Homeopathy is a system of medicine devised by Dr Samuel Hahnemann from 1755 to 1811. Hahnemann had sought to develop a medical system that relied solely on single drugs in harmless doses that had been meticulously studied for their effects on people and their ailments.

His observations showed that medicines did not react in the same manner in every person. He also noted that not everybody suffering a particular disease experienced exactly the same signs and symptoms. He observed differences in their mental and emotional disposition and particular things would make them feel better or worse. He found that each of these variations would respond better to different medicines. His studies included local herbs, minerals, foods, poisons and alchemical drugs commonly used at that time.

Classical homeopathy as prescribed by Hahnemann is tailored to the individual and only one remedy is given at a time.

Homotoxicology is a modern form of homeopathy and is the most prescribed form of natural medicine in Germany, where it has been used for over 50 years. In Homotoxicology, homeopathically prepared  combinations in relatively low potencies enable the body’s defense mechanisms to facilitate the body’s elimination of toxic substances and support healing. Remedies are prescribed according to the severity and stage of the disease process.

 

Homeopathy has been used in research. However, what people usually mean by the word “research” in terms of medicine is based on the conventional allopathic system. For example when a drug is being used to treat the common cold. You get a group of people together who’ve been diagnosed with a cold. The drug is tested on the people in the group. The drug, the treatment — is based on the diagnosis. Each person in the group is given the same medicine.

Now, if we move over to the homeopathic model, one of the things we learned early on is that not everybody with a cold has the same illness pattern. Some people have a stuffed-up nose, some have a runny nose, some have a lot of sneezing, some also have swollen tonsils, and some have headaches. They don’t all require the same homeopathic medicine. There might be 50 homeopathic medicines that could be used for a cold. We pick the one that fits that particular patient. As you can see, that approach doesn’t fit into the conventional model of drug testing.

In contrast one study done with people suffering from arthritis were grouped together and given two or three of the most common homeopathic remedies used for that problem. The people improved. The researchers were able to show statistically an improvement that was as good as or better than the improvement seen with conventional drugs.

It has often been demonstrated that homeopathy works. But individuals respond to different remedies and the key is to find the right one. This requires a great amount of knowledge, skill, practice and patience.