In recent years there has been a enormous growth of interest in homeopathy. This has been part of the increased interest in complementary therapies as a result of worries about environmental problems such as chemicals in food and anxieties about the side-effects and failings of many conventional drugs and treatments. People like to be treated as individuals and want their practitioners to take time to listen to them.

Homeopathy is a complete system of medicine. It has been in worldwide use for over 200 years. Samuel Hahnemann, a German doctor, organised it into a formal science in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, although it can be traced back to Hippocrates two thousand years ago.

Homeopathy is the second most widely used form of medicine for primary care in the world today. Many doctors now refer patients to professional homeopaths and many private health companies consider homeopathic treatment a good investment.

Homeopathy is safe. Homeopathic remedies act by stimulating your own defence mechanism and healing system. They do not have any chemical action, so they do not have the potential to cause any sustained damage. Homeopathy is an excellent aid through pregnancy, birth, childhood illnesses, puberty, menopause and old age.

Homeopathic treatment is good value. With proper treatment, your immediate complaints improve, but you also get a decrease in your susceptibility to disease, so that general health improves. In the long run, there is better health and fewer medical consultations.

Homeopathy is an important form of preventative medicine, which corrects disturbances before disease symptoms have an opportunity to develop. This means that more serious conditions are avoided. It can also help if you 'just don't feel right' (even when conventional medical test results are clear). Homeopathy strengthens your immune system and reduces your chances of catching infectious diseases.

Homeopathy is proven to be effective in the treatment of babies and animals, who have no preconceptions. Remedies are gentle acting and are non-addictive.

Homeopathy considers the complaints of a patient in totality. You are looked at as a whole person, not in body parts, so you don't have to visit ten different specialists for your ten different body parts. Thus homeopathy saves time, money and health.

Homeopathy is a system of healing which uses the body's own powerful capacity to heal itself. The remedies stimulate that process.

Homeopathy aims to provide a high standard of care for those wishing to improve and maintain their health and well-being. Homeopaths want to help their patients achieve freedom from limitations in their lives and, ideally, to reach a level of health where they are no longer dependant on medicine or therapy.

Homeopathic treatment is individual and considers a wide range of aspects of your condition - physical, mental and emotional states, personality traits, physical features, the effects of a variety of environmental influences, lifestyle, patterns of disease within your family, and relationships. The range of conditions that can be treated is limitless.

The aim of homeopathy is rapid, gentle and permanent healing. It may help relieve the symptoms of the various ailments which people take for granted or have been told to put up with, such as hayfever, asthma, constipation, migraine, eczema, menstrual problems, chronic exhaustion, etc. The use of homeopathy often avoids surgery. It may be useful in conditions for which conventional medicine either has nothing to offer or offers only palliative care or symptom control management, such as allergic complaints, arthritis and digestive problems.

Homeopathic remedies may be used alongside conventional drugs. Treatment may help reduce or even remove the need for many drugs, but this must be done gradually under the supervision of the GP.

The results of good homeopathic treatment may improve your mental outlook on life, increase your energy level and remove physical problems that have been bothering you for years.

Homeopathy is a long-term solution to maintaining a good standard of health, not a quick fix. It is much better to be treated for both the cause of the illness and its symptoms, rather than merely obtaining relief.

A consultation with a professional homeopath can be the turning point that will lead to a restoration of your health and vitality.

History

In the early 1800s a German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann, was motivated by what he saw as the barbaric medical practices of his day to begin his search for "rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health...in the shortest, most reliable, and most harmless way". He experimented upon himself and formulated the principles of homeopathy. He was tireless in his efforts and greatly antagonised many of the conventional medical practitioners of his day, but the queue of patients he saw at his practice in Paris right up until his death thought differently and were very grateful for the beneficial results of his treatment, whilst a number of other doctors saw the sense of his approach and were inspired to train with him, going on to bring homeopathy to a wider audience in other countries and establishing homeopathic clinics and hospitals.

The term 'homeopathy' comes from the Greek 'homeo' meaning 'like', or 'similar', and 'pathos' meaning 'suffering' or 'disease'. The law upon which homeopathy is based is that of 'like is cured by like', a concept introduced by the ancient philosopher, Hippocrates.

The 'Law of Similars' states that a potentised substance can cure whatever symptoms it produces in a healthy person. Imagine how it feels when you have drunk too much coffee? You can’t sleep,your heart is racing and your head buzzing, because Coffea Crudum (coffee) is a stimulant. In its potentised form can be helpful for insomnia.