Why do some homeopathic medicines work and others not work or make symptoms worse?

Homeopathic medicine relies on the theory that “Like Cures Like.”  If a homeopathic medicine didn’t work, it wasn’t similar to your illness.  If it worked partially, it may have been close to your similar but not close enough.  This could also be a problem with dosage. 

There are instances when homeopathic medicine can make symptoms worse.  There are two scenarios in which this occurs.  One is when a medicine is given in high dose and it is an exact match to the illness; this is a temporary worsening of symptoms and is called an “aggravation.”  Explaining this scenario is useful in terms of the stuck drawer analogy: worsening of symptoms is similar to getting a stuck drawer unstuck; if one pushes the drawer in further (which logically would make it worse) then one is able to pull it out.  The second scenario is when the medicine was a close match but not a perfect match and the dosage was too high. 

As you can see, three things can happen when taking a homeopathic medicine that isn’t an exact match to one’s illness: it doesn’t work, it works partially, or it makes the symptoms worse.  Understanding homeopathy uses complex methodology and at times requires expertise.  When a medicine doesn’t work the way it is planned it is usually a problem with the prescriber not with the medicine or with the “vital force.”  Seek expert advice when in doubt.

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