symptoms include such things as sleep, appetite, energy, temperature, or generalized
bodily pain. Local symptoms occur in particular parts of the body such as swelling
in the right elbow or pain in the left leg. Included in local symptoms are those
related to a specific organ function such as shortness of breath or palpitations.
Mental and emotional symptoms include anxiety, irritability, anger, tearfulness, iso-
lation, or suspiciousness. This composite picture of the person is far more important
than any isolated laboratory findings or abstract disease category in formulating the
diagnosis. Homeopathic practitioners do not hesitate to refer to biomedical special-
ists for conventional drugs or surgery.Take Two Drops and Call Me in the Morning: Homeopathic Treatment
As in other complementary practices, the initial question is always “Who is the per-
son?” rather than “What is the disease?” This focus ensures an individualized
approach to treatment. Each person with the same presenting complaint may be
treated with different remedies, depending on the totality of physical, mental, and
emotional symptoms. A person with a sore throat may be prescribed one of six or
seven common remedies for sore throats, depending on whether the pain is worse on
the right or left side, what time of day it is worse, how thirst and appetite are
affected, and the individual’s emotional state.
The science and the art of homeopathy are to find the remedy with the ability to
mimic most closely the sick person’s pattern of symptoms. Practitioners use only one
remedy at a time, since administering different remedies for different symptoms
makes it difficult to know which remedy was effective. Not only are the smallest pos-
sible doses used, typically only one dose is given, which allows time for the remedy
to complete its action without further interference. If necessary, a dose may be
repeated or another remedy may be tried. A temporary worsening of the symptoms
may occur after receiving the remedy, which is usually mild and short-lived and
may be an indication that the correct remedy was chosen.
Homeopathy is used to treat both acute and chronic health problems as well as for
health promotion. It cannot cure conditions resulting from structural, long-term,
organic changes such as cirrhosis, diabetes, chronic obstructive lung disease,
advanced neurological diseases, or cancer. In some of these cases, however, homeop-
athy can relieve the symptoms and increase the patient’s comfort level.
Traumatic injuries affect nearly everyone in similar ways and thus the remedies are
fairly standard. Epidemic infectious diseases also tend to affect most victims in the
same way and individuals are usually treated with the same remedy. Common infec-
tious illnesses such as urinary tract infections, respiratory infections, or ear infections
demonstrate more individual symptoms and require more individualization in110 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOALTERNATIVE MEDICINE