Hudson
Highlands
Homeopathy
What is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy is a safe, effective, non-toxic system of medicine which uses micro-doses of natural substances to stimulate the body's own healing response. The substances (plant, animal and mineral) are “potentized” through a series of dilutions and “succussions”. This method creates non-toxic, powerful medicines that work with the person’s own vital force bringing about a gentle cure. Homeopathic Remedies are regulated by the FDA and produced in accordance with the guidelines of the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS).
Similia Similibus Curentur- Like cures like
If a substance can cause symptoms of disease
in a healthy person, then it can cure a sick person suffering from similar symptoms. For example, if
a person has an allergy which causes watery eyes and a burning nasal discharge then Allium cepa, which is a homeopathic remedy made from onion, could be given because we know that onion causes watery eyes and a burning nasal discharge.
Whether in minor illness or in deeper disease, homeopathy sees symptoms as the body’s healthy
attempt to restore itself to balance. A homeopath
will support the symptoms rather than suppress them. Homeopathy recognizes that each person manifests illness in a unique way, that is why two people with the same illness will not necessarily receive the same homeopathic remedy. A homeopath chooses a remedy that matches a persons unique symptom profile,treating the person not the disease.
Brief history
Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, was gifted in many fields: he was a physician, a master pharmacist, a skilled linguist and translator fluent in seven languages and a fore runner to todays natural healers, promoting a natural diet and healthy lifestyle. He was the first person in modern times to promote the humane treatment of the mentally ill, often curing them with his remedies.
Hahnemann born in Germany in 1755, had been a respected physician who became disillusioned with the medical practices of his time. Eventually he left his medical practice and to earn a living for his large family he translated medical writings.
While editing a medical text which claimed that cinchona bark, or quinine, was an effective cure for malaria because if its bitter and astringent qualities, Hahnemann was doubtful because he knew of many equally bitter substances that would not cure malaria.
He decided to test the effects of cinchona bark by taking some himself. His reaction produced an array of symptoms strikingly similar to those of malaria. Hahnemann deduced that the curative power of cinchona lay not in its bitter qualities, but in its unique ability to reproduce the symptoms of malaria in a healthy person. This discoveryled to the first law
of homeopathy: the Law of Similars or “Like Cures Like.” Following his early investigations, Hahnemann resumed his medical practice and refined the application of his newfound system using the Law
of Similars. The subsequent success of homeopathic treatment led to its popularity spreading throughout Europe and eventually to may parts of the world.