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Homoeopathy is
a system of medicine based on the principle like cures like.
While mention of this principle is found in the writings of
Hippocrates (400BC) and even earlier in those of the ancient
Indian poet Kalidas (approx. 10th Century BC) it was a German
physician Dr.
Samuel Hahnemann who in 1790 founded a system
of therapeutics based upon it.Hahnemann became interested
in the curative powers of the medicines, and in one of the
text books of his time he read that cinchona bark (from which
quinine is extracted) cured malarial type fevers as it is
bitter. He thought that the best way to determine the action
of cinchona was to see what effect it had on the body. Thus
he took some of the substance himself, and much to his surprise
he developed fever, chills and other symptoms resembling those
of malaria.This result made him see that the reason why cinchona
is effective in cases of malarial type fever is perhaps because
it is capable of producing a condition very similar to malaria.
He repeated this experiment and performed several others with
other medicinal substances on himself and on volunteers from
amongst his family, friends and students, and each time obtained
the same result. |
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On this was based the
homoeopathic principle like cures like which means that a
substance that can cause a certain effect in a healthy person
can cure a disease with similar symptoms. For example a person
who has been poisoned with lead (chronic poisoning) will experience
symptoms such as severe colicky pain with spasm of the abdominal
muscles, constipation and paralysis and fatigue; on the other
hand a person suffering from these symptoms especially where
there has been no history of lead poisoning can be relieved
with the homoeopathic remedy Plumbum metallicum (lead in homoeopathic
ultra minute doses).The homoeopathic principle can be used
to heal or alleviate conditions even where no medicines are
employed; for example an experienced cook when burned will
hold his hand close enough to the fire to experience an increase
in the burning pain rather than immerse it in cold water,
as in this way his pains are relived faster after a temporary
increase in the discomfort and also there is better healing.
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Hahnemann’s experiments
of testing medicinal effects on healthy volunteers came to
be known as provings. From the provings were compiled records
in which the symptoms obtained were arranged systematically
and these constituted the Homoeopathic Materia Medica. During
the nearly one hundred provings that he conducted in his lifetime,
and the vast number of patients he treated using the system,
the founder of Homoeopathy noted the following: |
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Medicines produced
changes not only in some particular region in the body but
affected the whole of the body and also the mind. Holism
is one of the basic tenets of Homoeopathy, so that disease
is defined as affecting the whole and not just a part of the
body. The homoeopathic physician notes down the state of the
patient’s mind in addition to listing his physical symptoms
and attempts to match the patient to a homoeopathic remedy
with a similar set of symptoms. For example a mild, yielding,
sensitive woman who is easily moved to tears, who suffers
from a disordered digestion due to an erratic diet and who
is thirstless but craves sour and pungent foods which would
aggravate her condition, will probably require the homoeopathic
remedy Pulsatilla as a similar description can be found in
the symptomatology of this plant remedy. |
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While several
medicinal substances did produce symptoms resembling the same
disease condition each substance did so in its own peculiar
way, with it’s own distinct conditions of aggravation and
amelioration of the symptoms, it’s own unique accompanying
sensations etc. In treating an individual also a homoeopath
will look for these peculiar symptoms which individualize
the patient, so that treatment is not diagnoses based but
individual based. Thus if of two children
with respiratory tract infection, the first is very irritable,
wants to be constantly carried by the mother but is very irritable
if someone else tries to touch him or even look at him, has
a thick white coating on the tongue, is thristless and vomits
with the cough he will probably require the homoeopathic remedy
Antim tart; whereas the other child if he is of thin build,
coughs especially in the evening between 4 and 8 PM, wants
sweet foods but eats little, is afraid of being alone and
feels chilled easily, he would probably require the homoeopathic
remedy Lycopodium. Both might share a common diagnosis but
throw up quite different and peculiar, individualizing symptoms
which call for the selection of different homoeopathic remedies. |
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In treating patients
Hahnemann realized that if he administered the medicinal substance
as it was, even in small doses, there followed an aggravation
that was at times quite intense, and also some poisonous substances
could not be administered as medicines. He therefore started
diluting the medicines, and in doing so he realized that a
step by step, serial dilution of the remedial substance when
accompanied by a process of succussion or vigorous shaking
increased the efficacy of the remedy while reducing it’s harmful
and undesired effects. In fact the more diluted and succussed
the remedy is the more potent it’s curative action. This process
therefore came to be known as potentization.
