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The laws of nature operate incessantly around us and if we are watchful enough we are able to recognise them. They do not change with time, but instead find repeated validation of their correctness. And a system of therapeutics founded on such a natural law definitely stands the test of time. .... The Other Song.
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What is Homeopathy
- Homeopathy Consultation and Advice Dr Mahesh Rajagopal Prime Endeavor -
HOMEOPATHY OR HOMOEOPATHY (ITS OLDER SPELLING) IS A TYPE OF COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE. SOME PEOPLE REFER TO IT AS AN ALTERNATIVE THERAPY, BUT AS IT CAN BE USED ALONGSIDE CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE, COMPLEMENTARY TREATMENT IS A MORE USEFUL TERM. IT OFFERS A SAFE AND NATURAL TREATMENT FOR A WIDE RANGE OF ACUTE AND LONG-STANDING CONDITIONS AND CAN BENEFIT PEOPLE OF ALL AGES. IT IS A HOLISTIC THERAPY, AS IT CONSIDERS THE WHOLE PERSON, AND THE HOMEOPATHIC DOCTOR’S TASK IS TO SELECT A REMEDY WHICH MATCHES NOT ONLY YOUR PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS, BUT ALSO YOUR EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS.
Symptoms of illnesses are actually distress calls by the body. These need to be noticed and appropriately catered to. Ignoring them may lead to worser conditions and suppressing them could escalte troubles to more vital organs & functions.
Homeopathic remedies stimulate your natural healing power by sending a signal to the body in a language it can understand. This signal encourages the body to restore a healthy balance & thus enable it to cure itself of the disease.
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Homeopathy is based on the principle "like cures like", meaning that minute concentrations of a particular drug/mineral/herb/toxin could cure the very same symptoms it would cause in larger doses. In other words, a substance can cure a disease if it has the ability to produce symptoms similar to those of the disease in a healthy person.
The substances are made into homeopathic medicines or “remedies” by a process of repeated dilution and vibration which is called Potentisation, which magnifies the healing power of the substance, but any toxicity is completely removed. This makes homeopathic remedies non-addictive, and free from toxic side effects, so that they can be used safely even in babies and the elderly. The substances used to make homeopathic remedies come from a variety of sources, the majority being plants or minerals. Homeopathic remedies differ from herbal remedies and herbalism in that there are no dangerous interactions with conventional medicine which may be produced by pharmacologically active ingredients.
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Homeopathy for All
Homeopathy offers a completely safe and natural treatment for a wide range of acute and long-standing conditions and can benefit people of all ages. It is one among the best holistic therapies where the patient is considered as a whole individual. It considers not only physical symptoms, but also emotional and mental characteristics. As a complementary treatment, it can be used alongside conventional medicine if necessary.
Homeopathy: Evolution and how does it work?
Homeopathy is a system of medical treatment which was discovered by Dr Samuel Hahnemann more than 200 years ago. Disillusioned with the harshness of the medical treatments of his time, he quit his practice and did research. Hahnemann was translating a medical text on the effects of Peruvian bark or Cinchona, used to treat malaria, when he encountered a statement that the bitterness of Cinchona effected the malarial cure. He decided to experiment on himself by taking small amounts of Cinchona, and discovered that it produced the same kind of symptoms on his healthy self, as those of malaria, which it was supposed to cure.
This led him to the principle that “like cures like”: (a substance can cure a disease if it has the ability to produce symptoms similar to those of the disease in a healthy person). After years of research, he made another startling discovery: he could harness the healing power of substances, even if they were harmful, by a process which he called Potentisation. This process is still used today.
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There is a substantial amount of evidence from clinical trials that homeopathy is effective, corroborating the experience of homeopaths for the last 200 years. Some scientists wonder how the remedies could possibly have any effect if the substance is diluted until there is no original material left. The correct remedy seems to impart the specific information the body requires to activate its self-healing mechanisms. There is growing evidence that this information is patterned into the solvent in which the remedies are processed during the course of potentisation. Modern advances is physics are getting closer to providing the possible mechanism of action of this effect.
Medical Conditions & Research
Homeopathic treatment is highly individualised. For a remedy to be at all beneficial, it has to match the specific bodily or mental state for which it was administered. The remedy chosen by the practitioner is determined individually for EACH person in the SPECIFIC situation. It is therefore not possible to say that a particular disease will always respond to a specific remedy. There are a few exceptions, like for example, in first aid, arnica can be used for most injuries involving blunt trauma. The reason for this is that, in general terms, most people receiving a blunt injury will react in the same way with bruising, pain, etc, and arnica matches this state most closely. However, with most illness, the cause is multifactorial, meaning that numerous factors will influence its expression, like for example, genetics, diet, stress and other environmental factors. Choosing the correct remedy in these cases requires a level of skill that only a qualified practitioner has.
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In conventional medicine, the gold standard to assess the effectiveness of a treatment is the randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled trial. This model is useful in assessing a standard treatment for a specific condition, but it isn't the most suitable tool to assess the effectiveness of homeopathy which is so highly individualised. In real life, you are unique, with particular strengths, susceptibilities and weaknesses, and your treatment needs to be tailored accordingly.
Interestingly, during epidemics and pandemics, since time and resources are constraints for individualised treatment, the method of Genus Epidemicus is adopted, wherein, drug selection is based on the majority of the available case presentations.
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However, if you are interested in looking at the evidence for homeopathy, there have been a large number of observational studies (case reports and clinical outcome studies) and clinical trials looking at the following conditions: Seasonal allergic rhinitis or hayfever, sinusitis, allergies, heavy metal toxicity, brain injury, bronchitis, childhood diarrhoea, chronic fatigue syndrome, infertility, fibromyalgia, insomnia, menopausal syndrome, otitis media, plantar fasciitis, premenstrual tension or PMT, psoriasis, sepsis, snoring, stomatitis, tonsillitis, asthma, ADHD, anxiety, weight loss, cerebral palsy, depression, eczema, migraines, hypertension, irritable bowel syndrome, post-operative bleeding/bruising , postpartum pain, colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, cystitis, warts, withdrawal of benzodiazepines, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), addictions, autism, food intolerances, candidiasis, tonsillitis, IBS or irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease like ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, glue ear, Sjogren's syndrome, endometriosis, polycystic ovaries (PCOS), thyroid problems, multiple sclerosis, bladder instability, panic attacks, PTSD, urticaria, amongst others.
The evidence presented in the websites of the Society of Homeopaths and the Faculty of Homeopathy are good places to start.