Chapter 2:
Homeopaths treat people, not diagnoses.

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What In The World Is Homeopathy?
The Law of Similars
Homeopathy uses natural substances that can cause symptoms in a healthy person to cure similar symptoms in a person who is ill. Can you remember the last time you were stung by a bee? The stinging, burning pain, swelling, heat, and redness are probably etched in your memory. These are the symptoms that you experience when an angry bee injects its venom into your healthy body. How can a poisonous substance like bee venom (Apis mellifica) be used as a medicine? It is precisely the fact that it causes symptoms that makes it useful as a medicine. Bee venom, when used as a homeopathic medicine, can relieve the pain and discomfort of bee stings as well as other illnesses that have similar symptoms. People suffering from conjunctivitis (pink eye), who complain of stinging or burning pain, redness and swelling of the eyelids, often benefit from Apis. The type of arthritis that is hot, red, and swollen with stinging pains may also be cured or helped by a dose of homeopathic bee venom.

If you think about the law of similars, you may realize how different it is from the philosophy of conventional medicine. Most of us in Western society have been taught to believe that the only way to eliminate a bacterial infection is with antibiotics. “Anti” means against. The use of antibiotics is based on the belief that there is a battle being waged in the body which must be won, and that the body is unable to win it without the antibiotics. Antibiotics tend to kill microorganisms that are associated with disease or interfere with their reproduction. This may allow the body to recover from the illness. A homeopath might also say that the body needs help in fighting the infection, but homeopathy gives that assistance in a different way. When a homeopathic remedy is given, the symptom pattern of the remedy matches the symptoms of the disease and strengthens the body’s own ability to fight the infection and restore balance. Homeopathic theory says that the real cause of an infection is not the microorganism, but the set of conditions in a person’s body that provides an environment in which the viruses or bacteria can survive and multiply. If you can restore the natural ecology of the body with homeopathy, the microorganisms will no longer be able to create disease.

In the conventional medical approach, if the stomach is producing too much hydrochloric acid, a drug is given which reduces the stomach’s ability to secrete acid. A person suffering from allergies is given an antihistamine, which prevents the release of histamine, the chemical secreted by the mucous membranes in response to an allergen. Steroids, such as hydrocortisone, are used to suppress inflammatory responses. It may sound like a good idea to fight against invading organisms or processes that cause damage to the body. Antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, antacids, antifungals, and antihistamines do produce effects and on the surface relieve illness. Over time, however, these medications may produce mild to severe side effects. The result may be only temporary or superficial healing. These drugs may ultimately cause more serious problems than they cure. Homeopathy, on the other hand, works with the body rather than against it.