homeopathy

Homeopathy is a remarkable, yet sadly under-utilized, therapy that stimulates our natural ability to heal and recover from illness. When practiced well by a homeopathic doctor, it can gently and permanently cure diseases and restore health to a degree that is simply amazing. It is useful in a wide range of diseases, from coughs and earaches to autoimmune disease and cancer. Since it works by harnessing our natural ability to heal, it is often effective where conventional medicine has failed.

Safe and Non-Toxic

Homeopathic medicines are made from natural substances and are prepared so that they are entirely non-toxic. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, regulates the manufacture and sale of homeopathic medicines. In most cases, they are prescribed in minute doses that make homeopathy extremely safe for everyone, including infants, children, pregnant and nursing women, and the elderly. In fact, homeopathy is an ideal therapy for these populations. These tiny doses are effective because, unlike conventional pharmaceutical drugs, which change the body chemically, homeopathic medicines provoke a healing reaction in the person that restores them to health. It is the healing reaction provoked by the homeopathic medicine that cures, not the medicine itself.

History

A German physician, Samuel Hahnemann, developed homeopathy into a meaningful system of medicine over 200 years ago. Like many people today, Hahnemann had become disappointed by the limitations and dangers of conventional medicine. He labored for many years to find a gentle yet effective way to cure illness. Homeopathy is the fruit of his labor.

Like Cures Like

Homeopathy is the scientific application of the Law of Similars, often referred to as like cures like. Simply stated, what a medicine can cause in a healthy person, it can cure in someone who is sick. This principle stems from Hahnemann’s real world observations of diseases and their cure, and has been verified by homeopaths ever since. For example, many of us have experienced the stimulating effects of coffee. In homeopathy, we use a homeopathic preparation of coffee to treat ailments like insomnia that are caused by over-stimulation. The more closely the symptoms of the patient match those of the medicine, the greater the benefit.

Treating the Individual

Of course, not everyone’s insomnia will be cured by coffee. It is important to realize that we do not all become sick in exactly the same way. While any number of different people may suffer from insomnia, each will experience it differently. One person may feel over-stimulated, as in the example above. Another may experience anxious thoughts as they lie in bed at night. Still another may experience aches and pains that cause them to toss and turn trying to find a comfortable position. Because each person has different symptoms, each will require a different medicine—the medicine that is most similar to their unique symptoms. Homeopathy acknowledges that we are not all the same.

Holistic Treatment

Perhaps what is most different about homeopathy in comparison to conventional medicine is its holistic view of health and disease. In homeopathy, disease is regarded as an imbalance in the person as a whole. When we become sick, our whole being is affected. Many of us can easily relate to this idea. When we are sick, we not only suffer from physical symptoms, but often experience changes in our emotions, such as irritability or neediness; changes in cognition, such as an inability to think clearly; and changes in our most basic bodily functions, such as loss of appetite and disturbed sleep. Cure is accomplished by re-establishing balance in the person as a whole. When balance is achieved, the underlying cause of the disease is removed and all the symptoms associated with the disease resolve.

Treating the Cause

In the scientific community it is well known that disease occurs through the interplay of several factors: the genes we inherit from our parents, stressors in our environment, and our lifestyle choices. In a large proportion of people, the most potent of these factors is the susceptibility to certain diseases that we inherit through our genes, or that we acquire during our lifetime. In most cases, this susceptibility to disease remains dormant and does not cause us any troubles until it is made active by exposure to stress. Stressors in our environment, such as emotional trauma, injury, infection, or sudden changes in climate, activate this dormant susceptibility. Once it is activated, we become sick, each in our own way depending on our particular susceptibilities and tendencies. Lifestyles that are not favorable to health, such as eating poorly, lack of exercise, or too little sleep, have a similar effect. By restoring balance, homeopathy alters our susceptibility to disease so that, over time, we become increasingly less susceptible, less affected by stress, and less likely to get sick.

What Can Be Treated?

The majority of known acute and chronic diseases can be treated successfully with homeopathy, including nearly all of the most common reasons why people seek medical treatment in the United States. It is important to note that there are some diseases not suitable for homeopathic treatment. Some conditions require surgery and other diseases can only be corrected through changes in lifestyle. Even in diseases where homeopathy can be of great service, other therapies, such as nutrition, exercise, spinal manipulation and other forms of body work, may be necessary to achieve complete recovery and maintain good health. A well-trained homeopath will refer you to other practitioners when necessary, and may even be perfrom some of these therapies themselves.

Homeopathy Around the World

While homeopathy is experiencing a resurgence of popularity in the United States, it is far more popular in many other countries. In India, the second most populous country in the world, approximately 130 million people use homeopathy.¹ In some countries, homeopathy is an officially recognized component of the conventional medical system. In Brazil, homeopathy is a recognized medical specialty where 15,000 medical doctors are certified as homeopathic specialists.² In Great Britain, the physician to the Royal Family has been a homeopathic physician since the late 1800s.

Famous People Who Have Used Homeopathy

Many highly accomplished individuals past and present have chosen homeopathy as their therapy of choice, including the industrialist John D. Rockefeller, jazz great Dizzy Gellespie, author Mark Twain, and several U.S. Presidents.

Homeopathy is really quite extraordinary. It is safe, gentle, non-toxic, and amazingly effective for people of all ages. It taps our body’s tremendous ability to heal itself and changes disease and discomfort into vitality and health. Why wait any longer to realize the benefits of homeopathy? Come experience natural healing for yourself. See a homeopathic doctor!