 Homeopathy for mind body and spirit Homeopathy is a holistic medical science in the truest sense of the word. Homeopathy treats the whole person — mind, body and spirit. The goal of homeopathy is to encourage the body's own defense system to help heal itself. Homeopathy does not try to eliminate physical symptoms by suppressing them, rather it seeks to find the hidden source of the symptoms and cure the entire organism.Homeopathy is based on the philosophy "like cures like." The theory itself is very simple. In a simplified example, if you had a fever, you would treat it with a small doses of a substance that would cause a fever in larger doses. The premise of "like curing like" dates back to the fourth century B.C. when Hippocrates used opposites and similars to treat disease. In the 15th century, Paraclesus treated with similars, using minute doses of hellebore to treat diarrhea, knowing that larger doses could cause diarrhea. In the centuries following Paraclesus, herbalism remained the favored form of medical treatment. Then came the Industrial Revolution. Large migrations of people from the country to the cities caused high density clusters of the population. The cities were not prepared. Public and personal hygiene were minimal. Challenged by the general deterioration of health conditions, physicians were using less herbs and more violent methods of "healing" such as bloodletting, purging and treatment with toxic minerals such as mercury, arsenic and lead. Samuel Hahneman began his career as a doctor and a chemist. When he no longer bear the extreme medical practices of his fellow physicians, he gave up medicine and turned to translating books to earn his living. It was while translating A Treatise on Materia Medica by Dr. William Cullen that Hahneman made a discovery that would be the basis for a completely new science of healing. Hahneman read in Cullen's book that cinchona could be used in treating malaria because of its astringent properties. Hahneman knew that there were other astringents available that were more powerful than cinchona, yet they had no affect on malaria. He decided to investigate further by experimenting on himself. Hahneman discovered that when he took a dose of cinchona, he experienced symptoms that were similar to those of malaria. Every time he took a dose of cinchona, the symptoms would reoccur and then gradually disappear. If he didn't take the cinchona, there were no symptoms. Hahneman tested these findings by giving cinchona to healthy friends. His friends' symptoms mirrored his own. Hahneman expanded his experiments. He and his associates would take a substance and carefully record their reactions to the substance. Hahneman called these tests "provings." Symptoms that occurred regularly as reactions against a substance were added to its profile or "drug picture." From this simple start, Hahneman proceeded to document "provings" on other substances that were being used as medicine by his contemporaries. What kind of details would have been recorded? Belladonna was one of the herbs that Hahneman and his friends examined in their early "provings." A healthy person who took a non-homeopathic dose of belladonna might have experienced a sudden high temperature, dry mouth and intense thirst. Other symptoms manifested might have been a red and hot face with glaring eyes and dilated pupils, delirium or hallucinations and sensitivity to light or noise. A homeopathic dose of belladonna would be used in cases where someone suffers from a sudden high fever with intense symptoms. Clinical applications of homeopathic belladonna could be appendicitis, menopausal flushes or seizure disorders. After creating hundreds of "drug pictures," Hahneman preceded to the next stage of his research — testing the substances to see if his theories were correct. Hahneman's examinations of his patients were very thorough. Not only did he examine the patient physically but he developed a profile of their mental outlook, their likes, their dislikes and their fears. He called this profile a "symptoms picture." The key to Hahneman's new medical science was to match the "symptoms picture" as closely as possible to one of his "drug pictures." He found that the most successful treatments occurred with the maximum correspondence of patient symptoms to drug symptoms. Hahneman called his new science "homeopathy" derived from the Greek "homeo" (meaning same) and "pathos" (meaning suffering). Hahneman's Classic Theory of Homeopathy is based on three principles. The first, that "like cures like." The second, that a patient should be treated with the single remedy that matches most closely their particular "symptom picture." And third, is the principle of minimum dose. "Like cures like" has already been described. The second principle evolved from the complex list of symptoms recorded in the drug provings. If you remember, Hahneman achieved the best success matching as closely as possible the symptoms of the "symptom picture" to those of the "drug picture." These profiles are very complex, each with a unique set of multiple symptoms. A practitioner who attempts to combine remedies would have to match a patient's profile to twice the number of symptoms, some of which might be contradictory. If one adds a third remedy, the amount of different symptoms would be truly daunting. The third principle of minimum dose developed as Hahneman's experience with the remedies increased. Hahneman observed that even minuscule doses of certain substances would sometimes worsen his patient's condition. He called this reaction "aggravation." In order to avoid aggravations, Hahneman devised a 2-step process of diluting and succussing (shaking vigorously) the original substance. He repeated this process until the original substance was so diluted, that, in some cases, not a single molecule was left. All that was left of the original substance was an electric magnetic "memory" or, you might say, its "energy." The more Hahneman diluted the remedy, the more potent it became. He called these dilutions "potentizations" or what is presently called "potencies." Critics of homeopathy have asked "if not one molecule of the original substance is left, how can a remedy be more than a placebo?" Although homeopathic research is in its infancy and no-one knows "how" homeopathy works, clinical trials have indicated that the remedies have real beneficial effects. According to the June 1999 issue of Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, two Italian researchers compared homeopathically treated water to control water. They found that 92% of the test solutions had higher than expected heat emanations when acid or salt was added to them. In other words, some source of energy was causing a reaction. Numbers on potencies can be confusing. The lowest potency that one commonly finds is 6X. Remedies with 6X potency act faster and last for shorter lengths of time, they can be given every hour, and in some cases, every fifteen minutes. They are usually used in acute situations such as bee stings, muscle sprains or a sudden bout of diarrhea. Remedies with 30C potency are a medium high potency. They are given in cases where the ailment is more self-limiting, such as a cold, and are usually taken every 3 hours. High potency remedies, such as 200C, are the strongest. They have longer lasting and more profound effects and are usually reserved for chronic ailments, such as recurrent infections or degenerative diseases like arthritis, and best used under the care of a physician or homeopathic practitioner. If you seek treatment from a homeopathic practitioner, you will undergo a very detailed examination. No blood tests, no x-rays nor any other invasive procedures are involved. Instead, the homeopath will ask you numerous questions about your physical symptoms, your state of mind, your likes and dislikes, your fears, your eating habits and anything else that might help in forming your personal profile. The homeopath would then match your profile to one of the hundreds of "drug pictures" available to him. Homeopathy is popular all over the world. It is very common in Europe and Great Britain. Queen Elizabeth's personal physician is a homeopath. Homeopathy is a safe and inexpensive form of therapy and is used in many third world countries whose citizens can't afford pharmaceutical medicines. Homeopathy is a safe, nontoxic natural alternative that can be used with whatever other treatments are necessary to safeguard the health of you, your family and your pets. Homeopathy can be daunting at first glance. There are many books, however, that explain Hahneman's theories of homeopathy in more detail. | 
