Understanding Homeopathy - Part 2

In my last post I talked about the theory behind homeopathy, that it uses the law of similars and minimal doses to treat an ailment and I left you in suspense about how the super powerful remedy kicks the illness right out of the body. I know, it was perhaps a bit unfair of me and that most of you have been barely hanging on, waiting anxiously wondering how on earth this happens. I'm sure some of you have lost sleep, tossing and turning, perhaps even googling furiously, impatiently stomping your feet and turning your faces to the heavens yelling, "WHY?" (insert melodrama here).

Well fear not! Today is the big reveal!

Remember that life force I was talking about, the Wesen? Well homeopaths believe that illness and disease mistunes our life principle. Homeopathic remedies then come in like Jackie Chan and kick some butt. The energy of the remedies displace the energy of the disease/illness and re-attunes our Wesen. 

pause....

Uh huh. You read that right. 

The energy of the remedies displace the energy of the disease/illness.

I know, I know. It's a bit like trying to pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time. It's possible but it requires some thinking. And if you're having a tough time processing that then what comes next may require a stiff drink.

Go on, I'll wait. 

In fact I may join you. 

When a remedy is made, a substance (animal, plant, mineral or otherwise), is placed into a water-alcohol solution and left for some time. Once enough time has past this solution becomes what we call the mother tincture. The mother tincture is then diluted and succussed, or tapped, several times until the desired potency has been reached. The more times the solution has been diluted and succussed the stronger it becomes.

Let me say that again. 
The more times the solution is diluted the stronger it becomes. This happens because the more you dilute the mother tincture the more condensed the energy of the substance becomes and then this solution is used to make the remedy that we ingest. 

I know that at this point some of you are asking yourselves "Did she just say that what I'm taking in my homeopathic remedy is basically the energy of the substance?'.
Bet you wish you'd taken my advice and made that drink.

Now don't get me wrong, depending on the dilution of the tincture some of the remedies still have molecules of the original substance in their makeup but some do not and the research is still mixed on how successful homeopathic remedies are. Like many forms of intervention the controversy wages over how much of the effects seen are from the placebo effect and how much are due to the remedy itself. There are advocates for Homeopathy and advocates against. But here are the cold hard facts: there are systematic reviews that show that Homeopathy does actually have a higher success rate than a placebo. If you're ever investigating research systematic reviews are like hitting the motherload because they compile many papers, look at the data across the studies and put it into a nice package for the rest of us to read. Of course it can be a bit more complicated than that and you have to do your own research into who funds the studies but suffice it to say there appears to be a case for homeopathic remedies.

And I'll be honest with you - If I can use a homeopathic remedy, a remedy that adheres to the standard of minimal doses, to successfully treat people slightly more than what can be achieved with the placebo effect then I absolutely will. Why? Well the answer to that requires a blog itself but if you're curious and wish to see for yourself then please, feel free to search for the efficacy of some pharamaceuticals compared to placebo effects. You may be surprised at what you find.

Oh and speaking of placebo effects...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfRVCaA5o18

All my relations,
Mandy

The Law of Similars - Understanding Homeopathy Part 1

As I'm writing this post, Isis the cat has settled in next to me and is furiously grooming herself. Every once in awhile her head sneaks around the corner of my computer screen to make sure that I am actually being productive and then she goes back to being a cat. It's a beautiful existence that she has, this creature. When she's tired she rests, when she's hungry she eats and when she wants to rule the proverbial "roost" - well, she does. Unlike the rest of us, animals are much more adept at listening to the needs of their body and responding immediately in ways that help them maintain balance. As humans we tend to ignore the signs our bodies give us and push onward through fatigue and discomfort until our bodies make us listen and we get sick. As Naturopathic Physicians we are equipped with many different tools to help people regain that sense of balance and homeostasis and one of these tools is Homeopathy.
 

So what exactly is homeopathy? Many of us have encountered at some point in time, be it in our local health food store or at our Naturopathic Doctor's clinic, a homeopathic remedy. Some of us have even ventured as far as taking some of these remedies for the things that ail us. But do you know what homeopathy is?

Homeopathy is the "art and science of using minimal doses of a similar substance according to the law of similars for therapeutic use". 

So what the heck does that mean???

Well let's see if I can break it down for you... but first we need a quote from the man of Homeopathy himself, Sammuel Hahnemann, who said in his Organon of the Medical Art, aphorism 27, " the curative capacity of medicines rest upon their symptoms being similar to the disease, but with power that outweighs it".

Whoa. 

Stick with me - it'll all make sense in the end!

Homeopathy operates under the belief that a vital life force runs through all things. Homeopaths call this dynamic presence the "Wesen", which is German for Vital Force. This vital force is not absolute in its ability to heal itself and therefore we, as humans, sometimes need remedies to help bring us back into a state of balance.  In order to determine which remedy is appropriate for the person and their condition, Hahnemann believed that the physician must have an understanding of the totality of symptoms: physical, spiritual, emotional,etc. Ineffective treatments would then be the result of an incomplete list of symptoms.

Ok so far so good - phew!

Hahnemann also believed that if the vital force is dynamic then disease must be dynamic as well and as such could only be removed from a person by administering medicines with the same dynamic influence. So how does one determine that a medicine has the same dynamic influence as the disease? The answer is found in something called "Provings". Provings are reactions that occur in healthy people and mimic the symptoms of the disease. A person must be healthy AND exhibit these symptoms because otherwise their symptoms of being ill would mask the symptoms of the medication. 

I know this sounds a bit strange so let me try to break it down a bit further.
If I have asthma and the symptoms of my asthma are the only symptoms that I experience then I would want to take a homeopathic remedy that gave a healthy, non-asthmatic person an asthma attack. 

SERIOUSLY??!!

That's right folks - homeopaths treat using the Law of Similars. It's a bit like the phrase "fight fire with fire". In fact I have to think that it was probably a Homeopath somewhere who came up with that line and if not, well then it should have been. The rule of homeopathy, according to Hahnemann's 26th aphorism, is that  
"when 2 similar dynamic diseases meet in a living organism, the stronger extinguishes the weak".

Ok, well I can dig that. Super powerful remedy kicks the illness right out of the body? Check. 

"But wait!", you say,
"How does this happen?!"

Patience grasshopper. I can't give it all away at once.

All my relations,
Mandy