- Picture: Louise Mclean
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- In this article, I would like to dispel a plethora of
myths surrounding homeopathy which have been used to discredit this highly
efficacious healing art and science. Homeopaths are given few opportunities
in the media to defend their profession, so a lot of misconceptions abound.
The medical profession in general presents a fierce and blinkered opposition,
yet as Big Pharma is learning of all sorts of amazing cured cases, they
are determined to stamp out competition
- via EU regulation.
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- Myth No. 1 Homeopathic medicines cure nothing.
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- Homeopathy works by stimulating the body's OWN healing
mechanisms, through like for like. A substance that would cause symptoms
in a healthy person can be used to cure the same symptoms in a sick person
by giving a minute, highly potentised dose of that substance acting as
a catalyst to jump start their own healing mechanisms.
- Everyone of us has our own natural innate healing powers.
All that is needed is the correct stimulus to kick start it. In healthy
people this may just be rest and good food but many people become 'stuck'
in their physical, emotional or mental illness and cannot recover. Of
course there are different levels of health and the choice of potency
given should reflect that. Low potencies are given for very physically
ill people and higher for those whose problems are emotional or of the
mind. Homeopathy is very successful in treating emotional problems such
as stress, anxiety and fears.
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- Myth No 2 Homeopathic medicines are just water
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- Homeopathic medicines are NOT made using only dilution.
Dilution alone would do nothing whatsoever. Many homeopaths are getting
tired of reading this highly inaccurate reporting in the media.
- All homeopathic medicines are made by a process of dilution
and SUCCUSSION (potentisation through vigorous shaking - 100 shakes between
each potency - i.e. between a 1c and a 2c, between a 2c and a 3c potency,
between a 3c and a 4c, etc. etc.) Most homeopathic medicines can be bought
in either 6c or 30c from Boots or from health shops. Higher potencies
of 200c and 1m (1000c) can be obtained only from homeopathic pharmacies.
Succussion is nowadays done by machines, originally by hand. Succussion
brings out the formative intelligence of the substance and imprints it
upon the 60% distilled water + 40% alcohol medium used to make homeopathic
medicines - alcohol acting as a preservative.
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- Myth No. 3 homeopathic medicines are unscientific
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- Homeopathic medicines undergo a scientific 'Proving'
where a control group of 50+ healthy volunteers ('Provers') are instructed
to keep taking a remedy under trial until they develop symptoms which
they must record in detail. Substances that have been rigorously tested
include nearly everything on the Periodic Table - metals, minerals and
gases as well as plants and even things like snake venom.
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- The Provers are given a bottle of a new remedy being
tested in the 30c potency and must keep taking it until they develop symptoms,
which must be carefully recorded and then submitted to a database.
The Provers must be healthy and symptom-free to start with so that the
symptoms they experience are new ones CAUSED by the remedy.
- They must keep a careful daily note of what happens and
not discuss it with any of the other Provers. Whatever symptoms the Provers
all experienced in common become the black type symptoms of the remedy
which are then added to the Materia Medica of homeopathic medicines and
Homeopathic Repertory (encyclopedia of symptoms).
- Thus the curative indications of a remedy are obtained
for clinical use.
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- Symptoms have also been obtained through historical records
of accidental poisonings, such as Arsenic and Belladonna. For example,
poisoning by Arsenic causes vomitting, diarrhoea, restlessness, anxiety
and extreme chill. Therefore you might get a patient in this state (possibly
after food poisoning) and Arsenicum in a homepathic tablet will quickly
alleviate them.
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- There are more than 4,000+ homeopathic medicines including
nearly everything on the periodic table. But of course all of the remedies
tested have been diluted and succussed (potentised), so they are not
toxic like modern drugs.
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- The Homeopathic Materia Medica and Repertory are extremely
large books or divided into volumes. The Repertory is divided into sections
in this order: Mind, Vertigo, Head, Eye, Vision, Ear, Hearing, Nose, Face,
Mouth, Teeth, Throat, External Throat, Stomach, Abdomen, Rectum, Stool,
Bladder, Kidney, Prostate Gland, Urethra, Urine, Male, Female, Larynx,
Respiration, Cough, Expectoration, Chest, Back, Extremities, Sleep, Dreams,
Chill, Fever, Perspiration, Skin, Generals. Obviously some sections are
bigger than others!
