admin | 4:07 am | March 30, 2008 | Homeopathy
Homeopathy uses substances to treat a disease when the same substance, in a more concentrated form, could cause symptoms similar to those seen in the patient.[i] For example Apis mel is a homoeopathic remedy derived from the stinger of a bee. It is used to antidote bee stings or symptoms of localised pain, swelling and redness.
Dr Samuel Hahnemann (a doctor and chemist) began the medical system of homeopathy in Germany in the early 1800s. Since then it has been used extensively by doctors and homoeopaths in many countries such as Germany, France, the UK and India,[ii] it is only now becoming available for pets as more veterinarians are becoming qualified in the practice of homeopathy.
Dr Hahnemann came upon the idea that a substance that can produce symptoms in a normal person can cure them in a sick person. He used dilutions of plants, minerals and body substances and tested them on healthy volunteers to conduct what he termed ‘provings’. These provings were the reactions to these substances, which were observed and recorded, including emotional responses, physical symptoms and even mental symptoms.[iii] A compilation of the symptoms produced by these substances is a book called the Materia Medica.[iv] More than 2000 such homeopathic remedies exist and are recorded in such books. Each homoeopathic remedy imitates the signs and symptoms of various illnesses. Just as these ‘provings’ provide a list of all the symptoms produced by each remedy, the best remedy to treat an illness is the one which exactly or most closely matches the whole range of symptoms that an individual shows. This is the homeopathic principle of ‘like cures like’.[v]
[ii] 25 per cent of German physicians use homeopathy, 32 per cent of French doctors use it, 42 per cent of UK doctors refer patients to homoeopaths and in India it is practised in the National Health Service. Micozzi M. S. (MD) 1996, Fundamentals of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Churchill Livingston, Melbourne.
[iii] Vithoulkas G. 1980, The Science of Homeopathy, Grove Weidenfeld, New York.
[iv] Boericke W. (MD) 1993, Materia Medica with Repertory B, Jain Publishers Ltd, New Delhi.
[v] Also called the Law of Similars, Vithoulkas G., The Science of Homeopathy.
taken from Dr Barbara Fougere, Healthy Dogs - all rights reserved.