When people with chronic indigestion, headaches, arthritis, or other persistent symptoms are not receiving adequate treatment with conventional drugs, delay isn't a major problem, since they have already been waiting for curative care for years or even decades. Some homeopaths prescribe daily doses of a medicine and may change the dose or the medicine at any time, while others prescribe a single dose or a couple of doses and then wait one or more months before changing the dose or the medicine. When careful analysis of a patient's health history, present lifestyle, and potential environmental exposures does not indicate any obvious reason for nonresponse to a microdose, homeopaths may either consult with another homeopath or refer the patient to some other type of health practitioner. These are difficult questions that can best be answered by the cliche that homeopathy does not treat diseases, only people. Case histories in homeopathic books and journals describe successful treatment of just about every acute and chronic disease.
Many homeopaths assume that there are no incurable diseases, only incurable people.
It is assumed that this new combination of medicines will be helpful to a broad number of patients suffering from a specific complaint. These parameters are quite simplistic since a large number of chronic diseases become incurable once they have progressed to a certain stage. Homeopathic medicines may then alleviate pain and discomfort and may slow down the pathological process, but it is questionable if cure is possible under any kind of treatment. As for the dangers of the homeopathic medicines, it is widely recognized that their greatest danger may be only their delaying the use of other potentially effective medical treatments. Since most homeopaths are medical doctors or some other licensed medical professional, they generally know when conventional medical care is required or when referral to a specialist is indicated.