What is Homeopathy?

Homeopathy

SAMUEL HAHNEMANN'S SAYINGS:-

There is no ailment on earth which can not be cured by homoeopathy . A DOCTOR CAN FAIL BUT HOMOEOPATHY CAN NOT FAIL .IT'S A COMPLETE SCIENCE.

Homeopathy (also spelled homoeopathy or homœopathy; from the Greek hómoios- ὅμοιος- "like-" + páthos πάθος "suffering") is a system of alternative medicine originated in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann, based on his doctrine of similia similibus curentur ("like cures like"), according to which a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people will cure similar symptoms in sick people.t is widely considered a pseudoscience.

Hahnemann believed that the underlying causes of disease were phenomena that he termedmiasms, and that homeopathic remedies addressed these. The remedies are prepared byrepeatedly diluting a chosen substance in alcohol or distilled water, followed by forceful striking on an elastic body, called succussion.Each dilution followed by succussion is said to increase the remedy's potency. Dilution usually continues well past the point where none of the original substance remains.Homeopaths select remedies by consulting reference books known as repertories, considering the totality of the patient's symptoms as well as the patient's personal traits, physical and psychological state, and life history.

Scientific research has repeatedly found homeopathic remedies ineffective and their postulated mechanisms of action implausibleThe scientific community regards homeopathy as a sham;the American Medical Association considers homeopathy to bequackery,and homeopathic remedies have been criticized as unethical.

The low concentration of homeopathic remedies, which often lack even a single molecule of the diluted substance,has been the basis of questions about the effects of the remedies since the 19th century. Modern advocates of homeopathy have suggested that "water has a memory" – that during mixing and succussion, the substance leaves an enduring effect on the water, perhaps a "vibration", and this produces an effect on the patient. This notion has no scientific support. Pharmacologicalresearch has found instead that stronger effects of an active ingredient come from higher, not lower doses.

Homeopathic remedies have been the subject of numerous clinical trials. Taken together, these trials showed at best no effect beyond placebo, at worst that homeopathy could be actively harmful.

Although some trials produced positive results,systematic reviews revealed that this was because of chance, flawed research methods, and reporting bias.The proposed mechanisms for homeopathy are precluded by the laws of physics from having any effect.

Patients who choose to use homeopathy rather than evidence-based medicine risk missing timely diagnosis and effective treatment of serious conditions such as cancer.The regulation and prevalence of homeopathy vary greatly from country to country.

History

Hippocrates, in about 400 BC, perhaps originated homeopathy when he prescribed a small dose of mandrake root – which in larger doses produced mania – to treat mania itself; in the 16th century the pioneer of pharmacology Paracelsus declared that small doses of "what makes a man ill also cures him." Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843) gave homeopathy its name and expanded its principles in the late 18th century. At that time, mainstream medicine used methods like bloodletting and purging, and administered complex mixtures, such as Venice treacle, which was made from 64 substances including opium, myrrh, and viper's flesh. These treatments often worsened symptoms and sometimes proved fatal. Hahnemann rejected these practices – which had been extolled for centuries – as irrational and inadvisable; instead, he advocated the use of single drugs at lower doses and promoted an immaterial, vitalistic view of how living organisms function, believing that diseases have spiritual, as well as physical causes.