Tuesday, November 17, 2009

What is homeopathy

Homeopathy is a sub-system of natural health care in which extreme dilutions of substances from nature are used to stimulate a healing response. The basic principle of homeopathy is that substances that elicit a particular symptom picture in their physical form (for example onion causing itchy watery eyes and a runny nose with discharge that burns) can be used in a diluted form to stimulate the healing of the same set of symptoms.


Using this principle, a homeopath working with an individual that suffers from allergies (with the specific symptoms of watery itchy eyes and a runny nose with discharge that burns) might select homeopathic onion.


Homeopathic pharmaceutical companies prepare homeopathic dilutions according to FDA guidelines. Once completed, the diluted substances are called "remedies".


Most remedies are derived from plants (such as Belladonna or Pulsatilla), and minerals (such as Phosphorous and Silica). A smaller portion are derived from animal substances (such as dog's milk or dolphin's milk). Remedy symptom pictures are derived from research studies called "provings". Once completed, proving information is recorded in homeopathic materia medicas (large reference books), and homeopathic material medica software.


The role of a professional homeopath is to understand the symptom pictures of a large number of remedies, and then to be able to select the remedy that most closely matches the symptom picture of the patient. (This is called the similimum.) When this match is achieved - that is, the symptom picture of the remedy matches the symptom picture of the individual suffering from a disease pattern - the individual's innate healing ability is activated and healing occurs.

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