Homeopathy

History of Homeopathy

Homoeopathy was discovered in Germany 200 years back by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann. He was a physician. However, he was getting disenchanted with the kind of treatment doctors gave patients in his days. Most of it involved purging, one way or another. Patients were given laxatives, emetics or were made to bleed, in an attempt to cure diseases. Hahnemann gave up medicine and worked as a chemist . He was also a scholar fluent in 14 languages. While he was translating the work of a doctor he came across the detail that the bark of the Cinchona tree could cure malaria. The doctor’s arguments on the way this worked set Hahnemann thinking. Having a scientific mind, he decided to experiment. He ate a bit of a Cinchona bark and noted it produced symptoms similar to malaria. He gave the same bark to few of his friends and relatives and they experienced malaria like symptoms. But whenever a patient came with malaria, administration of this bark cured the disease condition! He continued experimenting with different medicinal substances. He noticed that those that produced symptoms similar to a disease were capable of treating the disease. He formulated the principle: SIMILIA SIMILIBUS CURENTUR. (LIKE Cures LIKE). Homoeopathy was born.

Principles of Homeopathy

Some of the basic principles of classical homeopathy as described by its founder are are:

Diseases represent a disturbance in the body's ability to heal itself (or the Vital Force) and that only a small stimulus is needed to begin the healing process.

Seven eighths of all chronic diseases are due to suppressed Psora (itch). Even before it manifests in symptoms, the disorder has begun.

The totality of symptoms has to be considered. Detailed history taking is important.

Treatment is individualized. No two persons have exactly the same constitution. Though symptoms they produce may be similar, their reaction to the same medication may be different.

Treatment is aimed not at the suppression of symptoms but at a complete cure.

The Four Fundamental Laws

1. The Law of Similars

This is the core concept of homeopathy. The cure mimics the symptoms of the disease. This works on the understanding that a “symptom” is not something that has to be controlled, but is the sign that the body is coping with the disease. We get a fever when the body is already in the act of fighting a viral or bacterial infection. Homeopathic medicines therefore will make the body react as it would naturally when it tries to fight a disease. For instance, if Malaria produces fever and chills, the homeopathic medicine for it will produce similar symptoms in a healthy person, and in an affected person, help to cure the disease.

2. The Single Remedy

According to homeopathy one simple medicinal substance/mixture is given to a the patient at a time. Unlike allopaths, homeopaths do not feel the need to use several drugs at the same time, whatever the nature of the disease. The medication and the dosage will depend on each patient’s constitution. The understanding here is that a disturbance in the Vital Force has been created and that is manifesting as one or many symptoms. As the reason is one, the cure is single.

3. The Minimum Dose

The smallest possible dose of homoeopathic medicine, just strong enough to “create the slightest homoeopathic aggravation,” is considered adequate. The medicines are diluted (with water or ethyl alcohol ) to one in 99 parts and often this is further and further diluted..

4. The Direction of Cure

Cure takes place from above downward, from within outward, from a more important organ to a less important organ; symptoms disappear in the reverse order of their appearance, the first to appear being the last to disappear.