What is Homeopathic Medicine?
Homeopathy is a system of holistic medicine that treats each unique individual and his or her health complaints as an integrated whole. A safe, effective, and non-toxic therapy, homeopathy utilizes small doses of natural substances derived from plant, mineral, and animal sources. The homeopathic doctor seeks to understand the connection between a person’s physical, mental, and emotional complaints in order to assist in healing.
Homeopathy was first formulated by a German physician named Samuel Hahnemann over 200 years ago and is based upon the “law of similars,” or as Hahnemann phrased it in Latin: similia similibus curentur. An individual’s symptoms and their pattern are used as clues to help choose the best homeopathic treatment for each person. A substance from nature that is known to be able to cause symptoms similar to the symptom pattern of the suffering patient is then prescribed as treatment. This is homeopathic treatment with similars.
Homeopathic remedies are exceptionally safe and rarely generate unwanted side effects. This safety profile in addition to homeopathy’s effectiveness in helping chronic illnesses are the main reasons why we have chosen to make homeopathy the main therapy of our medical practice.
A good homeopathic practitioner uses a balanced approach, recognizing when other alternative therapies may be useful, when conventional diagnostics and medications are necessary, and when homeopathic treatment alone is not sufficient.
Most medications used in conventional medicine are based upon the idea of treatment with opposites. Therefore a headache is treated with an analgesic, depression is treated with an antidepressant, allergies are treated with antihistamines, and so on. So it is not unusual that a patient could be taking one pill for his headaches, one for his sleep problem, and one for his arthritis pain. Each medication is designed to combat and fight against the targeted symptom. This is a symptomatic form of therapy that just aims to suppress symptoms.
The difference is that homeopathy uses symptoms as clues in order to find the best way to treat the whole person. So a homeopathic prescription of only one medication may be used in order to simultaneously help the headaches, sleep problems, and arthritis of a given patient with the understanding that all symptoms are related to each other. Treatment should result in resolution of symptoms, greater vitality, increased immunity, and improved long-term health.
Successfully treated homeopathic patients often note improvements in their mood, energy, and overall sense of well-being, in addition to improvements in their symptoms.
