Frequently Asked Questions
What will your homeopath need to know ... ?
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The homeopath approaches patient in a holistic
manner and regard the physical, emotional and mental or spiritual complaints of each
person as intimately connected.
Since all are aspects of the whole being of the patient suffering. Homeopaths understand that symptoms of
disease are evidence of the body's natural and automatic effort to heal itself
and these clues are used to guide them when prescribing a remedy.
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Your homeopath will ask detailed question on all
aspects of your life past and present.
Be as detailed and thorough as possible, what you may determine as
unusual, trivial or unimportant could hold a greater significance to your
homeopath. Initial consultations
are long, could last an hour and all discussions are treated with the strictest
confidence.
What is the Principle of Individualization...?
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Each patient is different from another and
his reaction to all the internal and external forces or stimuli will therefore
be different from another. This is called the principle of
individualization. It is for this reason that two patients with
apparently the same illness may be treated with different remedies.
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Let us take the example of common cold. An
allopath will prescribe for each patient the same medication- a decongestant,
an anti-allergic and an anti-pyretic. A homeopath first looks for the cause. He
will ask you how you caught the cold- did you get wet in the rains, were
exposed to a draft of air, got overheated or chilled, had cold drinks, etc.
Then, he looks for the details of the symptoms- whether you sneeze or not, is
there a runny nose, what is the type of discharge, etc. He finds out what
factors aggravate or relieve the complaints, what are the associated symptoms, etc.
Armed with these details, he selects a remedy similar to the illness and
attacks it.
How soon will I be cured ... ?
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Homeopathic remedies cure the whole as opposed
to the symptoms. The time it takes to cure a
symptoms is directly dependant on the complexity of the ailment. Since the remedy works from inside out,
internal disorders are the first to be cured as opposed to superficial outer
symptoms.
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Be patient, for it is more beneficial to
cure the cause of the illness as well as the symptoms , rather than simply
relieve the symptoms. Two patients with
a cold may look similar but may have completely different remedies prescribed
to them.
Some misconceptions---
1. Homoeopathy
is very slow acting & of use only in chronic illnesses
- In acute situations & conditions e.g. fevers, acute
sore throats, injuries, burns, insect bites etc. , correct observation
& eliciting appropriate symptoms & a keen eye & open mind
help in prescribing for these acute conditions.
- It is fast acting in acute conditions such as infections,
fever, diarrhoea, etc. The chronic and old disease such as psoriasis take
a long time to treat hence homeopathy has been labelled as slow acting.
One may say that homeopathy may be slower than the effect of
pain-killers, anti-inflammatory medicines and steroids. One must know
that homeopathy is faster in the treatment of conditions such as allergy,
asthma, eczema, migraine, arthritis.
- Homeopathy is like a tortoise in the well-known story of
tortoise and rabbit.
2. Homeopathy
can only help functional problems such as pain, weakness, where there are
no structural changes in the body.
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Homeopathy has proved its efficacy for the
treatment of structural pathology. Numerous documented cases where the reversal
of the structural pathology has taken place indicating the depth of homeopathy
action.
3. Is
that homeopathy would worsen my symptoms initially and then bring about
improvement". I am scared to try Homeopathy since I cannot afford to see
my symptoms getting worse than what I have at the moment.
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It is not
true that Homeopathy would lead to an initial aggravation of your
complaints. The aggravation which the
patient experiences at times after taking the medicines is usually coincidental
with the progress of the disease where in it worsens in its natural course.
This confirms that the homeopathic remedies are usually harmless, but the myths
associated with them are not.
4. Investigations
such as x-ray, blood test, MRI, etc. are not required for homeopathic
treatment.
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All sort
of investigations are required and useful for better and effective homeopathic
treatment.
5. Diagnosis
is not required for homeopathic treatment.
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Diagnosis
helps to make better prescription of homeopathic medicines.
6. Homeopathic
medicines are prescribed only on the mind symptoms of the patient.
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Not correct. Study of disease, diagnosis and
mental attributes are studied in homeopathy.
7. With
Homoeopathy, other conventional medicines such as anti-Hypertensive or
Anti-diabetic drugs have to be totally discontinued
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This in fact is not a fact. Homoeopathy treats
the individual patient as a whole human being in context of the long term
health & well-being & even with conventional medicines, it is
imperitive that patients continue their medication which are acting on the
physiological plane, but do so judiciously & under the guidance of
experienced physicians
8. Vitamins,
iron-tonic, etc. should not be taken during homeopathic treatment.
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Can be taken. Tonics and supplements are part of
homeopathic treatment!
9. Homeopathy
is against surgery.
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Not really. Surgery is a part of homeopathy.
Interestingly, some of the surgical diseases (life piles, fissure, tonsillitis,
etc.) can be cured without surgery.
10. Homoeopathic
medicines contain STEROIDS
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This is
recent misconceptions spreading among people.
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When appropriate Homoeopathic medicines act fast
& help acute conditions, people often ask or feel that the physicians are
using steroids in the garb of Homoeopathy for quick results, irrespective of
its sequelae or side effects.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE.
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A good Homoeopathic prescription which is geared
towards stimulating & helping the body's
Immune System & works as an
immuno-modulator, gives very satisfying results in acute cases as well.
Homoeopathic remedies which are by & large derived from the plant kingdom
do have certain alkaloids that are as effective as steroids & these are
extracted & made into Homoeopathic medicines. These however ARE NOT STEROIDS & DO NOT GIVE RISE TO ANY STEROID
LIKE SIDE EFFECTS.
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In many cases homoeopathic remedies works VERY RAPIDLY yet in a GENTLE way, curing patient PERMANENTLY.
- I have taken homeopathic treatment before…. Homeopathy did
not work for me..
There are 2 possibilities:-
Either your disorder is of incurable category
Or
Previous homeopathic doctor failed to select right homeopathic
medicine.
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Reason he failed is because selecting a medicine
is highly
skilful job as there are more than 2000 medicines in
homeopathy (probably homeopathy is only medicinal system which has Largest
number of medicines) from which homeopath has to select right medicine
beneficial for patient.
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As there are few incurable disorders, reason
homeopathy did not work for you is mostly due to 2nd possibility.
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Also it
is now noticed by many homeopaths around the world that these incurable diseases
as labelled by modern medicine has answer in Homeopathy.