All About Homeopathy

More than 50 million Americans practice homeopathy, an alternative form of medicine that involves the use of diluted natural remedies to stimulate the body’s biological abilities to heal itself. For many people dealing with mysterious conditions or who have not been able to find relief for a host of symptoms through conventional medicine, homeopathy can be the answer they’ve been looking for.


The holistic principles of homeopathy are based on an idea established by Samuel Hahnemann, a German doctor, in the late 1700s. One principle is the notion of “like treats like,” meaning that treating a symptom with a substance that typically produces a similar symptom will eventually cure the condition. Another homeopathic principle is diluting a treatment down to its minimal essence to reduce or completely eliminate side effects.

Also, homeopathy practitioners believe that one should treat the patient instead of treating the disease.  A lot of time is spent in homeopathy exploring a patient’s medical history to determine the exact course of treatment and develop an individualized, long-term approach that gets to the root of the condition and removes it from the body.

Homeopathy has been used to treat everything from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to fibromyalgia, with varying degrees of success. It has also been used to treat the ill effects of stress, digestive disorders, post-partum depression, and asthma.

The practice of homeopathy is growing, but it is widely unregulated. There are several schools dedicated to teaching the centuries-old techniques, and practitioners can earn certificates attesting to their skill and knowledge. Mainstream medicine has been slow to embrace the practice, pointing to cases in which people have tried to treat themselves using homeopathic remedies and instead made themselves ill in the process.

If you are considering homeopathic medicine, seek out a trained practitioner and discuss any and all medicines and treatments that you are currently taking or have used in the past.