Why Consider Homeopathy? by Jackie Krammer

Why are millions of Americans turning to alternative health care? The risks and side effects of conventional medical treatment prompt many to seek an alternative. Where conventional therapies fail or even compound problems, homeopathy provides a way to help people without hurting them. The low cost of the medications and the rarity of adverse reactions make homeopathy preferable to modern drugs, in many cases.

A basic difference exists between conventional medical treatment and homeopathy. In conventional medicine, the aim often is to control illness through regular use of medical substances. If medication is withdrawn the person returns to illness. There has been no cure. A person who takes a pill daily for high blood pressure is not undergoing a cure, but only controlling the symptom. The aim of homeopathy is “the complete restoration of perfect health”.

Symptoms, no matter how uncomfortable they are, represent the body’s attempt to restore itself to health. For example, fever is the body’s natural response to infection. Instead of trying to suppress the fever with medication, a homeopath will use a remedy that further stimulates the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

It is a system that looks at individuals and not at diseases. Conventional medicine assumes that all colds are alike and offers a series of drugs – to dry the nose, to suppress the cough, to ease the headache. While, homeopathy looks for one substance that will treat the whole person as opposed to a single symptom.

Homeopathy works best in the beginning stages of a disease where symptoms are present but irreversible tissue damage has not occurred. It also works well for chronic ailments such as allergies, asthma, digestive problems, sleep issues, migraines, anxiety and depression. Conventional medicine does best at the end stages of disease, for example, when a heart is atherosclerotic, when there is cirrhosis of the liver, or in advanced cancer.

Homeopathy was established in the late 18th and early 19th centuries by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician. However, the homeopathic approach to illness was recognized by Hippocrates, the father of medicine, as far back as the fifth century BC. Homeopathy has been practiced extensively in Europe and India for more than a hundred years. In fact, pharmacies in France and Germany routinely prescribe homeopathic remedies and the physician to the British royal family is a homeopathic doctor.

Copyright 2007 Jackie Krammer is a classically-trained homeopath in private practice in Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA). She received her training at the Northwestern Academy of Homeopathy.