Homeopathic medicine is a safe and effective form of therapeutic method based on the philosophy that the body has the inherent ability to heal itself.
Homeopathy is a system of medicine centered on treating the individual with diluted (potentized) substances with the goal of stimulating the body’s own healing mechanisms. Remedies are chosen based on the law of similars, which states that a substance causing a set of symptoms in a healthy individual when taken in large doses will result in the elimination of those same symptoms in a sick person when taken in minute doses.
Though the term was coined by German physician Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann (1755 – 1843) from the greek words homoios = similar and pathos = suffering, the idea of curing with similars goes back to as far as Paracelsus in the 16th century and Hippocrates 2500 years ago.
Today there are about 3000 remedies exist in homeopathic medicine originating from nature, from the plant, mineral and animal kingdoms. Remedies are first prepared as mother tinctures, then they are processed by a series of dilution and potentization. Homeopathy asserts that the healing properties of the original substance remain in the remedy regardless how many times it’s diluted.
Homeopathic remedies can be used in the classical form, when only a single remedy is given at a time or in the complex form when a combination of remedies are given at a time. In both cases the remedies can be in liquid or pill form and are taken under the tongue where it is absorbed through the mucous membrane.
Homeopathic medicine can be safely used in children, adults and the elderly as well as in veterinary medicine.