What is homeopathy?

Homeopathy is a long-established system of holistic medicine practised throughout the world. It has been working successfully for well over two hundred years now, is continuing to develop, and the World Health Organisation recognises it as the second most used form of medicine across the world today [1]. In the UK alone it is estimated that between six and eleven million people regularly benefit from its use as a complementary or alternative choice in their medical or therapeutic needs [2]. 

What is 'holistic' medicine?

Holistic medicine views symptoms or conditions as surface signs of imbalance or 'blockage' somewhere within the entire living system of body and mind that makes up a whole person. When that person’s normal, natural ability to heal can't sort out such an imbalance or block, symptoms will keep recurring and interfering with healthy function and natural well-being. At this point the need for medicine of some kind arises, at whichever level the disease or dis-ease originates. Homeopathy works toward settling the bothersome symptoms and ‘re-tuning’ the individual's system overall, to remain in a better state of health and well-being.
 
“The highest ideal of cure is the rapid, gentle and
permanent restoration of health” 
(Dr Samuel Hahnemann [1755-1843], first to deduce and develop the
system of homeopathic medicine, from his ‘Organon of the Medical Art’)


How does homeopathic treatment differ from mainstream medicine?

Apart from its holistic perspective, the basis of homeopathic treatment is the principle of applying ‘like to cure like’, which was known and understood by Hippocrates and Galen, the ancient 'fathers' of western medicine.
A homeopathically prepared substance found to generate particular symptoms when tested on healthy persons will resolve similar symptoms in a patient when occurring as ailments, disease or dis-ease. Such testing is called ‘proving’ by homeopaths, and the medicines developed by this process are called ‘remedies’. 

How do homeopathic remedies differ from ordinary drugs?

Manufacture:
Homeopathic remedies are generally made from natural sources (mostly plants and minerals) and a few other simple resources: clean water, small amounts of medical alcohol and a substance such as milk sugar to make the small pills and tablets generally used to carry the medicating dose. 

Packaging is simple and minimal and mostly recyclable which, along with the small quantities of natural resources used, makes homeopathic medicine congruent with ‘green’ values or environmental and ecological concerns, as well as a fundamentally natural medical resource.

Testing:
Remedies are first tested on healthy individuals through the process of ‘proving’ (the origin of today’s RCTs or Randomised Controlled Trials) to find out how they affect a person’s system in its entirety. Their curative actions are confirmed through successful treatment of patients.  Homeopaths regularly communicate within the profession about research, case studies and new findings regarding remedy action.

Cost:
The processes of homeopathic proving and manufacture do not cost the vast quantities of money needed to create new drugs and pharmaceutical preparations. This means that homeopathic remedies cost very little to use in comparison with conventional licensed drugs and other pharmaceutical preparations. What a patient mostly pays for is the practitioner’s time, knowledge and professional judgement.


"The beauty of homeopathy lies in its simplicity:
The power of homeopathy lies in its depth;
The danger of homeopathy lies in its shallow application.” 
(Dr T P Paschero  MD, RSHom [1904-1986], Argentinian doctor and homeopath who
contributed much to the establishment and development of homeopathic medicine
in Argentina and South America in the 20th century.)


Effects:
Homeopathic remedies are effective and safe to use by all people, whatever their age and stage of life. No remedy has ever had to be withdrawn from use due to ill-effects. They do not compromise or conflict with standard pharmaceutical prescriptions. They do not create side-effects.

Response times after taking a remedy vary, depending on the vitality of the patient and the nature and duration of the complaint. 

How is a prescription decided upon?

The homeopath works with all the information given about the case to find which of the many remedies available is the best match for an individual patient’s complete ‘symptom picture’. 

As a simple example, hay-fever presents differently between patients.  From a homeopathic perspective, greatly watering eyes and a constantly running nose needs a different remedy to prolonged attacks of huge sneezes, or intolerably itching eyes/nose/mouth/throat, or ‘bunged up’ eustachian tubes and crackling ears; so each would receive a different, case-specific remedy. 

What form does a prescription take?

Less is more: homeopathic remedies are given in dilute measures, in liquid, powder, pill or tablet form, and taken in small, relatively infrequent quantities. This is because the originator of homeopathy found through long-term observation and experimentation that treatment by minimal dosing with the most appropriate remedy for the patient's symptoms produced the best results.

Subsequent homeopaths and their patients have found that these prescriptions work consistently well in our physical, mental and emotional aspects, in both acute and chronic cases. Prescriptions can be focussed on a single, specific therapeutic need or ailment, or applied to a broader, deeper, more layered case. 
“I will admit I didn't notice much for the first 3-4 days and started to get a bit defeatist, but then, after about the one week mark, things started to happen.”

Mr WN-S, Chippenham, Wiltshire (age 26)
“I would wholeheartedly recommend Sandra’s practice to anyone who needs support to deal with health problems, safely and without the fear of side effects.”

Mrs EP, East Devon (female age 49)

“Sandra has helped me and members of my family with homeopathic remedies for a number of conditions, including hay-fever, labyrinthitis and stress-related symptoms. … In mine and my family's experience, the remedies prescribed have proved to be highly effective.”

Mrs JH, East Devon (age 52)

REFERENCES:

1.  https://drnancymalik.wordpress.com/article/status-of-homeopathy/

2.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-ullman/homeopathic-medicine-euro_b_402490.html