I posted last fall that I had decided to go back to school for homeopathic medicine. I have infrequently referenced it here and there since we started, but I haven’t spent much time going any deeper into what I’ve been up to. After a weekend at school (and our first big exam), I thought it would be an appropriate time to give a short little explanation of what (classical) homeopathy is, for those who may know a little or want to know more.

First, the longer version:

Homeopathy is a type of medicine that can be either stand-alone or complementary to “allopathic” (western) medicine. Going back to Hippocrates but founded by Samuel Hahnemann, a physician/chemist/linguist in the late 1700s, it literally means, “same suffering.” This is often described as “like cures like,” and explains the homeopathic philosophy. Basically, if you are imagining that you have a symptom (and homeopathy covers mental, physical, emotional symptoms- holistic), homeopathy would give a sick person the substance that would cause those symptoms in a healthy person. So if you were to get food poisoning and get diarrhea (for a gross example), an allopath might give you something to STOP that symptom, where a homeopath would give you a substance that would cause diarrhea in a healthy person, causing the sick person’s body to fight back and defeat the disease, without suppressing the ailment and causing it to come back later, or in a different way.

How do homeopaths find the right substance? First off, its called a “remedy,” and it is a highly diluted version of a plant, animal, or mineral substance taken in pellet or sometimes liquid form. The concept of energetic medicine is unfamiliar to most (and not really understood yet in a way that other sciences are “measured” at this point in time), but for me that is not an obstacle. For me, if it works- it works. More importantly, it is time tested, used in other countries for hundreds of years (and actually was quite mainstream in the US before the dawn of antibiotics), and very safe (safe enough for pregnant women, children, and animals). It is meant to stimulate the body’s own power to heal itself, affecting the body in a way that is prophylactic rather than reactive, and can lead the body on a path to more overall wellness, decreasing the susceptibilities we have to everyday ailments, therefore leading us to be more “at”ease (vs. “dis”ease).

Now, the bullet point version:

• Homeopathic medicine follows the idea of “like cures like.” Think allergy shots, “hair of the dog,” or meds that treat ADHD with stimulants (like Ritalin, Adderal).
• Homeopathic principles go back to the time of Hippocrates, but Classical Homeopathy was founded by Samuel Hahnemann a few hundred years ago in Germany.
• Going to a homeopath consists of an initial interview that can last between 1-3 hours, where the TOTALITY of your physical, mental, emotional symptoms are taken.
• The medicine itself is very inexpensive, made of a highly diluted substance made from natural substances and is taken only occasionally as needed, and safe for all including pregnant women, infants/children, and animals.

I know there are a lot of different types of “alternative” medicines out there, some very very old, and some kind of new aged. I don’t know a ton about some of the other factions (and am still in a lifetime learning process about homeopathy), but I can say from the observations of others and from my very recent own personal experience, that it can be a wonderful and miraculous way to feel healthy.

For more information you might want to read Beyond Flat Earth Medicine by Timothy Dooley (it is free!) Here is the link: http://beyondflatearth.com/

Do you have any questions about homeopathy for me? Have you ever gone to a homeopath or dabbled in it yourself?

Meredith