Homeopathy is a system of natural medicine developed by a German physician, Samuel Hahnemann, at the end of the 18th century. The main focus of homeopathy is not on the aching part only, but rather on the totality of the individual whose mind, body and spirit are seen as interrelated constituents.Homeopathy has 4 principles that are its foundation. These principles remain unchanged over the last 200 years.The cornerstone principle is "like cures like". Homeopathy actually derives its name from the Greek, where “homoeo” means “similar” and “pathos” means “suffering”. Each person shows symptoms of the body /mind /spirit when he/she is sick. Some of these symptoms are common to that sickness, others are characteristic of that person. The homeopathic practitioner matches the symptom picture of the homeopathic remedy to the symptom picture of the person, with particular attention paid to those symptoms which are unique to the individual.The second principle of homeopathy is “The Single Remedy”. Only one homeopathic remedy is given at any one time.The third principle of homeopathy is “The Minimum Dose”. Drugs given to individuals in material doses frequently cause side effects or adverse reactions. The homeopath administers the smallest possible dose so as to maximize beneficial effects and minimize side effects.The fourth principle of homeopathy is “The Potentized Remedy”. Homeopathic remedies, though made from natural substances such as plants, minerals, etc., are manufactured unlike any other medicine. Through a process of serial dilution a very dilute extract is made.There are many different forms of homeopathic drugs: soft tablet triturates, compressed tablets, medicated pellets, dilutions and topicals.The main diseases that can be treated with homeopathy are as follows:chronic headaches, asthma, gastritis, gastroenteritis, hepatitis, inflammation of the gall bladder, duodenal ulcer, spastic and ulceric colitis, chronic conjunctivitis, atopic dermatitis, phobias and anxiety neuroses, anaemia etc…The effectiveness of homeopathic treatment may be proved by meta-analysis.Professors of medicine conducted meta-analysis of clinical cases in which homeopathic medicines were used. This analysis included 107 controlled trials, 81 of which were indicative of the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies, 24 trials demonstrated its inefficiency, and 2 studies gave an equivocal result. Professors says: "The proportion of positive results came as a surprise." They found that: In 13 of the 19 cases there has been successful treatment of respiratory infections; 6 of 7 cases have demonstrated successful treatment of other infections;With this in mind, the authors analysis concluded that the data presented in this review would probably be sufficient for the recognition of homeopathy as a standard treatment for certain indications.
Евдокимова Т.С., Приходько В.В. Homeopathy // Бюллетень медицинских Интернет-конференций, Vol. 3, Issue 2, 2013, pp. 183-183