Homeopathy
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Homeopathy (homeopathic medicine) is a form of health care that developed in Germany. Homeopathic practitioners are commonly called homeopaths. The term homeopathy comes from the Greek words homeo, meaning similar, and pathos, meaning suffering or disease. Homeopathy is an alternative medical system. Alternative medical systems are built upon complete systems of theory and practice. Homeopathy seeks to stimulate the body's defense mechanisms and processes so as to prevent or treat illness.
History of Homeopathy:
In the late 1700s, Samuel Hahnemann, a physician, chemist, and
linguist in Germany, proposed a new approach to treating illness. This was
at a time when the most common medical treatments were harsh, such as
bloodletting, purging, blistering, and the use of sulfur and mercury. At
the time, there were few effective medications for treating patients, and
knowledge about their effects was limited.
Hahnemann was interested in developing a less-threatening approach to
medicine. The first major step reportedly was when he was translating an
herbal text and read about a treatment (cinchona bark) used to cure
malaria. He took some cinchona bark and observed that, as a healthy
person, he developed symptoms that were very similar to malaria symptoms.
This led Hahnemann to consider that a substance may create symptoms that
it can also relieve. This concept is called the "similia principle" or
"like cures like." The similia principle had a prior history in medicine,
from Hippocrates in Ancient Greece--who noted, for example, that recurrent
vomiting could be treated with an emetic (such as ipecacuanha) that would
be expected to make it worse--to folk medicine. Another way to view "like
cures like" is that symptoms are part of the body's attempt to heal
itself--for example, a fever can develop as a result of an immune response
to an infection, and a cough may help to eliminate mucus--and medication
may be given to support this self-healing response.
Hans Burch Gram, a Boston-born doctor, studied homeopathy in
Europe and introduced it into the United States in 1825. European
immigrants trained in homeopathy also made the treatment increasingly
available in America. In 1835, the first homeopathic medical college was
established in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Homeopathy is particularly popular in Europe and India,
although less so in the USA, where such therapies have been subject to
tighter regulation. Stricter European regulations have also been
implemented recently by the EDQM.
Homeopathic Remedies:
Treatment involves giving very small doses of substances called
remedies that, according to homeopathy, would produce the same or similar
symptoms of illness in healthy people if they were given in larger doses.
Treatment in homeopathy is individualized (tailored to each person).
Homeopathic practitioners select remedies according to a total picture of
the patient, including not only symptoms but lifestyle, emotional and
mental states, and other factors.
Most homeopathic remedies are derived from natural substances that come
from plants, minerals, or animals. A remedy is prepared by diluting the
substance in a series of steps. Homeopathy asserts that this process can
maintain a substance's healing properties regardless of how many times it
has been diluted. Many homeopathic remedies are so highly diluted that not
one molecule of the original natural substance remains. Remedies are sold
in liquid, pellet, and tablet forms.
Homeopathy and side effects:
Homeopathic
medicines in high dilutions, taken under the supervision of trained
professionals, are considered safe and unlikely to cause severe adverse
reactions.
Homeopathy Scientific controversies:
Research studies on homeopathy have been contradictory in their
findings. Some analyses have concluded that there is no strong evidence
supporting homeopathy as effective for any clinical condition. However,
others have found positive effects from homeopathy. The positive effects
are not readily explained in scientific terms.
Homeopathic formulas are based on the theory that even when a remedy is
diluted with water to the point where no starting material remains, the
water will retain a "memory" of what it was once in contact with.
Homeopaths assert that the therapeutic potency of a remedy can be
increased by serial dilution combined with succussion, or vigorous
shaking. This dilution is often repeated such that there is no active
molecule present in the solution. Because of this, homeopathy is often
characterised as a mystical belief system that depends on faith from
practitioners and patients, and therefore distinct from conventional
medicine which is generally supported by scientific evidence.
