Homeopathic medicine is a holistic medical system that was developed in Germany more than 200 years ago. The word homeopathy is derived from two Greek words meaning "like disease"; homeo, meaning similar, and pathos, meaning suffering or disease. Homeopathy treatment is based on treating the individual with highly diluted substances, which activate the body's natural healing. This is known as the "law of minimum doses." These diluted substances produce symptoms of sickness in healthy people, yet have healing effects in sick people who display the same symptoms. This is the same principle that the use of vaccinations is based upon, whereas, diluted prototypes of a disease, such as measles and allergies, protect against the actual disease. A patient's tolerance is developed by introducing minute quantities of the pathogen that causes the disease, strengthening a patient's immune system. A healthy immune system, supported by homeopathic remedies, is essential to the prevention of disease, as well as, the treatment of both acute and chronic diseases.
Homeopathic practitioners treat patients with the understanding that illness is specific to an individual. Remedies are prescribed based upon the patient's unique physical and environmental make-up. Therefore, the same disease seen in two patients may be treated differently depending upon factors such as overall health, diet, lifestyle, family history, emotional condition and even personality traits. The practitioner will obtain information through an examination of the patient, as well as, a detailed medical history interview. An initial consultation with a Homeopath will be extensive and tends to be longer than a visit to a Western medical doctor.
The goal of homeopathy is to restore the body to homeostasis, utilizing the body's own defense mechanisms to correct any imbalances, rather than introducing outside influences, such as pharmaceuticals. In this way, the disease itself is attacked as opposed to the symptoms.&n