Homeopathy is a natural, holistic system of healing discovered by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann in the late 1700s. Homeopathy is based on the principle of cure, namely, that likes can be treated by likes. This means that small amounts of any substance which causes a disease in a healthy person can be used to treat that very same disease in a patient.

Hahnemann also believed that a spirit-like vital force or energy maintained the body’s inner balance. Symptoms are not things to be suppressed, but are indications of the body’s attempt to heal itself by changes in the vital force. Diseases are viewed as patterns of symptoms, the language of the vital force in its attempts at self-regulation. Homeopathic remedies stimulate the body’s vital energy and thereby encourage healing.

Homeopathic treatment is very individual. Patients with the same diagnosis are often cured with different remedies because they express the symptoms of their illness differently and because homeopathic cure is directed to all aspects of the person, not just the diagnosis. It is more about who the patient is rather than what the patient has.

There is one exception to the individual nature of homeopathic treatment and that is its use during epidemics. During an epidemic or pandemic, all patients are suffering from the same disease and most can be cured with the same small group of remedies. After treating about a dozen cases of the epidemic disease, a homeopathic physician can see the pattern of the indicated remedies. In 1813, during the battle of Leipzig, Hahnemann treated 180 cases of typhus, losing only two patients. This success has been repeated many times since. For instance, during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918, Gelsemium was the curative remedy for many patients, and homeopathic doctors had the lowest mortality rate compared to all other types of practitioners.

During December 2019 and January 2020, many homeopaths believed they were treating the yearly flu. However, within weeks, it became clear that patients were taking longer to recover; some were relapsing and some were left with a chronic cough. By March 2020, it was obvious that we were all treating COVID-19, which was reaching pandemic proportions. This was confirmed once the PCR test became available.

Almost immediately, homeopaths around the world were sending in their cured cases to a number of databases and a short list of potential remedies was generated. It also became clear that there were phases to COVID: early mild cases, progressively more involved cases with breathing difficulties and hospitalized cases. The worldwide homeopathic community developed short lists for each phase.

Hahnemann and the master homeopaths from its golden age all advised that as an epidemic progressed, the remedy short list would change as well. This has also been true for the COVID pandemic. The Wuhan phase, the Delta Phase and now the Omicron phase each have a slightly different short list of curative remedies. During the Omicron phase, symptoms are milder, duration is shorter and Omicron is easier to catch, but some individuals with pre-existing conditions may require hospitalization.

Homeopathy is also useful in the treatment of long-haul COVID symptoms and long-lasting reactions to the various COVID vaccines. On a smaller scale, homeopathy stands ready to assist patients with the monkeypox virus. Long before the age of antibiotics and antivirals, homeopathy has been used successfully to treat all infectious diseases including smallpox, monkeypox, chicken pox and other similar diseases.

Helping patients with homeopathy is very rewarding and it is encouraging to realize that a healing system from the 1700s is still relevant and effective. In an age when modern drugs for chronic illnesses can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year for regular infusions, homeopathy and other energy-based healing systems offer patients a real alternative. Beyond acute, episodic treatment, homeopathy provides an opportunity for lifelong health promotion and longevity.

Domenick J Masiello is a classical homeopath and a cranial osteopath. Masiello provides in-person visits for patients in the NYC metro area and multiple counties in southeastern NY and southwestern CT. He also provides telemedicine services. He is board certified in Homeopathy and Osteopathic Manipulation. He treats adults and children of all ages. See community resource guide listing, page 45.