What did the great Irish poet, W.B.Yeats, and miraculous Indian healer, Mother Teresa, have in common? Unlikely bedfellows for certain. Or what about Oprah Winfrey and Prince Charles? They also have something in common. Can you guess what it is?   If you guessed homeopathy, you would be right. They all used or use homeopathy to help treat ill health. Just what is homeopathic medicine?

• Britain’s Royals have been using homeopathy since the 1800s.
• Mother Teresa was an advocate and had opened a free homeopathic dispensary in Calcutta.
• Dizzy Gillespie, the great jazz musician, has said, ‘There have been two great revelations in my life: The first was bepop, the second was homeopathy.’

Information on homeopathy reveals that “30 million people across Europe use Homeopathic medicines. Homeopathy is used by Royals, sportspeople, actors, politicians, and entertainers. For example, Sir Paul McCartney, David Beckham, Jennifer Aniston, Catherine Zeta Jones, Martin Sheen, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton all use homeopathy. Mark Twain, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet and Renoir are among a long list of famous people who also supported homeopathy.” (excerpted from www.irishhomeopathy.ie) 

So what is homeopathy?

First of all it is safe and gentle, and its origins stretch back over 2000 years. The general homeopathy definition is that it is a system of medicine first understood by Hippocrates. By using tiny doses (in liquid or tablet form) of natural substances, homeopathy stimulates the body’s own healing powers. It is based on the belief that ‘like is cured by like’. In homeopathy, this is called The Law of Similars. A remedy can cure a disease if, in its crude state, it produces symptoms which are similar to those of the disease.

For example, if a child accidentally ingests a poison, a syrup of Ipecac is sometimes used (by prescription) to induce vomiting. Taken in a homeopathic dose, however, Ipecac will treat vomiting. Or take Allium Cepa, a remedy made from red onion. If you peel an onion, your eyes burn and begin to water, you might even get a runny nose. Sound familiar? These ‘cold-like’ symptoms will be helped by the homeopathic remedy known as Allium Cepa. Coffee is sometimes used for people who suffer from insomnia. (It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why that might help.) However, it is important to get your homeopathy information right and make sure that other symptoms match, and your homeopath is the best judge of that.

The term, homeopathy, comes from the Greek words homeo, meaning similar, and pathos, meaning suffering or disease. Information on it states that it is an alternative but complementary medical system and like other alternative, complementary medical systems, such as acupuncture, it is built upon a complete system of theory and practice. Homeopathy takes a different approach from conventional medicine as practiced by MDs and their allied health-care professionals, but can often be used in close association with such in order to treat a large number of health problems, both physical and emotional.

Treatment involves giving minute doses of substances which have been prepared according to strict guidelines in homeopathic pharmacies. They are diluted and prepared by a process called potentisation. A consultation is conducted with a qualified and registered homeopath. (For a referral please write to the editor.) The consultation is individualised and tailored to each person. In fact, when one wonders what is homeopathic medicine, another might say it is the new Designer Medicine.  Practitioners select a remedy according to a total picture of the patient which will include not only symptoms of ill health –disease—but also characteristics of the patient’s lifestyle, as well as an individual’s emotional and mental state and their responses to life situations.

A professional homeopath will record the totality of a person’s symptoms along with the individual characteristics, and likes and dislikes, and dreams and fears, etc., and then match that ‘picture’ with a substance from nature which has been proven to provoke and cure similar symptoms. An initial consultation usually lasts one and half hours to two hours and follow-ups run from half an hour to 45 minutes.

1. Over thirty million people in Europe already know what is homeopathy and benefit from homeopathic treatment. According to the homeopathy definition, it is a gentle, holistic system of healing, suitable for everyone, young and old. It focuses on you as an individual, concentrating on treating your specific physical and emotional symptoms, to give long lasting benefits.
2. Homeopathic treatment works with your body’s own healing powers to bring health and well being.
3. Patients are treated as individuals, not as a collection of disease labels.
4. Homeopathy information states that it treats all your symptoms – mental, emotional and physical.
5. Homeopathic remedies are gentle, subtle and powerful.

(Christine Breen)