What is homeopathy? First, what it is NOT: it is NOT herbs, oils, or home remedies. It is NOT synonymous with naturopathy or alternative medicine, though it can be a part of those.

So what IS it?

Homeopathy is an organized system of medicine that has been around since the 1800’s It has its own materia medica, repertory and pharmacopeia and its medicines are federally recognized by the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938. Certified practitioners who use homeopathy are called homeopaths.

Boasting an unparalleled safety record, homeopathy is nontoxic and treats the whole person, taking into account physical, mental and emotional symptoms, without toxic side effects.

Homeopathy is affordable, individualized, integrative, easy to take, and a “green medicine.” It is holistic, scientifically-based, safe to use, inexpensive, and can help with chronic disease, as well as acute conditions. Since its inception, homeopathy has benefited people of all ages and from all walks of life, in countries all over the world.

When utilized according to well-established principles, homeopathy can be used alongside conventional medical practices to deliver a more clinically and cost-effective result. For example, homeopathy helps avoid antibiotic overuse in many infectious conditions, reserving these valuable medicines for the times when they are critically necessary. Homeopathy effectively treats painful conditions and reduces the need for opioid and non-steroidal pain medicines, reducing exposure to these agents, along with their costly and dangerous side effects.

Homeopathy is a well-developed system of individualized medicine that has been both scientifically evidence based and clinically verified.

What Does Homeopathy Mean?

The word homeopathy comes from 2 Greek words: Homoios, meaning “similar”, and pathos, meaning “suffering.” This reflects the basic premise behind homeopathy of the law of similars, or “like cures like,” which states that substances that can cause certain symptoms in healthy people can address those same symptoms when they occur in an ill person. This law was first emphasized by Hippocrates, known as the Father of Modern Medicine, and expanded by Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy.

In homeopathy, we can see the principle of like cures like in the use of Allium cepa, a homeopathic medicine made from onions, for symptoms of streaming eyes.

This law of similars is in contrast to modern medicine, or allopathy– which uses drugs with opposite effects. Standard medicine uses antidotes or medicine that is contrary to the symptoms. For example, laxatives would be used to treat constipation, often resulting in diarrhea.

Unlike pharmaceuticals, which act directly on the organs and physiological processes of the body, homeopathic medicines act indirectly by subtly eliciting the body’s own healing response. As such, homeopathic medicines are not drugs in the usual sense but belong in a separate category because of their inherent safety and unique mechanism of action.

In homeopathy, symptoms are our friends—they point us to where the body needs help. We don’t want to cover up or suppress these symptoms, treating them as if they are the problem. If the warning light for the brakes in your car came on, if you unscrewed the warning light bulb, you would not be solving the problem, would you? You would only be suppressing/removing the symptom. The light bulb is the symptom, pointing you to the real issue—the brakes.

In homeopathy, the symptoms are used to help choose the homeopathic medicine that best fits those symptoms to help the body to heal itself. Instead of suppressing the symptoms and adding side effects, true healing comes when the body addresses the root cause.

Is Homeopathy Safe?

Homeopathic medicines are non-toxic and inherently safe because of their extremely dilute formulas. They have a long history of safety without a single documented injury or death in over 200 years of continuous use. The safety and effectiveness of homeopathy are backed by thousands of research studies, papers, and clinical trials.

How does Homeopathy Work?

Homeopathic medicines start with a tincture made from alcohol and a substance from plants, animal products, minerals, metals and many other things. This tincture is diluted so that it is safe for the body–this allows medicines to even be made from poisonous material and still be non-toxic.

However, if a tincture is only diluted, it can also be so watered down that it loses its medicinal value. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, discovered that in making medicines, one must not only dilute, but succuss the material. Succussion is a medical term for vigorous or intense shaking. This action creates a biological effect that is different from when only diluted.^1,2,3 (click here to learn more about potency and how homeopathic medicines are made)

We do not fully understand how this action works, as the field of nano pharmacology is yet in its early stages. But we can see the effectiveness of homeopathic medicines prepared in this special and scientific manner.¹ How does a remedy work when it has such a nano pharmacological dose? Many people point to this as a reason they cannot accept homeopathy. Some say it must be a placebo effect. But homeopathy works on babies, animals, and coma patients–all of which would not be affected by a placebo.

And just any homeopathic medicine will not work on everyone—homeopathics will work on a person exhibiting the right symptoms, which makes them hypersensitive to the substance which has been found to cause the same symptoms. Homeopathy works with the individual’s symptoms. Each person is unique. The same diet, the same advice, and the same homeopathic remedy will not necessarily help everyone with the same disease. Therefore, homeopathy treats the individual and not the disease.

