Everyone shares one common goal in life. Live as long as you can. You get hurt; you go to the doctor. You feel sick; you take medicine. You feel overweight; you exercise and eat right. We all need to take care of our bodies; it’s a natural instinct. Something engraved in our DNA. You could exercise and diet and go to the doctor, that’s perfectly fine. What about taking medicine? Conventional or traditional medicines are advertised to be helpful, but that’s no the whole truth. Traditional medicines give off side effects and hurt your body in the long run, but there is an alternative. Homeopathic medicine (or homeopathy) is a system for treating disease based on the administration of minute doses of a drug that in massive amounts produces symptoms in healthy individuals similar to those of the disease itself. That basically means that homeopathic medicines rely mainly on the body to help with the curing of the disease. Homeopathic medicines are natural medicines made from plants, animals, and minerals, which make them better for your body as well as being easy to take and curing the underlying disease. Many doctors feel that homeopathy is underused like Dr.Molly Keys of the Children’s Homeopathy Clinic. She says, “I think homeopathic and naturopathic care are underused and incredibly important pieces of the health care delivery system. If you think of the whole system as a pie--it seems to me that everyone who provides health care has a right and a reason to be a piece of the pie. The question becomes how much of the health care pie they take up. I believe that homeopathic and naturopathic care should be used more often than it is preventatively and in acute and chronic disease.” There are many reasons to use homeopathic remedies. It is easy to take, better for your body and actually cures the disease itself.

My parents have always said, “If it doesn’t taste good, it works.” I have always and forever will hate that saying. Before I was informed about homeopathy and homeopathic remedies I thought all medicine was nasty. All medicine was hard to swallow and I just could stand the taste of artificial grape flavoring in my mouth. It makes me want to puke. Now for you it might be pills that are hard to swallow or gross artificial medicine, like me, but in general fact is; medicine is disgusting. Homeopathic medicine is actually easier to take than conventional medicine. The majority of homeopathic pills can be dissolved into water and juice, which makes it easier and tastier to take. Many children, like me, don’t enjoy cough syrup for its artificial taste and sticky consistency. Others can be chewed up or dissolve in your mouth. As well as the simplicity of taking the medicine, the taste is good too. I have had a homeopathic medicine called Placebo and it was surprisingly simple. The small spherical medicine dissolved in my mouth and tasted like tapioca. It was extremely surprising that this medicine didn’t make me want to puke. This changed my outlook on medicine, so maybe it will change yours.

Think of your body as a puzzle. Traditional medicines are like finding or solving on piece of the puzzle, that’s curing the symptoms of the disease. On the other hand homeopathic medicines cure not only the disease but also the whole body, like solving the whole puzzle. The real saying is “Homeopathy takes into account the whole person. Often only one remedy may address all your complaint.” Lets say you have a fever. Most people take Acetaminophen, which is in Tylenol or ibuprofen, which is mostly in Advil and Motrin. People who prefer homeopathic remedies would take Aconite, Gelsemium, Sulphur, Belladonna, Bryonia, and/or Rhus toxicodendron. You, most likely not being familiar with homeopathic remides, have no clue what these are and you may be thinking, “Wouldn’t it be easier to just take Tylenol or Advil?” Well, the thing is it probably is but again, it doesn’t look at the body. Tylenol, Advil, and Motrin cure the symptoms for fever like headaches, chills, sweats and muscle pain. Homeopathic medicine will get rid of not only the symptoms but the fever as well. It is also surprisingly easier on your body, which leads me into my next topic.

There is one impossible fact to ignore in life. We live and we die. It’s a fact and there is no getting around it, but there are ways to improve the look on it. In order to live a long healthy life there are things you have to do. Eat healthy, exercise; go to the doctor’s office on a regular basis and so on. Since you were born you have been told to care for yourself and love your body because you only get one. So where does homeopathy come into all of this? Dr. Molly Keys says, “Homeopathic medicine works with the body’s own healing mechanisms so that less medicine and less toxic medicine can be more effective than synthetic or conventional medication. This means fewer to no side effects, and less long term damage to the body in order to contain the symptoms.” We have to address all symptoms no matter how bad they are. They indicate the body’s attempt to restore its health. Homeopathic medicine does that. It creates and assists the symptoms in order to cure the whole disease. You have to take big doses, which mean a lot of medicine. That’s a lot of pills, which brings me to taking homeopathic medicine.

So what about conventional medicine? Conventional medicine is extremely important. I would like to become a general surgeon when I grow up so conventional medicine is a big part of that career, but I believe homeopathic medicine should not be overlooked. Many doctors need conventional medicine because, without conventional medicine some illnesses might not be curable but homeopathy should be used for what it can. I wish homeopathy was used more often and was at the same level at conventional medicine but that isn’t going to happen without some work.

In order to be able to bring homeopathy to the same level as conventional medicine, homeopathic medicine has to be widely advertised. More people should be informed about homeopathic care with seminars, information nights and especially more homeopathic clinics. The general public has to be informed in order to give an opinion and choose a preference. I believe that homoeopathic care needs to be used more often in order to push the generation into the future of medicine. Who knows? The cure for cancer could be a homeopathic medicine and we may not even know it because homeopathy is overlooked. I also strongly believe in educating the public about homeopathic care and pushing it to be used more. So in the end there are pros and cons to both conventional and homeopathic medicines but the overall question is; How much do you care for your body?