Homeopathy: Its Place In Medicine

Homeopathy: Its Place In Medicine

German physician Samuel Hahnemann first stated the basic principle of homeopathy in 1796, known as the "law of similars." This principle is:"let like be cured by like".

Homeopaths, like all natural therapists, have always agreed on the most fundamental point in the treatment of disease: that disease is caused by mistakes in the habits of living. Correct the mistakes of living, the thinking goes,and disease will take care of itself. Only if the body has trouble in regaining its equilibrium should medicine be given.To date, this approach to medicine has served us well. It has taken the responsiblity for personal health from the doctor and given it back to the individual. The message has been clear: live well, and last longer; look after your life, and its quality will improve. Our vitality, a precious gift, should be nurtured; our life should be in our own hands.

Vitality is the health factor that orthodox medicine has forgotten. Known more correctly as allopathy, orthodox medicine is just one of the ten or so mainstream schools of medical thought existing throughout the world:massage, herbalism, nature cure, nutrition, naturopathy, ayurveda, unani, acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractic and homeopathy make up the list of the main alternative medicines. These systems are traditionally developed, with their roots deep in their countries' cultures. A number, like acupuncture and ayurveda, go back several thousand years.

Homeopathy is a newcomer, as it goes back only two hundred years, to a time when allopathy was already flourishing in Europe. It was developed in Germany, although both homeopathy and allopathy claim their roots in Hippocrates, a Greek of the late fifth century BC, generally acknowledged to be the father of modern medicine. Hippocrates, in turn, had already been influenced by unani, the medicine of the ancient Persians and Egyptians, and by ayurveda from India. In this way it can be seen that many medical systems have common beginnings.

Most of these medicines, with the notable exception of allopathy, have as their basic tenet that it is the vital energy of the patient that must be treated, not just the physical symptoms. These medical systems are currently used for the treatment of well over half of the world's population, and many have the support of the World Health Organization, particularly in Third World countries. This support is fostering research, and an emergence of traditional medicines is occurring worldwide.

The great developments that allopathic medicine lists as proof of its effectiveness are mostly confined to the development of sophisticated tests, the treatment of life-threatening disorders, such as infection and traumatic injury, and to one of its greatest triumphs, essential surgery. In these areas it is without peer. Much of this development began in World War II, when the need for these was high; the development of specialized surgical procedures, antibiotics and pain killers were particularly notable achievements. It was believed these successes would be repeated with breakthroughs in the treatment of a broader range of illnesses.

But the routine use of allopathic medicines in treatment is not showing the success hoped for; the cost of drug research is going up, and reports of side effects are increasing. The public is becoming more aware of the toxic effects of many drugs. It is no news to anyone acquainted with the allopathic system that it functions principally to treat existing illness and to care for the chronically ill: to pull people out of the river and resuscitate them, rather than to prevent them falling in. There is a neglect of prevention, and the incidence of most preventable diseases (such as cancer, asthma, heart disease, osteoporosis and hypertension) remains unacceptably high. There is also a lack of urgency in the treatment of chronic disease compared with acute disease; with the exception of injuries,Western medicine's most prevalent, serious, and costly health problems nearly all concern chronic disease.

Homeopathy is regarded by its practitioners as being well suited to the treatment of most common disorders, including chronic disease, where allopathy is less appropriate. Homeopathic medicines offer many advantages, the greatest being that they are safe, easy to use and cheap. Homeopathy is a system of medicine easily understood by the lay person, and one of its greatest uses is in the treatment of domestic ailments.

Homeopathic Medicines
The medicines are usually sold either as liquids or in pillules of calcium lactate, otherwise known as sugar of milk.An alcohol-and-water mixture is the most common liquid form, and most prescriptions in this book will be for liquid, although a few different preparations exist.

Mother tinctures are concentrated extracts, in an alcohol and water base. They can be made from any substance in the animal, vegetable or mineral kingdoms. All told, probably about 2000 homeopathic mother tinctures have been prepared from different substances, and more are always being tested somewhere in the world. Mother tinctures are used as raw material, and in homeopathy are seldom used undiluted, except occasionally on wounds. The proportion of alcohol, which is used as a preservative, can be as high as 80 per cent in some preparations.

Lotions are dilutions of the mother tincture, usually by about 1:10 tincture:water, but up to about 1:50. They can be applied externally as often as desired to control suppuration and promote healing. When applied direct to the skin they may also have a drying effect. When added to gauze, as a dressing for a wound, the gauze should not be allowed to dry out. Lotion can be re-applied to the outside of a dressing before it dries, so the dressing may need to be changed less often.

Potencies are higher dilutions of the mother tincture than are lotions, and are given internally. The dilutions used by homeopaths are very high by allopathic standards, but homeopaths maintain that this very dilution produces a medicinal action not yet properly researched.

Normally, I part of mother tincture is added to 9 parts water, and shaken rhythmically. This is known as a Ix (decimal) dilution, or I part in 10. One part of this is then taken and added to another 9 parts water, and again shaken, to give a 2x dilution, or I part in 100. Similarly, a 3x dilution is I part in 1000, and a 6x is I part per million. These dilutions, also known as potencies, can be repeated a lot of times; the higher the dilution, the higher the potency number.Dilutions are also made on a centesimal scale, or I part in 100, yielding 1c, 2c, and so on. A 6c potency, commonly recommended in this book, is a dilution of 1 in 10 followed by 12 zeroes. A 12c potency, oftenused by homeopaths, is a dilution of 1 in 10 followed by 24 zeroes, very close to the point at which there is none of the original substance remaining in a normal dose of about 6 drops. Yet the medicine still works, and many notable cures have been obtained at these dilutions.

The shaking procedure is known as succussion, and is regarded by homeopaths as an essential part of the dilution stage. Together, the dilution and succussion process is known as potentization, and can be repeated many thousands of times in the preparation of the medicines.Although medicines for domestic use are not normally used above 6c and 12c, much higher potencies can be obtained from homeopaths for more specialized treatment. A number of 30c potencies, recommended for protection against infectious diseases such as influenza and measles, for example, are included in this book, and can be obtained from any homeopathic practitioner or homeopathic dispensary.

Higher potencies are best obtained from a homeopath after consultation. Mention should also be made of the tissue salts, which are homeopathic preparations of the twelve main mineral salts found in the body. These are also called cell salts and biochemic salts, and are widely available as homeopathic pilules in a 6x potency through health food shops and homeopathic pharmacies. Their use now has extended for over a century since their development by Dr. William Schuessler in Europe, and they are a valuable addition to any domestic homeopathic kit.

Safety
The safety of a wide variety of homeopathic medicines has been checked by government authorities. You would need to drink about five liters of a homeopathic medicine above 3x before you would begin to poison yourself.Anyone trying this would be unconscious from the alcohol, used as the preservative, before they approached a toxic dose. Since domestic doses are normally about 6 drops, a further safety factor is built in.As a result, homeopathic medicines are particularly useful for home treatments. They are of good use in a wide range of disordersfor infants, children, women, men and the elderly.