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- In the various Repertories, remedies are listed alongside
the full range of symptoms (rubrics) in abbreviated form - all information
being systematically taken from Provings and clinical practice. Every
human state of mind, emotions and body is listed. Symptoms that would
mean nothing to a medical doctor can be looked up and the curative remedy
found in these huge book. Homeopathy is a study of human nature, endlessly
fascinating and how negative states of mind and emotions affect the physical
body culminating in illness.
- Nowadays many homeopaths use computer software programmes
which contain all this information.
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- Myth No. 4 homeopathic practitioners receive inadequate
training
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- In fact all qualified homeopathic practitioners undergo
a four year training course at accredited Colleges, which includes Anatomy
and Physiology, as well as Pathology and Disease, Materia Medica, Homeopathic
Philosophy and study of the Homeopathic Repertory. Yet medical doctors
and nurses treat after much shorter homeopathy courses. To be really
good, you need to study intensively for about 10 years. Homeopathy is
a lifetime's work and you never stop learning.
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- Myth No. 5 - there are no studies that prove homeopathy
works
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- In the past 24 years there have been more than 180 controlled,
and 118 randomized, trials into homeopathy, which were analysed by four
separate meta-analyses. In each case, the researchers concluded that
the benefits of homeopathy went far beyond that which could be explained
purely by the placebo effect. Another meta-analysis found that 65 of
the 89 trials analysed had produced an effect way beyond placebo (source
WDDTY www.wddty.co.uk )
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- A study of 6500 patients at the Bristol Homeopathic hospital
was conducted showing that over 70% of patients reported complete cure
or significant improvement of their symptoms. http:// news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4454856.stm
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- A study on the properties of water was performed by Dr.
Rustrum Roy. This paper provides an interdisciplinary base of information
on the structure of liquid water.
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- The Structure Of Liquid Water; Novel Insights From Materials
Research; Potential Relevance To Homeopathy
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- Rustum Roy1, W.A. Tiller2, Iris Bell3, M. R. Hoover4
- Received: 2 August 2004 Revised: 6 September 2004 Accepted:
14
- http://www.rustumroy.com/Roy_Structure%20of%20Water.pdf
- http://www.infiniteconferencing.com/Events/nch/051607nch/recording-
playback.html
- Homeopathy can never be tested properly through conventional
trials because each prescription is individualised as every person is
unique. Therefore 10 people with arthritis, for example, may all need
a different homeopathic medicine. So it is far from ideal to follow the
allopathic trial paradigm to test homeopathy. In orthodox medicine trials,
all are given the same medicine to be tested. In homeopathy all may be
given different medicines!
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- Anybody who has an understanding of the principles of
homeopathy can be left in no doubt that we are dealing with a scientific
therapeutic method in the best possible sense: it is based on observation,
facts and phenomena and follows the rules of inductive logic that can
be tested in daily practice. It is a comprehensive and comprehensible
mode of therapy, which in some countries is first line treatment for the
whole range of acute and chronic conditions. It has been proven abundantly
that it is superior in the treatment of epidemic diseases to allopathy.
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- It is amazing how people, who like to see themselves
on the side of unprejudiced evaluation, can be so blinkered. People pass
judgment on homeopathy who have never bothered to study it. Like any science
it takes time to learn (especially to learn it correctly) and years of
practice to master but the rewards for patients, practitioners and the
NHS purse are great. Before those who preach pure science come down on
therapies like homeopathy too heavily, they should ask themselves how
many of the accepted treatments within the NHS have a scientific evidence
base?
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- With every homeopathic medicine we know exactly the substance
it was made from, unlike most modern drugs where we have no clue of the
ingredients. This is ironic too as ALL natural health products, whether
vitamin, mineral or food supplement must clearly state on the label every
single ingredient. When we go to the supermarket or health food shop,
we hold up the packet or bottle and read what is in the product, yet people
happily swallow prescription drugs with no idea whatsoever what they have
taken!
