Homeopathy is a system of medicine discovered by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in the late 1700’s. Hahnemann was a medical doctor who spoke out against the medical practices of his day, such as bloodletting, mercury, leeches, etc, because he felt they were harming more people than they were helping. He went so far as to quit his medical practice and made his living by translating medical textbooks, as he was fluent in 8 languages. While translating William Cullen’s Materia Medica, he came across a portion of the book where Cullen claimed that cinchona bark, an herb used to treat malaria, was effective in its treatment because it is bitter and astringent. Knowing that there are other herbs that are bitter and astringent that do not help with malaria, Hahnemann decided to experiment. He began taking the cinchona bark tincture and found that he started to experience the symptoms of malaria. This led him to discover the law of similars – a substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person can cure those same symptoms in a sick person. Hahnemann went on the test other substances on himself and his family members and friends for six years before introducing his new system of medicine, homeopathy, to the world.
Homeopathy faced opposition early on, yet it grew and quickly spread around the world. Some of those who set out to disprove homeopathy ended up becoming its greatest advocates, such as Constantine Hering now known as the Father of American Homeopathy. Today homeopathy is used by over 500 million people worldwide. It is an important part of healthcare in Western Europe, incorporated in at least 54 hospitals and used by physicians in 40 Europeans countries, and is one of the main systems of healthcare in India. Until a hundred years ago homeopathy was one of the main systems of medicine in the US with 22 homeopathic medical schools and over 100 hospitals.
Homeopathic remedies are made from a variety of substances including plants, animals, and minerals. There are around 1,300 homeopathic remedies officially recognized in the US. Homeopathic remedies are made in pharmacies undergoing rigorous regulations by a specialized process called potentization where the substance is diluted and succussed to produce a gentle, deep-acting medicine. Homeopathic remedies are unable to be patented thereby remaining inexpensive. They are not given fancy names but are simply called by the Latin name for the substance from which the remedy was made.
Unlike conventional drugs, homeopathic remedy testings, called provings, have always been performed on healthy human volunteers since Hahnemann himself. This is because homeopaths are concerned with knowing the exact actions of each remedy on humans. The volunteers must be healthy so they are symptoms free and don’t confuse the results. The symptoms experienced by the volunteers, called provers, are written down for each remedy and then compiled into a book called a Materia Medica, which is a listing of homeopathic remedies and the symptoms covered by each remedy. These provings are conducted double-blind. In fact, the first double-blind placebo controlled study was done by the American Institute for Homeopathy over 40 years before conventional medicine has any record of such testing. Because homeopathic remedies remain the same, the Materia Medicas only grow as new remedies are discovered. This means we can still use the Materia Medicas written by the old homeopaths, even the very first one written by Hahnemann himself!
So now that you know a little of the background of homeopathic remedies, let’s look at how homeopathy helps us. Remember the law of similars? Think about what happens when you are chopping up an onion. Those burning and watery eyes and nose are the same symptoms that we can use to pick Allium cepa, the remedy made from an onion. So if you have watery eyes and a running nose, say from hay fever or cold, Allium cepa would be one of the top remedies to consider. By giving the remedy that causes the same symptoms the body is given the information it need to correct those symptoms itself. Because homeopathy follows the law of similars, homeopathic remedies work with the body instead of against it causing homeopathy to have no side effects.
The law of similars makes toxic substances very valuable homeopathic remedies. Through the potentization process the remedies are diluted so that the toxic aspects do not remain, but because these substances can cause such serious reactions in their crude form, this means they can also cure very serious problems! One of the most commonly used remedies, Arsenicum album made from arsenic, is very useful in food poisonings and other conditions like chemical exposure.
Before homeopathy was suppressed in America, it was the fastest growing form of medicine used by families all over the country due to its gentleness and ease of home use with a kit and self prescribing book. This combined with homeopathy’s low costs, absence of side effects, and high effectiveness make it still well suited for families today looking for alternatives to conventional medicine and the use of pharmaceutical drugs. We have seen crises averted and chronic conditions uprooted and avoided using this form of medicine, even before formally training to become homeopaths, which is why we love helping families learn to use homeopathy for themselves! You can learn from our blog articles and free resources and check out our classes!