Potentized homoeopathic remedies are ultra dilutions of the
original substance and beyond certain potency none of the
original medicinal substance can be detected in the remedy,
and it is assumed that only the energy of the original substance
remains in these homoeopathic doses. |
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Hahnemann postulated
that these ultra dilutions since there were now beyond the
material realm, also touched through their action something
immaterial, viz. the inner energy or spirit which imparts
life to the body, and keeps all it’s parts working harmoniously.
This energy he called the Vital Force. The
aim of homoeopathic treatment is therefore to stimulate the
restore the disordered Vital Force to return the body to it’s
original healthy state. |
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Through his clinical
observations Hahnemann also identified that there was something
fundamental to the complaints that the patient manifested
with, and that when attempting to cure it was necessary to
also remove this fundamental cause of disease which he called
a miasm. He identified three miasms and also
classified remedies as being suited to eradicate specific
miasms, so that the homoeopathic remedy selected for the patient
would have to match not only the patient’s symptoms but also
cover his miasm. This gave prescribing a certain depth. |
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The practice of
Homoeopathy started gaining in popularity in Europe, The USA
and Asia. With new remedies being proved even after Hahnemann’s
death in 1843 the Homoeopathic Materia Medica started to become
voluminous. There was a need therefore to create an index
of symptoms which would serve as easy reference for physicians.
This index is called a repertory. Although
this science had faced opposition right from the time of its
foundation, Homoeopathy continued to spread and progress.
It received patronage from some of the most respected people
in society and in the United States at the turn of the century
one of every five doctors used Homoeopathy. There were many
great homoeopaths in that country at the time, viz. Dr.
J.T.Kent, Dr. C.M.Boger,
Dr. Nash, Dr. Allen and Dr.
H.C.Roberts, all practicing classical homoeopathy.
During this period homoeopathic literature developed, its
tools were sharpened, its philosophy expounded and its practice
evolved. |
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Homoeopathy had
spread to India, and here too there was much development.
Calcutta was the stronghold of Homeopathy with famous homeopaths
like Dr. B.K. Bose, Dr. M.L. Sircar,
Dr. N.M. Chowdury and others. Development
continued at this pace in various countries across Europe,
America and Asia into the twentieth century until the 1930s
when it’s practice began to decline. One reason was that while
Homoeopathy integrated philosophy into its theory and practice
there was a shift in medicine to a mechanical model of the
body. Then there was the discovery of antibiotics and the
use of steroids, and in this way a wider rift developed between
conventional medicine and Homoeopathy. Another reason was
that amongst homoeopaths there started to emerge disagreements.
Many deviated from classical Hahnemannian Homoeopathy and
some started prescribing on local symptoms and diagnoses,
while others mixed several remedies (whereas Hahnemann had
advocated the use of single remedies), and yet others discarded
the idea of potentised remedies; all this with pharmacies
patenting specifics, mixtures and formulas, even homoeopathic
hair oils and toothpaste! The stream of Classical Homoeopathy
began thinning, although the science itself survived. Except
for a handful of classical prescribers, Homeopathy went into
the hands of less qualified people or prescribers with no
classical foundation. |
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This state of
affairs continued till the 1970s when it’s practice and spread
experienced a renaissance. While Homoeopathy had considerably
declined in the US and many parts of Europe there were still
a considerable number of Homoeopaths in India. A Greek Homoeopath
by the name of George Vithoulkas, who also
came to India to study the system, can be said to have begun
the resurrection of Homoeopathy in Europe in the late 1970s.
He re-emphasized treating the patient and not merely his symptoms,
and also laid a lot of stress on the perception of the mind
state, which Hahnemann had identified as the most peculiar
and thus most important aspect of any patient. There had been
homoeopaths before him who did this, especially Dr.
James Tyler Kent, an American homoeopath in the early
twentieth century, who was able to perceive remedy states
as images or pictures. This brought some life into an otherwise
dry materia medica where remedies had only been looked upon
as collections of symptoms, mental and physical. Vithoulkas,
working along similar lines, developed an understanding of
essences of various remedies. He taught the
same at his seminars using video recorded case interviews
from his teaching practice. His enthusiastic teaching and
appreciable results inspired a new generation of homoeopaths
in Europe, the US and India. |
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