- They could contain cyanide or any poison and the patient
would be none the wiser. With the new class of genetically modified drugs,
such as the one used in the Northwick Park drug trial in London, the
dangers of a massive allergic reaction, such as the drug testers experienced,
are even greater.
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- Those, who claim to be scientists, should have the ability
to at least try to understand different paradigms. If not, they look more
like people who have settled on a comfortable view of the world which
might soon look very outmoded indeed. As the great musician and conductor
Sir Yehudi Menhuin once said: 'Homeopathy is one of the few specialised
areas in medicine, which carries no disadvantages but only advantages.'.
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- Regarding the Horizon programme on homeopathy, Prof.
Madeleine Ennis was not involved in the Horizon test. The test was carried
out by Wayne Turnbull at Guys hospital, London. It has been conceded
that the Horizon test was not an exact replica of Ennis' successful trials.
Many of his protocols were different. You can read at this link where
he added in an ammonium chloride lysis step which would have ended up
killing the very basophils that were such an integral part of the test.
http://www.homeopathic.com/articles/ view,55
- Ennis' original test was replicated in 4 different labs
in 4 different countries.
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- Dr. Peter Fisher's article in PubMed discusses the 'End
of Homeopathy' editorial and meta-analysis published in the Lancet of
26th August 2005 and how nearly 100 successful studies that showed homeopathy
worked were thrown out and only a few that were inconclusive were used.
Dr. Fisher is the Queen's homeopathic physician and heads the Royal London
Homeopathic Hospital. (The vitriolic editorial was caused by the World
Health Organisation bringing out a draft report in 2005 which was favourable
towards homeopathy!)
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- "The final analysis which concluded that 'the clinical
effects of homoeopathy are placebo effects' was based on just eight clinical
trials of homeopathy. The Lancet's press release did not mention this,
instead giving the impression that the conclusions were based on all 110
trials." "One of the most serious criticisms is the complete
lack of transparency: we have no idea which eight trials were included
in the final, damning, analysis." "The literature references
are not given, nor any information on the diagnoses, numbers of patients,
etc., nor can these be deduced from the article. Prof. Egger has refused
several requests to disclose the identity of the eight trials. This is
not even a matter of scientific method, but of natural justice: the accused
has the right to know the evidence against him."
- "The Lancet meta-analysis in 2005 of homeopathic
trials was said to be based upon 110 placebo-controlled clinical trials
of homeopathy and 110 clinical trials of allopathy, which were said to
be matched but were in fact reduced to 21 trials of homeopathy and 9
of conventional medicine and further reduced to 8 and 6 trials."
- http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1375230
- Other Responses from the Homeopathic Community on the
Lancet Article
- http://www.ontariohomeopath.com/Response2.htm
- from WDDTY
- http://www.zeusinfoservice.com/Articles/ShockingTruth.html
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- George Vithoulkas' 'Science of Homeopathy' is still considered
an excellent exposition of the science.
- http://www.wholehealthnow.com/books/science-of-homeopathy.html
- More scientific studies:
- http://www.vhan.nl/documents/ScientificReportECHNov04.pdf
- http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/4/1/7
- http://www.positivehealth.com/research-list.php?subjectid=134
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- Myth No. 6 - homeopathic hospitals are a waste of money
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- There are 5 homeopathic hospitals in the UK - in London,
Liverpool, Tunbridge Wells, Bristol and Glasgow. They cost the NHS about
£6 million a year. Compare that to the £100 billion for the
total 2008 annual NHS budget!! These homeopathic hospitals SAVE money
for the NHS as the Smallwood report commissioned by Prince Charles has
demonstrated.
- http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/
christopher_smallwood_s_report_on_integrated_health_180.html
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- At one of the earliest debates on the NHS Act 1948 the
Government pledged that homoeopathy would continue to be available on
the health service as long as there were "patients wishing to receive
it and doctors willing to provide it". Many people who depend upon
it are alarmed at the possibility that Homeopathy may no longer be available
on the NHS. Since the passing of the NHS Act in 1948, a provision has
always been made for people to be treated at homeopathic hospitals in
the UK and until PCTs began to stop referring patients, there had indeed
been long waiting lists, some 6 months or more.
