What is Homeopathy?

Homeopathy is an efficient scientific method of medical treatment, where the natural healing reactions of organism are stimulated by individually selected homeopathic remedies. It is also called “gentle medicine”, because it acts according to natural laws of healing process, avoiding intake of toxins by the organism.

The word homeopathy derives from Greek (homoios – „similar” and pathos – „suffering”), thus reflecting its basic healing principle: „LIKE CURES LIKE” = SIMILIA SIMILIBUS CURANTUR. This means that a patient with certain symptoms is given such homeopathic remedy, which is made of substance causing similar complaints in healthy people.

Generally speaking there are two different methods of influence on a sick man. The one called allopathic method implements substances, which act contrary to the symptoms shown by the organism, or modify them in some way. The other one is the homeopathic one.

To make the difference between these two methods clear, let’s take as an example a patient suffering from insomnia, aching in the joints, and constipation. If we follow the allopathic method, we will prescribe him medicine, which artificially causes sleep and laxation respectively, as well as anti-inflammatory and sedative pills. This approach is efficient in the beginning, but it does not cure the origin of pain, because the complaints fade away or decrease only temporarily, as medications are usually taken for a long period of time. This can bring about unpleasant and sometimes serious side effects and/or formation of medical dependency, not to say about the financial aspect of this type of treatment.

With homeopathic treatment, the patient is given a small dose, sometimes just one time, of such a substance prepared as a remedy, which in greater doses would cause insomnia, aching in the joints, and constipation in healthy people. The result thus achieved is long lasting, and at the same time showing no side toxic effects and risk of remedy-addiction or manifested tendency of tolerance towards the remedy.

The approach applied by homeopathy is holistic in its essence. It does not separately cure physical, mental, emotional or spiritual problems, but looks at them as intimately connected sides of the disease of the sick. This is a very subtle point, which is very important to be properly understood. Prescription of a homeopathic remedy depends not on the diagnosis found (e.g. influenza, rheumatoid arthritis, migraine, colitis), but on the totality of symptoms: physical, emotional and psychic, which the patient presents and being different for each separate case. Thus, prescription is strictly individual, as for one and the same “disease” with different people, different remedies are often prescribed; their choice and action depends not only on the basic complaint of the patient, but also on the specificity of the course of disease with every separate person and his entire constitution, i.e. his individual characteristics. On the other side, one and the same homeopathic remedy may be indicative of different “diseases” or traumas. Further we will also focus on other advantages of the homeopathic approach of influence on the sick as compared to the allopathic one, as well as on the essence of symptoms, illness and health from the standpoint of the holistic approach and homeopathy.

Every physician is always able to many times watch the individual manner of response of the different patients.

Let’s take as an example two people with cold:

The first one very rapidly developed the symptoms of the disease. He had temperature of 39.5°C, dry irritating cough with pains in the chest, strong thirst for cold water, psychomotor anxiety, and the need of a constant companion.

The other one got gradually sick. He may also have high temperature, dry painful cough and strong thirst for cold water, but he may be very irritable, wants to stay only in bed and does not stand anybody around him.

According to the allopathic approach, the common symptoms of both cases will be enough to begin treatment with temperature decreasing medicine, with possible antibiotic and anti-coughing means, which are standard and irregardless of their variety, their choice generally depends exclusively on the preferences of the attending physician. This approach does not take the least account of the individual response of the patient, namely: in the first case illness started at once, the patient is psychomotor aroused and uneasy, and he needs a companion, while in the second case illness developed gradually, the sick prefers to stay motionless in bed, he is very irritable and does not bear anybody around him.

In the process of remedy prescription, homeopathy operates exactly with the differences in the course of disease of the two patients. If we apply the conventional method, the first patient will perhaps recover for 4-5 days, while the second will need 6-8 days no matter what type of treatment is applied, and a possible “same” agent of the illness. These terms depend on the individual reactivity of the patients (i.e. the status of their immune system at that moment) and the standard unified approach in the process of therapy prescription, which does not take into account the specific features of the course of disease of each of them.

If otherwise, the first patient is prescribed a homeopathic preparation made of Aconitum, and the second one is given such made of Bryonia (as are the remedies relevant to the symptoms of the above described cases), both patients will be treated and recovered for one or two nights. That is so because the individual response of each of them has been taken into consideration, as both are prescribed the homeopathic medication indicative of their totality of symptoms, which stimulates the immune strength of the organism in the most suitable and secure way.