Homeopathy    
Homeopathy:
In A Realm of Its Own
by Rajgopal Nidamboor

From its inception, homoeopathy has developed into a refined science of diagnosis and prescription, offering a wide variety of remedies for use in therapeutic practice and preventive medicine. Safe, low-cost, and effective, homoeopathy is used by millions of people worldwide. It holds the promise to be the medicine of the future — for more reasons than being merely gentle, holistic, and reliable.

While it’s popularly believed that homoeopathy is most useful in treating chronic illnesses that fail to respond to modern or conventional medical treatment, the fact is — it is just as effective in acute conditions, not to speak of self-care for minor illnesses.

A complete system of healing discovered by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann, over 200 years ago, homoeopathy is based on the simple understanding that “like cures likes,” or similia similibus curentur. In other words, “what can cause, can cure.”

Homoeopathic remedies are made from small, nay tiny, amounts of substances found in nature. They have no damaging side-effects, or toxicity. Researchers have evidenced that homoeopathic remedies, perhaps, work in our body much like enzymes, or hormones. Enzymes and hormones, which are available in the body in similar minute quantities, as we all know, have very dynamic, tangible, vibrant actions and effects in our body.

Homoeopathy has proven effective in treating many diseases for which conventional medicine has but very little to offer. Yet, thanks to its low-cost, which endangers the profits of the pharmaceutical industry, and its powerful lobby, homoeopathy, which does not follow conformist medical thinking, has been continually attacked by the conventional medical establishment. Worse still, the conventional establishment has recently called for an end to homoeopathy, without taking into account its unique nature of application and practice.

Homoeopathy does not have specific drugs for specific diseases like conventional medicine. It treats the individual who has an illness, and not just the disease itself. This means — if two individuals have the same disease, they may require different remedies, in agreement with the distinctive expression of the problem per se. Evaluating it on parameters relevant to conventional, or orthodox, medicine, would, therefore, be a canard.

This is also a travesty, no less, at a time when the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognizes homoeopathic remedies as official drugs and regulates their manufacturing, labeling, and dispensing. What’s more, homoeopathic remedies also have their own official compendium — the Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, first published in 1897. There are, in addition, other pharmacopoeias applicable in countries where homoeopathy is practiced.

It’s estimated that 500 million people receive homoeopathic treatment on a yearly basis worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that homoeopathy is the second largest medical system people depend upon for primary healthcare in the world.

Homoeopathy is extremely popular in Europe, the continent where it first originated. In France, pharmacies, for instance, are required to carry homoeopathic remedies along with conventional drugs. In the UK, homoeopathic hospitals and clinics are part of the national healthcare system. Homoeopathy is just as popular in Latin America and Asia — what with India leading the movement, thanks to the presence of millions of homoeopathic adherents and hundreds of thousands of qualified homoeopathic medical doctors in its ranks.
Homoeopathy’s key benefits, in précis, are —

• It is effective. Scientifically conducted double-blind tests have shown that it works in all types of ailments — acute and chronic. Do you know that the first “blind” tests were actually developed and conducted by homoeopathic doctors, and not conventional medical doctors?

• Homoeopathy has no side-effects. In all the millions of cases treated with it, homoeopathy has never been shown to be toxic to the body. What’s more, homoeopathy is appropriate for treating pregnant women, infants, and children — with utmost safety.

• Millions of lay people — most of them without a smattering of medical or health “grounding” — use it to help themselves and their families without any hazardous physical consequences. The best part — even in the presence of an unintentionally selected or incorrect homoeopathic remedy, no harm can be done. The body simply pays no heed to the remedy and no dangerous effects are caused.

• It is economical and, therefore, easy on the pocket than prescription drugs.

Another advantage — homoeopathic remedies have a very long shelf-life.
On the “flip-side,” since homoeopathic remedies are derived from natural substances and, therefore, not patentable, it’s unlikely that any major pharmaceutical, or drug, company would come forward to provide large funds for wide-scale research and marketing of homoeopathic medicines and products. This is one part.

On the other, homoeopathy, like other forms of natural medicine, including herbal medicine and nutritional supplementation, is bound to become an enduring part of the healthcare apparatus worldwide, including the US, where it has now resurfaced with transformed vitality — primarily due to its low-cost, remarkable safety, wide-ranging applicability, and also sublime efficacy.

April 2, 2006

Disclaimer:
Information provided in this article is for the sole purpose of imparting information and Homeopathic remedies and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you have a medical condition, please consult your physician. 

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