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Oftentimes, people prefer natural treatments to conventional drugs or surgery, as some are anxious about various drug's side effects and others have concerns regarding the continued use of certain drugs.
Homeopathy is a medicinal system that involves treating the individual with highly diluted substances with the aim of triggering the body’s natural system of healing.
Homeopathic remedies seek to fuel the body's own healing mechanisms.
Homeopaths believe that any physical disease has a mental and emotional component. As such, a homeopathic diagnosis involves an analysis of physical symptoms (e.g., pain, fever), as well as the patient’s emotional and psychological state (e.g., anxiety, restlessness).
In addition, those who practice homeopathic medicine pay great attention to the patient' s constitution, which includes character traits such as creativity, intuitiveness, persistence, concentration and both physical and emotional stamina.
The appropriate homeopathic remedy takes all of these aspects into account. Therefore, individuality is the hallmark of homeopathic medicine, as diagnosis and remedy is uniquely personalized.
Homeopathy has been becoming more widely used worldwide for over 200 years. Homeopathy was pioneered by a German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann, who was shocked by many of the medical practices and treatments of the day, such as bloodletting and using poisons such as arsenic and mercury.
Dr. Hahnemann looked for a way to reduce the harmful side effects associated with these practices. Dr. Hahnemann found that giving smaller and smaller medicinal doses reduced toxicity, ultimately learning that the medicines appeared to be more effective the lower the dose.
Hahnemann is also considered to be a medical pioneer who worked tirelessly to improve medical science, reiterating that medicines be tested before use on patients.
Scientific evidence is mixed about the illnesses and conditions that respond well to homeopathic medicine. More controlled research is needed, as homeopathy appeared to be no better than placebo in some studies.
In other clinical studies, however, researchers believed they saw benefits from homeopathy. Preliminary research findings suggest that homeopathy may be helpful in treating childhood diarrhea, ear infection, asthma, allergies, colds and the flu, as well as symptoms of menopause (e.g., hot flashes, pain).
Some professional homeopaths specialize in treating grave illnesses (e.g., cancer, mental illness and autoimmune diseases) with homeopathic medicine. Whatever the case, be sure to communicate to your health care providers about the different therapies you are using (including homeopathic remedies), especially when it comes to life-threatening illnesses.
Sources:
Why Should Anyone Go To a Homeopathic Doctor? Web. www.emaxhealth.com. Accessed 30 Jan. 2012.
http://www.emaxhealth.com/60/633.html
Naturopathic Medicine. Web. www.emaxhealth.com. Accessed 30 Jan. 2012. http://www.naturopathic.org
What is Homeopathy? Web. www.umm.edu. Accessed 30 Jan. 2012. http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/homeopathy-000352.htm
Reviewed February 2, 2012
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited By Jessica Obert
Add a Comment51 Comments
Well I can't deny that Roy's work is interesting and well presented using the accepted scientific terms. I also believe that he is both honest in declaring his confict of interests (which seem minimal.
)
The studies presented however have the usual flaws these studies always have.
The data presented shows effects of alcosols at different succsion processes without a comparible control. How are we to rule out contamination? Especially as this paper has no corresponding repeat trial by another source ( a prerequisite to make one of the large meta-analysis reports).
And although this is an attempt to show the possibiliy of presence of effect beyond avogadro's constant, it still doesn't address all the other missing methods of the fundamental laws of homeopathy.
It doesn't determine the signal is stronger the more succsions (in fact even Luc Montagnier's reports of lauded by homeopathy shows the opposite)
It doesn't suggest any type of signal delivery system.
It doesn't address the supposed "like cures like" theory.
But none of that would matter if we just and a single repeatable high-quality trial which could show the medical benefits. That would be all encompassing.
All these problems the skeptics highlight with homeopathy are areas where it contradicts what we know about science. Of course that doesn't make it wrong, but it make the claim for efficacy a bold one. And a bold claim requires robust evidence, not sporadic low-quality massively out-weighed trails. Especially if we are to trust our health to it.
February 13, 2012 - 4:53amThis Comment
Well you STILL have not posted your link for the claim that WHO reported homeopathy is the second most used system of medicine in the world. Have you given up on that?
You have NOT answered the question whether you understand that 12C and above dilutes have the dilution ratio given, and that whatever effect it has is not molecular. Do you understand mathematical notation?
You persist in the appear to popularity. There are over 1.3 Billion Muslims in the world and it has been going longer than Homeopathy. Should I convert to Islam? Or Should Muslins convert to Christianity just because it is even more popular and has been going longer? Do you see why these appeals hold no value?
Never the less among your posts the Rustum Roy link intrigues me. I'll read it properly, find a fuller source and comment one I know more.
February 9, 2012 - 12:11pmThis Comment
Given your straw man argument about dilutions, your obvious lack of knowledge of Homeopathy and your misuse of the notions about appeal to popularity (along with all of the other misleading social media tricks popular among psuedoskeptics) you should realize that your tactics have been exposed as little more than malicious rumour-mongering.
February 13, 2012 - 12:31pmDo you understand that your attempts to use philosophical deception have failed?
Every single one of your canned/scripted responses are exposed at www.extraordinarymedicine.org
Homeopathy is a phenomenal medical system. Pseudoskepticism is a scam that subscribes to a religious philosophical devotion to Scientism rather than having anything to do with medicine at all.
This Comment
The scientific proofs of high dilutions:
1. Ultra-dilutions contain stable, unique molecular structures with recognizable properties. Materials Letters (Elsevier Publishing), "Ultra-dilute solutions have remarkable biological properties", Rustum Roy, 2008
http://rustumroy.com/Scans/803.pdf
2. From "Extreme high dilutions retain starting materials: A nano-particulate perspective": "Using market samples of metal-derived medicines from reputable manufacturers, we have demonstrated for the first time by Transmission Electron Microscopy, electron diffraction and chemical analysis by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy, the presence of physical entities in these extreme dilutions in the form of nanoparticles of the starting metals and their aggragates."
http://avilian.co.uk/
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20970092
3. Experiments done by BARC with potentized meds show a 50% to 150% increase in the blood flow in affected parts of the body within 30 minutes of administering the appropriate med. Their experiments show the selective action of homeopathic meds in different potencies especially in heart rate variable, blood flow and morphology.
The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Vol. 17, #8, 2011, pp 705-710
4. From "The memory of water: An Overview", 2007: "Water does store and transmit information concerning solutes by means of its hydrogen-bonded network."
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17678809
5. Proofs that dilutions beyond 12c have an energetic component:
www.high-dilutions.net/VersionAn/
6. From "Homeopathic potencies identified by a new magnetic resonance method: Homeopathy - An energetic medicine":
"Based on these results it can be concluded that homeopathic potencies consist of magnetic photons. Each remedy consists of a specific energy and of different frequencies in the HF range within the longer wave length."
www.hpathy.com/scientific-research/homeopathic-potencies-identified-by-a-new-magnetic-resonance-method/
www.homeopathyheals.me.co.uk/
7. Research on potentized dilutions and cell communication and repair provides a new understanding of potentization -- the concept of resonance.
http://mcarolboyce.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/similia-science-catches-up-with-homeopathy-june-071.pdf
Finally, last but far from least, homeopathy works for millions upon millions of people around the world. It works for animals. It works in the form of agrohomeopathy.
If you don't like homeopathy, by all means don't use it.
February 9, 2012 - 10:56amThis Comment
"....is it ethical to sell someone a placebo (your term but, in fact, not accurate as you apply it to h'pathy) for a self-limiting illness....". Why do you think your pharmacy sells meds for coughs, colds, sore throats, flu, gas, stomach upset, diarrhea, etc. etc.? Because people want and should have relieve from illness whether it's self-limiting or not. Unfortunately in the case of conventional meds they often create negative side effects for the people who use them. They even create serious negative effects. That's why conventional children's cough and cold meds have been taken off the market in the US. H'pathy works naturally by stimulating the immune system to heal the body itself. It does not rely on gross amounts of substance. It is those gross amounts of substance which make ConMed dangerous to use. In this quantum physics world, what matters is mind, energy and field, not composition.
Despite what you want other readers to believe, homeopathy does not act only by placebo. That has been proven in studies as well as in clinical use. No system of medicine would survive 200 years of use if it were not effective. H'pathy has not only survived but has and is growing in use . For examples of studies showing it works beyond placebo, see this one which concludes: "Placebo effects in classical homeopathy did not appear to be larger than placebo effects in conventional medicine."
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20129180
And this one which concludes: "Homeopathic potencies show effects distinct from those of placebo."
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2876326
You are obviously terribly confused about medicine, what constitutes a placebo and the reasons for treating self-limiting illnesses. Homeopathy has been proven in documented, clinical use spanning 200 years and in studies (RCT's and observational) to be extremely effective in treating....and often curing.....both self-limiting and chronic diseases. Other readers here with an interest in what h'pathy can do for them will be interested in the case records brought up by googling "homeopathy cured cases" and:
www.vithoulkas.com/en/homeopathy/cured-cases-examples.html
www.pbhrfindia.org/index.php/cure-of-brain-tumor-casestudy-1
www.pbhrfindia.org/index.php/cure-of-brain-tumor-casestudy-2
www.pbhrfindia.org/index.php/case-studies (cures of other cancers)
"Quoting Dana Ullman (who does know what he's talking about).....are not constructive."
You bet it's not constructive ------- not from your point of view! Disinformationalists never want the truth about the people (or agendas) behind disinformation campaigns to come out into the open any more than politicians want the truth about where their campaign money comes from to be brought out into the open.
Those of us who know h'pathy know what it can do for millions upon millions of suffering people (and animals and plants and crops and by extension the planet). Everyone should know who is attempting to influence them away from h'pathy and why.
Bless or cheers.......take your pick!
February 8, 2012 - 6:14pmThis Comment
This is the kind of response I expect. Low quality studies with small numbers or not actually testing directly for efficscy. This is why meta-analysis with a admission criteria based on size, replication, verification and quality (double blind etc) are used to eliminate cherry picking.
And as for not possibly surviving 200 year if it didn't work, well I guess I'll have to bring up rain dancing againg, or voodoo, or sacrificing virgins to harvest gods, or snake handling, or Opposing religions (are they all right) or exorcisms. All have long pedigrees most still going on today.
And Dana, bless him. It's not his shilling for Homeopathy, his trouble with the law for practicing medicine without a licence or his own misinformation campaign that bothers me. It's the fact that he cannot answer a straight question, perhaps you will.
Do you acknowledge that a 12 C remedy contains 1 part tincture to 10^23 parts solution and is equivalent to about 6 drop per Atlantic ocean? And that a remedy whose ratio is higher than this is unlikely to contain one molecule of the original substance?
I understand theories on the mechanism if homeopathy are not restricted to its molecular presence but by an energy imprint in the water, buy fo you accept those points?
February 8, 2012 - 8:34pmThis Comment
Just thought I'd check for a reply but instead must post note to self:
February 9, 2012 - 10:02amBetter to wait until you're sitting at a real keyboard before posting, rather than tapping away on a little cellphone screen.
Apologies for the typos!
This Comment
If you read the material at the links I post you would see that everything I have stated here is verified by reputable sources.
Accusations of lying and ridicule of people with the broad base of knowledge that you don't have or who hold points of view different from your personal points of view aren't effective or valid arguments for your opinions.....and that is all you have to offer, a personal opinion based on lack of knowledge of medicine and science in general and lack of knowledge of homeopathy in specific. Other posters here have already pointed some of this out to you.
February 8, 2012 - 1:51pmThis Comment
It's pretty obvious that the poster who has the pathological problem with Homeopathy is willing to try any tactics to try to discredit it. Their approach has all of the earmarks of people from those pseudoskeptic groups who keep harping the same, old, tired, arguments based on their philosophical perceptions of what they think research is all about while at the same time vociferously disagreeing with facts that disagree with them.
February 8, 2012 - 2:21pmAude Sapere. You obviously know what you're talking about.
This Comment
Again nothing of substance to add. You use the word pathological, because you like to think that my obvious dislike for homeopathy is some kind of , illness rather than consider the fact that I am both a scientist and a researcher, although admittedly not in medicine.
The philosophical area of "is it ethical to sell someone a placebo for a self-limiting illness" is a new and interesting area we have touched on. I'd be surprised if this doesn't happen in all areas if treatment.
The key issue of whether homeopathy is a medical phenomena or not is not a philosophical point, but among the alternatives the easiest to put to the test, as it's far easier to conduct an RCT than it is for acupunture for example.
Reallygoodmedicine has posted a number of studies claiming that they are evidence for the effects of homeopathy. Although I disagree on grounds of quality and confirmabilty, this is a constructive path.
Quoting Dana Ullman, or appeals to authority, or popularity, or even my liking it to rain-dancing, although fun, are not constructive.
February 8, 2012 - 3:01pmThis Comment