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.**
What does the "X" mean in homeopathy
Today, homeopathic remedies are usually prepared through a
process of diluting with pure water or alcohol and succussing
(vigorous shaking). Homeopathic remedies are classified into three levels of potencies. X,C
and M refer to 10, 100 and 1,000 in terms of the amount of dilution.
Homeopathic remedies begin with part of the original substance dissolved
in alcohol, called the mother tincture. The mother tincture is then
diluted many times. After each dilution the solution is shaken or
"succussed". A 1X potency is created by mixing 1 part of the mother
tincture and 9 parts alcohol or distilled water. In each successive
number (increasing the potency 2X, 3X, 6X ), 1 part is taken from the
previous potency and diluted according to the new potency.
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.**
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.**
