The Happy and Prosperous Blog

Yesterday, in Part 1 of this series, I introduced the basics of homeopathy. Today, I would like to go into some more details about homeopathic remedies.

Remedies can be made from anything but mainly they’re derived from plants, minerals or animals. Examples are jasmine, nettle, sodium chloride (salt), sulphur, oyster shell, various snake venoms. Remedies are made by dissolving the substance in an alcohol/water mixture initially. If the substance is insoluble then it is finely ground with lactose first. This is all done according to a specific, pre-defined process. Successive dilutions then take place (1:10 or 1:100) with vigorous shaking at each stage. (Insoluble material, after several dilutions and grindings with lactose, is then dissolved in an alcohol/water mix and the process continues as for soluble material.) The process carries on until the desired potency is reached A 6x potency is a 1:10 dilution carried out 6 times with vigorous shaking at each stage. A 6c potency is a 1:100 dilution carried out 6 times with vigorous shaking at each stage.

6c and 30c potencies are readily available in some chemists and health food shops but homeopathic pharmacies also prepare remedies that have been through many more dilutions. All of these are medicinally active when prescribed in the right circumstances. As you would expect, homeopathic pharmacies prepare remedies under carefully controlled conditions, following strict procedures and with rigorous quality control to ensure consistency of product.

You will appreciate from the above, I’m sure, that homeopathy is different to herbalism in that herbalism uses only plants and herbal remedies do not go through the dilution process I have described above. As I mentioned in Part 1, homeopathic remedies act as a stimulus to the healing process. They do not have a direct biochemical effect so that can work perfectly well in such dilute form. But dilution is not the only factor – the vigorous shaking at each stage of dilution is important. I have heard people say that making a homeopathic remedy is like dropping a grain of something in one end of a swimming pool and taking a teaspoon of water from the other end. Not true ! This totally ignores the kinetic energy input at each stage of the dilution process.

In the next part of this series, I will take up the issue of how homeopathic remedies work.

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This is the first in a series of articles which will explain the basics of homeopathy and what it is all about. I hope to convince you that homeopathy can help you towards better health. Read on !

Let me start off by saying that, in my view, homeopathy is complementary medicine, not alternative medicine. By this I mean that homeopathy can, and does, work alongside orthodox medicine / medication. Homeopathic remedies do not interfere with the action of pharmaceuticals as the two work in very different ways. There is no need for clients to choose between orthodox medicine and homeopathy. The important thing to me is that people are able to make an informed choice about the treatment or treatments that they want to have.

A key feature of homeopathy is that it treats the whole person at once – it does not treat each symptom separately. This is based on the concept that each of us has our own internal health system (which includes, but is not limited to, our immune system). This system manages our health as best it can; however, it is not perfect. Weaknesses are present in it due to inherited characteristics, physical and emotional illnesses or traumas suffered, poor diet, smoking etc. As a result of these weaknesses, symptoms, at some stage, will appear.

The other point to mention is that homeopathic remedies provide a stimulus for the improvement in health. The right remedy will set off the process of improvement in health - it’s a catalyst. However it happens, remedies are not having a direct biochemical effect so there is no need for significant quantities of substance to initiate healing. (More on how remedies work later.) I also want to make it clear that homeopathy can treat all types of conditions, or combinations of conditions, whether mental, emotional or physical. This is because homeopathy treats the whole person and not just symptoms. Homeopaths regularly treat people with

• migraines
• eczema
• asthma
• IBS
• menopausal problems
• depression
• anxiety
• panic attacks
• hayfever
• recurrent colds / tonsillitis / sinusitis
• conditions that don’t have a label !

Homeopathy works well with children and infants as well as with adults. It also works well for animals apparently, although I have no personal experience of this.

All of what I have said so far applies to chronic illness, i.e. those conditions that often have no definite start and which drag on, generally getting worse as time goes by, unless they are treated properly. However, homeopathy can be used to treat acute illness too, e.g.

• colds
• traveller’s diarrhoea
• measles
• shingles
• a fall
• travel sickness
• shock
• minor burns
• flu etc.

In these types of situations, the internal health system has been knocked off balance rapidly and will, in most cases, recover of its own accord but homeopathic treatment can restore the balance more quickly.Someone once asked me what I would do if I broke my leg – would I go to a homeopath or a hospital ? The answer is both – I would take remedies on the way to the hospital and take remedies after the bone had been set.)

In the next part or this series I will explain more about remedies - where they come from and how they are made.