What Is A Homeopathic Medicine?

Although, many people know the word homeopathy, since they hear it being used in the media, and also see it printed on products, they don’t really know what homeopathy is. For many, homeopathy has become synonymous for natural, and used that way in the media when describing healing modalities and products. When someone hears me talk about what I do, when I am talking about homeopathy, they may say to me, or think to themselves, what she is talking about is essential oils, herbal medicine, and/or supplements. But that is not what homeopathy is.

Homeopathy is its own system of medicine. It was developed by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann in the late 1700’s. Homeopathy means “similar suffering”. Through listening, observing, and understanding what bothers the person and how they experience it, a homeopathic medicine is given that is similar. This similar homeopathic medicine stimulates the person’s own healing. To read more about homeopathy and homeopathic remedies. (I encourage you to read this. And I use the words homeopathic remedy and homeopathic medicines interchangeably.)

What Is A Homeopathic Medicine?

Because homeopathy is often confused with other healing modalities. I wanted to tell you what a homeopathic medicine is. There are over 4000 homeopathic medicines. They are made from plants, minerals, animals, and other natural sources. Think how many plants there are in the world. Many of these plants have been made into homeopathic medicines. Think of the periodic table. All of these elements have been made into a homeopathic medicine. And think of animals – mammals, snakes, spiders, insects, mollusks, sea animals, and birds. Many of these have been made into homeopathic medicines.

Only a small part of the substance that the homeopathic medicine is being made from is used to make the homeopathic medicine. And with animals, the animal is not killed. A small part of the milk, wing, blood, or venom is used to make the homeopathic medicine.

The homeopathic medicines that I use in my practice are purchased from a homeopathic pharmacy, such as Hahnemann in Northern California, and Helios in England. These pharmacies make the homeopathic medicines on their premises, using the method that Dr. Samuel Hahnemann developed. There are other pharmacies in Europe, India, the US, and other parts of the world.

Your Use Of Homeopathic Medicines

Many of you have used the homeopathic medicine Arnica montana for bruising and shock after an injury, a trauma, dental work, or a fall. And possibly you have used other homeopathic medicines. Some of you have seen a homeopath for treatment. You have found homeopathy to be healing and helpful.

Healing With Homeopathy

The healing with homeopathic care is deep. Homeopathy is helpful for many of the health concerns people experience today. I invite you to see how homeopathy can be a deep healing for you, and for your loved ones. I would be happy to talk with you. Either contact me here through this blog, or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com. I have a complimentary Get Acquainted Call.

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Listening, Witnessing, Giving Space – Homeopathy Does This Well

Over the last few weeks, I have “liked” and “shared” two quotations on my Classical Homeopathy Facebook Page. Some of you may have read them. I am including them here, along with Aphorism #84 from the Organon of the Medical Art by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, edited and annotated by Wenda Brewster O’Reilly, PhD. Dr. Samuel Hahnemann developed homeopathy.

The topic of the quotations is about listening, being with someone when they are suffering, giving them a place, that is safe, sacred even, to show and to tell what their suffering is. It is with no judgment, no advice, no        , just there and is.

This is one of the things that homeopathy does so well. Giving space.

I found this image on Google Images. I had been looking for a while. I liked this one, it made me laugh. I hope that you find it amusing and right on.

Quotations

We all need a sacred Witness in life, a person who can listen without judgment while knowing the right questions to ask that continually illuminate our path.

~ Caroline Myss

When someone is going through a storm, your silent presence is more powerful than a million, empty words.

~? Reba McEntire (To be honest, I don’t know if this is from her or not.)

The patient complains of the process of his ailments. The patient’s relations tell what he has complained of, his behavior and what they have perceived about him. The physician sees, hears and notices through the remaining senses what is altered or unusual about the patient. he writes everything down with the very same expressions used by the patient and his relations. The physician keeps silent, allowing them to say all they have to say without interruption, unless they stray off to side issues. Only let the physician admonish them to speak slowly right at the outset so that, in writing down what is necessary, he can follow the speaker.

~ Dr. Samuel Hahnemann,  Aphorism #84

Giving Space

When seeing a homeopath, as described in Aphorism #84, the homeopath is there to see, to hear and to notice what the patient’s suffering is. The suffering can be any physical ailment, any emotional upset and distress, any mental disfunctioning, and any spiritual questioning.  Space is there, to see what this suffering is like for the person.

If you, or a loved one, is suffering, it may be time to see how homeopathy can be healing for you. I would be happy to talk with you. I have a 15 minute complimentary phone consultation. You can contact me either through the comments here on this blog, or through my website http://www.homeopathytoheal.com

Making of Homeopathic Medicines at Helios Pharmacy

Helios Pharmacy is one of the best homeopathic pharmacies. I order from them all the time.

