What is Homeopathy
So many people reach out to our clinic wanting to feel better but then quietly admit that they really don’t know what homeopathy is.
They know its natural, they may have had a friend or family member that can speak to how effective they found it. They then get a little quiet and a bit afraid they may offend me as a Homeopath as they admit they don’t really know the difference between what I do and what a Naturopath does.
I am so excited for these people, for the new world they are about to discover. It is not that they are not uneducated or that they are not unknowledgeable. They have just stepped into such an incredible realm of healing; they are in for an amazing learning experience.
Homeopathy is so different from other modalities. It may in fact be so far ahead of its time that this has caused a cloud of mystery to fall over it as a wonderful healing modality.
I believe the profession has also helped to propagate some of this “mystery” by not educating more on the principals of Homeopathy in way that allows people to bridge that gap between the healing modalities they know and the incredible principals of Homeopathy. This BLOG will be working to help bridge that gap.
On that lets review some of the key principles of Homeopathy:
Homeopathy as a system of Medicine:
Homeopathy is a system of natural health care that has been in worldwide use for over 200 years. Homeopathy treats each person as a unique individual with the aim of stimulating their own healing ability. A homeopath selects the most appropriate medicine based on the individual’s specific symptoms and personal level of health.
Homeopathy is used by over 200 million people worldwide
It has grown steadily in popularity in the past 40 years and is currently estimated to be increasing at more than 20% a year globally
It is recognized by the World Health Organization as the second largest therapeutic system in use in the world. While it is most popular in India and South America, over thirty million people in Europe, and millions of others around the world, also benefit
from its use.
Samuel Hahnemann discovers homeopathy:
Homeopathy is based on a series of ideas developed in the 1790s by a German doctor called Samuel Hahnemann. He practiced conventional medicine for only five years before he left his practice feeling that the treatments available were often causing more harm than helping.
A central principle of the "treatment" is that "like cures like" – that a substance that causes certain symptoms can also help to remove those symptoms.
A second central principle is based around a process of dilution and shaking called succussion.
In Homeopathy we treat the patient not the illness.
We will learn more about this great man in latter BLOGS
Like cures like: The Law of similars
“By similar things a disease is produced and through the application of the like is cured”. Hippocrates (460-377 BC), ‘Father of Medicine’.
Like with like
Homeopathy is based on the principle that you can treat ‘like with like’, that is, a substance which causes symptoms when taken in large doses, can be used in small amounts to treat those same symptoms.
This concept is sometimes used in conventional medicine, for example, the stimulant Ritalin is used to treat patients with ADHD, or small doses of allergens such as pollen are sometimes used to desensitize allergic patients. However, one major difference with homeopathic medicines is that substances are used in ultra high dilutions, which makes them non-toxic.
Potency: The use of ultra-high dilutions or nanoparticles:
*Homeopathy is a system of medicine which involves treating the individual with highly diluted substances with the aim of triggering the body’s natural system of healing. Based on their specific symptoms, a homeopath will match the most appropriate medicine to each patient.
*Homeopathic medicines can and should be considered to be a type of "nanopharmacology" (Ullman, 2006). Although the word "nano" also means one-billionth of a size, that is not its only definition. In fact, "nano" derives from the word "dwarf," and "nano" is the only word in the English language that is used on common parlance as denoting extremely small AND yet extremely powerful. Homeopathic medicines are both extremely small in dose and yet extremely powerful in their therapeutic effect. Although no one knows precisely how homeopathic medicines initiate the healing process, we have more than 200 years of evidence from hundreds of thousands of clinicians and tens of millions of patients that these medicines have powerful effects.
*It is important to understand that nanopharmacological doses will not have any effect unless the person is hypersensitive to the specific medicinal substance. Hypersensitivity is created when there is some type of resonance between the medicine and the person. Because the system of homeopathy bases its selection of the medicine on its ability to cause in overdose the similar symptoms that the sick person is experiencing, homeopathy's principle of similars is simply a practical method of finding the substance to which a person is hypersensitive. The homeopathic principle of similars makes further sense when one considers that modern physiologists and pathologists recognize that disease is not simply the result of breakdown or surrender of the body but that symptoms are instead representative of the body's efforts to fight infection or adapt to stress.
