INTRODUCTION

 Derived from Greek words- homos ‘similar’, ‘pathos’

suffering’ or ‘disease’.

 Homeopathy is a system of medicine based on the

principal of “like cures like”.

 Homeopathy is a system of medicine whose treatment

involves highly diluted substances which, when taken,
reportedly work inside the body to activate its natural
healing mechanism.
 DEFINITION

 Homeopathy is
defined as self-
healing system,
assisted by small
doses of remedies or
medicines, which is
useful in a variety of
acute and chronic
disorders.
 HISTORICAL CONTEXT

 Not a new idea

 Dates back to Hippocrates, 460-370 BC,

when he prescribed a small dose of
mandrake root to treat mania, knowing it
produces mania in much larger doses.

 He said :“Through the like, disease is

produced, and through the application of
the like it is cured”
 HISTORICAL CONTEXT Contd….

 In the 16th century, the pioneer of

pharmacology Paracelsus declared that small doses
of "what makes a man ill also cure him".
 HISTORICAL CONTEXT Contd….

 The term "homeopathy" was

coined by Hahnemann and
first appeared in print in
1807.

 Homeopathy was first

developed by Samuel
Hahnemann, a German
physician and chemist in 18th
century
 HISTORICAL CONTEXT Contd….
 In late 18th and 19th centuries, medicine used methods
like bloodletting and purging, and administered complex
mixtures which often worsened symptoms and
sometimes proved fatal.
 Hahnemann rejected these practices as irrational and
inadvisable
 He advocated the use of single drugs at lower doses and
promoted vitalistic view of how living organisms
function, believing that diseases have spiritual, as well
as physical causes.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT Contd….

 Hahnemann’s concept:
 He lived in time before the rudiments of modern
medicine had been developed

 He stumbled upon what he thought was an amazing

observation: he took a small amount of cinchona
bark, which contains quinine, the drug used to treat
malaria, and developed the symptoms of malaria.
 HISTORICAL CONTEXT Contd….
 He developed homeopathy’s first law, “similia similibus
curentur,” or let likes be cured by likes.

 Drugs which cause specific symptoms can be used to

cure diseases which cause the same symptoms.

 Hahnemann believed the underlying causes of disease

were phenomena that he termed miasms, and that
homeopathic preparations addressed these.
 HISTORICAL CONTEXT Contd….

 Hahnemann based this new system of medicine on

certain laws and principles:
 Law of Similars
 Law of Proving
 Law of Potentization
 Law of the Single Remedy
LAW OF SIMILARS
 PRINCIPLES OF HOMEOPATHY

1) The Law of Similars

 “Any substance which produces specific toxic
symptoms in a healthy person, when given in it's
full strength form, will cure a sick person with
those same symptoms in a very diluted form.”

-Hahnemann
 PRINCIPLES Contd….

 Cold or allergy symptoms such as

watery eyes and burning nasal
discharge can be treated with the
homeopathic remedy, Allium
Cepa, made from the common red
onion.
 PRINCIPLES Contd….

 Likewise, red swellings, however

caused, may be treated with
homeopathically prepared Apis,
which is made from the honeybee.
 PRINCIPLES Contd….
2) The law of Proving:
 In a proving, healthy volunteers are
given homeopathically prepared
doses of a substance until they
began to “prove” the remedy, or
experience symptoms -- mental,
emotional as well as physical.

 The information from provings

make up Homeopathic Materia
Medica, which is a description of
symptoms caused by each remedy
 PRINCIPLES Contd….

3) The law of Potentization:

 In his experiments on himself and others, Hahnemann found that
even in small amounts the substances were still capable of
producing side effects.

 Hahnemann found that by diluting further, the side effects

disappeared.

 substances were shaken vigorously during dilution, a practice

known as “succussion”, released a previously dormant energy,
making the remedy more potent than before.
PRINCIPLES Contd….

Dilution Potency

 The potency of the 1:100 1C

remedy is designated
by the amount of
dilution. 1:10000 2C
 The more a remedy is
diluted and shaken, the
more “potentized” it 1:1000000 3C
becomes.
PRINCIPLES Contd….

