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You are in>Alternative Medicine>Homoeopathy

Homoeopathy

	Introduction
	Principles of Homoeopathy
	Principles of Treatment

Introduction

Homoeopathy is a therapeutic method of symptom-similarity. The word Homoeopathy is derived from Greek words homois, meaning similar and pathos, meaning sickness.

In eighteenth century discoveries were being made in the fields of anatomy and physiology. Unfortunately these discoveries remained unconnected and unutilized in the practice of medicine. Where as discoveries in the field of chemistry and physics were being applied to understand the functioning of the human body.

Propagation of chemical and mechanical theories about health and disease was the aftermath of these discoveries. Physicians were confused about what to believe and what not to believe.

Samuel Hahnemann, a great German physician and the founder of Homoeopathy was born at such a time. Son of a porcelain painter, Hahnemann was born in Meissen, near Dresden in Germany in April 1755. Hahnemann received a Degree of M.D. in 1779 after a lot of hardships. He practiced Medicine in different towns. He was also a great Chemist, a good mineralogist and botanist sanitarian and an experienced practical physician. In fact he was an all-round scientific man.

After years of research Hahnemann found that the drug which was the best agent to cure malarial fever, also produced the initial symptoms of that very fever. His phenomenon was highly criticized by the practitioners of modern medicine in those times. But today Homoeopathy is widely accepted as an alternative system of medicine.

Principles of Homoeopathy

Homoeopathy is a system of administrating medicines for the cure of the sick, based on the fact that drugs have the power of causing in the healthy diseased states similar to those that have the power of removing in the sick. In simple words, Homoeopathy is based on the principle of similibus curentur which means like cures like. In this system of medicine the agents that bring about symptoms of sickness can cure the cause of those very symptoms when used in extremely diluted form.

This law of Homoeopathic relationship is two-fold, viz., a group of symptoms expressing the disease, and a group of symptoms caused by the effect of some drug on the healthy human body.

In conformity with the Homoeopathic rules of practice, a cure is bound to follow if symptoms of a disease correspond to a medicine which has the same group of symptoms.

Homoeopathy is therefore, a special form of using drugs, and the practice of this system is not in conflict with the great field of modern medicine. Due to its different approach towards medicine, Homoeopathy has some advantages over the other systems of medicine.

Homoeopathy pays great attention to the scope and usefulness of drugs in the treatment of diseases. There is no possibility of any danger to the patient by wrong or excessive administration of the drug.

Homoeopathy is a practical method of using drugs which will hold good for all time, because symptoms of disease and symptoms of drugs do not change. And that is the rock on which the foundation of Homoeopathy rests.

Principles of Treatment

Homoeopathy is based on the principles of similars or like cures like. A homoeopathic physician has to deal with two sets of phenomena in treating any disease. First there is the patient, with certain morbid symptoms, and the other, similar symptoms that can be produced in the healthy by some drug. The closer this correspondence, the more certain and speedy is the cure. When two like and similar forces are brought together, they may neutralize each other. The selection of suitable drugs and their administration is based on this principle.

Before giving any treatment, a homoeopathic physician makes a thorough examination of the patient and records the symptoms. These symptoms are a description by the patient of his feelings as they appear to him or his sensations. This is done to clearly understand the nature of the disturbed functions of the patient. This enables the doctor to get full facts of the case as expressed by symptoms. The subjective symptoms help in deciding between drugs that are capable or producing a similar change in the organism.

The selection of the remedy must correspond to the totality of symptoms.

In choosing the remedy, the physician should also take into account the nature of the constitution of the patient, the temperament of the patient and the locality of the trouble. Moreover it is important to know the occasion of the trouble getting better or worse, according to the time of day (morning, evening or night), to the state of the weather (whether damp, cold or dry), to the position of the body, (when quiet or in motion), etc.

The patient’s examination and the above-mentioned factors, helps a homoeopathic physician to prescribe a drug, its doses and its repetition. The physician may also instruct the patient to avoid certain foods and take certain precautions which will accelerate the recovery.

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