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- See this letter sent out to all Primary Care Trusts in
2006 signed by a group of professors hostile to homeopathy and putting
pressure on PCTs not to refer patients to the 5 homeopathic hospitals
in the UK. They wrote the letter on NHS headed paper!
- http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/pdf/Baum%20letter.pdf
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- Myth No. 7 Cure with homeopathy is simply the Placebo
Effect.
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- When Prince Charles treats his farm animals at Highgrove
with homeopathic medicines do they know that a remedy has been put in
the water they drink? Farmers successfully use homeopathic medicines
for their cows suffering from mastitis. Does a tiny baby know when their
fever drops dramatically using Belladonna or Aconite, that they have been
given a homeopathic medicine?! As anyone who has treated animals and
babies with homoepathic medicines will tell you, homeopathy works even
better on animals and babies than it does on adults! If proof were needed,
this is it. Not placebo.
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- Perhaps the most striking research on homeopathy that
goes some way to debunking the placebo argument is when homeopathic remedies
are tested on live tissue in a petri dish or studies involving animals
(mice in this case) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3208528.stm
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- Myth No. 8 - homeopathic medicines contain no molecules
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- Any remedy under a 12c or a 24x potency still contains
the original molecules of the substance and this is known as Avogadro's
number.
- These low potencies are most suitable for physical illness
of long duration as well as to heal specific organs that are not functioning
properly.
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- Myth No. 9 'Anecdotal Evidence' does not constitute
scientific evidence!
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- Most medical, surgical procedures and drug usage are
not backed by studies - only by anecdotal evidence. According to the
US Government's Office of Technology Assessment (Congress of the United
States, Office of Technology Assessment: Assessing the efficacy and safety
of medical technologies.Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office,
1978), only 10-20% of all medical procedures and off-label drug usage
are backed by clinical studies.
- Strong anecdotal evidence among informed professionals
is actually quite reliable - at least as reliable as clinical testing.
- Many clinical tests come to diametrically opposed conclusions.
You could say that the problem was discovered through anecdotal evidence
- and merely confirmed through a peer reviewed study.
- http://www.i-sis.org.uk/peerReviewUnderTheSpotlight.php
- The problem isn't with the use of anecdotal evidence.
It's with the double standard applied by the establishment (medical and
regulatory) that holds complementary medicine to an absurdly higher standard,
allowing medical doctors to do pretty much whatever they want. If informed
anecdotal evidence is allowable for 85% of all medical procedure and drug
usage, why is alternative health held to an impossible 0% standard?
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- Millions of people worldwide testify that homeopathy
cures their illnesses yet apparently that cannot be construed as 'evidence'.
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- If a person were to walk out of their house to the town
centre and witness someone having their bag snatched or witness a car
accident, then when they relay this information to the Police or to their
friends and family, it is anecdotal evidence.
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- If someone go on holiday, stays at a nice hotel, eats
delicious food, comes back home and relates the holiday to their friends,
that is anecdotal evidence.
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- Does that mean that the above never happened? According
to the detractors of complementary or alternative medicine, yes it does!
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- Millions of people have been cured of their diseases
or afflictions using homeopathy, herbs, healing, vitamin supplements,
special diets and on and on. Yet according to orthodox medicine all of
these cures are anecdotal evidence and as such do not merit any further
investigation, study, or validity. As far as orthodox medicine is concerned,
these cures never happened.
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- Yet what if someone witnessed a car accident and the
Police wanted them to make a statement? Would the statement in court
be dismissed as anecdotal evidence? Would the police, even if they arrived
at the scene of the accident to find the person still there comforting
the passengers or trying to help, say they had not been there and their
evidence is non existent? I don't think so.
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- So how for so long have we put up with the top dogs in
the medical establishment dismissing our cures as total nonsense, figments
of our imagination, placebo cures, or outright lies?
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- How when millions are cured around the world using homeopathic
medicines, can these cures be dismissed as unworthy of attention, simply
'anecdotal evidence'.
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- Orthodox medicine implies through this that all cures
with alternative medicine are untrue or simply imagined. Even when all
the evidence is put before them, they become angry and even aggressive,
simply refusing to see or to listen.
