Why Homeopathy? Let us show you some good reasons. . .
Homeopathic medicine is over two hundred years old. Homeopathic doctors, including veterinary doctors, continue to use this scientific medical system, using the same principles as they were elucidated by the founder, Samuel Hahnemann, in the early 19th century. We have added to, but not replaced, these original principles and have vastly increased the numbers of homeopathically prepared medicines over the last two hundred years, but the basis of homeopathic medicine remains as true today as it was when Dr. Hahnemann first began to understand the principles of curing disease in this manner. This consistency is evidence of the truth of the medical system, as otherwise the system would have changed dramatically over the years.
In this section of the IAVH website, we hope to show areas wherein homeopathic medicine is especially useful in the modern world. A prime example is antibiotic resistance, also known as Antimicrobial Resistance, which is a huge obstacle for our conventional colleagues. When one of the most basic tenets of medicine is based upon the concept of infectious disease by pathogenic microbes, the obvious corollary is the need to find drugs to kill these invading bacteria, viruses, chlamydia, spirochetes, and so on. However, as we know all too well, vast numbers of these microorganisms have developed excellent methods of resisting every new antimicrobial drug we develop, almost as quickly as researchers can develop new drugs. This is a system which, if not hopeless, faces greater and greater challenges as organisms grow ever new armor, in a sense, against these antimicrobial weapons. Each new antimicrobial drug, more powerful perhaps but also with more and more dangerous toxic properties, has a limited life span, which seems to become shorter and shorter as microbes become better and faster at developing resistance and transmitting this resistance to other microbes. MRSA, malaria, and tuberculosis are among the better-known examples of organisms for which this medical approach works poorly at best.
Another huge issue today is drugs in our drinking water. In the UK, breast cancer in men is on the rise as a result of all the birth control drugs appearing in drinking water. And antibiotics are ever-present as well (not just in the UK, but worldwide), not only from unmetabolized antibiotics which humans pass in urine and feces, but also from the excessive use of antibiotics in farm animals. Unfortunately, conditions for these poor animals in commercial operations are stressful, to say the least. And stress breeds disease, one of the underlying principles of all holistic medical approaches. The standard answer, however, to these stress-induced diseases in animals raised for slaughter, is frequent antibiotic administration. In some cases, such animals are fed antibiotics in food every day. This approach is a great contributor to the antimicrobial resistance problem. Homeopathic treatments, as well as better management in animal housing and feeding, can greatly reduce the presence of antibiotics in our drinking water.
Additionally, in sharp contrast to the world of Dr. Hahnemann's time, or even compared to one hundred years ago, today's medical doctors face vastly different diseases. Prior to the development of vaccines and antimicrobial drugs, technologies which advanced almost at light speed in the twentieth century, the major diseases doctors faced were fevers, inflammations, pneumonias, and so on, diseases seen then and now as infectious, as large numbers of microorganisms accompanied other symptoms. Vaccinations and antimicrobial drugs prevented much of this microorganism-associated disease by limiting the growth of many of these organisms. However, through various mechanisms, with debatable causes, diseases mutated, in a sense, into primarily autoimmune diseases and cancers over this same period of time. One might say that vaccination and antimicrobial drugs eliminated or greatly reduced infectious diseases, or perhaps better stated, inflammatory diseases associated with microorganism growth. However, these microorganism-associated inflammatory conditions have been largely replaced by autoimmune diseases and cancer, possibly as a consequence.
Unfortunately, modern medicine, which has focused so hard upon infectious disease theory, has not had such success with autoimmune disease. Still today, well into the 21st century, conventional medicine can mostly only suppress symptoms with autoimmune disease. Additionally, cancer, which at the start of the 20th century affected only one in forty humans, at least in the Western world, today affects greater than one in three humans. We can argue causes and reasons for this shift, but this is not the intent of our focus here.
Homeopathic medications, while not a panacea against these "non-infectious" diseases, do show promise in these areas. As homeopathy, just like all holistic methodologies, works upon a general principle of supporting the body in its efforts to heal itself, and we do see cures in such diseases as a result, not in every case by any means, but enough that we know the promise is here. This same approach, supporting the body and its immune system, can succeeds fairly well in most "infectious diseases" as well, and most importantly, without the possibility of inducing antimicrobial resistance.
A fast-growing facet of modern agriculture, biologic/organic farming, is another area where holistic therapies, including homeopathic medicine, prove critical. Ever greater numbers of people today recognise the damage, not only to our own bodies, but also to the world ecosystems, from chemical and pharmacological-based agriculture. Consumers seek foods which have been produced without such chemicals, and biologic/organic ranching and farming provides such foods. Without holistic treatment methods, it is difficult to impossible to provide chemical free plant and animal products. Homeopathic medicine, as has been shown in many studies, provides effective and safe treatment options for biologically/organically raised animals and even plants.
And that is not all; not by a long stretch. Homeopathic medicine can help almost any illness or condition, from diarrhea and bladder “infections” (really, inflammation, as these are usually not infectious). Behavior conditions also frequently respond well to homeopathic medical intervention. Homeopathic medicine also speeds healing, whether fractures, wounds, eye injuries, or anywhere in the body. Skin disease, one of the most frustrating conditions we face as veterinarians, because it is so common, so bothersome to animal and guardian, and so difficult to treat, is one many veterinarians dread seeing in their practices. However, homeopathic medicine can heal these conditions as well. Not in every case, of course—no medicine works every time—but in many situations.
Homeopathic medicine is a science-based medicine. Homeopathic medicines are tested in a scientific manner to determine their potential for healing, and then clinical use further broadens our understanding. It is an evidence-based medicine; it simply uses other scientific methods than those of conventional medicine. We can reasonably state that conventional medicine is based upon Newtonian physics. Material cures for a material universe. Homeopathic medicine is really based upon Quantum physics, a universe of energetic interactions. Critics repeat, ad nauseam, that homeopathic medicines cannot work because they do not have any material substance in them. But physicists have left this material-only world a century ago. There are many studies which show that homeopathic medicines, inert to our Newtonian understanding, in fact show definite impacts upon the material world. (See our research page for some examples.) Just because we do not fully understand the mechanisms by which these medicines work does not mean they do not or cannot work. The history of science is a history of unexplained and even “unexplainable” phenomena becoming understood through the vision of those who wish to know more, to dream. In fact, James Watson and Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize-winning scientists who finally unlocked the structure of DNA, wrote in the preface of their landmark article that (paraphrasing) they did not realize that all the scientists of their time agreed that it was impossible to unlock the mystery of the structure of DNA, and that, had they known this, they may not have tackled the problem. However, as they said, ignorance is indeed bliss sometimes. They managed the “impossible” because they did not limit their thinking to the biases of others.
Homeopathic medicine works, and this is why we homeopaths devote our lives to this medicine, because we regularly see it help our patients. Homeopathy has much to offer our modern medical system. Take a look at these articles/pages to see for yourself:
Biologic/Organic Farming (under construction still)