Is Homeopathy A Safe And Natural Way To Healing?

You may not have heard of Doctor Samuel Hahnemann before, however if you talk to people who advocate, use or are practitioners of homeopathy, most of them will be able to tell you exactly who he is and his relevance to homeopathy.

Doctor Samuel Hahnemann, was a German physician and he developed the homeopathic practice as we use it today. His work and ideas on homeopathy have been around since the late 18th century and are still the widely accepted view on how homeopathy should continue to be practiced.

Although Doctor Samuel Hehnemann, greatly influenced how we use homeopathy today and greatly contributed to it's reemergence in the medical realm, he was by no means the founder or inventor of this alternative health practice.

The foundations of homeopathy dates back hundreds of years, even the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, who was born as far back as 460BC and lived to 377BC, was an advocate of homeopathic treatment. Which is an acolade indeed, especially as he has been dubbed as the father of western medicine.

The origins of Homeopathy are themselves Greek as the word Homeopathy, derives from two Greek words homoios, which means similar and pathos, which means suffering.

This is not actually as unusual idea as it first appears, many of the treatments in conventional medicine use this concept with very impressive rates of success. Vaccinations are one example, by effectively giving a small child or baby, an injection containing a small amount of the properties that cause illnesses such as measles, mumps and rubella. The body then builds up a resistance to the virus, infection or disease and is then able to fight it, if encountering it later on in life.   

In the practice of homeopathy you would give the patient, something sourced from nature that would usually cause the symptoms that they are experiencing. This is believed to help aid the body's natural defences and healing abilities.

For instance eyebright is used to help heal sore eyes, even though its an irritant herb.

Many people have claimed success in the treatment of illness through homeopathy and use homeopathic treatments regularly.

However there is still some dispute from scientists and those in the conventional medical field, that this is the case because they fail to be able to explain scientifically, how or why they would be effective. The general conclusion among these people is that it is nothing more then the result of a placebo effect.

However homeopathic practitioners and advocates would argue that it is indeed an effective form of treatment. With the opinion that it is just a matter of time and continued research before it can be adequately explained and supported by the appropriate scientific data.

Some of the basis of scepticism surrounding homeopathy also arises, because of the fact that solutions are so dilute, in most cases the dilution ratio is often less than 1:1000, some even comparing it to a pinch of salt in the sea, arguing that this is far to minute, to be effective.

Yet homeopathic practitioners defend this view by stating that this is in fact, a major part of the reason why it does work.

Homeopathic remedies are sourced naturally and are usually safe to take for most people, if you do experience any adverse side effects you should stop taking it immediately and see your doctor.

Homeopathy is also advised to be taken as a complementary therapy, not as an exclusive form of medical treatment.

It is also advised that you seek advice from professionals and source homeopathic remedies from reputable sources.