We are in the middle of cold and flu season where I live. There is a particularly nasty respiratory virus going around the community right now that everyone is suddenly coming down with. As a naturopath, I aim to support the natural processes of the human body rather than suppress them. One of my favorite treatment modalities that works in this way is homeopathy. It works great for viral epidemics like we are currently experiencing.
Homeopathic remedies are ultra-diluted animal, vegetable and mineral substances that have been tested on healthy people and documented to elicit specific symptom pictures that match disease states. We still don’t know exactly how homeopathy works. I suspect we will find an explanation in the realm of quantum physics someday. Regardless, there are over 2,000 FDA approved remedies. Homeopathics have been used since the late 1700’s when Samuel Hahnemann discovered that tiny doses instead of the huge doses of toxic metals being used by doctors during that time worked just as well or better to cure patients without the side effects. Homeopathy was born.
Homeopathy works by stimulating the healing power of nature, the second rung of the ladder of naturopathic treatments. The remedies stimulate our built-in healing abilities. It is the person who takes the remedy that does the healing, not the remedy and that is why a tiny dose is enough medicine. The remedy is just a gentle push to speed up the natural process of healing. Usually, there will be a detoxification or other healing reaction that is obvious and dramatic as the body responds to the remedy. Examples I have seen include babies with rashes taking one dose of a remedy, falling right asleep and waking up a few hours later rash-free. A sinus infection cleared up after the remedy stimulated the patient to have a gush of mucous out the nose and the next day he was breathing clear. In my next post, I will share one of my recent cases as another great example of this.
Margaret Philhower, ND
www.drmargaret.org
