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August 23, 2023

What is Homeopathy?

Homeopathy is a distinct system of medicine that follows a unique principle to treat illnesses. Central to homeopathy is the principle of "like cures like," where a substance that can produce symptoms in a healthy person is used to treat similar symptoms in an ill person. This approach is based on the Latin phrase "similia similibus curantur," meaning like cures like. In homeopathy, every individual's illness is...

Nicolas Figueredo, ND

Homeopathy is a distinct system of medicine that follows a unique principle to treat illnesses. Central to homeopathy is the principle of "like cures like," where a substance that can produce symptoms in a healthy person is used to treat similar symptoms in an ill person. This approach is based on the Latin phrase "similia similibus curantur," meaning like cures like. In homeopathy, every individual's illness is treated individually, without relying on standard drugs for diagnosed conditions. Unlike mainstream medicine, which often focuses on symptom relief, homeopathy seeks to address the underlying disorder causing the ailment. Even for individuals with multiple seemingly unrelated conditions, a holistic approach is taken, with the practitioner selecting a single medicine that best encompasses the overall condition of the patient.

For instance, consider two individuals both suffering from insomnia. In homeopathy, their treatment might involve entirely different medicines based on their unique history and disease expression. This personalized approach is a hallmark of homeopathic practice. The goal of homeopathy is more than just symptom alleviation; it aims for complete removal of the disease with minimal side effects. This contrasts with mainstream medicine, where long-term medication use and bothersome side effects are commonly accepted. Homeopathy stimulates the body's innate healing ability, helping it regain a healthy balance. Homeopathy has proven successful in treating a wide range of illnesses, including those with unfavorable medical prognoses. Whether the ailment is predominantly mental, emotional, or physical, homeopathy offers a medicine to assist in the healing process.

Instead of merely targeting the symptoms of the disease (e.g. lowering the blood pressure, reducing the inflammation, expanding the airways) as in other forms of medicine, the homœopathic medicine addresses the core of the problem by stimulating the patient’s own physiology to work more effectively, the result being the removal of the process of disorder entirely. Treatment by Homeopathy is far more likely to result in a real cure and is at the same time free from the harmful long term side effects from main stream medical drugs.

An illustrative example of homeopathy's approach involves using a substance that induces symptoms similar to those of the patient's illness. For instance, the effects of drinking coffee (for those of us who are not habitual consumers) are restlessness, insomnia, trembling. A homeopath might prescribe Coffea cruda, a homeopathic preparation of coffee, to treat conditions with insomnia or restlessness. In summary, homeopathy embraces a holistic perspective, treating each individual uniquely and aiming for complete disease resolution with minimal side effects. Its distinctive principle of "like cures like" underpins its approach to healing and has led to successful treatment outcomes for various types of illnesses. Mainstream medicine has no consistent treatment strategy, no guiding fundamental principle, whereas Homeopathy always prescribes on the principle of similars in each case.