Homeopathy is a soft and complementary medicine, defined by 3 basic principles. Despite the controversy, it is gaining more and more followers. Self-medication in homeopathy is possible, we explain!
Homeopathy is a therapy that treats illnesses with similar ones:evil is treated with evil. A patient is administered a "diluted" substance to treat him, whereas in a healthy person, this same substance at a "normal" dose would give the same symptoms as those observed in the patient.
The WHO (World Health Organization) recognizes homeopathy as traditional and complementary medicine. It is also recognized by the European Commission and the Council of the French Order of Physicians as alternative and complementary medicine. In France, doctors can mention this professional specialization since 1974.
Homeopathy is a preventive medicine and curative , which acts in both acute and chronic cases. It takes into account the disease and the patient, and aims to improve the symptoms, the associated emotional disorders and the patient's background.
The founder of homeopathy is a German doctor:Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843). Another very famous doctor, Hippocrates (460 – 3zz BC) already mentioned a treatment by similars “disease is produced by similars; and by the similar ones that one makes take, the patient returns from the disease to health "
Hahnemann tests on him the cinchona bark . This bark is known to lower fever, especially that of malaria. He finds that it gives him the same symptoms as if he had a fever.
He will thus test different substances on himself and his entourage, arsenic, belladonna, aconite, mercury… He will take into account the effects observed only when they are repeated identically in a sufficient number of people.
A few years later, he asserts that there is indeed a principle of similarity "To radically cure certain chronic affections, one must seek remedies which ordinarily cause in the human organism an analogous disease, and as analogous as possible".
At first Hahnemann uses these substances in weight doses (in quantities that can be weighed) to treat his patients. Then, he discovers that by diluting the doses administered, the remedy is more active and that according to the dilutions, its actions are different.
While visiting his patients on horseback, Hahnemann realized that a homeopathic remedy is all the more effective when it has been vigorously shaken, or "energized », between each dilution . This is the infinitesimality principle and invigoration .
Hahnemann has compiled a summary of his work in materia medica. It lists a hundred provings (set of disorders that appears in a healthy individual after consuming a substance diluted and energized according to the Hahnemann method).
Nowadays, this materia medica is always in constant evolution. It constitutes the reference work for homeopathic physicians in choosing the most suitable homeopathic remedy.
The founding principles of this alternative medicine are therefore:
Allopathy refers to all the therapies that exist to treat a disease or relieve a symptom with a substance that will act “on the contrary” of this disease or this symptom. For example, to relieve inflammation, we will take an anti-inflammatory.
The substances used in allopathy are not diluted , but used in weight doses.
Allopathy can cause side effects and drug interactions including phytotherapy and aromatherapy!
Phytotherapy and aromatherapy are also natural medicines just like homeopathy , they are also classified as alternative medicine but are much less so.
Phytotherapy is a therapy by the plants themselves, or by plant extracts (tinctures, extracts, plant powders, cryobroyat). Even if 80% of homeopathic strains are of plant origin, homeopathy also uses strains of other origins (chemical for example). In addition, the basic substance, whatever its origin, is diluted in order to be used in infinitesimal doses, which is not the case in herbal medicine, whose possible dangerousness is far from negligible.
Aromatherapy is a branch of herbal medicine, which uses essential oils (EO) extracted from plants that have them, i.e. aromatic plants , which represent about 10% of the plant kingdom. Essential oils are obtained by steam distillation. These are concentrates of very powerful natural chemical molecules whose use is not trivial. In certain situations and with certain essential oils, we cannot speak of alternative medicine!
Homeopathic remedies and strains are medicines, marketed by a reduced MA (marketing authorization), as for herbal medicines. This marketing authorization is based on the traditional use of homeopathic strains as described in the French and European pharmacopoeia.
The daily ailments , small injuries such as bruises, bumps.
The small occasional ailments , without gravity and whose cause is quickly determined:cold, recent and innocuous cough, difficult digestion, transient problems of intestinal transit, worries related to stress, slight sleep disorders.
Some benign recurring problems can also be taken care of provided that a doctor has confirmed the diagnosis and that these problems are without danger for the person (hemorrhoids, heavy legs, etc.)
Any problem that persists for more than 24 to 48 hours, without improvement, or even worsens, requires medical advice .
In homeopathy, for self-medication to be effective, the patient must analyze his own symptoms himself. The more the symptoms described by the pathogenesis of the substance correspond to its own, the more the treatment is likely to be successful. If the chosen remedy is the right one, an improvement should be felt quickly. The lower the dilution, the less chance there is of making a mistake in the choice of strain and the observation of symptoms, which is why low dilutions are more suitable for self-medication.
Any health problem that has not improved, or that is changing unfavorably requires the advice of a health professional . Pharmacists are easily accessible, without an appointment and can already guide you while waiting to see your doctor. The safety rules of self-medication in homeopathy are the same as those in allopathy, do not hesitate to seek the help and expertise of a health professional, especially in the event of pregnancy, chronic illnesses and children.