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- All the case notes in the surgery show that Mr. A had
arthritis for 5 years, had been on anti-flammatory medicines, yet after
homeopathic treatment for 6 months, the arthritis is cured. The reaction
of the doctor is either disbelief or an attitude where they will not talk
about it and do not want to know.
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- Of course there are some orthodox doctors who practise
acupuncture, homeopathy or herbs themselves and who do believe that these
therapies cured the patient but they are in the small minority.
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- It is always the top cancer specialists and professors
whose lives and vested interests are the most challenged by the idea that
anything other than pharmaceutical drugs or surgical interventions can
cure the patient.
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- Yet pharmaceutical drugs cure nothing. They merely SUPPRESS
the symptoms driving them deeper into the body of the patient.
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- Hence the eczema patient whose skin symptoms have been
suppressed, goes on to develop asthma. The arthritic patient whose joint
pains are suppressed, eventually will go on to develop heart disease.
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- The doctor makes no connection whatsoever that their
drugs have created these deeper illnesses but just goes on to give the
patient more and more powerful drugs, making the patient sicker still.
- Then when they die, they say, 'We did everything we could'.
Yes and you killed the patient!
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- After homeopathic treatment, careful analysis is taken
of the Direction of Cure of the patient's symptoms. Constance Hering
was a converted skeptic of homeopathy. As a young man in Germany in
the early nineteenth century, Hering had been assigned the task of reviewing
Homeopathy because his medical mentor (a fervent anti- homeopath) had been
asked by a publisher to write a book exposing homeopathy as unworthy.
Having been given this task, Hering conducted a detailed study but concluded
the opposite from the requested results! He was the first to talk about
the Law of Cure which says that symptoms are cured from above down, from
the inside out and in the reverse order of their appearance. This has
stood the test of time in clinical experience. A simple example would
be after a curative remedy is given for eczema all over the body, we
would see the eczema start to move down and when it is only on the ankles,
we know it is nearly cured.
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- The body is always intelligent. That is why the human
race has survived. When a baby is conceived, Nature chooses the best
genes from both parents in order to create a stronger, healthier human.
- If the parents are both taking drugs of any kind, whether
legal or illegal, the health of the baby will be compromised.
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- If only doctors and scientists would study Nature, they
would find all the answers and instead of going against it, learn from
it.
- There is only one true science and that is the science
of Nature.
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- The human race has survived because we all have an innate
healing power in our bodies. In homeopathy for example, this is called
the Vital Force. Homeopathy stimulates the vital force to heal the body,
through like for like (using a potentised substance that would cause the
symptoms but in a tiny dose acts as a catalyst for healing).
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- So in conclusion, there is no question that dismissing
cures as Anecdotal Evidence through the use of natural medicine, is nothing
more than a whitewashand a desperate means of suppressing the knowledge
of those cures to the public as a whole.
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- Samuel Hahnemann
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- Hahnemann was a doctor but gave up his practice because
he was appalled at the poisonous side effects of most available medicine.
- He started experimenting and did something rather novel
- he took some quinine, while perfectly healthy. He observed that the
effect on him was identical to a malarial attack: alternating fever with
heat and chills. This is where homeopathy started: a substance, given
to a healthy individual, causes symptoms. If given to someone who suffers
those symptoms, it will thus neutralise the sickness.
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- After his observations on quinine, Hahnemann went on
to test hundreds of substances on himself and willing, healthy volunteers,
used the tested substances for matching symptoms in his patients and
all the while kept accounts of detailed observations.
- Of course, Hahnemann had an antecedent, still well-known
today because all doctors still swear an oath to him to promise best
medical practice: Hippocrates. Hippocrates stated that there were two
laws of healing the law of opposites (allopathy) and the law of
similars (homeopathy). A Greek physician called Galen had laid these
rules down in about 150 AD. Homeopathic theories are based on fixed principles
of the Laws of Nature which do not change - unlike medical theories which
are constantly changing! Homeopathy is both a science and an art.
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- Far from being ideas-based, this is completely evidence-based,
empirical medicine an almost unique concept at the time. After some years
of practicing like this, Hahnemann was still not satisfied.
