body is ridding itself of waste, the homeopathic point of view is that it's not logical to suppress the expectorating process with cough medicine. Suppression of the cough does nothing to help the true healing process, and, in fact, inhibits the natural defence actions. Many allopathic, or conventional physicians agree and don't prescribe expectorants.