‘The physician’s highest and only calling is to restore the sick to health, to cure as it is termed’.
Dr Samuel Hahnemann, 1st Aphorism of his Organon, 6th edition.
Homeopathy is a very gentle, safe yet powerful therapy designed to help stimulate the body to heal itself with a minimum dose of remedy. It uses the principle of similarity to identify remedies suited to each person according to the characteristic symptoms they suffer from: Homeopathy treats individuals, not diseases. Experience from 200- plus years of using the remedies since the therapy was first developed by Dr Samuel Hahnemann, and also experiments on healthy individuals (provings), tell us what range of symptoms a given substance could create in a healthy person. The correctly identified remedy made with that substance will potentially help a sick person recover from some of those matching ailments.
Homeopathy can be used on all living organisms: humans, animals and plants. Agro-Homeopathy, Homeopathy for plants, gardens and farms, is developing. Sources of information are detailed on the page: ‘What are they For’
What is a homeopathic remedy
Homeopathic remedies are created using a very specific methodogy, involving many series of dilutions and shaking of the original substances (for example the flower Arnica Montana or Gold), to reach ever higher strengths (potencies) of the remedies. The end products are not mere high dilutions of the original substance but a dynamised form of it. Samuel Hahnemann, was always guided by his efforts to avoid the horrendous side effects of material doses of medicine such as mercury, used extensively on patients in the 18th and 19th century. He also sensed that certain poisonous substances such as arsenic or the plant belladonna, had the potential to become great healers in homeopathic preparations, using the principle of similarity. The range of symptoms they could cause from accidental poisoning, they might help to heal when given in potency if the symptoms matched in a patient. Experience shows that Arsenic poisoning leads to people feeling very restless and anxious, chilly and sweating, suffering from acute burning abdominal pain. So using the principle of similarity, if a patient suffered from such symptoms, a homeopath might prescribe the homeopathic preparation of Arsenic, known as Arsenicum Album, to help alleviate such symptoms.
Samuel Hahnemann had observed himself that just diluting the original substances too much was only weakening the effects of the original substance till nothing beneficial or otherwise would happen. His genius was in adding specific shaking of the solution at the successive stages of preparation of homeopathic remedies to release a different way of acting on living organisms. Research by Richard Carthwright shows that there is a difference between pure water and pure water containing a homeopathic preparation and between potencies of homeopathic remedies. Research on plants shows the effects of Arsenic poisoning and the healing effect of the remedy on affected plants. (see the reference in General research and Plants Experiments, in the page ‘What are they for’). Samuel Hahnemann experimented with many substances and the potentised remedies extensively on himself and then his colleagues and family, to identify their field of action and potential therapeutic benefits. This information was the basis of the first materia medica of homeopathic remedies which has not stopped developing since, as more information from experimentation (provings) and clinical experience (cured symptoms) is added.
What to expect:
Homeopaths need to have very specific conversations with their patients to obtain symptoms which will guide a suitable prescription. The key to good prescribing is to find characteristic symptoms (for example: a headache which is made better by pressing on the painful side and worse by any movement) or a cause for the symptoms (for example: after a fright or exposure to cold or wet weather). They also need to observe their patients very carefully, to obtain objective symptoms: for example, seeing that a patient is only sweating on his head while covered in bed during fever; or seeing that only one cheek is red.
Seeing Florence:
The first consultation is a comprehensive case-taking designed to help me understand your symptoms on all levels – mental, emotional and physical – as the homeopathic prescription is so individual. The remedy for your chronic headaches is most likely to differ from your neighbour’s and there are about 3,000 remedies to choose from! This is why giving details about your life style and what normally triggers your problems are so important.
You will be given or sent your homeopathic prescription with instructions on how to take it as well as any precautions. The remedy may be given in various forms, such as a pill or in liquid. I will guide you on when and how to repeat a dose in the early stages of the treatment, as I tend to prescribe liquid doses.
A follow up consultation typically takes place 4-6 weeks later and is usually shorter. I will carefully assess your response to the remedy and establish whether you need more treatment. It is very helpful to try and keep a diary of your symptoms when undergoing homeopathic treatment.