Is one solution to the U.S. health care problem right under our noses?

In a large published study of 3,307 patients in Germany and Switzerland (BioMedCentral, 2008) researchers sought to evaluate health status changes under homeopathic treatment in routine care over a period of eight years.    This large scale study showed that patient disease severity decreased significantly between the beginning of the study and 2 and 8 years later.  Physical and mental quality of life scores also improved markedly.    Homeopathic treatment is often less expensive that most alternatives and has a remarkable safety record (AAHP Study, 2009).  Surely a system showing these effects that is less expensive and less toxic should be examined as part of solving the U.S. health care crisis.

Homeopathy is a 200-year-old system of medicine used successfully by over 100 million  patients worldwide.  It has a laudable and extensively documented clinical record and there are literally hundreds of high quality, peer-reviewed basic science, pre-clinical and clinical studies showing it works.  For more information on this system and the extensive research supporting efficacy of homeopathy, please visit
http://www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org/articles-research

One of the common questions about homeopathy is do the extremely dilute and gentle medicines really work?  Research shows it does.  Homeopathy is a 200-year-old system of medicine used successfully by over 200 million people worldwide.  It has a laudable and extensively documented clinical record and there are literally hundreds of high quality, peer-reviewed basic science, pre-clinical and clinical studies showing its effects.

In 2009, Majewsky, et. al., (researchers from the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, in Frick, Switzerland, the Institute of Complementary Medicine KIKOM, at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and the Clinic for Animal Reproduction, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universitat, Berlin, Germany) looked at research in homeopathy on healthy plants with particular reference to studies investigating specific effects of homeopathic remedies.  The literature review included English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish publications from 1920 to April 2009, using predefined selection criteria.  Included were experiments with healthy whole plants, seeds, plant parts and cells.  A total of 86 studies were reviewed.

Almost all the studies observed effects of homeopathic remedies on plants, even in high dilutions far beyond the Avogadro number.   Could these finding have potential for agriculture?  Perhaps.  More importantly for now – they provide further evidence of the biological effects of homeopathic remedies.

Homeopathy is a 200-year-old system of medicine used successfully by over 100 million  patients worldwide.  It has a laudable and extensively documented clinical record and there are literally hundreds of high quality, peer-reviewed basic science, pre-clinical and clinical studies showing it works.  For more information on this system and the extensive research supporting the efficacy of homeopathy, please visit
http://www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org/articles-research

The National Center for Homeopathy (www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org) is launching a terrific series of regular, high quality, interactive training webinars, led by accomplished instructors, (available to National Center members – and they are FREE) on how to use homeopathy to treat yourself and your family.

The series is called “Homeopathy at Home”.  “Homeopathy at Home” will introduce newcomers to homeopathy, as well as providing practical steps for more experienced home prescribers.  The five different webinars in 2011 will be thorough and cover the basics of selecting remedies for family members with various conditions including flu, ear infections, sore throats, coughs, stomach ailments, first aid and more.   What’s more – you will be able to listen to each event live and interactively or, if it is more convenient, at a later time from the archives.

The first webinar, “Homeopathy at Home: Colds and Coughs”, is scheduled for March 13th at 7:00 PM Eastern time and will be led by Ann Jerome, PhD, CCH.  Ann Jerome is a wonderful instructor as well as NCH Dean of Education and Director of the live and online homeopathy school, the Academy of Classical Homeopathy.

If you want to participate in this great learning opportunity, and gain access to other great member benefits, please go online to http://www.homeopathic.org/member-benefits.

Homeopathy is a 200-year-old system of medicine used successfully by over 100 million  patients worldwide.  It has a laudable and extensively documented clinical record and there are literally hundreds of high quality, peer-reviewed basic science, pre-clinical and clinical studies showing it works.  For more information on this system and the extensive research supporting efficacy, please visit
http://www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org/articles-research

Dr. Luc Montagnier, the French virologist who won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for discovering the AIDS virus, was recently interviewed by Science magazine (January, 2011) and had this to say about homeopathic medicine:

“I can’t say that homeopathy is right in everything. What I can say now is that the high dilutions (used in homeopathy) are right. High dilutions of something are not nothing. They are water structures which mimic the original molecules.”

