Homoeopathy is a branch of medicine using its own method
of prescribing, and having its own unique range of medicines.
First developed by Dr Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), a German physician
and scholar, homoeopathy has spread worldwide and is extensively
used. Homoeopathy made its appearance in New Zealand with the
early settlers who often carried with them their personal first
aid kit of homoeopathic remedies to treat both themselves and
their animals.
In recent years there has been a resurgence of homoeopathy worldwide
and an ever-growing number of people practicing this effective
means of treatment.
In 1790 Hahnemann was observing the action of quinine (extracted
from cinchona bark), in the treatment of malaria. As an experiment
Hahnemann took quinine himself although he had no symptoms of
malaria. To his amazement he started to exhibit the classic symptoms
of malaria even though he was healthy. His deduction from this
was that cinchona bark could be useful in treating not only malaria,
but also patients that were showing similar signs or symptoms
without actually having the disease malaria itself.
This conclusion leads him to experiment further using other common
substances on members of his family and other friends. He found
that any substance whether it be of animal, plant or mineral origin,
given in small doses to healthy person would cause symptoms to
evolve that are peculiar to the substance. He carefully recorded
these results and then by using the patient’s symptoms,
was able to give ill people a remedy that had produced similar
symptoms, from his ever growing collection, and curing the patient’s
problems. This system of using like symptoms matched to like problems,
has given rise to statement used by homoeopaths that “likes
may be cured by likes”.
Everyone is aware of the effects of drinking too much coffee….
the racing mind, palpitating heart and the wide open eyes; then
it is reasonable to use the homoeopathic coffee (called coffea)
to correct these symptoms, wether the occurrence is insomnia or
shock or whatever.
Early experiments by Hahnemann were done using herbal extracts
of the remedies but as his experiments continued he found that
as he diluted the remedies the effect became more pronounced as
the dilution became greater. Later still he discovered that the
action of ‘banging’ the remedies (called succussing)
rendered the remedies action even more effective.
The dilution (called ‘potency’) is done factorialy,
and following later experiments, results showed that certain dilutions
are more effective than others…hence dilutions of 30c (‘c’
being representative of the centesimal dilution range), being
a very common and effective potency.
Homoeopathic remedies may be made from almost anything. Since
Hahnemann’s day the search for reactions that substances
have on people has continued world wide and there is now an ever
growing Materia Medica, (the recording of the substances reactions
on people), that have been collected.
Today many toxic substances have had their reactions recorded
and can be used to treat people who have these symptoms.
Yes it is. By careful testing of the medicines on healthy human
volunteers, a collation of the symptoms and the continual testing
of the hypothesis by giving the similar remedy, homoeopathic results
are repeatable experiments and form a scientific base. From these
thousands of testings (called ‘provings’), a reliable
record of what homoeopathic remedies can do has been established.
Since subjective symptoms are very important, only human beings
can reliably provide these, which is why no animals are used when
proving the remedies. Homoeopathic remedies can however be used,
with great effect, to treat animals
Although most of the Homoeopaths in New Zealand are not registered
medical practitioners, in many countries homoeopaths are first
trained as medical practitioners and have gone on and done additional
training in homoeopathy (in Britain the qualification ‘Member
of the Faculty of Homoeopathy’ is recognized in law), or
they have trained in homoeopathic medical colleges, graduating
with qualifications recognized as equivalent to the usual medical
degree.
Many Governments encourage homoeopathy and give it funding just
like any other branch of medicine. Support from British Royalty
is conspicuous. There are several homoeopathic hospitals covered
by the National Health Service in Britain, similarly in India.
In many countries in Europe there is both state funding and medical
insurer’s support for homoeopathic consultations, notably
Germany and France.
Central and South American countries support homoeopathy in various
ways, particularly Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. The same sort
of encouragement can be found in Africa – notably South
Africa. It has been estimated that all round the world more than
500 million people use homoeopathic medicines as their sole, or
main, therapeutic agents.
In New Zealand the qualification ‘National Diploma in Homoeopathy’
is recognized by the NZQA.
The Qualifications Authority has the power to approve homoeopathic
training institutions meeting all requirements, too. Details may
be found on NZQA website…. www.nzqa.govt.nz/framework/
Homoeopathy is very thorough, and with chronic problems an initial
in depth consultation may be required. When asking the patient
to describe symptoms, the homoeopath wants to go beyond such blanket
terms as “rheumatism” or “asthma” to try
to discover how that particular problem presents in the patient
as an individual with your own unique response to the disease
process.
To get a complete picture of the underlying disturbance and to
clearly identify the physical, mental or emotional problems impacting
on your life, a detailed and personal interview is often necessary.
This in-depth exchange between homoeopath and patient has some
different aspects to the routine medical examination carried out
by a G.P. During the interview there will be some questions relating
to many aspects of your life, and it is the often ‘peculiar’
or ‘odd’ response that allows the correct choice of
remedy to be made.
Homoeopathy is very demanding of the homoeopath, because not only
are they trying to make sense of a whole raft of symptoms and
signs, but from this often confusing collection of information
they have to select a remedy from the thousands available and
decide on potency as well. It may well require the application
of several remedies over a period of time to get a resolution
to the problem.
In acute illnesses the response tends to be fast. Chronic problems
of many years standing may take time to resolve, as the progress
tends to be more gradual in its action. As might be expected,
complaints which have developed slowly over many years generally
take longer to cure than those which have developed recently,
although signs of improvement may be seen soon after starting
the treatment.
Because the medicines have been considerably diluted, all toxicity
is removed. If you have concerns about the alcohol base, the remedies
can be made up in water or pillules
Remedies are often prescribed in such a dilution that standard
analysis will fail to detect any material remaining from the substance
that the remedy was made from. This means that the potentised
medicines are probably the safest of all medicinal substances.
However because of the nature of the treatment, sometimes the
remedies can cause an aggravation which is an indication that
the right remedy has been given. If this occurs then you should
ring or get in touch with your practitioner at the earliest opportunity
so the situation can be resolved. Most practitioners will endeavour
to find a potency which will not cause problems, but even with
the best intentions aggravations can occur. These conditions,
although irritating are not dangerous.
Ideally it would be better to treat patients who are not taking
any other medication. However in today’s world the majority
of people are taking medication of one kind or another, such as
heart tablets, asthma medication or so on, and it is important
to tell the practitioner which drugs you are taking so the side
effects can be taken into account when taking the case. The patient
should not stop any medically prescribed drug during treatment,
but should have regular checks with their G.P., as the treatment
progresses to see if the drugs are still appropriate.
Currently none of the big N.Z. based health insurers will cover
visits to homoeopaths, but many professional groups and trade
unions will refund members; for example the Public Service Investment
Society and the Educational Benefits Society both offer refunds
to their members.
There are many sites devoted to homoeopathy on the net. General
information about the N.Z. Homoeopathic Society Inc. can be found
at
www.homeopathy.co.nz
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What is Homoeopathy?