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Homoeopathy - An Introduction

Homoeopathy (also spelt: homeopathy) is an approach to healing which is based on the primary principle of "treating like with like." The word, itself, is derived from the Greek words, homos (same) and pathos (suffering). A homoeopathic remedy is a remedy which can create a symptom complex and can therefore cure that same symptom complex when found in a disease.

A more complete description of the homoeopathic principle would be: that which can produce a particular complex of physiological reactions in a healthy person, can be used in minute doses to treat a person in whom those same (or similar) reactions are found as symptoms of a disease.

An example can be seen in the effects of Belladonna, the leaves and berries of which are poisonous.  Here is a plant which can produce a set of symptoms characterized by fever with convulsions, hot, dry, red skin, glazed eyes with dilated pupils, throbbing headache and delirium - to mention only a few.

Very similar symptoms to these are not uncommon in the kind of night fevers often found in children, and Belladonna in a highly diluted homoeopathic form has been used as a safe and effective remedy for this kind of fever for nearly 200 years.

The first requirement in the development of a homoeopathic remedy then, is to establish what changes it will create in healthy subjects.  Such a test is done on a number of people of both genders to establish the symptoms experienced in common. This test is called a proving.  (The original meaning and earlier general usage of the word "prove" was to test something, though it is now generally taken as "to establish the truth of.")

 A homoeopathic proving of a substance is not done using crude doses as many medicinal substances (natural or otherwise) are too potent to safely administer. This brings us to the next primary principle of homoeopathy: potentization.

If treating like with like in order to achieve cure is a concept that is not intuitively obvious to our way of thinking, the idea of potentization is even more of a challenge.  We naturally understand that the more concentrated a substance is, the stronger its effects are.  This is logical and consistent with experience.  If I take 1 ml of a 0.1% solution of Belladonna, I have a fairly toxic substance, liable to cause some very uncomfortable symptoms.  If I increase its concentration by 100, I have a 10% solution which is a lethal.  If I dilute the weaker 0.1% solution even more, say to 0.001%, I may not notice any symptoms at all.

Yet the homoeopathic process of potentization dilutes the original substance well beyond this point, so far beyond in fact, that it would be difficult (if not impossible) to find any of the original substance in the solution.  (This is the primary reason why those who dismiss the homoeopathic effect regard it as nothing more than placebo effect, i.e. suggestion. Unfortunately for this argument, an appropriately chosen homoeopathic remedy will work as well on a pet or herd of cattle as it will on us suggestible human beings.)

So how can microscopically diluted substances have any useful effect?

How it is diluted is the determining factor between ending up with nothing or a homoeopathic remedy.

In preparing substances for provings, as well as for prescribing purposes, the substance is diluted in a particular way. Why it works is not clear. There are many ideas and theories. That it works is easily demonstrable and is borne out by 200 years of experience.

The original substance (plant extract) is first put into solution - usually alcohol but water can also be used.  It is then diluted in alcohol by a specified amount - usually 1:10 or 1:100.  At this point the weakened solution in a stoppered bottle is impacted firmly and repeatedly against a firm but slightly elastic object, like a large book.  This "thumping" of the diluted solution is called "succussion" and is usually done 10 to 20 times.  The solution is again diluted in the same ratio, say 1:100 and then succussed again 10 to 20 times. This process continues: dilution - succussion - dilution - succussion, etc.  If a substance has been diluted by 1:100 (followed by succussion each time) through 6 dilution/succussion steps, it is called a 6th centesimal potency of the substance, or just 6C. If we were preparing Belladonna in this way it would be called Belladonna 6C.  (The amount of original substance at the 6C level is already infinitesimally small; something like 1 part in 1,000,000,000,000.)

It is the action of diluting in steps and thumping or energizing the solution between each step that somehow accounts for the difference between arriving at a useful homoeopathic remedy or the inevitable nothing that simple dilution would achieve.

It is usual to conduct provings with these highly diluted/succussed remedies, and it is not uncommon to produce striking effects in healthy subjects at the 30th dilution, for example.  These symptoms are similar in character to but milder than the toxic effects of the crude substance and are not the result of toxicity as there is nothing material left at these levels of dilution.  A drop of Belladonna 30C taken daily for a few days very often creates a feverish state with throbbing headache in a healthy person, but when the dosage is stopped the headache, fever, etc. disappear with no after effects. Continued dosing continues to produce the discomfort but not , as in the case of crude Belladonna, deterioration of bodily function and death.