Succussion to archive the correct potency:
One drop of the mother tincture is put into a vial and then nine drops of a solution of alcohol and water and shaken vigorously. This results in a 1X potency.
With one drop of the 1X potency and nine drops of the diluting solution and another good shake and you have 2X potency.
For the potency of 1C, this process is done 100 times.
(C is the Roman numeral for 100).
Potency: What do the Letters mean?
The Letter X indicates the Roman numeral for ten, and the Latin term "Decem." This represents a 1:10 dilution factor. It can also be labelled as DH or D for "decem;" therefore, X is the same as DH or D.
The Letter C indicates the Roman numeral for one-hundred, and the Latin term "Centum" to represent dilution stages made in the 1:100 ratio. The C dilutions are often labelled as CH. This is equivalent notation, since the H is superfluous and often dropped in C-type or D-type preparations.
The "H" in "CH" or "DH" simply indicates that the process is by Hahnemann's method. This is often dropped because it is assumed that the process is Hahnemenn's. Occasionally, a "K" is indicated to communicate that the process was by the Korsakovian (K) method instead of the usual Hahnemannian (H) process. When only C, D or X is stated, the H is assumed. If the process was by Korsokov's method, there will always be a K to indicate this.
Now you have the basics. We will be diving deeper into all of these subjects in upcoming BLOGS so please like and follow if you want to learn more. What is the short answer to what is Homeopathy?
#1 Homeopathy treats the individual and not the disease. A disease is a set of symptoms. A migraine for one person is not the same for all. Not in symptoms nor in cause. As a Homeopath we treat you as a person to get the bottom of the imbalance that is causing your symptoms. We see symptoms as your body trying to communicate an imbalance. Not inconvenience you.
#2 Homeopathics are not supplements. Supplements are made to “supplement” for something your body is not getting from your food or is not producing itself. Homeopathics are specially selected in both remedy and potency to stimulate your healing natural ability.
#3 Hoemopathics are not prepared the same as supplements. The high dilution means in order to have a healing action your body needs to be hypersensitive to the substance or it will have no action at all.
I hope you feel more comfortable with this incredible healing modality and will be joining me on as we learn more about Homeopathy.
*References:
Chaplin, Martin. 2009 (updated regularly) http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/water/index2.html,Chikramane PS, Kalita D, Suresh AK, Kane SG, Bellare JR. Why extreme dilutions reach non-zero asymptotes: a nanoparticulate hypothesis based on froth-flotation. Langmuir. 2012. Accessed July 18, 2020. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23083226,Demangeat, J.-L., Gries, P., Poitevin, B., Droesbeke J.-J., Zahaf, T., Maton, F., Pierart, C., and Muller, R. N. Low-Field NMR Water Proton Longitudinal Relaxation in Ultrahighly,Diluted Aqueous Solutions of Silica-Lactose Prepared in Glass Material for Pharmaceutical Use, Applied Magnetic Resonance, 2004, 26:465-481.,Elia, V. and Niccoli, M. Thermodynamics of Extremely Diluted Aqueous Solutions, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1999, 879:241-248.,Elia, V., Baiano, S., Duro, I., Napoli, E., Niccoli, M., and Nonatelli, L. Permanent Physio-chemical Properties of Extremely Diluted Aqueous Solutions of Homeopathic Medicines, Homeopathy, 2004, 93:144-150.,Josephson, B. D., Letter, New Scientist, November 1, 1997., Rey, L. Thermoluminescence of Ultra-High Dilutions of Lithium Chloride and Sodium Chloride. Physica A, 2003, 323:67-74., Roy, R., Tiller, W. A., Bell, I., and Hoover, M. R. The Structure of Liquid Water: Novel Insights from Materials Research; Potential Relevance to Homeopathy, Materials Research Innovations, December 2005, 9(4):577-608..
Ullman, Dana. "Let's have a serious discussion of nanopharmacology and homeopathy". FASEB. 2006;20:2661.
