What is homeopathy?

In the late 18^th century, a German physician named Samuel Hahnemann came upon an incident indicating that the quinine-containing peruvian bark (cinchona) cured malaria. Using himself as a subject, Hahnemann swallowed a dose of peruvian bark. He began to feel feverish, drowsy, desperately thirsty, and agitated - all of which he recognized as symptoms of malaria. This caused Hahnemann to experiment further and form his theory that like cures like, or the Law of Similars. This law states that when a substance in large doses causes certain symptoms, it can cure these symptoms if the same substance is taken in small doses. Some treatments in conventional medicine also rely on this principle of “like-cures-like”. The vaccines, for instance, of an illness-causing agent are given in allopathy to prevent the disease.

Other important principles of homeopathy are dilution and succession. Remedies are diluted and then "succussed," or shaken, in order to increase their potency. The process of successive dilution and succession is called potentization.

How does homeopathy work?

Homeopathic remedies start with simple substances, such as herbs, minerals, or animal products. These substances are first crushed and dissolved in a specified amount of a substance -usually alcohol or lactose, mechanically shaken, and then stored. This is the "mother tincture." Homeopaths further dilute tinctures with alcohol or lactose, either 1 part to 10 (written as "x") or 1 part to 100 (written as "c"), and then success these tinctures, yielding a 1x or 1c dilution. Homeopaths can even further dilute these tinctures two times (2x or 2c), three times (3x or 3c), and so forth. In clinical practice, any dilution may be used, but the most common are the 6x, 12x, and 30x and 6c, 12c, and 30c. The more diluted the substance, the more potent its healing powers are proved to be.

Rather than simply suppressing symptoms of a disease, homeopathic remedies act as catalysts that aid the body's inherent healing mechanisms. Moreover, homeopaths believe that any physical disease has a mental and emotional component. The homeopathic diagnosis is threefold, including physical symptoms (e.g., feverish), current emotional and psychological state (e.g. anxious, restless), and overall constitution of the individual (this includes more enduring qualities related to a person's creativity, initiative, persistence, concentration, physical sensitivities, stamina). The right remedy for a particular condition addresses all of these aspects and requires a highly individualized diagnosis.