Homeopathy: Like Cures Like
Homeopathy is a valuable form of medicine that is based on the premise of similia similibus curentur, which means let likes be cured by likes. In order to understand how homeopathy is used in veterinary medicine, it is best to begin with its definition and how it compares to the most common method of treatment in the United States today, called allopathy.
Allopathy, or contraria contrariis, is defined as a method of treatment using agents that produce effects different from those of the disease treated, such as using antibiotics to treat infections. Antipathic treatment is the use of drugs that have an opposite effect to the illness: patients with an inflammatory process or fever are prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs; auto-immune conditions are treated with drugs that suppress the immune system. Frequent repetition of the drug is often required to maintain the results, and undesirable effects of treatment, called ‘side-effects’ are commonplace and expected. It is a regular occurrence in allopathic medicine that a second or third medicine is often needed to address the side effects of the first prescription.
The homeopathic approach to sickness is based on the premise of similia similibus, or ‘similar suffering’. This method of healing is based on the understanding that no two similar diseases can exist within one patient at the same time. Thus, any medicine that can produce observable symptoms in a healthy patient will remove similar symptoms occurring as an expression of disease in the ill patient. In health, the vital force – like Chi in traditional Chinese medicine – is the energy that maintains life and homeostasis in the individual. In illness, the vital force becomes imbalanced, and symptoms are created during the vital force’s attempt to return to normal function. It is the role of the homeopathic prescriber to identify the most characteristic symptoms of the patient’s illness to identify a matching homeopathic medicine (a.k.a. remedy) which stimulates the vital force to heal itself.
Contrary to allopathic medicine which uses multiple drugs to suppress the symptoms of illness, homeopaths utilize signs of illness as a guide to identify a medicine that would, if taken in toxic doses, cause the same symptoms of illness in a healthy patient. Following the belief that two identical illnesses cannot occur in the same patient at the same time, the homeopathic medicine, which is a stronger, yet identical match to the illness takes hold of the vital force and displaces the illness. Within a short time, the effect of the homeopathic medicine wears off, leaving the patient healthy again.
Classical homeopaths are trained to be very scientific in their prescriptions, and only utilize one homeopathic medicine at a time so that the pure effects of the medicine can be known. Homeopathy is a natural pharmaceutical system that uses micro-doses of substances from plants, animals and minerals to arouse a natural healing response in the sick patient. Dr. Iris Bell describes this effect perfectly by stating, “Homeopathic symptoms are manifestations of a singular, pervasive, emergent disturbance of the state of the individual as a whole system or network of networks, not of a specific body part or biological mechanism in isolation…A classical homeopath selects each medicine with similar properties to best match the current symptom pattern of an individual patient, rather than a given symptom in isolation. Classical homeopathy thus treats disease as an emergent behavior pattern of the individual patient as an indivisible complex adaptive system, not as isolated local symptom mechanisms. In contrast, most conventional drugs typically target only one specific receptor type, thereby suppressing specific symptoms without treating the person as an integrated whole system/network.” Simply stated, homeopaths select the single homeopathic remedy that best matches the symptoms of illness in a patient to stimulate a healing response in the body and a resultant return to health. Homeopathy respects the ability of the body to heal, addressing the underlying cause of the symptoms of illness, leaving the patient stronger and healthier after treatment.
Allopathy, or contraria contrariis, is defined as a method of treatment using agents that produce effects different from those of the disease treated, such as using antibiotics to treat infections. Antipathic treatment is the use of drugs that have an opposite effect to the illness: patients with an inflammatory process or fever are prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs; auto-immune conditions are treated with drugs that suppress the immune system. Frequent repetition of the drug is often required to maintain the results, and undesirable effects of treatment, called ‘side-effects’ are commonplace and expected. It is a regular occurrence in allopathic medicine that a second or third medicine is often needed to address the side effects of the first prescription.
The homeopathic approach to sickness is based on the premise of similia similibus, or ‘similar suffering’. This method of healing is based on the understanding that no two similar diseases can exist within one patient at the same time. Thus, any medicine that can produce observable symptoms in a healthy patient will remove similar symptoms occurring as an expression of disease in the ill patient. In health, the vital force – like Chi in traditional Chinese medicine – is the energy that maintains life and homeostasis in the individual. In illness, the vital force becomes imbalanced, and symptoms are created during the vital force’s attempt to return to normal function. It is the role of the homeopathic prescriber to identify the most characteristic symptoms of the patient’s illness to identify a matching homeopathic medicine (a.k.a. remedy) which stimulates the vital force to heal itself.
Contrary to allopathic medicine which uses multiple drugs to suppress the symptoms of illness, homeopaths utilize signs of illness as a guide to identify a medicine that would, if taken in toxic doses, cause the same symptoms of illness in a healthy patient. Following the belief that two identical illnesses cannot occur in the same patient at the same time, the homeopathic medicine, which is a stronger, yet identical match to the illness takes hold of the vital force and displaces the illness. Within a short time, the effect of the homeopathic medicine wears off, leaving the patient healthy again.
Classical homeopaths are trained to be very scientific in their prescriptions, and only utilize one homeopathic medicine at a time so that the pure effects of the medicine can be known. Homeopathy is a natural pharmaceutical system that uses micro-doses of substances from plants, animals and minerals to arouse a natural healing response in the sick patient. Dr. Iris Bell describes this effect perfectly by stating, “Homeopathic symptoms are manifestations of a singular, pervasive, emergent disturbance of the state of the individual as a whole system or network of networks, not of a specific body part or biological mechanism in isolation…A classical homeopath selects each medicine with similar properties to best match the current symptom pattern of an individual patient, rather than a given symptom in isolation. Classical homeopathy thus treats disease as an emergent behavior pattern of the individual patient as an indivisible complex adaptive system, not as isolated local symptom mechanisms. In contrast, most conventional drugs typically target only one specific receptor type, thereby suppressing specific symptoms without treating the person as an integrated whole system/network.” Simply stated, homeopaths select the single homeopathic remedy that best matches the symptoms of illness in a patient to stimulate a healing response in the body and a resultant return to health. Homeopathy respects the ability of the body to heal, addressing the underlying cause of the symptoms of illness, leaving the patient stronger and healthier after treatment.