This video shows how the plant and mineral homeopathic medicines are made. Helios uses the methods of making homeopathic medicines that Samuel Hahnemann wrote about in THE ORGANON.

Healing ADD/ADHD With Homeopathy

To continue with the thought of my last post, There is a Need for Homeopathy, I want to address attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADD/ADHD). Many parents don’t know that there are other choices besides medication in helping their children. The information in this post also applies to adults who have ADD/ADHD like symptoms.

Very often school aged children, usually boys more than girls, are placed on medication. The prescribed medications are stimulants, such as Ritalin, Dexedrine, Desoxyn or Cylert.  If these medications are not effective, tricyclic antidepressants may be prescribed.

ADD/ADHD encompasses a large range of behaviors and symptoms. The following are some of those behaviors considered to be symptomatic of ADD/ADHD: over stimulation, distraction, restlessness, hyper vigilance, withdrawal, compulsion, impulsiveness, acting out, poor attention span, lack of focus, lack of concentration, disruption, aggression, defiance, dawdling, lack of friends, low self esteem, hyperactivity, awkwardness, and difficulty with school work.  Remember, ADD/ADHD is a name, a title,  with symptoms listed underneath.

Sometimes these behaviors and symptoms are a response to detrimental factors in the child’s environment. Once the child’s environment is changed, the child does much better. Samuel Hahnemann, the German physician who developed homeopathy, called these detrimental factors maintaining causes.  Some of these factors could be:

• The child is bored and needs a more stimulating school environment
• The school program doesn’t plan enough time for physical activities
• The child learns better using a different teaching modality, such as auditory, visual, or kinesthetic
• The child is not hearing or seeing properly and thus having difficulty processing the information
• The child is not getting enough to eat or getting enough sleep
• There are difficulties at home

                                                   

With conventional medicine, children with different symptoms are prescribed the same ADD/ADHD medication. For example, a shy child who may have difficulty concentrating and staying on task in school is prescribed the same medication as another child who is portraying behaviors of aggression and violence, biting people, and being very difficult to control. Both of these children are diagnosed as having ADD/ADHD, and both are prescribed the same medication, although each child is expressing a different state, different symptoms and different behaviors.  This is the one size fits all thinking.  What happens is: have a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD and give medication for ADD/ADHD. The individual child is not being treated.

The intended actions of the medications last only for several hours and then another dose needs to be taken. Side effects are often experienced when taking some of these medications. These side effects could be loss of appetite, insomnia, tics, headaches, stomach aches, drowsiness, short-term growth retardation, irritability, moodiness, and increased rate of blood pressure. Side effects are the unwanted responses from a prescribed medication.

Homeopathy can be very useful in helping children, and adults, who are experiencing some of these behaviors and symptoms. Homeopathy treats the whole person, the individual person, not the diagnosis ADD/ADHD.  The shy child mentioned above would be given a different homeopathic remedy than the child who has aggressive behaviors or the adult who is impulsive. Each person is experiencing symptoms and behaviors unique to them, and therefore each person needs a homeopathic remedy that is similar to what they are experiencing. The homeopath takes time to understand and to uncover what the person is experiencing, what and where they are suffering. And then he/she selects a homeopathic remedy that is similar to that suffering. The main principle of homeopathy is Like Cures Like or the Law of Similars. The homeopathic remedy then simulates the person’s own healing process.

We want a healing, not a palliating. Homeopathy heals. There is a need for homeopathy.

The Homeopathic Remedy Cuprum Metallicum is Safe

I saw that there was a search by someone asking if Cuprum metallicum is safe.  Yes, the homeopathic remedy Cuprum metallicum is safe. All homeopathic remedies are safe.  What I am writing here applies to all homeopathic remedies.

That said, you still want to be respectful of homeopathic remedies. You take a homeopathic remedy when it is similar to what the person is experiencing. This is like cures like or the Law of Similars, the main principle of homeopathy. The homeopathic remedy is only homeopathic if it is similar to what the person is experiencing; it is not homeopathic if it is not similar. Homeopathy means similar (homo) suffering (pathy).  If you take the remedy, one or two doses, and it is not helpful for you, it won’t hurt you. You want to stop taking that remedy then.

Homeopathic remedies are made in homeopathic pharmacies. The substance that the homeopathic remedy is made from, in this case Cuprum metallicum, is grounded up and then mixed with an alcohol/water solution. (Other substances may start in a mother tincture form.) A small part of this alcohol/water solution is diluted more, and then succussed (shaken vigorously and hit against something hard. Hahnemann used a bible). This dilution and succussion process is done many, many times creating the strength or potency of the homeopathic remedy. At the 12c potency, and the higher potencies, there is nothing left of the physical substance of which the homeopathic remedy is made from, in this case Cuprum metallicum. It is the energetic pattern of the substance. This process is called potentization. This is the Minimum Dose that Dr. Samuel Hahnemann developed in the late 1790’s, another principle of homeopathy.