A little history:

Homeopathy is a system of medicine founded by Samuel Hahnemann in Germany in the 1800’s but is based on principles practiced by Hippocrates and traditional medicines throughout the ages. Hahnemann loved learning, excelling at languages, mathematics, and botany. He became a doctor in 1791 and practiced medicine for 9 years before giving it up, disillusioned by the ineffectiveness of the medicine of his day, feeling that the treatments were ineffective and often caused more pain than healing. He quit his practice, but needing money and being good at languages, he did some medical translating.

He translated a major medical work by a man named Cullen, which described using Peruvian bark, or Cinchona (China), from which quinine is derived. Cullen credited Cinchona’s restorative propensity with malaria to its similar symptoms. Hahnemann was skeptical and so tested small doses on himself and then described what happened.

When Hahnemann took repeated doses of Cinchona, he developed symptoms similar to that of malaria. This procedure he endured is called a “proving,” or testing of a homeopathic medicine. Hahnemann found that taking Cinchona produced in a healthy person the same symptoms that occur in a person who has malaria—the disease it was known to address.

Over the next 6 years, Hahnemann went on to test or “prove” many substances on his family and friends, as well as studying victims of accidental poisonings. He started his medical practice again, but this time with a completely different philosophy of healing and amazing results. He only gave one remedy at a time, which was very different from the practice of the age, and as a result, became unpopular with the pharmacists.

But Hahnemann had not perfected homeopathy yet—for though he diluted the medicines, he found they still had bad side effects. So he diluted them further and further. But then found that though they were safe, they didn’t seem to act on the patient anymore. Then, through a series of events, Hahnemann found the effective key–adding the element of succussing, or strong shaking/pounding of the medicines.

As in current times, Hahnemann’s contemporaries could not accept that a medicine so diluted could have any effect. Yet homeopathy was successful, and did spread— because it worked.

In 1831, cholera swept through Europe. Those treated with homeopathy had a mortality rate between 2.4-21.1%. Those treated conventionally suffered a death rate of 50% or more. Homeopathy has continued to prove itself effective in other epidemics.^4,5

Homeopathy in the World:

Among its many other benefits, homeopathy helps reduce the need for poly pharmacy since one single homeopathic prescription frequently addresses a multitude of medical concerns in a single individual. The positive results that have been achieved through homeopathic treatment have been documented in a worldwide database over the last two centuries. It is no wonder that homeopathy has been fully integrated into the National Health Services of many nations and is the second most commonly used form of medicine worldwide.

In many places in Europe, homeopathy is not deemed alternative medicine there. Approximately 30% of French doctors and 20% of German doctors use homeopathic medicines regularly, while over 40% of British physicians refer patients to homeopathic doctors, and almost half of Dutch physicians consider homeopathic medicines to be effective.⁶ The fact that the British Royal Family has used and supported homeopathy since the 1830’s reflects its longstanding presence in Britain’s national health care system.

Homeopathic medicine also once had a major presence in American medical care and in American society. In 1900 there were 22 homeopathic medical schools in the US, including Boston University, University of Michigan, New York Medical College, Hahnemann University, University of Minnesota, and even the University of Iowa. Further, many of America’s cultural elite were homeopathy’s strongest advocates, including Mark Twain, William James, John D. Rockefeller, Susan B. Anthony, Louisa May Alcott, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry David Thoreau, and Harriett Beecher Stowe, amongst many others.”⁶

As often happens with 2 opposite points of view, there was a struggle for power in America between traditional medicine and homeopathy. Homeopaths were squeezed out of hospital positions and eventually not allowed in medical colleges. With no accreditation, people became less willing to go to homeopaths. Also, with the discovery of antibiotics and certain technical advances, modern medicine gained more popularity, and thus more power. Currently, however, homeopathy is gaining again as people experience its effectiveness and appreciate its unparalleled safety record.

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Sources & Resource.

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1475491615000041
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28325224/
3. https://homeopathychoice.org/research/
4. https://www.ijrh.org/article.asp?issn=0974-7168;year=2020;volume=14;issue=2;spage=100;epage=109;aulast=Chaudhary
5. https://homeopathic.com/the-history-of-homeopathy-in-epidemics-by-cilla-whatcott-hd-rhom-cch/
6. Dana Ullman http://www.homeopathic.com/“Free Articles”