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A Homeopath decide the patients
constitutional type by assessing a person's character and temperament, their
fears, food preferences and general factors such as weather, temperature,
seasons and time of the day which may worsen or improve physical condition. Knowing the
strength and weaknesses of an individual (i.e. his vital force) enables the Homeopath
to prescribe the best remedy.
Homeopathic
remedies help to speed up recovery, by stimulating the vital force, and strengthening
it. The remedies energize the vital force to rid the body of disease, helping
it to return to its healthy state.
Remedies
Homeopathy
medicines are made from plant, animal and mineral
extracts and diluted in varying degrees in order to avoid unpleasant side effects.
The remedies range from toxic substances such as snake
venom and mercury to common foods such as oats and onions. These are available
as lactose tablets, pillules, powder and granules.
The
actual process of making remedies is very precise. For remedies derived from
soluble substances, such as animal or plant extracts the raw material is dissolved
in an alcohol /water mixture that contains approximately 90 percent pure
alcohol and 10 percent distilled water (this ratio may vary depending on the
substance). This mixture is left to stand for 2-4 weeks, shaken occasionally
and then strained through a press. The resulting liquid is known as the mother
tincture or tincture.
Insoluble substances, such as gold, calcium carbonate and graphites, must first
be made soluble by a process known as 'trituration', in which they are ground
continually until they become soluble. They are then diluted and used in the
same way as naturally soluble substances. The remedies are so diluted that they no longer
contain a single molecule
of the original substance used to make them and yet they remain extremely effective.
Remedy Potencies
To
produce different remedy potencies, the mother tincture is diluted in an
alcohol/water mixture according to one of two scales, the decimal (*) and
centesimal (c). Between every stage of dilution the diluted tincture is shaken
vigorously. In the decimal scale the dilution factor is 1:10 and in the
centesimal it is 1:100. To produce a 1c potency of the Alluim remedy, for
example,
one drop of the mother tincture is added to 99 drops of an alcohol /water
mixture and shaken. To produce a 2c potency, one drop of the 1c mixture is
added to 99 drops of an alcohol/water mixture and succussed. The number of a
homeopathic remedy shows how may times it has been diluted and succussed, for
example- 6c has been diluted and shaken 6
times. Beyond a 12 c potency, a homeopathic remedy, is highly unlikely to retain
a molecule of the original substance.
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