Introductory articles from Dana Ullman, D.H.M., MPH, at Homeopathic Educational Services

Homeopathy Information Websites
National Center for Homeopathy
HomeopathyHome.com
Homeoinfo.com

There are lots of good beginning books on Homeopathy--here are two:

The Complete Homeopathy Handbook
Miranda Castro
1990
http://www.mirandacastro.com/

Insomnia and Castro's general prescribing guidelines
Top Ten Remedies for Seniors
Story of a Fracture
More case histories and articles

A first aid handbook for treating every day complaints like fevers, coughs, sore throats, childhood ailments, flu, etc. Castro gives a good introduction to the history and principles of Homeopathy and includes a section on "Myths and Misapprehensions" -  for example, 'Homeopathy is safe.' She points out that just in the same way that homeopathy can cure dramatically, it can also cause problems if the prescriber is not sufficiently experienced. Homeopathy is the opposite of allopathic medicine - if you continue to take a remedy after the condition has cleared, you may "prove" the remedy - suffer again from the symptoms the remedy was supposed to cure. She also points out that since Homeopathy is a completely holistic system, the remedies are prescribed based not only on the understanding of a large symptom picture, but on knowledge of the whole constitution of the patient.

Thus, if a remedy has been prescribed for a symptom rather than for the whole person it will work in a limited way, curing some symptoms but leaving others,so that if then another limited remedy is taken, the symptom picture can finally become very confused. All of which is not to discourage one from trying a homeopathic remedy, but to emphasize that the treatment can have powerful effects and needs to be undertaken with care.

She includes the Materia Medica and Repertories and prescribing guidelines, and sample cases.

Homeopathy: Beyond Flat Earth Medicine
An Introduction for Students and Patients
Timothy R. Dooley, N.D., M.D.
2002

This is an simple, practical explanation of the philosophy of homeopathy and how it is fundamentally different from allopathic medicine.Dr. Timothy Dooley is a rarity - though it is common for doctors trained in conventional medicine to adopt alternative practices, he trained first as a Naturopathic physician, and after years of practice, returned to school get a medical degree. He recounts that in addition to wanting more training in emergency medicine and surgery, he had

"the desire to see what it was like from the other side, to see if I was missing something that conventional medicine had. I wanted to see if medical doctors really had some kind of special knowledge to justify their superior attitude, some knowledge to which I was not a party.

My time as a student of Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine passed quickly. The first two years were the basic science years. I was accustomed to these from Naturopathic medical school and they were largely review to me.The second two years were mostly hospital work, doing rotations in various specialties such as surgery,pediatrics and psychiatry.

As the time passed, I realized that indeed something was missing--not with me, however, but with conventional medicine! It lacked an underlying perspective or basis in approaching patients. There was no real appreciation for the body's ability to heal itself. The patient's diseases were treated, often with love and caring, but there was not even a concept of working with the natural recuperative powers of the patient. Patients were treated as broken biochemical machines.

I learned a great deal in my medical training and met many fine people, but the wonder and enchantment of natural healing were nowhere to be found. I came to realize that no conventional medical speciality could satisfy me, that I would return to homeopathy."

If you are tempted to dismiss homeopathy as "too weird," it's worth considering that many homeopathic doctors, like Dr. Dooley, have a large range of possible treatments available to them, and yet they choose to use homeopathy as their main approach. Either they and their patients are not very rational, or they are getting results, no?

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