What is the difference between Naturopathy and Homeopathy?
Attention: Just because a health practitioner is using and recommending the little white pellets (homeopathic medicine/remedies) doesn’t mean they are treating homeopathically; it’s all in the prescribing philosophy. Always check the credentials of the practitioners.
Naturopathy uses a spectrum of natural healing/treatment approaches – such as natural supplements, acupuncture, herbs, homeopathy, etc. A good comparison would be to consider that the Naturopath is like a family doctor who is diverse in their approach and treatment, while the Homeopath is a specialist focused on one specific type of medical healing, which is homeopathy. A Homeopath typically spends 3 to 4 years on studying the science of homeopathic medicine in an accredited college, whereas a Naturopath will spend few months on studying each healing modality (homeopathy, acupuncture, herbs, supplements, etc.) in an accredited naturopathic medicine college.
Homeopathy often helps people who have already made important changes in their lives (such as proper nutrition, exercising, quitting smoking, for instance) but who find those changes being ineffective or sometimes very restrictive. In these cases, there are internal factors that contribute to health deterioration. Among those: a fixed way of thinking or perceiving things in daily life; an old suppressed anger or suppressed deep grief and sorrow; emotions from the past, which were believed gone from the mental/emotional sphere; and, most importantly, health susceptibilities passed on from previous generations. When a true disease is present, the disease will eventually continue to get worse over time, even if the healthy life style is maintained. A Naturopath will use the medical philosophy of ?opposites? when prescribing a treatment. For example, for menopausal hot flashes, they may consider a supplement that would cause the body to feel the opposite, meaning colder. Conversely, the Homeopath’s view is that true healing will only be obtained when treatment is based on the philosophy of “similarities”, or “like cures like”. Therefore, a Homeopath would prescribe a hot medicine with a similar manifestation of heat and hot flashes to provoke the system/body to get rid of that specific health issue. Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine also treat in a very similar manner.
In many cases, cure can be attained without the use of long-term medicine/natural supplements, and at a fraction of the cost. This is possible because homeopathic medicines, like no other natural medicines, work directly on the Vital Force. The Vital Force is the energy that fights to get us well when we are sick, and maintains the state of health. Vital Force is the life energy, is what keeps us alive and flows through us, the energy without which no organism is alive. When we keep this Vital Force in balance and properly “charged” with the right homeopathic remedies or energy medicine, health issues are fixed.
Once the Vital Force is restored to normal, the abnormal sensations and functions (signs and symptoms) disappear and a balance is restored between mind and body. In homeopathy, cure means removal of symptoms and not their suppression. That is why, in some situations (depending on the history of the case), acute symptoms can be irrevocably cleared in a matter of couple of hours after the remedy was taken. No other system of natural medicine is capable of reaching this performance.
Homeopathic medicines are also different from naturopathic products (herbs, tinctures, supplements, etc.) in that they have been diluted to a micro-dose of their original substance. This specific characteristic makes them safe and free of complications from interfering with any medical prescription. For example, a patient on blood thinners (such as Warfarin or Coumadin) cannot take natural supplements such as fish oil, coenzyme Q10, magnesium, vitamin E, green tea, nor can s/he take certain allopathic medication such as cold or allergy medication, or most antibiotics because of the dangerous interactions between these and the blood thinner. Heart allopathic and naturopathic medications do not interfere with homeopathic medicine/remedies, making homeopathic medicines/remedies under the care of a Registered Homeopath, safe to take.
Another unique characteristic of homeopathy is that the homeopathic remedy is placed under the tongue where there are more receptors for absorption and where the remedy gets melted, making it very easily and quickly absorbed, in comparison to the supplements which have to be digested and assimilated by the stomach and colon. Most of the time, we have digestive and absorption problems, and this is why we may not fully assimilate the supplements we are taking.
Therefore Homeopathy will complement and complete any other natural and/or allopathic treatment in order to bring someone’s level of health balance to a final destination of their health journey.
Homeopathy is wholly capable of satisfying the therapeutic demands of this age better than any other system or school of medicine. Charles F. Menninger, M.D., founder of the Menninger Clinic (a psychiatric clinic)
For any questions about homeopathy, please call 647-313-5633.
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Resources:
Organon of Medicine Vital Force
Medication Interactions: Food, Supplements and Other Drugs
Herbal supplements may not mix with heart medicines – Mayo Clinic