An Introduction to Homeopathy

Homeopathy as a system of medicine was first devised by Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843). He graduated in medicine from the University of Leipzig in 1779 and very quickly made a name for himself in his chosen field. He authored several books on mainstream medical issues before he started to challenge the basis of the then modern medicine. Hahnemann examined the methods of disease treatment at the time and found them woefully inadequate, patients were just as likely to die from the treatments as they were the disease. He challenged the orthodox medical community and put forward his own new theory of disease treatment, which was based on the fact that a substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person could cure the same set of symptoms in a sick person. This was treated with derision and Hahnemann was drummed out of the orthodox medical community and treated like a pariah. His response was to throw himself even more into the development and proof of his own system of medicine. Shortly after this he produced the first edition of his Organon of Medicine, which attempted to instruct and define the use of homeopathic methods.

The word homeopathy comes from two Greek words; omeos, meaning similar and pathos, meaning suffering. Hahnemann first formulated the idea when he noticed that a perfectly healthy person given the bark of the cinchona plant (a traditional treatment in the cure of malaria) developed all of the feverish symptoms characteristically seen in malaria. This led him to the idea that substances that cause illness in healthy people will cure the same symptoms in sick people i.e. like can cure like, and the phrase "similia similibus curentur" was coined.

When Hahnemann first used crude substances in this way he found that there were many side effects, so he decided to dilute the medicines and shook them very hard in between dilutions (succussion) to energise the medicine and release its curative power. By doing this he found that the side effects disappeared and the medicines still worked. Modern science is still unable to define how this works, but experiments have shown that substances diluted to levels where an active ingredient of the original substance will not be present will still influence cells if prepared in the standard homeopathic way (a method called potentisation). When Hahnemann died in 1843 he was still developing and refining the principles of homeopathy and his work was taken up by an American doctor called James Tyler Kent (1849-1916), the homeopathy that is taught and used today has been largely influenced by him.

Homeopathy as a form of medicine has stood the test of time and now we see homeopathy being integrated into GP practices, as well as the existence of homeopathic hospitals such as the Royal London and the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospitals.

Homeopathy is a form of energy medicine and as such it will work with the physical body and also the mental and emotional areas, thus it has a very wide application. It is relevant for acute conditions and First Aid situations through to severe chronic and disabling ailments. It can also be integrated into orthodox medical treatment strategies to help combat diseases such as cancer and Aids. In this type of case it can be used to treat the emotional trauma of coping with the condition, secondary infections and the side effects of drug treatments.

Homeopathic prescriptions often surprise patients as they will invariably be prescribed a single tablet or a very short course of tablets. After prescribing I am often asked is that it? The answer is yes because we have to wait and see how the body responds. Homeopathic remedies are not like antibiotics where a certain concentration of the drug has to be kept in the bloodstream, they simply need to kick start the body in the healing process.