Thursday, June 08, 2006

Homeopathic Medication

What are Homeopathic Medicines made of?Homeopathic medicines are prepared largely from naturally occurring substances, plant, mineral or animal. Some substances are quite poisonous in their original, natural state. But when diluted as per homeopathic guidelines, they lose their toxicity and only the medicinal properties remain active. Mainly plants and minerals are used as base substances.

How are Homeopathic medicines tested?
Most countries where Homeopathy is well established have a central regulating authority. In the United States, for instance, there is the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia Convention of the United States (HPCUS).

The profile of a medicine is determined by a process called “Proving”. Homeopaths in the past have formulated rules for the conduct of provings. But there are variations in the methodologies.

Sometimes the dosage varies among the subjects. Depending on the sensitivity of the subject, another round of trials may be conducted in these individuals.

These reactions are well documented. Usually, the monitoring agency demands detailed descriptions, statistical analysis, some form of verification.

Yet in a time and society where allopathic drugs and Clinical Trials are the accepted norm, homeopathic provings are viewed with circumspection. As often the main prover is aware that he has taken the drug, it cannot be as impersonal as a double blinded trial. Homeopathy is the only medical science where medicines are proved on healthy human beings and it is used for managing diseased human beings.

Medicines Register
Homeopathic doctors refer back to comprehensive drug and symptom databases called “Materia Medica.” The first of these was compiled by Hahnemann and is called “Materia Medica Pura”. Materia Medica runs into several volumes detailing all symptoms, medical substances and dosages.

To access information homeopaths also use a quick reference known as a repertory. This is like an index of symptoms citing references to a materia medica.
Apart from working on their own knowledge and intuition, homeopaths check with one or more repertories and Materia Medica before diagnosing and treating ailments. We have 100000 pages of information in our database to cross check and refer the details. So we can give you medicines with exactness and precision.

Preparation of homeopathic prescriptions
Homeopathic medicines are prepared from miniscule quantities of plant, animal, mineral kingdom. A small portion is dissolved in water or vehicle and shaken, diluted again and shaken. Repeated dilution leaves hardly a trace of the original substance. By doing this process of potentization the energy is released in a form of a force.
This agrees well with the Homeopathic dictum, medication should be in the minimum dose possible.
Today’s scientific thinking questions this as often the level of dilutions leaves such a minimal part of the original substance which is well below the Avogadro’s number, meaning that the original form of the substance is not present in such a homeopathically prepared medicine. With the development into quantum physics the infinitesimal content of the medicine present can soon be documented.

Are Homeopathic Medicines Safe?Homeopaths claim that the medication is safe because the original substance is present in minimal quantities. One of homeopathy’s tenets is to do no harm.
Sometimes homeopathic medication is known to produce “aggravations” or increase in the symptoms. This homeopath believes is the initial reaction to the medication as the body starts reacting.

Precaution in Diet during the TreatmentAs medicines get absorbed through the tongue the patient is advised to minimise or avoid raw onion, raw garlic, coffee, menthol, camphor or any strong smelling substances. These may act as antidotes to the homeopathic medicines.

Articles written by
Dr.Santosh Joshi
Homeopathic consultant

Email me on : tosh116@gmail.com for more details and consultation

No comments: