Homeopathy by Sheri This month's column is really near and dear to my heart. I'm going to write about Homeopathy. When my daughter was born the first two years were tough. She didn't sleep much and I had postpartum depression. I had known about homeopathy from studying vibrational medicine a few years before but had no direct experience with how it worked. I was referred to a Classical Homeopath by a friend and I decided to give it a try. He was a chiropractor by license. There is no licensing for Homeopathy yet. Many good homeopaths are also MD's, Chiropractors, Acupuncturists, Naturopaths and even lay practitioners who are people with no license but who have studied homeopathy for years.

I went for my appointment and it was interesting! Dr. Plant spent two hours with me asking about everything. What foods I like, my sleep patterns, you name it! LOL The first remedy did not help and when I went back for my follow-up appointment six weeks later he decided to try another one. Within 24 hours it was like a cloud lifted! The depression was gone and it's never come back. This was 15 years ago. After my wonderful experience I started studying homeopathy in earnest. I even completed a two-year professional training program and had a small practice as a lay practitioner for a few years. (I don't practice these days - too busy with kids, editing, etc. )

Homeopathy is amazing. It works by giving the body minuscule substances that increase your body's own immune response. Somewhat like vaccinations but in a much more refined and safe way.

There's a terrific article by Dana Ullman M.P.H. who has done an incredible job of bringing homeopathy back to the attention of the people over the past twenty or so years.

Here's an excerpt from a great article he has on the ten most frequently asked questions on Homeopathic Medicine:

" Homeopathic medicine is a natural pharmaceutical science that uses various plants, minerals or animals in very small dose to stimulate the sick person's natural defenses. The medicines are individually chosen for their ability to cause in overdose the similar symptoms the person is experiencing. "Homoios" in Greek means similar and "pathos" means disease or suffering. Since one's symptoms are actually efforts of the organism to reestablish homeostasis or balance, it is logical to seek a substance that would, in overdose, cause the similar symptoms the person is experiencing. Thus the medicines go with, rather than against, the person's natural defenses.

" In essence, homeopathy is composed of two highly systematic methods: toxicology and casetaking. First, homeopaths find out the specific physical, emotional, and mental symptoms that various substances cause in overdose. Homeopathic texts have more detail on toxicology than any other source. Second, the homeopaths interview their patients in great detail to discover the totality of physical, emotional and mental symptoms the person is experiencing. The homeopath seeks to find a substance that would cause the similar symptoms the person has and then gives it in small, specially prepared dose."

You can read the rest and find out much more about homeopathy at his website here: http://www.homeopathic.com/articles/intro/ten_top_questions.php

Homeopathy has been around for over 200 years. It was developed by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) a physician in Germany in the 1800's. In the 1900's there were as many homeopathic medical schools in the US as there were allopathic medical schools (the kind that are still around today). Here's an except also from Dana's site on The Opposition to Homeopathy:

"Homeopathy posed a serious threat to entrenched medicine. Orthodox physicians criticized herbalists, midwives, and various other "non-regular" practitioners because they were not medically trained. Homeopaths, however, could not be discredited as being unlearned, since they had been graduates from many of the same medical schools as "regular" physicians. In fact, many of the initial practitioners of homeopathy graduated from some of the most prestigious medical schools of the day. (15)

"Orthodox medicine was also threatened because homeopathy offered an integrated, coherent, systematic basis for its therapeutic practice. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Social Transformation of American Medicine Paul Starr noted, "Because homeopathy was simultaneously philosophical and experimental, it seemed to many people to be more, rather than less scientific than orthodox medicine." (16)

"One of the most important reasons that orthodox physicians and drug companies disliked homeopathy was that inherent in the homeopathic approach was a sharp critique of the use of conventional drugs. Homeopaths were primarily critical of the suppressive nature of these drugs. They felt that they simply masked the person's symptoms, creating deeper, more serious diseases. Homeopaths also noted that this masking of symptoms made it more difficult for them ultimately to find the correct medicine, since the person's idiosyncratic symptoms are the primary guide to the individual selection of the medicine.

"Perhaps the most important reason that conventional physicians disliked homeopathy and homeopaths was well expressed at an A.M.A. meeting by one of the more respected orthodox physicians who said, "We must admit that we never fought the homeopath on matters of principles; we fought him because he came into the community and got the business." (17) Although most physicians, past or present, won't as easily admit it, economic issues play a major role in what is practiced and what is allowed to be practiced.

Hahnemann's principles therefore posed a philosophical, clinical, and economic threat to orthodox medicine."

The rest of the article is here:
http://www.homeopathic.com/articles/intro/history.php

Homeopathy can be used for a variety of illnesses from the acute (colds, flu, chicken pox, etc) to more chronic diseases (Allergies, Asthma, Sinusitis, Migraines, etc) to basic first aid (Bites, burns, cuts, etc). It's a very powerful and inexpensive system of medicine, one that I've used with great results for my family and myself, for over 15 years.

Homepathy has been making a great comeback, worldwide over the past 50 years, for a good reason; it works.

Here's a great site for referrals to Classical Homeopaths:
http://www.homeopathy-cures.com/html/referrals_to_homeopaths.html

Here are a few other sites to learn more about homeopathy:

http://www.homeopathyhome.com - a worldwide listing of everything homeopathic
http://homeopathic.com - the home page of Dana Ullman's site

http://www.medicinegarden.com - here's a cool link. Did you know that the romance writer Lindsay McKenna is also a healer and homeopath? This is her site, and it's wonderful!