HomeoWHAT?

by Susan W. Kennedy

HomeoWHAT?  is the question I get when I mention the H word around my friends.  Homeopathy, I say to a bunch of blank stares.  Then my friends always come through and someone will ask me, “What should I be taking if I have ___________?”  And these are my friends!

Homeopathy is a funny word to hear and repeat, especially for someone who has not really considered its benefits.  Homeopathy comes from the Greek words homoios (similar) and pathos (suffering), and is a system of medicine based on the law of similars that gives the vital force information that it needs to stimulate a healing response. 

Homeopathy can easily be learned for first aid treatment.  It is fast, safe, gentle, and very effective in many cases.  Maybe this is what my friends are trying to ask.  No, I don’t consider hair loss a first aid dilemma.

With a bit more instruction and practice, one can learn to use homeopathy at home for minor acute illnesses, such as colds and flu, food poisoning, over-worked muscles and joint pains, earaches, etc.  In these cases, there is much individualization required to select the appropriate remedy.  So in these cases, my friends ask, “What should Jane take for her sore throat?”  Of course I respond, “Tell me about Jane’s sore throat”.  “Well, it hurts.”  Of course I have about 20 more questions, and by then they are tired.  Why can’t you just give me something for the sore throat?!?!?!  “Because I am working on Jane, not just the sore throat.”  When you get that “right” remedy for the sick person and her illness, homeopathy can work pretty quickly.  Right now, whooping cough has made a huge comeback.  It is not called the “100 day cough” for nothing.  Even kids who have been vaccinated are getting it.  Homeopathy does not prevent it, but it can be used to shorten the timeframe or alleviate some of the symptoms.  And think about resolving an earache or tonsillitis without antibiotics!  We just need to know more about how the person is experiencing the illness, not just about the illness itself.

For chronic situations (i.e. arthritis, fibromyalgia, lupus, crohn’s, asthma, chronic earaches, chronic tonsillitis, ADD/ADHD, autism, and more) as well as for issues that come up during transitional periods such as puberty or meno/andropause, homeopathy can start a healing/rebalancing response, but needs to be monitored carefully.  In these cases, I strongly recommend using a professional homeopath. 

There are three fundamental things that make homeopathy different from allopathy (different suffering) or antipathy (opposite suffering).  They are:

1.  Homeopathy works using similar suffering, which means that a “dis-eased”
person is given a medicine that can actually cause their symptoms in a healthy person, but will stimulate a healing process on the same symptoms in a “dis-eased” person.

2.  The medicines in homeopathy are called remedies and contain non-material substances, which are energetic in nature and do not interact physiologically with other medications.  Remedies can be made from almost any substance found in nature – plant, animal, or mineral.  They contain extremely diluted amounts of the substance and are put through a process called succession to bring out the energetic properties.  Less is more.  One only takes the least amount necessary to start the healing process and waits until more is required.  There are no standard “take three a day for 7 days” prescriptions for any remedy.

3.  Homeopathy is holistic, meaning it works on the whole person and not just the main symptom the person comes in for.  Take a person with cancer whose cancer disappears after chemo and radiation.  They are often considered success cases by oncologists who have “removed” the cancer.  Meanwhile it can take months or years to regain one’s strength and build one’s blood back up from the radiation and chemo.  And I have to wonder what caused the cancer in the first place.  Did radiation and chemo deal with the root cause?

Homeopathy is symptom driven.  Symptoms are our being’s way of telling us something is wrong.  Allopathy uses medicines that cause different suffering.  An example would be that in order to cure a certain type of cancer, a certain type of chemo is required.  This is because it has been tested and found to “kill” that type of cancer cell.  No one really knows why, but it does.  It does nothing to resolve the underlying cause of the cancer.  Antipathy uses medicines that cause opposite suffering.  Using a diuretic to reduce ankle swelling will do nothing to “fix” the underlying or causing problem.  It may make you get rid of fluids by causing an opposite effect, but until the causative problem is fixed, swelling may return.  In both of these cases, “the medicine” “fixes” the problem, and then the body is left to figure out “what just happened? Where am I?  And what do I need to do now?”  In other words, the medicines took over doing what the body could not do.  Where does that leave the body then?  Weakened and disoriented?  How then could we expect the body to take back over after a lot of different drugs have been introduced to “do” what the body was not doing?

Homeopathy stimulates the natural response of the body.  If you give a remedy for a person experiencing flu, their symptoms may get a bit worse (stimulating the healing process) before they get better.  It does not take over what the body is trying to do.  It stimulates and allows the body to do the work to heal itself without interference of opposite or different suffering drugs.

When we cough with a cold or flu, it is to get things out of our lungs.  When we suppress that cough, we are stifling what our body naturally does to heal itself.  Whenever we suppress a symptom, it still must come out somewhere.  Symptoms are often physical, but can also be expressed on the mental or emotional planes.  Have you experienced the death of a loved one and found that you just can’t get past the grief?  Grief is a natural process and one that takes time.  There may come a point where you realize you may be stuck in the grief.  Homeopathy can help with this.  An emotional or mental symptom is also indicative of dis-ease and can be stimulated towards health.  A clear example of this is a woman who was afraid of flying, and in taking her case we found that she had been in a serious train accident 32 years ago that left her in an acute state of fright for some time that had not been resolved.  After a few months on the right remedy, she was again able to fly.

So, my friends, I hope I have shed some light on this funny word and what it can do.  I dedicate this article to you in the hope that you will begin to at least comprehend the power, miracle, and healing possibilities of homeopathy, even if you continue to giggle when you say or hear the word.

©Susan W. Kennedy 2007