One
may find me listing Homeopathy as a hobby a little odd. But that is what it is
for me, because I enjoy reading and learning and practicing it so much. What
would you say if I told you that each remedy is like a complete human being
with likes, dislikes, fears and idiosyncrasies? I remember when I was in my
teens I had read Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs and it was a great past-time for me
trying to find out if a person had the characteristics suggested by his sun
sign. Now I am having similar pleasure trying to identify the remedy most akin
to the person – when you hit the exact match it is called a ‘similium’. The ‘similium’ being most like that
person will be the remedy for most of his problems – mental and physical. In
fact if you knew peoples’ similiums you are likely to know them even better than
you would if you knew their sun signs! So better to visit the homeopath than
the astrologer! Or maybe it could be a side business for the homeopath!
Everybody
will have at least one person amongst his family or acquaintances who would be
an Arsenicum. I have chosen this one to illustrate as they are so typical. They
would be sharp of mind and tongue, fastidious to a fault he/she will not mince
words if you have been sloppy. If you have seen the serial The Big Bang Theory,
the character Sheldon would definitely be an Arsenicum. They are physically
insecure (I knew a grown man who couldn’t cross the road without assistance)
and morbidly afraid of illness, which makes them obsessive about personal
hygiene. Given to great anxiety they will be suspicious by nature. On the
positive side they are conscientious, dependable and intelligent.
It
has been my experience that whenever you have a chronic kind of an ailment the
similium is the remedy for you. Here I will clarify that ailments are
classified as acute or chronic
depending on its origin. If the ailment is an infection or of immediate origin
it is an acute on the other hand if it is genetic or has been there for some
time it is called a chronic disease. For instance I have been having some eye issues
which the doc said was a muscular problem so I looked up some remedy which was
specific to that problem, but it had very limited effect. I felt just a shade
better after taking it for a week. It struck me that the muscular problem would
be of chronic nature so I looked up my similium in the ‘materia medica’ and was
delighted to see that it did affect eye muscles. It never fails to amaze me how
the smallest of symptoms have been recorded for each remedy.
Memory of Water Theory : Homeopathic remedies are derived
from stuff existing in nature like minerals, flowers, leaves, roots and even
poisons which if one took in its crude form will produce symptoms akin to the
ones being suffered by the patient (after
all everything, including humans are made from the same stardust). When that same substance is diluted it
becomes its own cure – ‘every problem holds its own solution’ – one expects
that of Nature, right! So homeopathy is natural and does not damage the body or
have ‘side effects’. It makes the body work as it should, which, due to some
external or internal reasons, has got a little derailed, so to say. It is a big
joke with a cousin of mine to say “if you can explain how it works then I will
take the remedy” because the homeopathic remedy is diluted to an extent where
nothing of the original substance remains. For the benefit of cynics and Doubting
Thomases, like my cousin, a lot of research is also taking place and the
homeopaths are coming up with some theories like ‘the Memory of Water’ etc, but
I only tell him that ‘just because you don’t see it does not mean it doesn’t
exist’, after all people like him, at one time, wouldn’t believe the earth was
not flat. Talking of the Memory of Water, the recycled dirty water that our
municipalities make us drink doesn’t bode well for our bodies. On the other
hand the curative properties ascribed to the Ganges water which passes through
the mineral laden rocks and the herbs of the Himalayas can also be explained by
it (my view).
Holistic Method : What I like about Homeopathy is
that it treats the person as a whole, which is also the right way because a disease
may manifest in a certain part of the body but the cause may be elsewhere, for
instance one may have skin rash but it may be because of stomach problems so
suppressing the rash will not cure the disease. Moreover every remedy is
particular to a person and not to a disease; therefore, if your neighbour was
given a remedy for say viral fever, it may or may not work for you. However, if
you get the right remedy the relief is instantaneous. It is very important that
one observes and recounts the symptoms in detail to the homeopath so that your
exact remedy can be identified. We are so used to popping pills off the counter
for most of our day to day ailments that we have lost touch with our own
bodies. When I ask people to describe their pain or feelings they find it odd
and tedious. A headache can be for a thousand reasons and can be of as many
types, but the popular method of treating it will be one.
Getting Started : If you want to start finding your own
remedies you will need two books – a homeopathic repertory and a materia
medica. Homeopathy books are normally available with the bigger Homeopathy
pharmacies. Kent’s repertory, one of the oldest, is still one of the most
popular. Among the materia medicas I have liked the Lotus Materia Medica by
Robin Murphy (2nd edition). A
repertory alphabetically enumerates all the known symptoms and the
corresponding remedies as detailed by the Materia Medica. The materia medica,
on the other hand, gives a detailed description of how each remedy affects the
different parts of the body.
Case Taking : First
of all one should take down all the symptoms of the patient. This is perhaps
the most important thing to learn. As mentioned earlier homeopathy treats the
patient and not the disease so the homeopath is interested in what makes the
patient different to all other patients suffering a similar disease. A person
suffering viral fever will have fever and body ache but the homeopath will be
interested in knowing whether the patient is restless, whether he has great
thirst or lack thereof, whether he feels better at a certain time and worse at
another, if he likes warmth or not and so on and so forth. These uncommon
symptoms will help him in what is called individualisation.
How to
use a Repertory : Once all the symptoms are taken down the
homeopath looks up the repertory for each of the symptoms and the remedy that
shows up the maximum number of times is more often than not the one. But, as I mentioned
in the caption, this is what makes homeopathy a science and also an art – for even
though repertorising looks like a mechanical process, (softwares are used
nowadays) it takes an insightful and intuitive homeopath to individualise and
select the right remedy at the first go. Many patients lose faith in homeopathy
saying it is slow – but here’s the good news – homeopathy is not slow, just
change your homeopath! Sometimes the stigma of slowness is earned because it is
dealing with a chronic disease, which a patient has acquired over a period of
time so will be cured, gradually, layer by layer. Other systems may not even have
an answer for it.
Homeopathy aims to help the body’s immune system to
help itself; therefore, it will make you as healthy as the lifestyle you
maintain permits you to be. If you have chronic acidity homeopathy will cure
you but only so long as you maintain a healthy diet. If you have arthritis you
will have to exercise and have a proper diet and so on.
Potency : Remedies
are prepared in two basic scales of dilution called potency, decimal and
centesimal. In decimal scale, the medicine is diluted in a ratio of 1:9 in
every successive preparation (potency) ie. 1X, 2X, 3X etc. in centesimal scale
the medicine is diluted in a ratio of 1:99, in every preparation eg. 1C, 2C, 3C
etc. The medicines are vigorously shaken
after each dilution in a certain way (succused).
Fact File :
- Homeopathy was discovered and developed by a German allopathic physician, Dr Samuel Hahneman, between 1792 and 1842. He experimented with the Cinchona bark on himself which was thought to cure malaria and was surprised to find malaria like symptoms develop in him. He tested other substances, with known therapeutic values, similarly, on friends and family members and discovered that it was a general law that a medicine cures the symptoms in a diseased person which it can produce in healthy individuals. He called it ‘similia similibus curantur’ or ‘like cures like’.
- Homeopathy is the only system of medicine which has been able to successfully use all forms of matter and energy for therapeutic purposes. Even harmful substances like snake poison, arsenic and other deadly poisons, diseased tissue etc are used to prepare homeopathic remedies.
- Homeopathy remedies are diluted to such an extent that not a single molecule of the original substance remains in it, and more the dilution more the potency of the remedy.
Article by Sumita
