Homeopathy-Ayurveda
- By:Robert Baird Baird
As a full system of medicine, homeopathy is much more recent in its development. It owes its modern origins to Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, who formulated homeopathic theories in the late eighteenth century, although the principles were almost certainly known for hundreds of years before. Essentially, symptoms are seen not as negative effects of illness but as the attempts of the person to resist disease. Hahnemann tested a treatment for malaria on himself by taking many doses of quinine; after some time he induced malarial-like symptoms, and came to the conclusion that quinine worked precisely because it created these reactions in a healthy person; it mimicked and supported our own healing responses.
This led to the principle of "like curing like", and hundreds of homeopathic remedies have since been tested by giving them to healthy people and recording the responses. These "remedy pictures" are then applied to see which one fits the symptoms of an ill person. The other major point of difference between homeopathic and conventional medicine is that when a remedy has been identified as being appropriate to encourage the individual's self-healing mechanisms, it is then prescribed in minute amounts. Hahnemann had found that by diluting his remedies in a special way he was able to get a quicker effect, and he understood these dilutions to work on a more subtle level than simply obtaining a physical reaction.
One of the common scales for measuring the dilutions is the centesimal scale- that is, diluting the remedy in the ratio of 1:100. For a liquid this means one part of the remedy is mixed with 99 parts of a diluent, usually either alcohol or water. This is called a lc dilution; this is then shaken in a special way, or succussed, and one part of this is added to 99 parts of the diluent to make a 2c dilution, and so on. As you can see, levels of extreme dilution are quickly reached, and so the remedy cannot be said to be acting physically in a conventional way, and indeed an important part of the "remedy picture" is the emotional reactions that are produced. The personality of the patient is a significant factor in choosing a remedy. Paradoxically, the more dilute the remedy, the more effectively it works.
A homeopathic practitioner may well use a very diluted remedy, to address an imbalance in our basic constitution, if there is a very clear picture that matches the individual.
For self-help treatment choose either the 6c or 30c potencies. For mild problems try taking the 6c dilution(normally remedies are available as tablets or pills, with directions for taking them with the container they come in) 3 times a day for up to 5 days. In more acute conditions, take a 30c dilution in the same way.
In short-term, really acute conditions you can take up to 6 doses of either potency at 3-hourly intervals. Continuing to take the remedies for longer, however, may result in an aggravation of symptoms, as you "prove" the remedy in the same way that Hahnemann did. If in any doubt, and in any case if there is no response within this time, always see a professional homeopath.
Homeopathic remedies are made from a number of substances, plant, animal or mineral, and diluted in a special mannerAbout the author:
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