Similarly a drop or a tablet of Belladonna 30C, as a homoeopathic remedy, given to someone with a fever and throbbing headache, will usually result in relief.  There is no toxicity involved, and also no painkiller required to numb the pain.

The provings are done blind so that the subject doesn't know what the homoeopathic substance is, and modern provings often use a control group which receives a placebo.  The person conducting the proving doesn't know who received the placebo until the proving has been completed and results tallied.

The proving shows the broad range of symptom phenomena a substance will produce and these are noted in detail in order to arrive at a closely defined symptom picture.  The symptom picture for each remedy is carefully catalogued and recorded for the homoeopath's use in treating their patients.  This collection of symptom pictures is called the homoeopathic Materia Medica which is available in published form, and is the homoeopath's bible for prescribing purposes.

The prescription must be a very close match between the symptom picture of the remedy and the symptom picture of the patient's illness.  Belladonna produces a headache which is more accentuated on the right side of the head. Bromium (Bromine) produces a headache which is more left-sided.  A patient's symptoms may show a left or right predominance and this must be taken into account by the prescriber when selecting the most appropriate remedy.

Rhus Toxicodendron (Poison Oak) produces aching joints which improve with movement. Bryonia (White Bryony) produces joint pains which become worse with any movement.

Drosera (Sundew) produces a cough which characteristically becomes worse after midnight and especially when lying down. Nux Vomica (Vomiting Nut) produces a cough which becomes particularly bad in the morning, less so at other times of the day. So there is even a time element which arises out of the proving and it will often be found with illnesses that they are better or worse at different times of the day and night.  This must also be considered in the match.

The nature of the remedy characteristics doesn't stop at physical symptoms.  Homoeopathic remedies can make the prover moody, irritable, self-pitying, wanting to be alone, wanting attention and affection, etc. depending on what is being tested.

If we find a child that has diarrhoea and at the same time is cross, screaming, throws things and can not be comforted, we see a similar symptom picture in Chamomilla (Chamomile).  If a child has diarrhoea and wants to be held and cuddled, Pulsatilla (Wind Flower) will produce a better result.

From this it becomes obvious that in homoeopathy there isn't such a thing as routine prescribing.  There isn't one remedy for a flu, another for a head cold, another for period pains.  Everyone's symptoms are individual.  There may be a general flu epidemic going around but each person will reflect the general influenza characteristic in an individual way.  What is common and what is individual must both be taken into account in selecting the most appropriate remedy.

There are, fortunately, a few welcome exceptions. Probably the most popular homoeopathic remedy of all time is Arnica.  This remedy produces and treats the experience of physical trauma, particularly the result of impact or strain, but also any physical trauma benefits from this amazing remedy.  With Arnica and a few other first aid remedies, little attention has to be paid to detailed symptoms. As soon after an injury as possible, an Arnica 30C can be taken to ease the pain and speed the recovery. There are a few other remedies in this therapeutic category and their uses are detailed in the various homoeopathic first aid and home prescribing books available through this website.

Another important point regarding the essential nature of homoeopathy is that a skilled homoeopath is trained to observe the patient in the most comprehensive way.  Homoeopathy does not easily address an individual symptom without the overall symptom picture of the remedy matching the overall and essential constitution of the patient.  In this sense it is regarded as a holistic form of therapy.

From this we can see that homoeopathy can bring a wonderful healing element into society.  This is especially important where the conventional alternative may involve a high price in the form side effects and often dependency on order to maintain a controlled state of the patient's condition.  It is acknowledged that antibiotics are over-prescribed causing digestive disorders and eventual ineffectiveness, that steroids can bring tremendous problems in their wake if used excessively in the control of inflammatory conditions, and others.

It is important to not undervalue the importance of many of the solutions that conventional medicine offers for conditions which homoeopathy can ease but not resolve.  It would be dangerous folly to suggest to an insulin-dependent diabetic patient, for example, that homoeopathy can cure their diabetes and that they can come off their insulin.  But homoeopathy can ease the diabetic's suffering in many cases while they maintain their regular course of conventional medicine.

There are also many cases where the conventional approach is intruding on the organism's self-regulatory health system in order to regulate a condition. This can make it difficult for a homoeopathic approach to work as it impedes the more natural form of recovery that homoeopathy can stimulate in the body's health system.  Fortunately there is an ever-increasing number of qualified conventional doctors who are becoming trained in homoeopathy and are thus able to provide the best of both worlds for the patient's ultimate benefit.