4) Law of single remedy:

Individualization:
 Classical Homeopathy is based on the principal of the
single remedy.
 That is, no matter how many symptoms are
experienced, only one remedy is taken, and that remedy
is aimed at all symptoms
 Homeopathy is truly holistic, treating the whole person
-- mentally, emotionally as well as physically.
USES OF HOMEOPATHIC PREPARATION

 Allergies
 atopic dermatitis
 rheumatoid arthritis
 irritable bowel syndrome.
 minor injuries, such as cuts and scrapes and muscle
strains or sprains.
PREPARATION
 Homeopathic remedies are derived from substances
that come from plants, minerals, or animals, such as red
onion, arnica (mountain herb), crushed whole bees,
belladonna (deadly nightshade), etc
MECHANISM OF ACTION

 It is not presently understood how homeopathic

remedies work.
 A number of theories are proposed.
 No matter how many times a substance is diluted, a
smaller but complete essence of the substance remains.
MECHANISM OF ACTION contd….

 Vitalist philosophy:
 It regards diseases and sickness to be
caused by disturbances in a
hypothetical vital force or life force
 For example, we can observe it in
action with an illness such as a fever
or a cough. The fever is the body's
defense mechanism used to burn up
the infection and the cough is there
to prevent accumulation of mucus in
the lungs.
MECHANISM OF ACTION contd….

 Vital force has ability to react and adapt to internal and

external causes, which homeopaths refer to as the “law
of susceptibility”

 the law of susceptibility states that a negative state of

mind can attract hypothetical disease entities called
“miasms” to invade the body and produce symptoms of
diseases.
 MECHANISM OF ACTION contd….
 Advances in quantum physics have led some scientists to
suggest that electromagnetic energy in the remedies
interacts with the body on some level.

 Researchers in physical chemistry have proposed the

memory of water theory in which the structure of the water
alcohol solutions is altered during the process of dilution
and retains its new structure even after the substances is no
longer present.
MECHANISM OF ACTION contd….

 According to homeopaths, serial dilution, with shaking

between each dilutions, removes the toxic effects of the
remedy while the qualities of the substances are
retained by the diluents (water, sugar,or alcohol) .

 In the doses used by homeopaths, however, these

remedies stimulate a person’s self healing capacity.
HOMEOPATHIC CONSULTATION

 Goal is to find the “totality of symptoms,” physical,

mental, and spiritual.
 Decides on what single remedy will treat the patient’s
“totality.”
HOMEOPATHIC CONSULTATION
 ADVANTAGES

 Homeopathy is effective. When the correct remedy is

taken, results can be complete and permanent.

 Homeopathy is completely safe. Even babies and pregnant

women can use homeopathy without the danger of side
effects

 Homeopathy is natural. Homeopathic remedies are

normally based on natural ingredients.
 ADVANTAGES contd…

 Homeopathy works in harmony

with your immune system. Unlike
some conventional medicines
which suppress the immune
system.
 Homeopathy is holistic -- it treats
all the symptoms as one picture. In
practical terms, means that it
addresses the root cause, not just
the symptoms.
 LIMITATIONS

 There is no scientific knowledge about biology or

chemistry to support the notion that a small dose of a drug
or substance will necessarily cause the symptoms it treats
at higher doses.

 There is not likely to be even a single molecule of the

original drug in the final remedy which is given to the
patient.
 LIMITATIONS contd….

 The principles of homeopathy run contrary to modern

science and have never been empirically established.

 The so-called law of similars, for example, is little more

than an ancient and common superstition — that things
have an essence or essential quality that can be transferred.
 LIMITATIONS contd…

 The most significant risk of homeopathy is that it often

delays the use of accurate scientific diagnosis and truly
effective medical treatment.

 There is an overall absence of sound statistical evidence of

therapeutic efficacy
 CONCLUSION
 Regardless of whether homeopathic drugs are effective,
they may make people feel better in an effect known as the
placebo effect.

 Modern homeopaths have tried to justify the law of

similars by comparing it to the effectiveness of vaccines —
which involve giving small doses of an infectious pathogen
to prevent a later infection.

 criticized as unethical because it discourages the use of

effective treatments
LIMITATIONS contd,,,,
RELATED ARTICLE

“Individualised homeopathy as an adjunct in the

treatment of childhood asthma: a randomised
placebo controlled trial”
A White, P Slade, C Hunt, A Hart, E Ernst
Revised 30 October 2002
 Conclusion: This study provides no evidence that
adjunctive homeopathic remedies, as prescribed by
experienced homeopathic practitioners, are superior to
placebo in improving the quality of life of children with
mild to moderate asthma in addition to conventional
treatment in primary care.
ANY QUERIES????
REFERENCES

 Potter P. A., Perry A. G., Stockert P. A. and Hall A.

M., (2013), Potter & Perry's Fundamentals of Nursing,
Elsevier Publication Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
 Rai.L, (2015), Nursing Concepts Theories and
Principles, Tara Books and Stationery, Kathmandu.
 Homeopathy. Retrieved on December 22, 2015.
Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy