Tissue or cell salts
Homoeopathy (also spelt homeopathy) was first created by a German physician called Samuel Hahnemann in the early 1800's. Hahnemann reasoned that instead of suppressing symptoms he should seek to stimulate them to assist the body's natural healing process. This 'magic of the minimal dose' formed the basis of his treatment's underlying principles, often termed as like curing like, where:
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A medicine in large doses would produce symptoms of the disease, but in small doses cure that disease. |
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The extreme dilution of medicine enhances its curative properties and reduces any poisonous or undesirable side effects. |
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The medicines are prescribed individually by a study of the whole person, according to his or her temperament and responses. |
The substances diluted to create homoeopathic remedies are derived from plants, animals or minerals, of which some are poisonous if used in concentrated amounts. However, once they are diluted the minimal dose is designed to create a cure. Hahnemann devised a classification system of diluting doses to the minimum degree. The theory being that the more diluted the dose, the more effective the remedy would be.
Remedies are prescribed in two different scales, either x (1 part in 10) or c (1 part in 100) scale. The scale is always written after the strength or potency of the medicine. A guide to the classification of homoeopathic dilution is as follows:
| Low potencies |
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6x - 30x, or 6c - 30c |
| Medium potencies |
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30x - 200x or 30c - 200c |
| High potencies |
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above 200x, 1M(1: 1000), 10M(1:10,000), CM (1:100,000) |