Homeopathy is an advanced, effective and gentle system of holistic medicine that has been successfully used for over two hundred years on every continent. It is a federally recognized form of medicine and is backed by thousands of research studies, papers and clinical trials. Homeopathy is incorporated into global health systems such as the WHO (World Health Organization) and is recognized as a distinct and effective system of medicine by hundreds of governments worldwide. It is inherently safe, nontoxic, effective and extremely affordable. It is today used for all forms of illness in adults and children (even effective in unconscious and comatose patients), and is also used in veterinarian care and agriculture. Homeopathy remains outside the mainstream in American medicine though, partly because it cannot be patented (so pharmaceutical companies cannot make a profit from it). The skill required to be an effective homeopath takes years of study and experience; there is no algorithm, every case is unique and individualized for that patient.
The mechanism of action for homeopathy is challenging to explain but here’s how I understand it. Quantum physics tells us that at the very core of any existence, everything is just molecules of vibrating energy. An item that appear to be solid, like a table, is not solid in the truest sense, it just appears to be solid. We also know that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred. Based on these natural laws, homeopathy works by disrupting negative energetic patterns that are creating disease (physical or mental) in a person and brings that person back into a more balanced energetic state (aka healthy!). Each homeopathic medicine has its own vibrating energy, like its own particular dance, and when someone is ill they have a disrupted vibrating energy, an irregular dance. The correct homeopathic remedy will mirror that disrupted energy, or match its dance, and that will allow the organism to shift that disrupting energy. It’s not magic, but it can feel miraculous!
Samuel Hahnemann first identified the Law of Similars, a fundamental premise of homeopathy, when he noted that the herbs that were used to treat a condition also produced the same or similar symptoms when taken in large amounts by a healthy person. He first experienced this with China (source of the drug used today called quinine), which is used then and now to treat malaria. He consumed a large dose of the herb China when he was well and immediately created the symptoms of malaria (cold and rigid extremities, heart palpitations, trembling, fever, mental confusion), but when he stopped taking the herb he was restored to health. From his insights, he postulated that “a substance which produces symptoms in a healthy person cures those symptoms in a sick person”. He, through years of experimentation and experience, found this to be true but the doses of the herb seemed to still create an intense aggravation before it cured, so he experimented with smaller and smaller doses and eventually discovered the benefits of succession. These smaller doses not only cured without the aggravation, less toxic, but were also more potent! Homeopathy had begun! Today, there are thousands of homeopathic practitioners and the amount of research and experimentation has exploded, it is an ever expanding field of medicine as new remedies are tried and discovered. And as technology has improved, the explanation of how this medicine works has been more thoroughly understood (check out this Research, nanoparticles of the original substance are found in homeopathic remedies, refuting Avogadro’s limit, and giving an explanation for why highly diluted substances can have an effect).
Homeopathic remedies are effective in both acute and chronic cases, although chronic case taking is more in-depth, takes longer and requires more time and sometimes multiple remedies as the case unfolds. I use remedies acutely all the time, and often in office, alongside other treatment modalities; I have seen remedies act alone to cure cases and used in conjunction with other medicines beautifully.