What is Homeopathy?

Homeopathy is a system of medicine that recognises our uniqueness. We are all individuals with particular strengths and weaknesses, so it isn’t surprising that when we become ill, we each react in our own way. Even if we catch the ‘same’ cold as our neighbour or colleague, our response to it may be quite different from theirs.

Although it was first described by Hippocrates 2,500 years ago, homeopathy as it is practised today evolved 200 years ago. The word comes from the Greek and means similar suffering. This refers to the central philosophy that a substance that can produce symptoms in a healthy person can cure those symptoms in a sick person. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, believed the symptoms and signs of an illness are in fact attempts on the part of the organism to heal itself, so that when a substance capable of producing a similar symptom ‘picture’ to that of the disease is used it encourages a powerful strengthening of the defense mechanism. For example, a person suffering from hay fever might be given a remedy prepared from an onion, because a healthy person chopping an onion usually experiences watering eyes and irritation. Similarly, someone suffering from insomnia might be given a homeopathic dose of coffee.


Do homeopaths have any training?
Registered homeopaths have to study for three years full-time or four years part-time and they have to abide by a strict code of ethics. Some homeopaths are also qualified medical practitioners and their colleagues sometimes use homeopathic remedies or refer patients to homeopaths.


Is homeopathy safe?
Yes. It is safe to use even in situations where conventional drugs would be dangerous or inadvisable, for example during pregnancy or when treating infants.


Isn't homeopathy dangerous because it delays people seeking proper medical care?
Professional homeopaths are responsible health practitioners who recognise the importance of doing what's best for the patient and that includes advising the patient to seek conventional medical treatment when appropriate.


How does it work?
Although there is a great deal of empirical evidence that homeopathy does work, nobody yet knows how. Those who are sceptical point out that homeopathic remedies are often so dilute that any beneficial response is probably due to the placebo effect. This explanation seems unlikely, as practice has shown homeopathic medicines to be equally effective in the treatment of animals and babies. It also works on sceptics. You don't need to 'believe' in homeopathy for it to work.

Experience over 200 years leads homeopaths to believe these remedies work by stimulating the immune system, so helping the body to treat itself.


There's nothing in homeopathic pills
Homeopathic remedies are dispensed in a range of strengths, from the original substance to the extremely dilute, often past the point where there is any of the original substance left. There is no conventional explanation for how it is possible, but there is scientific evidence to show that extreme dilutions can have a real effect on biological systems. In one series of experiments, homeopathically prepared thyroxin has been shown to slow down metamorphosis of tadpoles into frogs (Witt et al, 2007). These results were replicated by five separate laboratories in Austria and confirmed by the results of similar experiments carried out by an independent team in Brazil (Endler et al, 1998).

Certainly, as homeopaths we see these remedies working effectively on a daily basis.

Why is there no clinical evidence that homeopathy works?
There is. Of 74 conclusive clinical trials conducted up to 2009, 63 - that's 85% - were positive for homeopathy. The problem is that homeopathy works in a way that doesn't lend itself to conventional testing, otherwise the results would be even more conclusive. For more information about homeopathy trials and studies see the section of this site ‘ Homeopathy Works - The Research ’


How does homeopathy differ from conventional medicine?
Homeopathy is a holistic medicine. This means that its focus is on the whole person. Spiritual, mental, emotional and physical factors are regarded as completely inter-connected and no single factor is taken in isolation. It is based on the idea that symptoms are not the cause of disease, they merely show that ‘dis-ease’ exists.

A simple analogy is to imagine that you are driving your car and the red oil warning-light comes on. You know nothing about cars so you decide to take it to the garage. When you come to pick up the car, the light is no longer on. So having paid the bill, you drive off quite happily. You naturally assume the problem is fixed, but would you feel so satisfied if you later discovered that the garage had merely unscrewed the warning-light bulb?

For the homeopath, symptoms are helpful indicators, which can be used as guides to treating the individual and their ‘dis-ease’. Instead of merely removing the symptoms, it removes the central disturbance in the individual’s energetic balance. Once this has been done the symptoms disappear anyway, because the warnings they were trying to give have become unnecessary.

‘Those who merely study and treat the effects of disease are like those who imagine that they can drive away the winter by brushing the snow from the door. It is not the snow that causes winter, but the winter that causes the snow.’

Paracelsus, a 16th century philosopher and physician

Can I take homeopathic medicine if I’m already taking other medication?
Yes, it is perfectly safe to do so. Patients sometimes choose homeopathic treatment in the hope that it may enable them to reduce or stop their conventional medication. This is often possible, but the reduction of drugs should always be discussed with the doctor who originally prescribed them.


What will happen during a consultation?
If you have a chronic, or frequently recurring complaint, the first consultation generally takes around an hour. You begin by telling me what is troubling you. It is helpful if you can give as much detail as possible about your symptoms, including anything that makes them better or worse. If you have noticed any other changes in yourself (mood, anxieties, sleep, dreams, appetite, thirst, temperature) since the symptoms started, these can also be very useful. I will normally take a full medical case history from you and record details of any previous health problems in your family, going back to your grandparents. The aim of the consultation is to get an overview, not only of your complaint, but also of you as a person.

In the shorter follow up consultation I assess your reaction to the previous remedy and decide how your treatment can best be continued. Remedies stimulate the body, which may react as part of the healing process. Often this passes unnoticed but sometimes involves some sort of discharge, possibly emotional – tears etc. or physical – catarrh, diarrhoea, rash etc. or some minor symptom. Improvement normally follows. Sometimes if the remedy is working well I may wait and not prescribe anything, but the information gathered during the appointment may well be used later on in selecting the next remedy.

‘Since diseases are only deviations from the healthy condition, and since they express themselves through symptoms, and since cure is equally only a change from the diseased condition back to the state of health, one sees that medicines can cure disease only if they possess the power to alter the way a person feels and functions. Indeed it is only because of this power that they are medicines.’

Samuel Hahnemann, 1755 – 1843