Homeopathy Medicines@World of Homeopathy

Homeopathic Medicines

This article describes how homeopathic medicines are made, including a discussion of what ingradients are used and why these substances are such potent healing agents.

Types of medicines used in homeopathy

Homeopathy, like conventional physiology and pathology, recognizes that symptoms do not simply represent something "wrong" with the person but rather that they are actually the body's defense against infection and/or stress. The body creates symptoms in its effort to defend and heal itself.

Various substances from the plant, mineral or animal kingdomes are regularly used in homeopathy, and almost any type of material can become a homeopathic medicine. Once a homeopathic "proving" is conducted (an experiment done to discover what a substance causes in overdoese and thus what it will cure in homeopathic dose.), it is then known how that medicine can be useful when given in homeopathic doses.

Some homeopathic medicinees from the plant kingdon include onion (Allium cepa), ipecac root (Ipecacuahna), and poison ivy (Rhus toxicodendron). Some homeopathic medicines from the mineral kingdom include calcium (Calcarea carbonate), arsenic (Arsenicum), and salt (Natrum muriaticum). Some homeopathic medicines from the animal kingdom include bee venonm (Apis mellifica), rattle-snake venom (Croatalus horridus), and dog's milk (Lac cantinum). It should be noted that homeopathic medicines are listed by their Latin name, because homeopaths insists on being precise in describing the specific species they use in their medicines.

You might be asking why substances such as snake venom and arsenic are used in homeopathic remedies. Various strange and even poisionous substances are used in homeopathy because they have been found to cause a pattern of symptoms similar to what sick people experience. Therefore, by taking small, specially prepared doses of these substances, one can eliminate their toxic effects while maintaining their healing benefits. Homeopaths use such small doses of these substances that even homeopathy's strongest critics assert that homeopathic medicines are basically safe. It should also be noted that although homeopathy use strange substances, so does every system of medicine. Conventional medicine uses drugs derived from mold (penicillin) and preganant horse's urine (Premarin), to list but a few examples, yet few people call physicians "witch doctors" for doing so.

How to make a Homeopathic remedy ?

How are homeopathic remedies made?

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Some examples of hoemopathic medicines

When you are chopping an onion, your eyes tear up, and you might experience a watery,burning discharge from your nose. These symptoms are aggravated when you are in a warm room, and they are reduced if the room is cool. Homeopathyic doses of onion (Allium cepa) are used to treat people with a cold or allergies if they exhibit similar symptoms. If, however, a person with a cold has a stringy yellow nasal discharge that is aggravated by exposure to cold or open air, then a medicine using onion is not prescribed but rather Kali bichromicu (potassium bichromate). It is intially confusing but ultimately logical that homeopaths use ipecac root (Ipecacuahna) to treat people with certain types of nausea and vomiting. It is commonly known that ipecac root causes nausea and vomiting, and because of this, it has an important place in emergency medicine as a method of inducing vomiting if someone has ingested certain poisons. In homeopathy, Ipecacuanha is used to treat people who experience symptoms similar to what Ipecacuahna is known to cause; constant nausea with no relief from vomiting, lack of thirst with increased salvation, and a clean pinkish tongue despite indigestion

How Homeopathic Medicines Work?

Despite the vast amount of research conducted on conventional drugs today sponsored by large drug companies or by the Federal Government, there are many commonly used drugs that we still don't understand. Likewise we do not know precisely how homeopathic medicines work.

Research has found that the water in which homeopathic medicines are made emits more heat, which might contribute to the medicine's effect. A former professor of physics at California Institute of Technology has found that once a double-distilled purified water is sequentially diluted and shaken with a medicinal substance inside it, an ice crystal that doesn't melt in room temperature water and that maintains an electrical field is created (Lo and Bonavida 1997; Gray 2000). Dr. Lo has even taken electron microscope photos of these crystals. How these crystals work on the body, however, remains a mystery.

There are various other theories about how homeopathic medicines work, some of which are highly technical (see Bellavite and Signorini 2002). Some people assume that the highly potentized homeopathic medicnes are "energy medicines" that act on the chi, or "life energy" of the person. It is then assumed that the more potentized the medicine, the more energetic it is, and the deeper it acts on the person's energy.

