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Healing & Alternative Health:
Homeopathic Medicine

 What Is Homeopathy?

by Deborah Olenev,
CCH, RSHom (NA)
It has been quite a number of years since I have written an article on what homeopathy is. With twenty years of experience under my belt as a student and practitioner of homeopathy, I feel I should write about it in a different way than I have in the past. My daughter, choosing to follow in her mother's footsteps, is just now starting her homeopathic education, and will be enrolling in the Pacific Academy of Homeopathy in San Francisco. She cannot contain her excitement about the subject, and declared to the family that she cannot imagine any profession greater than that of homeopath.


She is in a unique position, because she has lived and benefited from homeopathy from her infancy. She has experienced firsthand how it has helped her with her health problems, and she has seen an endless stream of people that her mother has helped in her homeopathic practice. In my daughter Nastassia's words, what is truly unique about homeopathy is that it is the only health modality she knows of that can reverse the progress of chronic disease. She asked me if I tell this to my prospective clients? I told her I did. It surely has to be a selling point.


Why am I and my daughter so excited by homeopathy? How can I spark the same excitement in you, the reader, about this healing art that can be life transforming for those who are open to experiencing it? Of course, I need to start by telling you what it is and how it came into existence.


Homeopathy is the brain and heart child of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann. He was a brilliant physician, chemist, and linguist who was born in Meissen Germany in 1755 and died in Paris France in 1843. During the course of his remarkable life, he was able to watch as the homeopathy for which he was laughed at and persecuted took hold, spread across and flourished in Europe, the United States, India, South America and Asia. He is not only acknowledged as the father of homeopathy, but also for his contributions to the field of chemistry.


At the time when Hahnemann began his medical career, the prevalent tools in the physician's medical chest were bloodletting and the use of toxic doses of powerful medicines and drugs. He saw that his patients were much better off when there was no medical interference than when there was. He decided to give up his lucrative practice to search for a better way.


In order to support his large family, Hahnemann worked as a translator. It is reported that the inspiration for homeopathy came to Hahnemann while he was translating a medical book by a well-known English physician named Dr. William Cullen into German.


In this book, Cullen asserted that the reason Peruvian or cinchona bark (also known as quinine) cures malaria was that it was bitter. This explanation did not sound sufficient to Hahnemann, because there were many substances in nature that were also bitter, which did not cure malaria. He decided to experiment on himself by ingesting some of the cinchona bark to see if he could discover anything else that would help him understand why this substance helped with malaria.


Shortly after taking the substance, Hahnemann experienced symptoms that were similar to those caused by malaria, which passed off in a few days. He realized that what made cinchona bark curative in malaria cases was that it could produce symptoms similar to malaria in healthy people who took it for experimental purposes. The characteristic properties of cin chona bark were similar to the malaria disease. This was the first "proving" that Hahnemann ever did.


This discovery filled Hahnemann with excitement. He and his colleagues then proceeded to systematically and in highly controlled experimentstest 126 substances from nature on themselves during Hahnemann's lifetime. Now there are thousands of proven remedies in the homeopathic materia medica, with new remedies being proven all the time.


Hahnemann was not the first physician to proclaim the law of similars. Hippocrates and Paraclesus from earlier centuries also taught that likes can be cured by likes. Hahnemann, however, was the first to systematically conduct controlled experiments on healthy people to discover the healing properties of substances, so as to learn how to administer them wisely to sick people who had illnesses that corresponded closely to the properties of the medicines.


Hahnemann wrote a book called The Organon of the Medical Art, which underwent six revisions and editions in his lifetime. In this book, he taught the rules and method by which to apply and use these medicinal substances safely. This book is the homeopathic bible. In order to
understand homeopathic philosophy and employ this healing modality all homeopathic students must study this text carefully and absorb its teachings.


The third great discovery of Hahnemann was the use of the minimum dose in stimulating a curative response. Hahnemann observed that when crude or undiluted doses of medicinal substances were utilized on the patients, they often suffered from toxic side effects. On the other hand, if the remedies were diluted and succussed between each dilution (vigorously banged), the side effects would be minimized and the duration of action and curative effect of each dose become much longer.


This process of dilution and succussion is one of the most important processes that distinguishes homeopathy from other medical systems. It is not used in Western medicine, or in Chinese or Western herbal medicine. It is this process which gives a single dose of a homeopathic
remedy the power to hold on, sustain its action and do curative work for months and even years.


Homeopathy is so simple and elegant in its tenets: They can be summed up as follows:

1) Let likes be cured by likes. Similia Similibus Curenter.

2) Prove the medicinal substances on healthy people to discover their healing properties, and match the symptoms of the patient to a remedy that has produced similar symptoms.

3) Employ the smallest stimulus necessary to bring about a curative response (the minimum dose).


Hahnemann was constantly searching for ways to perfect homeopathy. If people did not get well after a well-selected remedy was given, he wanted to understand why, and to do something about it.


