Uniting Homeopathy and Chinese Medicine

Homeopathy is essentially an alternative medical practice that treats a disease by the administration of diluted or minute doses of a remedy that would, in healthy persons, produce symptoms similar to those of the disease. Chinese Medicine is the general term to describe the numerous methods of healing used in Chinese culture for many thousands of years. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) works to harmonize the body's five basic elements: fire, wood, earth, metal, and water. Both Homeopathy and TCM work to correct internal imbalances or imbalanced energy, and are both described as energetic medicine. Energetic medicine is the practice of treating ailments and promoting health by working with the energy pathways of the body, which is a classic example of this, is acupuncture from TCM. Acupuncture works by inserting very fine needles into different energy points in the body, allowing the practitioner to stimulate, disperse and regulate the flow of chi, or vital energy, and restore a healthy energy balance. Both modalities are holistic, meaning they treat the patient as a whole, exploring the mental, physical and emotional aspects of a person.

Combining treatments from homeopathy and TCM can offer relief for ailments with several layers. Acupuncture can treat a physical pain, whereas homeopathy can treat a manifestation occurring in a deeper place. In fact, homeopathy prioritizes a person's mental and emotional state over the physical. The physical symptoms are later examined as a means to confirm the right remedy. Using physical symptoms alone can result in the wrong remedy. Many people might suffer from the same illness and share similar symptoms, but each individual is different, therefore, homeopathic remedies are selected based on more personal reflections.

TCM uses herbal formulas and acupuncture to treat pain and blocked energy flows within the body, resulting in organ disharmony. Illness enters the body and acts on a superficial level, progressing deeper into the body, and manifesting illness physically. Herbal formulas are often modified throughout treatment to promote healing and attack the disease at the appropriate stage. Both forms of medicine address the fluctuating nature of illness and continually respond to it with the right treatments. Individuals with both deep emotional trauma and physical symptoms would be ideal candidates for implementing both homeopathic remedies and acupuncture. For example, the liver is well known in Chinese Medicine to harbor emotions such as rage and unresolved anger.

A separate similarity between Homeopathy and Chinese Medicine is the observation and analyzing of the tongue and pulse. In TCM, tongue and pulse observations are used to help determine a person's underlying patterns, which helps the practitioner to choose the best treatment. In Homeopathy, tongue observation is used to confirm a remedy, but is not as vital to choosing one as in Chinese Medicine. Both practices also use dilution as an important part of formulating the right medicine, allowing for the excretion of toxic substances without significant side effects.

The most beneficial and important similarity between both medical practices is the focus on the patient as a whole. Each person may respond differently to a medicine and require different, alternate therapies. For more information on TCM and other treatment modalities, visit www.dreliaz.org/recommends-treatment.