So many people reach out to our clinic wanting to feel better but then quietly admit that they really don’t know what homeopathy is.
They know its natural, they may have had a friend or family member that can speak to how effective they found it. They then get a little quiet and a bit afraid they may offend me as a Homeopath as they admit they don’t really know the difference between what I do and what a Naturopath does.
I am so excited for these people, for the new world they are about to discover. It is not that they are not uneducated or that they are not unknowledgeable. They have just stepped into such an incredible realm of healing; they are in for an amazing learning experience.
Homeopathy is so different from other modalities. It may in fact be so far ahead of its time that this has caused a cloud of mystery to fall over it as a wonderful healing modality.
I believe the profession has also helped to propagate some of this “mystery” by not educating more on the principals of Homeopathy in way that allows people to bridge that gap between the healing modalities they know and the incredible principals of Homeopathy. This BLOG will be working to help bridge that gap.
On that lets review some of the key principles of Homeopathy:
Homeopathy as a system of Medicine:
Homeopathy is a system of natural health care that has been in worldwide use for over 200 years. Homeopathy treats each person as a unique individual with the aim of stimulating their own healing ability. A homeopath selects the most appropriate medicine based on the individual’s specific symptoms and personal level of health.
Homeopathy is used by over 200 million people worldwide
It has grown steadily in popularity in the past 40 years and is currently estimated to be increasing at more than 20% a year globally
It is recognized by the World Health Organization as the second largest therapeutic system in use in the world. While it is most popular in India and South America, over thirty million people in Europe, and millions of others around the world, also benefit
from its use.
Samuel Hahnemann discovers homeopathy:
Homeopathy is based on a series of ideas developed in the 1790s by a German doctor called Samuel Hahnemann. He practiced conventional medicine for only five years before he left his practice feeling that the treatments available were often causing more harm than helping.
A central principle of the "treatment" is that "like cures like" – that a substance that causes certain symptoms can also help to remove those symptoms.
A second central principle is based around a process of dilution and shaking called succussion.
In Homeopathy we treat the patient not the illness.
We will learn more about this great man in latter BLOGS
Like cures like: The Law of similars
“By similar things a disease is produced and through the application of the like is cured”. Hippocrates (460-377 BC), ‘Father of Medicine’.
Like with like
Homeopathy is based on the principle that you can treat ‘like with like’, that is, a substance which causes symptoms when taken in large doses, can be used in small amounts to treat those same symptoms.
This concept is sometimes used in conventional medicine, for example, the stimulant Ritalin is used to treat patients with ADHD, or small doses of allergens such as pollen are sometimes used to desensitize allergic patients. However, one major difference with homeopathic medicines is that substances are used in ultra high dilutions, which makes them non-toxic.
Potency: The use of ultra-high dilutions or nanoparticles:
*Homeopathy is a system of medicine which involves treating the individual with highly diluted substances with the aim of triggering the body’s natural system of healing. Based on their specific symptoms, a homeopath will match the most appropriate medicine to each patient.
*Homeopathic medicines can and should be considered to be a type of "nanopharmacology" (Ullman, 2006). Although the word "nano" also means one-billionth of a size, that is not its only definition. In fact, "nano" derives from the word "dwarf," and "nano" is the only word in the English language that is used on common parlance as denoting extremely small AND yet extremely powerful. Homeopathic medicines are both extremely small in dose and yet extremely powerful in their therapeutic effect. Although no one knows precisely how homeopathic medicines initiate the healing process, we have more than 200 years of evidence from hundreds of thousands of clinicians and tens of millions of patients that these medicines have powerful effects.
*It is important to understand that nanopharmacological doses will not have any effect unless the person is hypersensitive to the specific medicinal substance. Hypersensitivity is created when there is some type of resonance between the medicine and the person. Because the system of homeopathy bases its selection of the medicine on its ability to cause in overdose the similar symptoms that the sick person is experiencing, homeopathy's principle of similars is simply a practical method of finding the substance to which a person is hypersensitive. The homeopathic principle of similars makes further sense when one considers that modern physiologists and pathologists recognize that disease is not simply the result of breakdown or surrender of the body but that symptoms are instead representative of the body's efforts to fight infection or adapt to stress.
