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About Homeopathy

The body has a tremendous capacity for self-healing and this self-healing power has been given many different names – “prana” in India, “chi” in China and in modern medical terminology, the immune system.  My aim as a homeopath is to stimulate the body’s natural healing power with remedies when the body does not have enough vitality to do this alone.

Homeopathy is a holistic medicine, treating the person as a whole and this is where the main difference is between conventional medical treatment and homeopathy.  For example, if you were having conventional treatment for a skin disease, feelings of anxiety and arthritis, you may see 3 different specialists and possibly take 3 different courses of treatment.  In contrast, I would look at the link between these symptoms and aim to treat you as a whole, possibly with just one carefully  matched medicine.

How does homeopathy work?

Homeopathy is based on the principle that you can treat like with like, i.e. a substance which causes symptoms in large doses can be used in small amounts to treat those symptoms.  So I may decide to treat hayfever with symptoms of a runny nose and burning eyes with a remedy called Allium Cepa, made from onion.  As you know, when you are cutting an onion, you often experience burning eyes and a runny nose.  This concept is sometimes applied in conventional medicine – for example, the stimulant Ritalin is used to treat ADHD, or small doses of allergens such as pollen being used to desensitise allergies.  The difference with homeopathy is that substances are given in such tiny doses that they are completely non-toxic.

What can homeopathy help with?

Homeopathy is a complementary medicine and can be used to treat people of all ages, from babies to the elderly.  Although the action of the medicine can be very powerful, it is gentle and safe.  It can be used when pregnant and it is safe to use homeopathic treatment alongside orthodox medicines (It is very important that you let me know of any other medicines that you are taking as it may affect my prescription for you).

An evaluation of homeopathic treatment at the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital recorded the outcome of homeopathic treatment in over 6500 consecutive patients in a 6 year period and found that 70% of patients reported an improvement in their health[1]

Find out more about the kinds of conditions that homeopathy has been proved to help with.

[1]Spence D, Thompson E and Barron S.  Homeopathic treatment for chronic disease: A 6-Year, university-hospital outpatient observational study.  J Altern Complement Med 2005; 5: 793-8