Homeopathics are based on the smallest particle size that will obtain results and that will treat like challenges for the body, kind of like allergy shots. Homeopathic remedies are prepared through a process of diluting with pure water or alcohol and succussing (vigorous shaking). According to the principles of homeopathy, the more diluted it gets, the more potent it becomes.
Like Cures Like
According to Dr. Hahnemann, "Each individual case of disease is
most surely, radically, rapidly, and permanently annihilated and
removed only by a medicine capable of producing (in the human
system) the most similar and complete manner of the totality of
the symtoms." In other words, the same substance that in large
doses produces the symptoms of an illness, in very minute doses
cures it.**
Dr. Hahnemann referred to this phenomenon as the Law of Similars,
a principle first recognized in the fourth century B.C., by
Hippocrates, who was studying the effects of herbs upon disease.
This Law of Similars was also the theoretical basis for the
vaccines of physician Edward Jenner, Jonas Salk, and Louis
Pasteur. They would "immunize" the body with trace amounts
of a disease component, often a virus, to strengthen its immune
response to the actual disease. Allergies are treated in a
similar fashion by introducing minute quantities of the
suspected allergen into the body to bolster natural tolerance
levels.**
The More Dilute the Remedy, the Greater Its
Potency
Most people believe that the higher the dose of a medicine, the
greater the effect. But the opposite holds true in homeopathy
where the more a substance is diluted, the higher its potency.
Dr. Hahnemann discovered this Law of Infinitesimal Dose by
experimenting with higher and higher dilutions of substances to
avoid toxic side effects.**
Today, homeopathic remedies are usually prepared through a
process of diluting with pure water or alcohol and succussing
(vigorous shaking). Homeopathic solutions can be diluted
to such an extent that literally no molecules of the original
substance remain in the remedy. Yet, the more dilute it gets the
more potent it becomes. This phenomenon has been the source of
great fascination among practitioners and researchers in the
field of homeopathic medicine, as from the point of view of
conventional chemistry, diluted homeopathic remedies may contain
no trace of the original substance. In fact, any homeopathic
remedy over 24X potency (twenty-four successive dilutions and
succussions) will have no chemical trace of the original
substance remaining.**
According to Trevor Cook, Ph.D., DI Hom., President of the
United Kingdom Homeopathic Medical Association, the explanation
of the therapeutic action of highly dilute homeopathic remedies
appears to lie in the domain of quantum physics and the emerging
field of energy medicine. A study using nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) imaging demonstrated distinctive readings of
subatomic activity in twenty-three different homeopathic
remedies. This potency was not demonstrated in placebos
(substances having no pharmacological effect).**
Some researchers believe that the specific electromagnetic
frequency of the original substance is imprinted in the
homeopathic remedy through the process of successive dilution
and succussion, says Dr. Cook.
The distinguished Italian Emilio del Giudici has set forth a
theory that helps explain homeopathy's mode of therapeutic
action. Del Giudici proposes that water molecules form
structures capable of storing minute electromagnetic signals.
This proposition is given added weight by the findings of Dr.
Wolfgang Ludwig, a German biophysicist, who has demonstrated in
preliminary research that homeopathic substances give off
measurable electromagnetic signals. These signals show that
specific frequencies are dominant in each homeopathic
substance.**
If del Giudici's model is accurate, a homeopathic remedy may
convey an electromagnetic frequency or pattern of illness in
order to stimulate the body's natural healing response. What Dr.
Hahnemann may have been doing in his empirical research was
unwittingly "matching the frequencies of the plant extract with
the frequency of the [patient's] illness.**
History
Homeopathy was founded in the late eighteenth century by the
celebrated German physician Samuel Hahnemann, known for his work
in pharmacology, hygiene, public health, industrial toxicology,
and psychiatry. Reacting to the barbarous practices of his
day, such as bloodletting (the use of leeches), and toxic
mercury-based laxatives, Dr. Hahnemann set out to find a more
rational and humane approach to medicine.**
Dr. Hahnemann's breakthrough came during an experiment in which
he twice daily ingested cinchona, a Peruvian bark well known as
a cure for malaria. As soon as he stopped taking the
cinchona, his symptoms disappeared. Dr. Hahnemann theorized
that, if taking a large dose of cinchona created symptoms of
malaria in a healthy person, this same substance, taken in a
smaller dose by a person suffering from malaria, might stimulate
the body to fight the disease. His theory was born out by
years of experiments with hundreds of substances that produced
similar results. Based on his work, Dr. Hahnemann
formulated the principles of homeopathy: Like cures like (Law of
Similars). The more a remedy is diluted, the greater its potency
(Law of the Infinitesimal Dose). An illness is specific to the
individual (a holistic medical model).**
The Healing Crisis and Hering's Laws of Cure
In homeopathy, the process of healing begins by eliminating the
immediate symptoms, then progressing to the "older," underlying
symptoms. Many of these "layers" are residues of fevers, trauma,
or chronic disease that were unsuccessfully treated or
suppressed by conventional medicine. As the stages of
homeopathic healing progress, the patient may get worse before
feeling better. This is often referred to as the "healing
crisis." **
In the mid-nineteenth century, Dr. Constantine Hering, the
father of American homeopathy, stated that healing progresses
from the deepest part of the body to the extremities; from the
emotional and mental aspects to the physical; and from the upper
part of the body (head, neck, ears, throat) to the lower part of
the body (fingers, abdomen, legs, feet). Hering's Laws of Cure
also state that healing progresses in reverse chronological
order, from the most recent maladies to the oldest. By Hering
laws, homeopaths are able to track the progress of their
treatment and restore a patient's health, layer by layer.**
Conditions Benefited by Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a complete system of natural medicine that can
have a therapeutic effect on almost any disease or health
condition. "Homeopathy has been a tremendous value in reversing
diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, bronchial asthma,
epilepsy, skin eruptions, allergic conditions, mental or
emotional disorders, especially if applied at the onset of the
disease," states George Vithoulkas, Director of the Athenian
School of Homeopathic Medicine in Athens, Greece. "The long-term
benefit of homeopathy to the patient is that it not only
alleviates the presenting symptoms but it reestablishes internal
order at the deepest levels and thereby provides a lasting
cure.**
Increasingly, clinical studies are supporting the effectiveness
of homeopathic remedies. In a recent article published in the
British Medical Journal, 107 controlled clinical studies
(performed between 1966 and 1990) were reviewed. Eighty-one of
these studies showed that homeopathic medicines were beneficial
in treating headaches, respiratory infections, diseases of the
digestive system, ankle sprains, postoperative infections and
symptoms, and other health-related disorders.**
Studies attesting to the effectiveness of homeopathic treatment
for rheumatoid arthritis have appeared in both The Lancet and
the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. In a Double-blind
study on the effects of homeopathic remedies on influenza, it
was found that twice as many of the patients who took the
homeopathic remedy were cured in forty-eight hours, as opposed
to those who took a placebo, as reported in the British Journal
of Clinical Pharmacology.**
Another clinical study shows the efficacy of treating hay fever
with homeopathic remedies. A double-blind trial indicates
that homeopathic remedies are extremely effective in dealing
with dental neuralgic pain following tooth extraction.
German research reports successful homeopathic treatment of
Parkinson's disease, bronchitis, sinusitis, migraines,
influenza, and motion sickness with homeopathic remedies.**
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