- The substances he was using, while more effective than
normal medical practice, were still having side effects. Or, if he reduced
dosage too far, there was no effect. This is when he developed the concept
of potentisation, the serial dilution that opponents of homeopathy deride.
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- Treating the Whole Person or Holistic Healing
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- We are not just a collection of parts to be fixed as
doctors treat us but ALWAYS operating as a whole person ALL of the time.
In other words medicines are chosen that treat the whole person and
not just the part. This may seem strange to grasp and yet doesn't it
in fact make total sense? Do we leave our sore throat on the desk of
the physician as we leave the doctor's surgery? Or our arthritic knee
behind. No, every single tiny function of our body operates as a WHOLE,
all of the time. You cannot treat one thing and not affect the rest.
That is why pharma drugs are so dangerous as for example, in treating
a cancerous tumour, the medicine will affect and disturb the other systems
of the body.
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- We are all energy beings. http://www.workingwithenergy.co.uk/
energy_centres.htm
- The electricity in our bodies transmits messages to all
parts/ systems of the body. Illness is caused when these messages are
not getting through. All systems of the body are communicating with each
other at all times. Water is a great conductor of electricity and it
transmits the electrical current. This is how homeopathic mediums work
by communicating a current/pattern/frequency of energy via the whole
human body to jump start the body's own inherent healing mechanisms.
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- Homeopathy treats different sorts of people with distinct
characters and personalities as well as different physical looks and
natures. It individualises each person and looks at their symptoms AS
A WHOLE.
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- Is it not true that no two people are alike? That every
person is unique? This is why you could line up 20 people with asthma
and they might all need a different homeopathic medicine. There are in
fact about 250 homeopathic medicines for asthma but the correct one for
each person must be selected taking into consideration such things as
what makes the condition better or worse, what time of day it comes on,
whether the person is hot or cold, worse for damp, need fresh air or prefer
the windows closed and so on. You would be amazed how each person's symptoms
are so different and yet they have all been diagnosed with asthma.
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- If people want to improve their looks, homeopathy does
just that.
- When you are healthy and well, you obviously look better!
- Homeopathic practitioners believe in PREVENTION, having
treatment can prevent illness rather than leaving it to the surgeon's
knife. There are thousands of homeopathic medicines which treat every
ailment known to man, truly the most wonderful science on this planet.
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- Many people buy self help books or think they can treat
themselves with over the counter remedies. This is a short term solution.
- The reason is as stated above. You cannot treat individual
symptoms without taking into consideration the rest of you! Only a qualified
and experienced homeopath who will spend 1-2 hours taking your full medical
history and all of your symptoms can prescribe the remedy that fits best.
In other words if you have hayfever, the homeopath will take into consideration
all other physical symptoms a as well as your personality, to come to
the correct prescription. Itchy, watery, red eyes, worse morning and
evening would be Sulphur but only if all the other things about you fit
the Sulphur picture. You cannot prescribe for yourself as you cannot
take all of it into consideration at once. So if for example you buy
Natrum Mur. for your hayfever (which is also an excellent remedy for this),
it may work for a bit if you are healthy but the hayfever will come back,
will not be cured for good, because it was not the remedy that fitted
best.
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- The only exception to this rule is in the treatment of
first aid and even then it often has to be individualised. An example
of when it does not is having a molar removed at the dentist. Firstly
you would take Arnica for bruising of the gums, secondly Hypericum for
the pain as the anaesthetic wears off (will remove pain completely), thirdly
Ledum for injection and fourthly Calendula (the remedy not the cream!)
for fast healing of the gums (or any other injury). Symphytum is the great
healer of broken bones.
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- Homeopaths believe that illnesses manifest for three
reasons:
- firstly they are genetically inherited from our parents,
grandparents, forefathers. Secondly, they can be caused by an traumatic
event such as death of a loved one, divorce, job loss - any event that
has a serious impact upon the person. Thirdly they can be caused from
drugs taken by our parents (passed onto the foetus) or by ourselves.
There is also of course accidents and injury.
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- Inherited disease can be traced back to one or more of
what homeopaths call MIASMS - these are syphilis, gonorrhoea, psora (scabies),
tuberculosis and cancer. We are all a mix of all of these as especially
TB, dates back thousands of years. However one or more of the miasms
is uppermost in a person and is an important aspect of the case-taking
to determine the appropriate medicines.
