Chapter 2:
Homeopaths treat people, not diagnoses.
continued

What In The World Is Homeopathy?
The Simillimum
Homeopaths prescribe only one remedy at a time. This remedy, which best matches your symptoms, is called the simillimum. There may be other homeopathic remedies that will have an effect on your symptoms, but there is no other remedy that will work as well. The simillimum is the remedy that will cure your symptoms, based on the principle of like cures like.

At another time, your body might produce a different set of symptoms and require another remedy. This new remedy would be the simillimum at that time. In some cases, one remedy is all a person ever needs to remain healthy. Generally, during treatment for chronic illness, which is called constitutional treatment, more than one remedy may be needed over time to help you stay healthy. If the pattern of your symptoms changes enough to fall outside the scope of the original remedy, a new remedy is needed.

Individualization of Treatment
Homeopaths treat people, not diagnoses. When you are ill, your illness has its own unique pattern of symptoms. You will tend to get those illnesses that result from the particular pattern of imbalance that is unique to your personal heredity and environmental influences. If you have a weakness in the urinary system, you may develop symptoms of bladder infections or kidney disease. If your skin is the problem, you may be prone to rashes, herpes or warts. If the digestive system is the focus, you may suffer from ulcers, constipation or hemorrhoids. Patterns of certain illnesses may run in your family and be passed on from generation to generation.

People with the same diagnosis will not all need the same homeopathic remedy. There is no one homeopathic treatment, for instance, for flu. Your homeopath needs to know whose flu is being treated. Your flu requires a homeopathic medicine that matches your particular pattern of symptoms. Someone else’s flu will respond to an entirely different homeopathic remedy.