Homeopathy - Fact or Fiction? 

In the field of traditional health care, homeopathy is probably the most controversial of alternative medicines as it is based around the premise that an individual may be treated using minute doses of natural materials which in larger doses would be expected to cause the same symptoms.  It was developed by a German doctor named Samuel Hahnemann, in the late 1700s and focuses on the individual, concentrating on treating the specific physical and emotional symptoms, to give long lasting benefits.  Homeopathy consists of highly individualized treatments based on a person's genetic history, personal health history, body type, and present status of all physical, emotional and mental symptoms.  Homeopathic remedies can be used in first aid to safely treat common ailments and occurrences, such as sprains and bruises, minor burns, skin irritations and reactions (including poison ivy, diaper rash and insect bites), teething pain, etc.  Homeopathy developed as a theory and then practice in reaction to the bloodletting, blistering, purging, and other harsh procedures of conventional medicine that was generally practiced over 200 years ago.  As such, it does not treat symptoms but sees symptoms only as the outward manifestation of a deeper level imbalance.

Treatment

In fact, similar principals form the basis of conventional allergy treatment, where the allergic substance is given in a small dose and in vaccines where an impotent form of the virus is given to bolster the immune system against that particular virus.  A lack of understanding of how a treatment is meant to work does not mean that it should be dismissed.  As a benign treatment, homeopathy is not going to harm patients directly; however, those who turn to homeopaths when real treatment is required could be risking their health.  Many who don't believe in homeopathy's effectiveness say any successful treatments are due to the placebo effect, or, in other words, positive thinking.  Homeopathy can be useful in treating acute health problems conditions in which the symptoms will eventually go away on their own without treatment.  However, patients receiving homeopathic care often feel worse before they get better because these medicines often stimulate, rather than suppress, symptoms.  For over two centuries now homeopathic medical treatment has brought about cures for millions of people around the world in a rapid, gentle and permanent way.

Medicines

Despite the views of traditional medicine, in 1995 the retail sales of homeopathic medicines in the United States alone were estimated at $230 million and growing at a rate of 20 percent a year, according to data from Marketresearch.com.  Few people dispute that sales of homeopathic products are rising and in 2006, sales of homeopathic remedies were up 20 or 30 percent over the previous year, according to Peter Gold, a spokesperson for the National Center for Homeopathy (NCH).  Just like the missing pieces of a puzzle, homeopathic medicines help ‘fill-in’ the gaps in the body to stimulate a persons own healing potential and energies.

One of the main reasons for this disbelief in the efficacy of homeopathy lies in the difficulty in understanding how it might work.  In conventional medicine, drugs are generally given for their effects on a person.  This is not the case with homeopathic treatment, because in the majority of cases it directly targets the fundamental cause of the disease.  Even professionals who practice homeopathy warn that nothing in medicine, either conventional or alternative, is absolute.  It's because we don't understand the mechanism of action of homeopathy that so many people have trouble accepting it but even with the dearth of clinical research refuting its worth, the popularity of homeopathy in the United States is growing.