A homeopathic formulation is a substance that has been proved.
What does this mean?
A proving is an experiment where healthy human volunteers take a substance repeatedly until it causes symptoms. These symptoms are recorded. The symptoms recorded form the basis for prescribing in individuals suffering from similar symptoms.
This is a valid scientific experiment.
In Australia the Therapeutic Goods Administration recognizes a homeopathic proving as medium level scientific evidence. See archives on evidence. (TGA).
One great benefit of this approach is that people are able to describe how they feel accurately . This enables your homeopath to match symptoms accordingly.
For instance in hayfever symptoms may be subtley different. One person may have an itchy roof of mouth, another burning nasal discharges, another person marked sneezing. This is why we ask you to fill in a questionnaire. Presciptions are then tailored to your symptoms.
This simple principle has other indirect evidence to support its validity
Vaccination is in principle similar. A substance capable of causing disease is given to protect against that disease.
In medicine more broadly homeopathic effects are described as paradoxical effects. That is the medicine is causing what it is supposed to treat.
Examples include digitalis causing and curing heart arrthymias depending on the dosage. Dexamphetamine a stimulant that causes hyperactivity used to treat same in children. Biphosphonate drugs sometimes used to treat osteoporosis may cause osteonecrosis of the jaw. Phosphorous poisoning is know to cause osteonecrosis of the jaw. Homeopathic phosphorous rendered harmless by dilution and succussion might be applied to support bony integrity.
These examples give the reader some real world resonance with the concept of a proving and the principle of what a substance can cause it can cure.
Homeopathic medicines documented in this way are recorded in volumes of materia medica, describing their potential therapeutic indications.
These indications are then applied in practice , practitioners record and share their observations and experiences. This combination of experiment and experience survive today , a continuous record of therapeutic application over 200 years. There is no patent expiry!
We can now add to our knowledge of medicines in many instances from diverse contemporary medical disciplines: toxicology, physiology and biochemistry may all inform our knowledge of homeopathic formulations.
To follow will be some information about specific hayfever remedies and their prescribing indications.
