Homoeopathy (from the Greek word homoios meaning similar and pathos meaning suffering) is a healing art. It is a magnificent system of medicine which works on certain basic principles as laid down by its founder Dr. Samuel Friedrich Hahnemann. Homoeopathy as a science has undergone some very revolutionary changes since the time of its inception, some 200 years ago in Germany. It has now spread to almost every country of the world. Today it is not only one of the most widely accepted but the safest and gentle mode of treatment for restoring the sick to health.

Homoeopathy presents a definite, concrete and understandable approach to the problem of disease treatment.

Homoeopathy is always more effective, where the common practice is powerless. The medicaments, if skillfully administered, cure a major portion of ills to which mankind is exposed. The basis of Homoeopathy is a law of nature which is immutable and infallible i.e. upon the law of similars “Similia Similibus Curanter”, likes are cured by likes. This means that a substance when given in large crude doses, produces specific symptoms, but when this same substance is administered in minute dose, it stimulates the body's reactive processes to remove these symptoms.

Let's take an example of lpecacuanha (lpecac). If taken in large quantities, it produces vomiting, but taken in minute doses, it cures nausea & vomiting. It will even stop the gagging which frequently follows a coughing spell, when administered in minute Homoeopathic doses. Homoeopathy alone holds the key to the relationship between what a poison can cause and what a poison can cure, and so makes medicine scientific.

There are over 3000 Homoeopathic remedies. Furthermore, new are being added every day to cope with the problems arising as a result of modernization. In normal practice probably less than half of the total list of remedies are ever indicated, and most practitioners utilize only 200 or 300 remedies on a regular basis. However, to utilize such an exhausting list of remedies, an enormous amount of knowledge and professional training are required in the practice of Homoeopathy.

A Homoeopathic physician studies his patients in great detail. His aim is to know and treat the whole person, not just a single organ. To assess the detail of each & every symptom, a thorough case taking is required, which enables the physician to find out the similimum medicine suitable for the individual patient. Thus “Patient's history” in detail is a necessity in Homoeopathy. No time is lost with Homoeopathy; it is possible to apply a Homoeopathic prescription at once, whilst an exact diagnosis is in doubt or unknown. It is a point of great value; the moment symptoms of illness are apparent, we are able to match such symptoms with what is the known effect of some drug on the prover.

In acute diseases results are achieved more quickly but when the illness has persisted for years & has become chronic, it might take more time to achieve the results.

Homoeopathic remedies are perfectly safe to take. Any substance might be used Homoeopathically but most of these remedies are made from natural substances obtained from vegetable, animal and mineral sources which are broken down into minute quantities to stimulate the natural defenses of body. They do not merely cover the symptoms but treat the patient as a whole, thus it may take time before the patient begins to feel better. By the action of Homoeopathic medicines, the patient's own defense mechanism is stimulated and it is usually sufficient to return him to the state of health.

Many allopathic medicines are administered with the intent of destroying a specific disease producing organism. As a result, these drugs destroy the beneficial bacteria also, adding further to the original problem. Other drugs might just palliate and in sensitive individuals can actually poison the entire system. Homoeopathic remedies do not destroy the disease by themselves. They stimulate the body's reaction to throw off the offender. Hence they do not generally produce any undesirable effects. With few exceptions, substances prepared according to the specifications of the Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of India, properly maintained and protected from contamination, retain their therapeutic effectiveness indefinitely. Besides a physical body, Dr. Hahnemann realised people have a 'vital force', or energy, the level where Homoeopathic medicines work. Homoeopathic medicines are made by serial dilutions, followed by "succussion" (shaking) which transfers energy to the dilution. The number of potentisation steps are far more important than the dilution factor.

Homoeopathic medicines are potentised in order to increase their therapeutic properties. With each subsequent attenuation or potency, the amount of drug substance is reduced. Potencies are denoted by suffix 'X', 'C' or 'L' depending upon whether they have been potentised under Decimal scale, (where the medicine is diluted in the ratio of 1:10), Centesimal scale (where the medicine is diluted in the ratio of 1: 100) or 50 Millesimal scale (where the medicine has been diluted in the ratio of 1: 50,000). For example the 3x potency contains 1/1000th part of the remedy and 3C potency contains 1/1,000,000th part of the medicine. The “high potencies” (200, 1M, 10M, etc.) contain the most minute amount of the basic remedy, but this has been potentized to enhance the therapeutic effectiveness.

Homoeopathic medicines are always referred to as “remedies” to distinguish them from crude drugs that are usually prescribed and sold in the ordinary corner drugstore. Even Homoeopathic mother tinctures which carry the highest percentage of the original drug substance are far milder and non-toxic than the crude drugs sold for the same illness. Homoeopathy has stood the test of time and this makes it hard to ignore. Many cures and therapeutic modalities come and go with remarkable rapidity. Even in conventional medicine, most treatments and drug therapies are out of date and replaced within a few years. Homoeopathy has grown and has been refined, but the principles and the research that led to it are as important and valuable today as they were two hundred years ago.

Homoeopathy, with its single purpose of attention to the whole human being and prescribing the right remedy to trigger the VITAL FORCE within the human constitution to begin its own curative process, is a medical science, which is being recognized and extensively used by physicians throughout the world.