Welcome to Know Homeopathy (Homoeopathy)

Homeopathy (also spelled homoeopathy or homoopathy) is a form of alternative medicine originated by Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), based on the hypothesis that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people will cure that disease in sick people. This hypothesis is known as "the law of similars" or "like cures like". Scientific research has found homeopathic remedies ineffective and their postulated mechanisms of action implausible. Conventional medicine generally considers homeopathy to be quackery. Homeopathic remedies are prepared by serial dilution in alcohol or distilled water, followed by forceful striking on an elastic body, called "succussion".

Each dilution followed by succussion is assumed to increase the remedy's potency. Homeopaths call this process "potentization". Dilution usually continues well past the point where none of the original substance remains. Apart from the symptoms, homeopaths consider the patient's physical and psychological state and life history, consult homeopathic reference books known as "repertories", and select a remedy based on the "totality of symptoms" as well as traits of the patient.