-
- So many people are in total ignorance of the VAST amount
of study needed to become an expert in this field. Also there are hundreds
of homeopathic books only available at specialist bookshops, many printed
in India where homeopathy is more popular than orthodox medicine.
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- Attacks on Homeopathy
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- After the ever increasing attacks on alternative medicine
in the media and in particular homeopathy, once again Professor Edzard
Ernst, the 'first professor of complementary medicine' (whose qualifications
for the job are still in question) discredits homeopathy. Yet in an interview
with Geoff Watts in 2003
- http://www.studentbmj.com/issues/04/01/careers/25.php
- entitled 'A Scientist in the Alternative Camp', Professor
Ernst stated:
- "Our family doctor in the little village outside
Munich where I grew up was a homoeopath. My mother swore by it. As a kid
I was treated homoeopathically. So this kind of medicine just came naturally.
Even during my studies I pursued other things like massage therapy and
acupuncture."
- "As a young doctor I had an appointment in a homoeopathic
hospital, and I was very impressed with its success rate. My boss told
me that much of this success came from discontinuing mainstream medication.
This made a big impression on me."
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- The truth is that homeopathy is getting ever more popular
and the drugs companies are putting out their spin in overdrive through
their science and media PR operation outlets to counteract this in any
way they can.
-
- The reason there is this incessant assault in the press
against homeopathy is because Pharma wields enormous power over the media
and because the popularity of homeopathy has been increasing due to side
effects of modern medicine. Also, unlike other natural therapies, it
is pills and in direct competition.
-
- At leat six million people use complementary treatments
each year in the UK, which offers clinically-effective and cost-effective
solutions to common health problems faced by NHS patients.
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- Historical Facts
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- In view of the highly inaccurate reporting and vitriolic
attacks in the recent press coverage on homeopathy, I would like to point
out some little known historical facts concerning homeopathy.
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- The practice of homeopathic medicine flourished in both
Europe and the US during the 1800s and early 1900s and was spectacularly
popular with European royalty and the British aristocracy, American entrepreneurs,
literary giants, and religious leaders.
-
- John D. Rockefeller referred to it as 'a progressive
and aggressive step in medicine' and was under homeopathic care throughout
the latter part of his life living to 99 years of age. A strong advocate
of homeopathy, major grants of between $300-$400 million he intended for
homeopathic institutions were instead used for orthodox medical institutions
in the early 1900s, under pressure from his son and his financial advisor,
Frederick Gates. (Source Dana Ullman)
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- In the United States in the early 1900s there were 22
homeopathic medical schools and over 100 homeopathic hospitals, 60 orphanages
and old people's homes and 1,000+ homeopathic pharmacies. Members of
the American Medical Association had great animosity towards homeopathy
after its formation in 1847 and it was decided to purge all local medical
societies of physicians who were homeopaths.
- This purge was successful in every state exceptMassachusetts
because homoepathy was so strong among the elite of Boston.
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- The AMA wanted to keep homoepaths out of their societies
and discourage any type of association with homeopaths. In 1855 the
AMA established a code of ethics which stated that orthodox physicians
would lose their membership if they even consulted with a homeopath.
If a physician lost his membership, it meant that in some States he no
longer had a licence to practice medicine.
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- Drug companies were antagonistic towards homeopathy,
collectively trying to suppress it. The medical journals they published
were used as mouthpieces against homeopathy and in support of orthodox
medicine.
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- At an AMA meeting, a respected orthodox physician said:
'We must admit that we never fought the homeopath on matters of principles;
- we fought him because he came into the community and
got the business.' Economic issues played a major role in what was allowed
to be practised.
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- Homeopathy attracted support from many of the most respected
members of society in the US, such as William James, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, Louisa M. Alcott, Mark Twain, former American Presidents James
Garfield and William McKinley. In Britain among its supporters were George
Bernard Shaw, Charles Dickens, W.B. Yeats, William Thackarey, Benjamin
Disraeli, Yehudi Menuhin. Other famous supporters were Dostoevsky, Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe and Mahatma Ghandi.
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