Succussion to archive the correct potency:
One drop of the mother tincture is put into a vial and then nine drops of a solution of alcohol and water and shaken vigorously. This results in a 1X potency.
With one drop of the 1X potency and nine drops of the diluting solution and another good shake and you have 2X potency.
For the potency of 1C, this process is done 100 times.
(C is the Roman numeral for 100).
Potency: What do the Letters mean?
The Letter X indicates the Roman numeral for ten, and the Latin term "Decem." This represents a 1:10 dilution factor. It can also be labelled as DH or D for "decem;" therefore, X is the same as DH or D.
The Letter C indicates the Roman numeral for one-hundred, and the Latin term "Centum" to represent dilution stages made in the 1:100 ratio. The C dilutions are often labelled as CH. This is equivalent notation, since the H is superfluous and often dropped in C-type or D-type preparations.
The "H" in "CH" or "DH" simply indicates that the process is by Hahnemann's method. This is often dropped because it is assumed that the process is Hahnemenn's. Occasionally, a "K" is indicated to communicate that the process was by the Korsakovian (K) method instead of the usual Hahnemannian (H) process. When only C, D or X is stated, the H is assumed. If the process was by Korsokov's method, there will always be a K to indicate this.
Now you have the basics. We will be diving deeper into all of these subjects in upcoming BLOGS so please like and follow if you want to learn more. What is the short answer to what is Homeopathy?
#1 Homeopathy treats the individual and not the disease. A disease is a set of symptoms. A migraine for one person is not the same for all. Not in symptoms nor in cause. As a Homeopath we treat you as a person to get the bottom of the imbalance that is causing your symptoms. We see symptoms as your body trying to communicate an imbalance. Not inconvenience you.
#2 Homeopathics are not supplements. Supplements are made to “supplement” for something your body is not getting from your food or is not producing itself. Homeopathics are specially selected in both remedy and potency to stimulate your healing natural ability.
#3 Hoemopathics are not prepared the same as supplements. The high dilution means in order to have a healing action your body needs to be hypersensitive to the substance or it will have no action at all.
I hope you feel more comfortable with this incredible healing modality and will be joining me on as we learn more about Homeopathy.
*References:
Chaplin, Martin. 2009 (updated regularly) http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/water/index2.html,Chikramane PS, Kalita D, Suresh AK, Kane SG, Bellare JR. Why extreme dilutions reach non-zero asymptotes: a nanoparticulate hypothesis based on froth-flotation. Langmuir. 2012. Accessed July 18, 2020. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23083226,Demangeat, J.-L., Gries, P., Poitevin, B., Droesbeke J.-J., Zahaf, T., Maton, F., Pierart, C., and Muller, R. N. Low-Field NMR Water Proton Longitudinal Relaxation in Ultrahighly,Diluted Aqueous Solutions of Silica-Lactose Prepared in Glass Material for Pharmaceutical Use, Applied Magnetic Resonance, 2004, 26:465-481.,Elia, V. and Niccoli, M. Thermodynamics of Extremely Diluted Aqueous Solutions, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1999, 879:241-248.,Elia, V., Baiano, S., Duro, I., Napoli, E., Niccoli, M., and Nonatelli, L. Permanent Physio-chemical Properties of Extremely Diluted Aqueous Solutions of Homeopathic Medicines, Homeopathy, 2004, 93:144-150.,Josephson, B. D., Letter, New Scientist, November 1, 1997., Rey, L. Thermoluminescence of Ultra-High Dilutions of Lithium Chloride and Sodium Chloride. Physica A, 2003, 323:67-74., Roy, R., Tiller, W. A., Bell, I., and Hoover, M. R. The Structure of Liquid Water: Novel Insights from Materials Research; Potential Relevance to Homeopathy, Materials Research Innovations, December 2005, 9(4):577-608..
Ullman, Dana. "Let's have a serious discussion of nanopharmacology and homeopathy". FASEB. 2006;20:2661.
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