Homeopathy is the second largest medical system in the world. It is a holistic system of medicine developed over 200 years ago by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. It is widely practiced throughout Europe and Asia and, at the beginning of the 19th century, was popular in the United States. With the recent interest in "alternative" and complementary modalities, the practice of homeopathy in the U.S. is again on the rise. It is used successfully to treat everything from first aid conditions to acute and chronic illnesses in people of all ages and in animals as well.

COMPARISON TO ALLOPATHIC MEDICINE
Mainstream Western medicine (known as allopathy or allopathic medicine) sees disease as a collection of symptoms. Homeopathy views disease as an imbalance in a person's "vital force" and the disease's symptoms are the body's best attempt to rebalance itself. Rather than eradicating symptoms as allopathy does, homeopathy addresses the underlying imbalance.

Allopathy is only now beginning to recognize the mind/body/spirit connection that has always been a fundamental principle in homeopathy. In addition, homeopathy recognizes that the experience of a disease is unique to each individual. During a homeopathic consultation, the classical homeopath discovers how the individual is effected on the physical, emotional, and mental levels in order to recommend the one homeopathic remedy that best matches the whole person.

HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINES
Homeopathic medicines, or "remedies," work based on the principle of "like cures like." Each remedy is first tested on healthy individuals. The combined physical, emotional, mental symptoms produced by one remedy in healthy individuals are then matched to the totality of the sick individual's symptoms.

The following is a simple example of "like cures like." Allium cepa is the Latin name for onion and when administered homeopathically to healthy individuals, it produces sniffling and watery eyes—just as a raw onion does. But when homeopathic allium cepa is given to a sick individual suffering from an allergy characterized by sniffling and watery eyes, the remedy will cure the allergy.

Remedies are made by homeopathic pharmacies from plants, minerals, animals or even allopathic drugs such as penicillin. However, unlike allopathic drugs, they are diluted to such a degree that most doses are non-material. They are sold over-the-counter in many health food stores and some pharmacies and are FDA approved.

For a more in-depth discussion of all aspects of homeopathy, see Lawrence Galante's book "Energy Medicine." For information on homeopathic credentials and how to choose a homeopath, see the National Center for Homeopathy.

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