It should also be noted that submarines communicate with other submarines and with ships using very low radio frequencies, because higher frequencies cannot penetrate the water. Because the human being is 75 to 80 percent water, very low doses of medicines, such as those used in homeopathic medicine, may be a more effective means of delivering drugs than the high doses commonly used in conventional medicine.

One of the hottest subjects in science today is "nano-technologies". Nano is a prefix referring to the study and use of hyperminiaturized technologies that can carry more and more bodies of information in smaller and smaller chips. In this spirit, it may be appropriate to refer to hoemopathy as a "nano-pharmacology".

How Homeopathic medicines are made ?

Homeopathic medicines are made through a specific pharmaceutical process called "potentization." With plant or liquid substances, the tincture of the plant is extracted, usually through distillation with alcohol. The solution is then diluted with one part of the tincture with nine or ninety-nine parts of a double distilled purified water. This new solution is vigorously shaken (or "succussed"), and then the dilution and succussion process is repeated numerous times. Typically, a homeopathic medicine is potentized three, six, tweleve, two hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, fifty thousand, one hundred thousand times or more. When mineral substances are used, they are triturated (ground up) with lactose (milk sugar). Intially, one part of the mineral substance is ground togther with nine or ninety-nine parts of lactose. Each substance is diluted and then triturated up to thirty times, and then it is dissolved into a double-distilled water, at which time it is potentized in a process similar to that used with plan or liquid substances.

Succussion homeopathy

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Single and multiple ingredient medicines

"Single-ingredient" homeopathic medicines use various plant, mineral, animal, or chemical substances that have undergone a proving. Classical homeopathy uses single-ingredient remedies and has been practiced from more than two hundred years. Howver, many homeopathic manufacturers create formulas that are combinations of various homeopathic ingredients. Generally, a manufacturer creates a formula by combining two to ten of the mosot common remedies used to treat a specific ailment (headache, allergies, arthiritis, and so on). Although these formulas are not individually prescribed, they are often effective at least in providing temporary relief, and they are considerably safer than most conventional drugs, because homeopathic remedies are nontoxic.

Some classical homeopaths assert that these formulas are not "real homeopathy", since the medicines have not undergone their own provings and because they are not individualized to the person. While these critiques are certainly true, the ingredients are homeopathically prepared and, more important, they have been found to work reasonably well.

In general, individually chosen remedies tend to work better; however, it should be acknowledged that such individually chosen remedies only work better if the person prescribing them was adequately educated in finding the correct remedy. Most laypeople are not trained in homeopathy, so homeopathic formulas provide a "user friendly" way for people to used these natural medicines.

How to take homoeopathic remedies

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Over the counter remedies

In the United States, homeopathic medicines are legally recognized as "over-the-counter drugs"; that is, they do not require a prescription from a medical doctor. All over-the-counter drugs, including homeopathic remedies, are required by the Federal Drug Administration (F.D.A.) to provide a disease indication for conditions that do not require a medical diagnosis or ongoing medical mintoring and that are self-limiting (that is, they are not fatal and will resolve themselves at some point). Colds, influenza, sore throat, allergies, sinusitis, P.M.S., teeting, colic, headaches, and arthiritis are but some examples of these conditions. If you see homeopathic medicines marketed for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, or any serious or fatal illness, you are encouraged to contact the F.D.A in Washington D.C.

How safe are homeopathic medicines ?

The small doses used in homeopathic medicines make these medicines extremely safe. Of course, it is important to know how to prescribe medicines. The book I co-authored with Dr. Stephen Cummings, Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicines, provides step-by-step information on how to use the medicines and when it is necessary to seek medical care.

Within a given year, it is common for the F.D.A to not receive a single report of any problems or complications resulting from a homeopathic meidcines. And because they are recognized as drugs, their manufacture is regulated by the F.D.A to assure consumers that they are getting what they ordered.

References

[1] Dana Ullman, M.P.H., essential homeopathy - What it is & What it can do for you, 2002.

Disclaimer

The information on this page is provided for reference and and educational purposes only; to spread the awareness of Alternative Medicine for better health. It does NOT constitute any medical advice and NOT meant to diagnose or treat any health condition and/or is NOT a replacement for treatment by a healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider and learn how Homeopathy works and how it is used before using any remedies that "Homeopathy" offers.