                               

Copper                                                                                    A vial of Cuprum metallicum 12C

During Hahemann’s time, many of the medicinal substances used were poisons, actually it is still like that today. Hahnemann found that by making the dose as small as possible, as mentioned in the above paragraph, the medicinal substance was curative and healing; the patient lived and didn’t die from the treatment. The healing was gentle with no side affects or toxicity.

To answer the question again, the homeopathic remedy Cuprum metallicum, or any other other homeopathic remedy, is safe. You want to be respectful of the homeopathic remedies. Use them with good judgement. That is why it is good to see a professional homeopath.

What is Homeopathy?

Homeopathy is often confused with herbal medicine. Homeopathy is not herbal medicine. Homeopathy is its own system of medicine developed by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann in the late 1700’s.

Some homeopathic remedies are made from plants, but they are also made from minerals/metals and animals.  Each substance that is made into a homeopathic remedy goes through a potentization process, in which the substance starts either in a mother tincture form or grounded up (triturated). This is then diluted and succussed (shaken) many times. This potentization process creates the strength or potency of the homeopathic remedy.  At the 12c potency there is nothing left of the physical substance of which the homeopathic remedy is made from;  it is the energetic pattern of that substance.  Herbal medicine uses only plants, either in a mother tincture form or in leave/root/plant form.  (I am not trained in herbal medicine. If you want to know more about this field perhaps google herbal medicine.)

The three main principles of homeopathy are the Law of Similars, the Minimum Dose, and One Remedy at a time.

Law of Similars or Like Cures Like 

Think of when you are cutting an onion. Your eyes begin to tear, burn and sting. You may want to rub them. Your eyes feel horrible. It really is not like crying. Your nose may also tear. If someone experiences a cold or an allergy with these similar sensations and symptoms, the homeopathic remedy Allium cepa, which is made from the onion plant, would be very helpful.  This is an example of like curing like.

The Law of Similars states then that a substance that produces symptoms or an ill state of health in a healthy person will be curative and healing in a person who is sick and is experiencing these similar symptoms. This is like cures like.

A homeopathic remedy is only homeopathic if it is similar to what the patient is experiencing, and thus stimulates a healing process.  Homeopathy means “similar suffering.”  The homeopathic remedy is then homeopathic to the patient; similar to their suffering.

The Minimum Dose 

The potentization process described above was developed by Hahnemann. This was the way that he could produce the smallest possible dose of the medicine. By giving this small, minimum dose of a toxic medicinal substance, a curative healing would occur rather than the person being killed by the treatment. Mercury was used very often during Hahnemann’s time as a medicine. Mercury was curative, but the patient died from the treatment. So by making a substance as small as possible, it still retained it’s curative, healing abilities, but now it would be more gentle in its healing action, and actually heal.

One Homeopathic Medicine at a time

During Hahnemann’s time, patients were given medicines that contained 50 different medicinal substances. In homeopathy, it is the totality of the symptoms, the wholeness of the person that needs to be addressed. One curative substance, one homeopathic remedy, addressing the totality of the person. Not one medicine for each of the symptoms that a person is experiencing. Also by giving one medicine at a time, there is less of a chance of the medicines interacting with each other and causing side effects or even death.

Samuel Hahnemann developed a wonderful system of medicine.  Homeopathy has so much potential to promote a very deep healing.

Homeopathy is a Holistic Form of Medicine

I was asked recently what is the difference between holistic medicine and homeopathy.  I can’t say what exactly holistic medicine is, since that is not what I am trained and educated in. I would presume it is looking a the whole person. A doctor who is practicing holistic medicine may not be practicing homeopathy. Being a homeopathic practitioner or homeopath I can say what homeopathy is.

Homeopathy is a form of holistic medicine. Homeopathy is a system of medicine developed by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann in the late 1700’s.  It has its own set of principles. The main principle is the Law of Similars or LIKE CURES LIKE.  In fact, the word homeopathy means “similar suffering”. Through the observation and understanding of the totality of what the person is experiencing (it is more than just symptoms), the homeopath selects the homeopathic medicine that is most similar to what the person is experiencing. It is like matching the ill state of the person with a homeopathic medicine that is similar to that state. This homeopathic medicine stimulates the person’s own healing process. This is LIKE CURE LIKE.  Western medicine operates from the Law of Opposites. Both the Law of Similar and the Law of Opposites have been around since the time of the Greeks.

                                                     

Not only is homeopathy holistic, but it is also addresses the individual. Each of us experience what bothers us uniquely to ourselves.  The fact that homeopathy really looks at the individual person is both wonderful and challenging to me. Wonderful, because the homeopath really takes the time to observe and to understand what bothers the person; and challenging, because sometimes it does take time to understand what the “suffering” is like for this individual person.

And by taking the time to see the person in their totality and in their individuation, a deep healing can take place.