About Homeopathy
Many people use homeopathy for complex and chronic illnesses when traditional medicine has failed to be successful over many years and are amazed by the results. More and more people are now using homeopathy around the world following positive personal results.
Homeopathy is in fact far from new and it follows the principle of treating “like with like”, which dates back to Hippocrates (460-377BC) but in its current form, homeopathy has been widely used worldwide for more than 200 years. It is often said that homeopathy treats the person to overcome the disease, whereas traditional medicine only treats the symptoms or the disease. Not only was Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, an advocate of homeopathy but her daughter Queen Elizabeth II and her son Prince Charles are too. Like many European royals before them they have the opportunity and time to choose the very best healthcare they so desire. They can afford the best private healthcare available but choose homeopathy first in most cases but they are pragmatic and use the best of traditional healthcare as well. Although homeopathy is still available through the NHS in the UK it is less widely used than in the rest of Europe where it is more fully integrated into the mainstream healthcare systems.
Homeopathy was discovered by a German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann, who, originally trained in traditional medicine of the time but was shocked by its inconsistencies and poor evidence-base. He investigated other means of care, which he felt were more linked to the Hippocratic oath of first "do no harm" to the sick person.
After experimenting on himself and a group of healthy volunteers to gain a proper evidence base for his theory he noted that giving smaller and smaller doses of certain substances made his remedies more effective whilst reducing their toxicity. He noted that symptoms caused by various substances when given to healthy individuals were similar to those exhibited in sick people with diseases noting the work of the world-famous royal physician, Dr William Cullen from Edinburgh. His extensive experiments (provings) led to an evidence base on which to "prescribe" and his homeopathic principle ‘like cures like’.
Homeopathy is a method of aiding health which is individually tailored to the person's own specific symptoms. Homeopathy is often regarded with a lack of understanding by traditional medicine claiming it lacks sufficient evidence base, which homeopaths would argue is clearly not the case. In fact much of the medicine used in a traditional way has had no double-blind randomly controlled efficacy trials done on humans and often have severe side effects which do much harm. It is also interesting that many of the beneficial medicines used in a traditional way are in fact based on the remedies used by herbalists and homeopaths for many centuries e.g. Digitalis.
Clinical Effectiveness
Contrary to the popular media held view there are in fact a significant number of RCT studies which are placebo-controlled which show the efficacy of homeopathy. In fact the evidence systematically reviewed back in 1991 and published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) led the authors to conclude “Based on this evidence we would be ready to accept that homeopathy can be efficacious". Unfortunately the less successful studies for homeopathy are more often quoted than the successful ones which is unlike traditional medicine where when 3000 traditional pharmaceutical medicines were reviewed by the BMJ 50% were found to be of unknown effectiveness. http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/x/set/static/cms/efficacy-categorisations.html
For more unbiased information please view the video of the well-respected Q.E.D. programme made by the BBC which impressed the British Medical Association to award their highest accolade - "The Gold Award for Medicine in the Media". This was made in the 1990s when medics having an open and investigative mind about homeopathy were less vilified and less ridiculed.
General Information About Your Homeopathic Remedy
The remedies should be kept in cool, dark place. Ideally keep away from strong perfumes, odours, mobile phones and microwaves etc.
Taking a homeopathic pill or pellet guidelines
- Be careful not to touch the tablets too much when taking them especially with unclean hands or excessively soapy/unrinsed and wet hands.
- You can pour the tablet into a cap and then into your mouth.
- DO NOT SWALLOW but allow them to dissolve under your tongue.
- Stop taking remedy if better
It is believed that certain foods, substances or odours are thought to interfere with the action of the remedy. Ideally garlic, onions and caffeine should be avoided along with the use/smell of strong perfumes, eucalyptus, menthol or anything minty such as toothpaste before (at least 15 minutes) before taking the remedy. Avoid eating or drinking anything 15 minutes after taking a remedy.
- Ideally rinse your mouth out first with a mouthful of water and then take the remedy as above.
- Ideally keep a daily diary of symptoms that change and new symptoms to help with further treatment.
- It is recommended you drink a glass of water 1 hour after taking or later in the day.
The above are only guidelines and remedies have still proven to be highly effective with many people to a degree even if the guidelines are not strictly followed.
How long does it take and what can I expect
How long before any change depends on your sensitivity to the remedy and how long you have been suffering with the illness etc. Homeopathy is trying to stimulate your body’s natural healing capacity. Your body’s natural healing can be restarted in quite a remarkable way with homeopathy but sometimes not always as quickly as we would like so some patience is often required. It can be as short as a few minutes but more commonly for longer standing problems tends to be a few days before any noticeable change. For long term, complex or chronic conditions change can take much longer.
There are several ways the body can react to homeopathy.
- Physical symptoms may get a little worse at first, but your mood or disposition maybe better. Later the physical symptoms improve gradually.
- You may have a longer and/or deeper sleep than usual with more dreams.
- You may sweat a little more than usual and go to the toilet either less or more often or more easily.
- You may start to feel a little better but not as much as you would like. A review your symptoms and diary of changes to assess the need for further adjustments to your remedy.
- You may not improve at all which could indicate that the wrong potency/concentration or remedy has been chosen due to the complexity of your complaint or an additional constitutional imbalance that needs to be accounted for.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture has been used highly successfully for thousands of years in Chinese medicine. I have been trained in its practice and use it only in combination with homeopathy taking a physiological approach to pain management and healing especially in musculoskeletal problems such as arthritis, sciatica and sports injuries. People have also found it of benefit in cases of acute localised nerve damage to speed up recovery. It is often considered a complementary therapy in the West but in China it is a fully integrated part of their traditional medicine.