Homeopathy I - History and Evolution of Homeopathy Flashcards
Homeopathy
What is Homepathy? homeo= similar / same as, pathy= disease:
A system of medicine that uses specifically prepared natural substances in order to facilitate the body’s own natural healing process.
* Treats the whole person
* Views symptoms as an expression of dis-ease, not THE dis-ease.
Allopathy
What is Allopathy? allos= against, pathy= disease:
A system of medicine that uses manipulated chemicals / drugs to treat the symptoms of disease.
* Views symptoms as the dis-ease to cure.
The history of homeopathy: The founder
Samuel Christian Hahnemann (1755–1843).
* Born in Meissen, Saxony, Germany.
* He was a master pharmacist, skilled linguist and translator.
* From the age of 12 he helped pay for his education by tutoring his fellow students in Latin and Greek.
* In 1775, he moved to Leipzig to study medicine, and received his degree in 1779.
* Hahnemann soon became dissatisfied with medical practice and began exploring alternative options.
Hahnemann and the Law of Similars.
Hahnemann was highly regarded as a translator of scientific texts and in 1791, translated a Materia medica that referred to cinchona bark (China) as specific for malaria.
* He was not convinced of this so took a small dose of cinchona over a few days to observe the effects —he got ‘malaria’ symptoms!
* He then gave cinchona to patients with malaria and discovered that their malaria disappeared.
* Thus, if a healthy person took cinchona, it caused malaria symptoms and if a patient with malaria took cinchona they were cured —the Law of Similars.
The Law of Similars or ‘like cures like’:
Hippocrates (460 BC) stated: “Illnesses arise by similar things and by similar things can the sick be made well.”
* Hahnemann’s experiment with Cinchona and his continued exploration of other substances reignited Hippocrates’ concept similia similibus curentur, i.e., let similar things take care of similar things OR, like cures like.
* From this the term homeopathy was coined. homeo= similar, pathy= disease
* Homeopathy as a system of healing evolved.
* A substance capable of producing symptoms in a healthy person will relieve similar symptoms occurring as an expression of disease.
The Law of Similars - Examples:
Examples:
1. Giving bee venom for a bee sting
2. Giving coffee for insomnia
3. Onion for watery eyes & runny nose
4. Snake venom for a snake bite
Homeopathic remedy used:
1. Apis= bee stings
2. Coffea= insomnia
3. Allium= runny nose (allergies / hay fever)
4. Lachesis= snake bites
Like cure like / law of similars examples: Fever
Fever: Use tepid (lukewarm) water and dab the person’s skin to mimic the body’s natural way of cooling = perspiration.
Like cure like / law of similars examples: Frostbite
Frost bite: Rub affected part with snow (similar). Warm it up slowly.
Like cure like / law of similars examples: Burns
Burns / heatstroke: Apply something warm (similar). Cool slowly.
Allopathic approach - contrast
In contrast the allopathic approach is to use measures that go against the natural mechanism and use drugs to suppress e.g., the use of drugs (Calpol / paracetamol) for fever(more on suppression later).
The evolution of homeopathy: Potentisation
Hahnemann’s new system of medicine initially involved giving crude doses of substances (often poisonous) to people.
* He was curing symptoms but they were getting sick from the poison itself.
* By diluting the medicines he found that they still worked but with less toxicity.
* He also discovered that by shaking or banging (succussion) the already-diluted remedy, it became more powerful / potent.
* His exploration of substances and dosing led to the method of potentisation and the development of homeopathic remedies.
(potentisation = repeated dilution and succession of a substance.)
Hanemanns books
Hahnemann developed his ideas further and wrote respected books including ‘The Organon of Medicine’.
* “The physician’s high and only mission is to restore the sick to health, to cure as it is termed” (Aphorism 1).
* “The highest ideal of a cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of the health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent, in the shortest, most reliable and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible principles” (Aphorism 2).
(aphorism = a concise statement of a scientific principle)
