HOMEOPATHY & PAIN Introduction This research pap

Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician in the 1700s, began his career in medicine and after becoming disillusioned, he devoted his time to the formulation of a system he called homeopathy (Rampes & Davidson, 1997, p. 1450). He believed that disease symptoms, including pain, can be cured with very small amounts of a substance that produces a similar symptom, this was the law of similars. Homeopathy as a term is derived from the Greek words homoios, meaning similar, and pathos, meaning suffering or disease. Homeopathy incorporates the law of infinitesimals, which states that the smaller dose results in a more powerful effect. Hahnemann believed that a disease represented a bodily disturbance, the body has the ability to heal itself, and only a very small stimulus is necessary to initiate the healing process. Hahnemann and others administered homeopathic substances (from herbs, minerals, and other substances) to themselves and other healthy people, and kept records of observations which were put into reference books called materia medica. Rather than scientific testing of the substances, homeopathic "provings" which took place during the 1800s and

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5% of cases), allergies, depression, and eczema (Jonas & D'Epiro, 1999, p. 17). Dr. Jacobs and colleagues further undertook a study of homeopathic treatment for acute childhood diarrhea in Nicaragua. In this country, diarrhea is the leading cause of death for the first year of life. The trial included 81 children, given individualized homeopathic remedies such as remedies containing arsenic trioxide, German chamomile, quicksilver, and May-apple, all with standard oral rehydration solution, or standard rehydration alone (as recommended by the World Health Organization). Decreases in the duration of diarrhea for the homeopathic treatment group were statistically significant, as compared to the placebo; 72 hours of treatment resulted in decreased numbers of stools per day (Jonas & D'Epiro, 1999, p. 18). Homeopathy As An Alternative Traditional approaches may still believe that a symptom is the disease, however, the homeopathic discipline understands that a symptom is a signal of something else, and that the body defends and heals itself with the help of symptoms. For example, the fever helps the body to resist infection; fever helps the body produce interferon and it increases white blood cell activity (both factors fight infec
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