Homeopathy
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Homeopathic Medicine is both an art and a science of healing. It honors the inherent law of every living organism, homeostasis. Homeostasis is a striving for physiological balance. This ability to respond to internal and external stimuli is a criteria that we can apply to distinguish health from disease - to help ourselves get healthy. 
Homeopathy is based on the law of similars, first recorded by Hippocrates in the fourth century B.C.E., and developed into a system of therapy by the brilliant physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843).Hahnemann discovered that if a substance can create certain symptoms in a healthy individual then it will heal those same symptoms in an individual who is ill. He made this observation after ingesting cinchona bark or quinine -- a popular cure for malaria – and developing the symptoms of malaria. When he discontinued the quinine, the symptoms stopped. Thus he wrote, " ... we must seek medicines that can excite similar symptoms in the healthy body." This natural principle of healing is called like cures like. The medicines of Hahnemann's time were often very toxic. (Actually this still applies to us today. If you’ve ever seen anyone undergo a course of chemotherapy or read the warnings on a prescription drug you’ll understand just how toxic our medicines still are. And you have to wonder whether this really helps you get healthy.) Hahnemann began to experiment with increasing dilutions to minimize each medicine's toxic side effects. He discovered a process called succussion, in which he vigorously pounded the solutions on a firm surface. The highly diluted and succussed medicine became even more effective as healing remedies. Through observing the action of these remedies, Hahnemann concluded that the shaking released the energy of the substance – involving a molecular imprint on the water/alcohol solvent – with none of its toxic effects remaining. This kind of explanation doesn’t go over very well with the "scientific minded" person. But if you’re someone who is willing to rely on your own experience for your truth and to get healthy rather than waiting for double-blind studies, then you’ll find truth in this explanation and in the results achieved with Homeopathy. By the time of Hahnemann's death in 1843, Homeopathy was practiced throughout the world. Homeopathy first came to the United States in 1820 and swept the continent. At one time there were 56 homeopathic hospitals in the United States. Homeopathy's popularity began to decline for a number of economic and political reasons mostly having to do with the practitioner’s inability to make huge sums of money with this healing modality, but Homeopathy continued to thrive in other parts of the world. In the United States, Homeopathy has been experiencing a renaissance. Homeopathy again finds itself on the cutting edge of medicine. And when it comes to helping yourself get healthy, sometimes being less invasive like in homeopathy is better than being more invasive.
The speed and effectiveness with which remedies work and help you to get healthy depends upon a number of factors. In acute illnesses the response may occur within minutes whereas in many chronic conditions the effects often appear more slowly, especially when the condition is a long standing one. It’s for this reason that many people in our "quick fix I want it now" culture don’t find Homeopathy to be a satisfactory healing methodology. They don’t want to wait for the cure. They expect that an illness which has taken many years to form in the body will be cured overnight.In Homeopathy, illness is viewed as a body system which is out of balance. In order to restore the system to balance, homeopathic remedies stimulate your body's own immune system and natural healing power to help you get healthy. The remedies are usually taken orally. In addition to the symptoms or the condition which brings the patient in for treatment, the homeopathic physician will identify relevant mental, emotional, and other bodily symptoms and take a thorough medical history of the patient and the patient's family. In order to match the patient's symptom picture with the appropriate remedy, the initial consultation is a comprehensive one which usually lasts between 1 and 1 1/2 hours. Subsequent consultations are usually significantly shorter. During a homeopathic consultation the practitioner will ask the client many, many questions, some of which may seem to the client to be irrelevant to the situation at hand. However, the answers to these questions help the practitioner form a complete picture of the client. Since treatment is based on a patient's total symptom picture, including mental and emotional symptoms, and not just those for which the treatment is sought, and since each person's totality of symptoms is unique, patients manifesting the same illness may require different remedies. Owing to the method of preparation, all homeopathic remedies are non-toxic and non-addictive. They produce no harmful side effects although symptoms may intensify for a short time before healing is complete. This characteristic frequently leads people to believe that the remedy is hurting them rather than helping. But this is not the case. In spite of the fact that homeopathic remedies are so diluted that they can not be harmful to the patient, there has always been a debate around homeopathy. This debate focused on the legitimacy of a practice for which a plausible scientific explanation for its mechanisms of action has been lacking to this date. This situation, however, is a norm rather than an exception in conventional medicine. Until very recently the majority of medications, including penicillin, lithium, anti-psychotics, antidepressants, and glucophage were discovered by chance and have been used empirically with great therapeutic success without an equally successful understanding of their mechanisms of action. Homeopathic medicines are products made by homeopathic pharmacies in accordance with the processes described in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, which is the official manufacturing manual recognized by the FDA. The Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia was written into federal law in 1938 under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, making the manufacture and sale of homeopathic medicines legal in this country. Most are available without a prescription as over the counter medications. There are numerous self-help books available on the subject of Homeopathy. And it’s possible, with a little effort on your part, to learn about and use Homeopathic remedies for the alleviation of minor symptoms that plague your daily life.
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