• What is homeopathy?
  A   Homeopathy works with our natural healing process and has been successfully used for over 200 years. Its safe and effective remedies are designed to stimulate the body’s natural reaction to fight illness and return to good health as soon as possible. With an ever-growing number of people seeking a natural way of treating their health, homeopathy can be used alongside conventional medicine and has a mounting evidence base to support it.
• What are its origins?
  A   Hippocrates, acclaimed as the father of modern medicine and honoured by doctors in the ‘Hippocratic Oath’, was the first to suggest that a person’s own healing ability was vital in choosing the right cure for an ailment.
  The founder of modern homeopathy was an eighteenth century German physician, Dr Samuel Hahnemann, who was so appalled by the practises of his day that he set out to find a healing approach that was safe, gentle and effective. He believed that rather than trying to suppress symptoms, the body should be stimulated to encourage its natural healing process.
  Today, homeopathic remedies are regulated by British Government via the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority and nearly 40% of GP partnerships in England provide access to complementary therapy (including homeopathy) for patients.
• How does it work?
  A   Homeopathy is based on three principles:
  - A medicine that in large doses creates the symptoms of a disease will, in small doses, cure it. This can be summed up in the phrase; ‘like cures like'
  - Extreme dilution enhances the medicine’s healing properties and eliminates any undesirable side effects along the way
  - Homeopathy takes the whole person into consideration
  
• What can homeopathy be used for?
  A   Many conditions can be treated effectively by homeopathy – from asthma, rheumatism, arthritis, eczema to more simple cases of cuts and bruises. Homeopathy is being used increasingly by doctors, dentists, midwives and many other healthcare professionals because of an increasing understanding of the therapeutic benefits and in response to growing public demand. Vets also find it a valuable addition to the range of treatments available for animals in their care.
• Who uses it?
  A   Over 30 million people in Europe use homeopathic remedies and, according to a recent Mintel report into complementary medicines, one in five adults in the UK bought homeopathic or herbal remedies over the counter in the last twelve months.
• What is a homeopathic remedy?
  A   Remedies are derived from a variety of natural materials, including plants and minerals, and are prepared in licensed laboratories under strict quality control. They are given in many forms, including tablet, granule or powder.
• How are remedies made?
  A   Homeopathic remedies are made by a series of dilutions and with succession. For example, a 6c potency remedy means that the substance has undergone six steps in a series of dilutions, where each step involves taking one part of the remedy and diluting it in 99 parts of alcohol.
• How do you choose which potency of remedy?
  A   Over the counter remedies tend to come in 6c and 30c potencies. Choose the former for common or long-standing ailments, and the latter for dealing with emergencies and chronic conditions. (A homeopath will, of course, be able to look at your case in more detail and prescribe from a wider range of remedies at different strengths, based on your individual situation.) A fascinating but as yet unexplained characteristic of homeopathic remedies is that the more dilute a remedy, the more effective it is. For example, a remedy diluted 30 times by a factor of 100 (strength 30C) is much more potent than a 6C remedy, even though it contains less of the original substance.
• How do you use homeopathic remedies?
  A   Remedies should be taken half an hour before or after eating or drinking. They should not be handled directly but popped on or under the tongue and allowed to dissolve. As with many conventional tablets and pillules, homeopathic remedies contain small amounts of lactose so people with a lactose intolerance should be aware and ask for an alternative.
• How do you store homeopathic remedies?
  A   Medicines should be kept in their original container away from direct light and strong smelling substances such as perfume or aromatherapy oils. Spilled tablets or pills should be thrown away.
• Where can you obtain homeopathic remedies?
  A   Homeopathic remedies are widely available and can be found in good pharmacies, health food stores and online at www.nelsonshomeopathy.com
• Should I stop taking my other medication?
  A   No. Homeopathic remedies can be safely taken along with other medicines. It can be very dangerous to stop a medicine which you have been using for some time. The remedies will not interfere with your other drugs, but you should always consult your doctor before use when taking other medications. Pregnant women should consult their doctor or homeopath before using homeopathic remedies.
• What happens when you see a homeopath?
  A   The first consultation lasts between 1-2 hours and you’ll be asked questions about your physical, mental and emotional health, lifestyle, preferences and fears. To discover how best to help, the homeopath will want to know not only about your illness but also about you. How you are affected by environmental factors such as temperature and the weather, the kinds of food that you eat or the food you avoid, your moods and feelings, and your medical history will all help to establish a complete picture of you as a person. The homeopath then relates the description of your current symptoms to all this background knowledge in order to prescribe the correct remedy at the right strength. Choice of remedy is therefore based on you and your condition, not just on your symptoms. A follow-up visit may be needed to check you have the correct remedy and that it’s working as expected. Benefits should be obvious within a few days but it’s not unusual to feel slightly worse before you feel better. This is known as ‘the healing crisis’ and is a sign the body is trying to rebalance.
• Funding your treatment
  A   Many medical insurance companies will fund or partially fund homeopathic treatment. For the current list of companies look at the Society of Homeopaths website (Where you should find the following list) :
  FUNDING YOUR TREATMENT
  Health Insurance Companies
  The following list of Private Medical Insurance Companies all cover homeopathy and recognise Registered members.
  BCWA
  Tel: 0800 294 7302
  GP referral required
  Best Health
  Tel: 0207 202 1390
  No GP referral
  BHSF Ltd
  Tel: 0208 628 3434
  No GP referral
  Cigna UK
  Tel: 01475 492 187
  Specialist referral
  Civil Service Healthcare
  Tel: 0208 410 0440
  GP referral required
  Clinicare
  Tel: 01462 688 100
  GP referral may vary
  Exeter Friendly Society
  Tel: 08080 55 65 75
  No GP referral
  Healthnet
  Tel: 08703 50 40 30
  GP referral required
  Healthshield Friendly Society Ltd
  Tel: 01270 588 555
  No GP referral
  Healthsure Tel: 0800 1 696 989
  No GP referral
  Hospital Saturday
  Tel: 01204 522 775
  GP referral required
  HSA
  Tel: 08702 425 454
  No GP referral
  HSF
  Tel: 0207 928 6662
  No GP referral
  IFL Signature
  Tel: 0800 316 1242
  GP referral required
  LHF Tel: 0800 980 3207
  No GP referral
  Medicash Tel: 0800 011 2222
  No GP referral
  Medisure Tel: 0870 333 1174
  GP referral may vary
  National Deposit Friendly Society Tel: 0117 973 9003
  GP referral required
  Paycare
  Tel: 01902 371 000
  No GP referral
  PHS (Medicaid)
  Tel: 01234 267 371
  No GP referral
  Pinnacle
  Tel: 0208 207 9100
  No GP referral
  Sovereign Health Care
  Tel: 01274 841 130
  No GP referral
  Standard Life Health Care
  Tel: 0845 279 8877
  GP referral required
  Universal Provident Ltd
  Tel: 08448 730 902
  GP referral required
  Westfield Health
  Tel: 0114 250 2000
  GP referral required
  

Homeopathy Research

Whilst Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) are not necessarily the best way to measure homeopathy as they have been designed to measure the effectiveness of pharmaceutical drugs that are purely about treating a particular symptom rather than the whole person, there have indeed been a number of positive outcomes from clinical trials into the effectiveness of homeopathy. This page contains links to key research on homeopathy – useful when answering questions about the evidence base.

The Faculty of Homeopathy and the Society of Homeopaths both have excellent pages on homeopathy research on their websites. Please click on the links below: