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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
ReallyGoodMedicine has the facts. What you have presented is a complete distortion/nasty armchair opinion that parrots what pops up on pseudoskeptical "science" blogs where pseudophilosophers try to pass off bogus arguments right out of the Art of Deception as if they had anything to do with Science at all. www.extraordinarymedicine.org blows them all out of the water too.
February 6, 2012 - 1:27pmAgain, if you don't wish to use Homeopathy or any other form of non-conventional medicine then don't.
This Comment
Good of you to join in, however do feel free to bring something substantive to the discussion, such as pointing out why you think Homeopathy works, or how. The if you don't like it don't use it line works both ways. If you like it, use it, but don't endanger or fleece the gullible with your faith healing scam.
February 6, 2012 - 10:35pmThis Comment
The more verified facts I post about homeopathy with references and links the more abusive you become. Anonymous was quite correct in his/her assessment. You have a pathological hatred of a system of medicine you have never tried and know nothing about. Your hatred of homeopathy does nothing to vindicate conventional drug treatment with its many failures or the frauds committed by drug companies.
February 6, 2012 - 11:01amThis Comment
Thank you for exposing yourself as a copy/paste merchant who has no idea on the subject themselves.
If you want to know the truth about these studies, go to the source & not some homepathy propaganda mill.
In fact since YOU brought WHO up why not browse their database. It doesn't make comfortable reading for these snake-oil salesmen.
http://www.who.int/en/
And while you're there try and find where they say "homeopathy as the second most used system of medicine in the world."
You won't because they don't. Every publication is there and you can search by string.
It is a lie often perpetuated, and even though this contributer now knows it to be false, they will still repeat it because they lack conscience & are unable to concede that their life's love has been exposed as a fraud.
February 6, 2012 - 10:08amThis Comment
WHO recognized homeopathy as the second most used system of medicine in the world -- not the second most used alternative system of medicine:
www.zeusinfoservice.com/Reports/10-1-06.html
The Swiss HAT assessment reports homeopathy to be as effective as conventional drugs, safer and 15.4% less expensive:
http://homeopathyactiontrust.org/news/hta_report.html
Growth rates for homeopathy use:
http://avilian.co.uk./page/3/
www.hpathy.com/research/bhata-lancet-homeopathy.asp
http://style.uk.msn.com/health/marie-claire/articles.aspx
3.9 million US adults and 900,000 US children use homeopathy:
www.empowerher.com/adult-living-/content/overview-homeopathy-or-homeopathic-medicine
The truth about the Shang analysis:
www.extraordinarymedicine.org/2011/01/14/extraordinary-evidence-homeopathys-best-research
http://laughingmysocksoff.wordpress.com/2008/12/07/socked-conclusions-of-the-lancets-end-of-homeopathy-study-discredited/
And one more critique of the Shang meta-analysis which was disavowed by Elsevier Publishing for many reasons:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18834714
The lies that are told in an attempt to distort the facts that show homeopathy works to provide significant and sometimes substantial health benefits are truly amazing. It is hard to believe that anyone would go to the lengths that have been gone to here to influence the public away from a system of medicine which has done, does do and will continue to do so much for so many.
Let's not forget that the British Medical Journal analyzed 2,500 conventional treatments and found that only 11% could be proven to be beneficial:
http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge.jsp
February 7, 2012 - 7:41amThis Comment
I post links and references so that readers can see the material and come to their own conclusions.
Let me add that in 2005 WHO recognized homeopathy as the second most used system of medicine in the world. Conventional medicine is number three with TCM being number one. The use of homeopathy is growing annually at rates between 10% and 30% in countries around the world because it is safe, effective, inexpensive and green. Homeopathy has a venerable 200-year history of use with a laudable safety record. It is used by more than 200 million people. The Swiss government has just issued a report based on a five-year study of homeopathy and other CAM medicines. The report recommends that the government include them in its insurance programs. Its findings are that they are as effective as conventional medicine and also safer. It shows that homeopathy is 15.4% less expensive than conventional drugs.
Homeopathy is famous for its cures of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes. Anyone interested in seeing case records can find them by googling "homeopathy cured cases".
People specifically interested in homeopathic results in treating type 2 diabetes can find case records and comments at www.hpathy.com (search "Dr. Bhatia diabetes", "clinical cases" and "Ask the Doctor").
February 5, 2012 - 11:32amThis Comment
Are you really so illiterate as not understand the WHO report which put homeopathy as the second most used ALTERNATIVE medicine behind traditional chinese. Conventional medicine was not included n the study.
Even if it were, popularity is not proof of efficacy. Neither is its 200 years use other than to demonstrate 200 years of failure to prove it biological effect.
Of course its safer, its just a sugar pill. Conventional medicines are capable of having an effect and a side-effect, so there is always a risk which need cafefully evaluating. Often neglected.
However the many dangers of modern medicine and the greed of corporate pharmceuticalls has NO IMPACT on your particular brand of witchcraft.
The Swiss report deals with the cost and bearly mentions its efficacy except tocomment that Shang doesn't prove homeopathy is a placebo. (Shang doesn't claim to, it only says that the effect beyond a placebo is unproven, which is true)
And to persist with the dangerous myth that homeopathy can help type 2 diabeties marks you as a very dangerous person.
February 6, 2012 - 5:40amThis Comment
Homeopathy has been proven to be safe and effective in hundreds of studies published in 82 respected, peer-reviewed, national and international journals such as Cancer, Int'l J. of Oncology, Pediatrics, Rheumatology, British J. of Clinical Pharmacology, Allergologie and Archives of Emergency Medicine.
Some of those studies can be seen at:
www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org/articles-research
www.extraordinarymedicine.org
http://avilian.co.uk/
The first link includes the study done by Jacobs, et al., showing that homeopathy is effective in treating childhood diarrhea.
My personal experience with homeopathy is that it has been so effective in treating chronic and acute illnesses and tissue and nerve damage caused by injuries that it is now my primary form of medicine.
February 4, 2012 - 1:34pmThis Comment
Nothing could be further from the truth.
If it were proven then it would be absorbed into mainstream medicine. It remains a fringe treatment specifically because it is un-proven, improbabale and unethical.
February 5, 2012 - 10:17amThis Comment
"Preliminary research findings suggest that homeopathy may be helpful in treating childhood diarrhea, ear infection, asthma,"
And this is why homeopathy is so dangerous. In undoubtedly cannot help with these conditions and childhood diarrhea for example can be fatal.
Shame on this publication for perpetuating this dangerous witchcraft.
February 3, 2012 - 11:40amThis Comment