After twelve years of employing his science, Hahnemann presented a new book called Chronic Diseases to the public. In this book Hahnemann taught what he had discovered about the nature of disease. He believed that there were three great big miasms underlying all diseases. These were the Psoric or Itch Miasm; the Syphilitic Miasm; and the Sycotic or Gonorrhea miasm. He believed all diseases have their source in these three and in combinations of them.


An in depth explanation of the miasms requires a book, but the understanding of this is very important to the effective practice of homeopathy. I will try to explain a little more about this in an upcoming article.


Now that you understand a little bit about the philosophical basis of homeopathy, I want to talk about the types of conditions and people that can be helped with this medical art. Luckily there is no limit to the age range or the varieties of health problems that can receive help from homeopathy. About half of the people I see in my practice are children. I see them for problems such as acne, asthma, allergies, bedwetting, colic, constipation, diarrhea, eating disorders, skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis, teething pain and other physical health complaints.

Acute ailments such as bronchitis, colds, earaches, fevers and pneumonia respond beautifully to the homeopathic pellets, without the need for antibiotics. I also see children for behavioral and emotional problems such as anxiety, anger, fears, temper tantrums, autism and learning disabilities.


The other half of the people I see are men and women of all ages with all types of health problems. Homeopathy is unbeatable for what it can do for the hormonal problems of women. It can help with problems associated with menstruation, pregnancy, menopause and old age. Over and over again I have seen homeopathy help women who have never been well since they had their first menses, or suffered terribly with PMS, become healthy women with painless menstrual cycles. I also treat many men in my practice with a wide variety of health problems with great success.


One of the things both men and women like about homeopathy is that it is so noninvasive and requires very little time commitment on the part of the client. The frequency of visits is rare with three to four visits in the first year being average, and even less thereafter. This can be very important for people with busy schedules. Also the treatment is most often a single dose of a sweet tasting remedy that needs to be taken only once or twice a year. There isn't a long list of medications to remember to take on a daily basis.


To be an accomplished homeopath takes many years of study, commitment and experience. To derive the maximum benefit from this system and to save yourself a lot of time, it is important that you consult a qualified practitioner, such as myself, particularly when treating chronic health problems and the health problems of children.


Please check out my website at www.homeopathyforhealth.net for more articles on homeopathy and call me if you would like copies of my newsletters or to schedule an appointment. Please do not hesitate to call if you live far away from me. Phone consultations are a large part of my practice. Homeopathy is truly divine medicine. I invite you to experience and benefit from it yourself.
Deborah Olenev,
CCH, RSHom (NA)
Homeopath
About the Homeopath

Deborah Olenev began her homeopathic education in 1982 when her daughter was a few months old. Unhappy with her daughter's reaction to her first vaccination and frustrated with the ineffective treatment for the babys colic, Deborah was ripe and ready for an alternative.


Over a dinner conversation, a friend told her about an interesting alternative therapy called homeopathy. What he said about matching the symptoms of the patient to those of the remedy, and using very tiny doses of medicinal substances to stimulate a healing response made sense. Her curiosity was sparked.


Deborah, a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University in New York City, had been working for a publishing company doing copyediting and proofreading work. The company gave her a free book on homeopathy they had published.


The book stood unopen in Deborahs bookshelf for over a year. Now she was ready to open it. While reading the book Deborah could not contain her excitement about the subject. Her passion was ignited. From then on Deborah devoted every spare moment of her life to studying materia medica and repertory.


She enrolled in a three year homeopathic college in New York, and attended seminars taught by prominent visiting teachers for the next eight years. She gained experience treating family, friends and a growing clientele.


In 1990 Deborah moved with her family to Menlo Park, California, whereshe had the good fortune to be able to apprentice with and work for a homeopath for nearly two years. Deborah received board certification in homeopathy in 1993 and also joined two alternative health groups, where she could practice her craft in the company of colleagues.


She continues to practice at Integrated Healing Arts in Palo Alto and in her home office in Mountain View. This proved to be a very good association for Deborah, because she met her husband, Paul Sibcy, at IHA. They subsequently produced Abraham, her third child.


Paul is a practitioner of process acupressure, does individual and couples counseling, and teaches meditation and Kriya yoga. Together they have formed a partnership, where they support each other on their spiritual paths and in their healing work.


Deborah's clientele includes men, women and children of all ages, with the full range of health complaints. Now, Nastassia, the baby daughter who prompted Deborah to study homeopathy is herself enrolling in a homeopathic college in San Francisco, making her the second generation of homeopaths in the family.
Deborah Olenev,
CCH, RSHom (NA)
Integrated Healing Arts

4161 El Camino Way,
Suite B
Palo Alto, CA 94306


Voice Mail:
650) 569-6219


EMail:
Olenev@att.net


Web:
http://home.
att.net/~Olenev/


www.homeopathy
forhealth.net




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