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THE SCIENCE
OF
HOMOEOPATHY |
Fixed laws and principles came about almost 200 years ago
and remain valid even today. Their validity has been
confirmed through clinical experiences throughout this period of
time wherever homoeopathy has been practiced according to
these principles.
Two leading principles are as follows:
- The Law of Similiars" (similia similibus
curanter). "let like cure like". This was first
described by Hippocrates and Paracelsus and later
rediscovered by Samuel Hahnemann in 1790. He decided to call
his new systematic science "Homoeopathy", coming
from the two Greek words homoios (like) and pathos
(suffering). Any substance, be it of animal, mineral or
vegetable origin, will produce certain reactions or symptoms
when given to a healthy individual in large doses. What
Hahnemann discovered is that if these same symptoms were
found in a sick individual, they would be removed or cured
by this medicinal substance in minute doses.
An example: Peeling red onions can cause burning,
smarting or itching eyes; watery eyes; nasal congestion;
runniness of one nostril, coughing and sneezing together;
worse in a warm room; better in open air,. This is similar to a patient's experience of
hay fever or allergy. So red
onions (Allium cepa), in a minute dose, cures hay fever in a
patient who produces the same set of symptoms.
- The "Law of the Minimum Dose". The potentised
substance. In order for a harmful or poisonous substance to
be rendered harmless yet maintain it's curative powers, it
must be potentised. This is achieved by a process of
dilution and succussion when a remedy is prepared, and is
believed to release the basic particle structure of the
curative substance into the medium with which it is
diluted. A homoeopathic potentised substance can
be so dilute that there are no longer any molecules of the
original substance left, but is said to have been dynamised
and retains an imprint or frequency of the original
substance in a more energetic form. The higher the dilution,
the higher the potency.
Thus the curative effect of a remedy is through the energy
(or vibrational pattern) of the substance matching the
energy of the disordered system (the mistuned vital force/defense
mechanism/immune system). The homoeopathic remedy hereby
stimulates the vital force into action. It is the
mistunement of the vital force that manifests in the
symptoms we call disease! A strong vital force is better
able to produce visual symptoms, but a weak vital force
cannot produce visual symptoms and is liable to have worse
complaints happening under the surface. Symptoms are
representative of the vital force trying to establish
homeostasis or balance!
In order to demonstrate how each individual has a
different illness with common symptoms, let us look at three individual
horses which all have the common characteristic of the disease
Strangles....loss of appetite; early fever; difficulty
swallowing; mucopurulent discharge from both nostrils;
persistent moist cough; swelling of mandibular and pharyngeal
lymph nodes which are hot and sensitive to touch.
However, they also display individual symptoms...Rusty has
excoriating eye discharge, Shady has watery diarrhoea in the
mornings, and Brandy has a rapid pulse rate; Rusty feels chilly
and doesn't want to leave the stable to go out into the rain,
Shady has an aversion to having a rug on and will sweat if
she does, and Brandy seeks warmth by standing in the sun; Rusty
is drinking large volumes of water often, Shady is drinking in
small sips only but often, and Brandy is thirstless; Rusty gets
irritable and bossy, Shady has a fear of enclosed spaces, and
Brandy is indifferent and prefers solitude.
This completes the homoeopathic symptom picture for each
individual so that the correct choice of remedy can be made to
match the expression of the disease manifestations. This has
allowed us to encompass the WHOLE individual and not just a
part. It also explains why three different remedies will apply
to these individual horses.
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THE ART
OF
HOMOEOPATHY |
Homoeopathy treats illness with minute, and therefore
innocuous, doses of an appropriate substance selected according
to the patient's own individuality, reactions, heredity, as well
as family and social environments.
The art is in the case taking! An unbiased, comprehensive
totality of the symptoms of the patient is of utmost importance
to convey the nature of that particular patient's illness. After
observing, absorbing and meticulous record taking, the
homoeopath makes a sense of order to the case by creating a hierarchy
of the prominent homoeopathic symptoms. Usually the leading
mental/emotional symptoms are first such as "cannot be left
alone", "fear of water", followed by the general
physical symptoms such as "she drinks small sips of water
often' or 'he seeks the shade and won't stand in the sun', and
finally the local symptoms and pathology such as 'he has pain in
the right hip on standing', ' a cracking sound can be heard when
he gets up'. Strange, unusual and intense symptoms are of
special interest.
To know a remedy's symptom picture, double blind clinical
trials are done called "provings". A group of healthy
volunteers are given small repeated doses to discover the set of
symptoms it causes. Once the "provers' experience changes
in their state of health they stop taking the remedy so that no
permanent changes are produced. The symptoms that manifest in
each individual are recorded, which in turn are used to make up
the Materia Medica as a description of what that medicine can
cause.
The homoeopath is then required to repertorise the case. A
repertory is an index of symptoms from 'provings' called
'rubrics' and represent all remedies that can cause the symptom.
There is a definite art to selecting the right rubrics that best
represent the total picture of a case. As it is rare to have a
case where all the symptoms fit one remedy, there will always be
several possibilities and the decision can be quite complex.
Potency selection requires an understanding of the needs of
the vital force in acute or chronic states, and its state of
strength or reactivity. After remedy administration and a period
of time, the remedy's action needs to be perceived. There can be
many outcomes and good detective skills will be necessary.
eg: Did the remedy act; have there been changes; where
have they occurred and to what degree; are any symptoms removed;
is there any return of old symptoms; degree of amelioration or aggravation;
is the remedy still acting; is the patient better, same or
worse; was it only a partial response (indicating a similar
remedy but not the simillimum); is a repeat of the remedy needed;
is a different remedy required; if no reaction was the potency
correct or was it just the wrong one; did anything antidote the
action etc??
If there has been changes it is important to ascertain
whether the symptoms are changing in the "Direction of
Cure" known as "Hering's Law". This
being...."from more vital organ to less vital organ, from
within out, from above down, and in reverse chronological
order".
This is why an animal may get an old skin condition like
"itch" back when having a lung condition treated.
However, the 'itch' will be short lived and not as severe as
when the animal first had the condition. This is seen as a good
sign as the harm caused by suppression of incorrectly treated skin
that then resulted in a chest condition has reversed back to the
exterior.
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