Homeopathy is an alternative therapy created in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann.
It is based on the theory that “like cures like.”
Hahnemann promoted the theory that the substance that causes symptoms of a disease in well people will cure similar symptoms in sick people.
Homeopathic medicines are made mainly from plants and minerals which are highly diluted and then added to lactose tablets or pills. And these pills contain very dilute solutions of a substance to the point where there may be no molecules of the original substance remaining.
Do homeopathic remedies work?
One of the proposals for how such ‘ultramolecular’ dilutions work is that water is capable of storing information relating to substances with which it has previously been in contact.
Research on hydrogen bonds in water provides some support for this ‘memory’ theory.
The Swiss chemist, Louis Rey, found that the structure of hydrogen bonds in homeopathic dilutions of salt solutions is very different from that in water. He reached the conclusion that the phenomenon results from the vigorous shaking of solutions that takes place during homeopathic ‘succussion.’
This means succussed, or shaken with impact.
Succussion is essential — it has been proven that just diluting the material is ineffectual for making homeopathic remedies.
Shaken, not stirred
Each dilution must be shaken violently with impact in order to become an effective remedy.
Moreover, using the laboratory technique called spectroscopy, other researchers have found that different homeopathic medicines and different dilutions of the same medicine can be distinguished from each other, even though all should contain nothing but water.
Another theory suggests molecular clustering in water solutions showing a solution is made more and more dilute, as very stable and larger ‘clumps’ of material develop in dilute solutions rather than in more concentrated solutions.
This means that residual molecular clusters of the original substance might just be present in homeopathic dilutions.
Succussion might also be responsible for creating very tiny bubbles that could contain gaseous inclusions of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and possibly the homeopathic source material. And there is evidence that homeopathic dilutions have a demonstrable effect on living organisms examined under laboratory conditions.
Homeopathy has enjoyed a broader appeal in the UK than in other parts of the world, with many homeopathic hospitals serving patients.
Many of these British hospitals have published successful research trails confirming the efficacy of the treatment. Though homeopathy may not be completely understood, in many research trails more than 75% of the patients have had positive results from homeopathic treatment – well above what might be expected to be attributed to “the placebo effect.”
When consulting a homeopathic specialist it is wise to make sure they are trained and certified in this healing modality.