Homeopathy by Larry Wheeler

What I would like to do here under “Homeopathy in General” is to give you all an insight in what Homeopathy is, and how you can use it.

What is Homeopathy?

Basically it a system of treatment of diseases and medical conditions, that are a safe and natural alternative to conventional medicine. It can be used on children, adults and animals. However by law in the UK only a vet can diagnose problems with animals. You can treat your own animals with homeopathy though.

It works on the principle of “like cures like” that is if the remedy was given to a healthy person, it would produce certain symptoms. By matching the symptoms you are suffering to a remedy you can be cured!

Homeopathic remedies are energy medicines, they stimulate the bodies own healing powers

A history lesson

Homeopathy was developed in the 1700’s by a German Doctor by the name of Samuel Hahnemann. He earned extra money translating various medical books. He translated a book by Edward Cullen called “A Treatise on Materia”

In this book Cullen stated that quinine, purified from the bark of the cinchona tree was a good treatment for malaria (this remedy is called China). Hahnemann experimented on himself and his friends, and found that in the healthy person quinine produced the same symptoms as malaria; shivering, sweating, fever

Hahnemann looked at many texts, and found that the Ancient Greeks had been using this form of treatment for curing everything!!

He built up a knowledge of the actions of various materials (he called it proving), then he started to treat sick people, he questioned the patients about their state of health (among many other questions) and then gave remedies based on this.

The fact that many of the remedies he used were poisons, he had to dilute them. He found that the more dilutions he performed, the stronger the remedy became.

He also found that patients suffering from the same disease, often need different remedies, while there were patients with different diseases who all benefited from the same remedy! So this is why homeopathy concentrates on the person not the disease. The name homeopathy actually comes from the Greek homoeo similar pathos suffering.

Hahnemann developed a system of principles which homeopaths use, this was produced in a book called “The Organon of Medicine”

What are the remedies made of?

Homeopathic remedies are made from a variety of differing substances. The remedies are made from plant, mineral, metal, animal, chemical and what we call imponderables!! (lets not go there in this op!)
The “animal remedies” might be made from things such as snake venom.

A homeopath uses a book called the Materia Medica, which contains the information about these remedies, such as the symptoms they cure. There are over 4000 different remedies, with more being introduced all the time.

Making a remedy

So how are the remedies made? Remedies come in various strengths or what we call potencies. The higher the number the stronger the remedy. So a 30c would be stronger than a 6c (that’s the easy bit). When we make a remedy, we get the substance, and titrate it (grind it up) to a liquid form. Once we have a liquid, we take one drop of this liquid, and add it to 99 drops of the carrier, let’s just say water in this instance. The mixture is then severely shaken and banged (succused) this allows the energy to move.

This dilution becomes a 1c. We then get 1 drop of this liquid and dilute it with 99 drops of carrier, and succus. This than becomes a 2c. The process continues up to the required potency. A professional homeopath might use remedies such 10M or 50M which is the equivalent of 1 drop of the material substance in the Atlantic Ocean!! This potency is extremely strong, and we would only prescribe this sort of potency after a consultation. The fact that this remedy is so strong it could, if not prescribed correctly cause some aggravation (worsening of the symptoms) In homeopathy this is actually a good sign, as it means you are reacting to the remedy.

What happens when I see a Homeopath?

Ok – this will cover a multitude!!! First things first Homeopaths generally are registered with some organisation (I am registered with The Society of Homeopaths). Homeopathic training is 4 years, this covers the Materia Medica, case taking, patient care, anatomy, physiology, pathology and disease, and a myriad of other topics. So when you go to see a homeopath you will know that they have been well trained.

There will be a cost involved in the treatment, the consultation time etc. So in effect you are going for treatment privately (although not at private medical prices!) There is no set rate, so you will find many homeopaths charge differing amounts, there is generally a reduction in cost for children.

Let’s start off with a simple acute thing like a blocked eustacian tube (ear problem) If I was seeing you, I would ask you a few questions, such as where does it hurt, anything make it better or worse, are you hot or cold. I would just try to get a picture of what was going on. I would then use a book called a repertory (which is a list of symptoms) to match what you have told me to a remedy (in this case probably Kali-mur). I would then give you a remedy and instructions on taking it.

I would expect the problem to clear up reasonably quickly. If it doesn’t, then we might have got the wrong remedy, so we can try another remedy, or even give a higher strength. Not to worry though only another 3999 to choose from!!!

Ok that was easy.

Probably because you are used to seeing a Doctor for 6 minutes (they generally interrupt you after 25 seconds!) you just tell them what is wrong, get a prescription, go to the chemist, this bit might seem really strange, and a lot of people find it quite difficult to sit for the whole hour.

Let’s now say you have a serious complaint, such as arthritis, which you’ve had for 20 years and you’re on some serious drugs, steroids and the like.

What we do here is “take your case” Remember that Homeopathy treats the whole person. So in a full case taking which could be up to and sometimes over 1 hour, the homeopath will ask many questions, which may not seem relevant to your arthritis, but what it is doing, is building up a big picture of you as an individual. The more clues I can get about you, help to differentiate between the 4000+ remedies, the better! So I might find out that the arthritis is worse when you start to move, but then it gets better once you’ve started moving, it is better for warmth, you are restless, and have chilblains which are itchy. Once I have got the information, I consult the repertory and work out your remedy. (In this case maybe Rhus Tox!!) Sometimes a homeopath may have to do extra work on the case, so they will then send you the remedy later on.

Generally you would be given a date for a follow up, we need to see how things are going, to see what has changed, and if we need to change the remedy. This process can take anything from a few weeks to many years.

Once you have taken the remedy you may find that certain things happen to you!! So let’s say you used to have eczema as a child, this was treated by the Doctor, you now have asthma. With homeopathic treatment, you will find that as the main condition is “cured” the older symptoms can return. So the eczema that you have 5 years ago may come back!! That can freak some people out, but there is nothing to worry about, it is a good sign. We would then prescribe on the eczema and bring about total cure.

One thing a homeopath should not do is to tell you to stop your medication that has been prescribed by your GP. If you are on long term medication it is important that you withdraw gradually under the guidance of the GP.

As a homeopath I try to work with the local GP’s, some are receptive to this form of treatment, some dismiss it without a thought. There are some GP’s who actually use homeopathy as part of their practice.

Can I do it myself?

Of course you can!! There are many books published on the subject about self treatment. If you go to any major chemist they sell remedies. A lot of Homeopaths will sell remedies (and homeopathic first aid kits) these generally tend to be cheaper than the chemists, I know mine are :-)

There are a number of remedies I would consider a must to have at home:

• Arnica
• Belladonna
• Aconite
• Chamomilla
• Rhus Tox
• Ruta
• Arsenicum
• Hypericum
• Gelsemium
• Bryonia

Want to know more?

If you want to know more about Homeopathy, then you can look it up in the Internet, just use a search engine!If you want any serious books on the subject, I actually run the bookshop at the college where I trained, so always contact me, I might have what you need in stock.

Books to have in your library if you just want to treat yourself at home

Anything by Andrew Lockie (he is actually a GP)
Anything by the American Author Dana Ullman
Anything by Miranda Castro

The above books you can get from Amazon quite easily. If you need to get any remedies or first aid kits, again you can contact me directly, and I can supply these. Also if after reading this, you have more question, then just get in touch with me.

If you want to find a Homeopath, try

The Society of Homeopaths
2 Artizan Road
Northhampton
NN1 4HU
UK

www.homeopathy-soh.org

They can send out the register of homeopaths.

Copyright 2007 Larry Wheeler RSHom, Homeopath, www.larrywheeler.co.uk