Like Treats Like

One of the basic tenets of homeopathic philosophy is the idea that a small dose of a substance will stimulate healing of symptoms that are the same or similar to those that the same substance creates in overdose. The potentially toxic plant, Belladonna, for example, causes a hot flushed face and dilated pupils in overdose, but is highly effective in treating fever when the face is hot and flushed and the pupils a bit dilated.

This principle of like treats like reminds us of a similar principle in naturopathic philosophy. Nowhere is the philosophy of honoring and working with the wisdom of the body more present than in the practice of homeopathy. In administering a dilution of a substance that in a material dose causes the very symptoms we desire to cure, homeopaths acknowledge the symptoms as the body's attempt to cure. The minute, diluted  dose of the similar substance enables the symptom to move on through and do its intended work. Symptoms disappear, not because they have been eradicated, but rather, because the healing process renders them no longer necessary.

Homeopathic medicines are prepared by a series of dilutions. The substances commonly utilized to prepare homeopathic remedies originate in nature. Plants, minerals and animal substances provide the raw material for most of the remedies that are used in everyday practice. Some less common remedies are prepared from diseased tissue. These special remedies are called nosodes. On an even rarer occasion, a remedy may be made from a drug. This last type of remedy is generally used to help a patient wean off of a drug that is causing withdrawal symptoms.

Remedy Selection

Selection of the homeopathic remedy is very individualized, taking into consideration, not only the diagnosis, but also the individual personality of the patient. Symptoms of the patient are elicited with painstaking detail.