|
Homoeopathy is one of
the many traditional healing process in India.
Dr. Samue Hahnemann who was totally unhappy with
the common medical practices that exist at the
point of time, sought to produce a system of
gentler healing. He began creating a new system
using plants, minerals and animal substances and
later combining them into energetic compounds.
With these substances, he stimulated and encouraged
the body's natural healing forces of recovery.
The word
'Homoeopathy' comes from two Greek words in
which 'homoeo' meaning similar and 'pathos'
meaning suffering. Therefore homoeopathy really
means treating diseases with remedies,
prescribed in minute doses, that produce
symptoms alike to the disease when taken by
healthy people. It is based on the natural law
of healing which is 'similia similibus curantur'
meaning 'like is cured by like'. A good example
would be the effects of peeling an onion which
is quite the same to the symptoms of acute cold.
The remedy prepared from the red onion, Allium
cepa, is used to treat that type of cold.
It is common
knowledge that conventional medicine states that
symptoms are caused by the illness of the body
as opposed to homoeopathy which sees the
symptoms as the body's natural reaction to
fighting illness and therefore it seeks to
stimulate the symptoms rather than to suppress
them. Homoeopathy is generally concern
with the treatment of the whole person, as an
individual, rather than the disease alone.
Therefore a homoeopath does not concentrate his
therapy on, say arthritis or bronchitis or
cancer itself but rather he treats the mental,
emotional and physical aspects of the patient.
The physicians' interest is not only to improve
the patient's present symptoms but also his long
term well being.
Extremely small
portions of substances called potencies,
prepared in a special way by diluting, shaking
and pounding the mixture, is basically what
homeopathic medicines are made up of. These high
dilutions not only improve their curative
properties but also to avoid undesirable side
effects. This type of healing has been tested
and it has been used for over two centuries.
Homoeopathy was
first introduced in India in 1839 when Dr. John
Martin Honigberger was asked to treat Maharaja
Ranjit Singh, the ruler of Punjab, for paralysis
of vocal chords and oedema. The Maharaja was
subsequently cured and Dr. Honigberger was
rewarded both in monetary terms and also made
the officer-in-charge of the local hospital in
appreciation of his services to the Maharaja.
This royal patronage gave Homoeopathy its roots
in India and has since blended so well into the
traditions of the country that it has been
recognized as one of the National Systems of
Medicine and plays a vital part in providing
health care to a large number of people.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
|