Homeopathy has long been favored by over 100 million patients around the world.   It has a laudable and extensively documented clinical record and there are literally hundreds of high quality, peer-reviewed basic science, pre-clinical and clinical studies showing it works.  For people suffering from acute or chronic disease – it is a godsend.

Skeptics of homeopathy have long wondered how a system based on ultra-dilute medicines could be effective.

Researchers at Penn State, The University of Washington, Moscow State University, London South Bank University and other institutions have begun to successfully answer that question.  Water can be restructured to carry information.

Adding to the growing science around ultra-dilutions, this summer (2010), Dr. Montagnier stunned his colleagues at a prestigious international scientific conference when he presented a new method for detecting viral infections that bore close parallels to the basic tenets of homeopathy.
Montagnier told the conference that solutions containing the DNA of pathogenic bacteria and viruses, “could emit low frequency radio waves” that cause surrounding water molecules to become arranged into “nanostructures”.  These water molecules, he said, could then also emit radio waves.

He (like his colleagues at Penn State, Moscow State University, etc.) suggests water can retain such properties even after the original solutions were massively diluted, to the point where the original DNA had effectively vanished.  In this way, he suggested, water could retain the “memory” of substances with which it had been in contact — and doctors could use the emissions to detect disease.

Homeopathy is a 200-year-old system of medicine used successfully by over 100 million  patients worldwide.  It has a laudable and extensively documented clinical record and there are literally hundreds of high quality, peer-reviewed basic science, pre-clinical and clinical studies showing it works.  For more information on this system and the extensive research on homeopathy supporting efficacy, please visit http://www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org/articles-research

For more information about homeopathy – visit the organizing body for homeopathic medicine in the United States – the National Center for Homeopathy in Alexandria, Virginia at www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.com.

Lionel R Milgrom PhD, FRSC, MARH†

ABSTRACT

Though in use for over 200 years, and still benefiting millions of people world-wide today, homeopathy is currently under continuous attacks for being ‘unscientific’. The reasons for this can be understood in terms of what might be called a ‘New Fundamentalism’, emanating particularly but not exclusively from within biomedicine, and supported in some sections of the media. Possible reasons for this are discussed.

New Fundamentalism’s hallmarks include the denial of evidence for the efficacy of any therapeutic modality that cannot be consistently ‘proven’ using double-blind randomised controlled trials. It excludes explanations of homeopathy’s efficacy; ignores, excoriates, or considers current research data supporting those explanations incomprehensible, particularly from outside biomedicine: it is also not averse to using experimental bias, hear-say, and innuendo in order to discredit homeopathy. Thus, New Fundamentalism is itself unscientific.

This may have consequences in the future for how practitioners, researchers, and patients of homeopathy/CAMs engage and negotiate with primary healthcare systems.

INTRODUCTION

Acts of terrorism aside, in a pluralistic society intolerance can work far more insidiously on an intellectual level, by stifling and ultimately removing access to alternative forms of knowledge. For example, the evidence-based discourse that some think has ‘colonised’ much of contemporary conventional medicine,1 could be said to be based on a ‘naïve inductivist’ scientific paradigm2 (i.e., that purely objective observations can be made which lead to irrefutable facts: that generalisations can be induced from these facts; and that scientific laws and theories result from these inductions) which ideologically excludes alternative therapies (such as homeopathy), and their discourses. The discourse of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) has recently been compared to a ‘fascist’ structure for its active intolerance of pluralism in healthcare systems.1 As such; over-zealous interpretation of the principles of EBM could be said to promote an attitude that demeans and attempts to disempower practitioners and patients of homeopathy/CAMs; ultimately seeking to deprive millions of people of these therapeutic choices because they are considered ‘unscientific’. The uglier side of this attitude is displayed on Internet web-sites virtually on a daily basis.

An examination of such sceptical web sites reveals a high level of emotive subjectivity directed against CAMs, particularly homeopathy. Given the warnings these sites display, about not tolerating offensive language, it is remarkable that what can only described as abuse masquerading as debate, is allowed onto a widely-used communication medium: easier, perhaps, to ignore these websites, and go about one’s business. Unfortunately that would be to bury one’s head in the sand, for it is now appearing in mainstream literature.

Take, for example, the respected and influential UK Sunday newspaper The Observer. One of its columnists, Nick Cohen (ironically, a popular scourge of political correctness in what is essentially a left-wing newspaper) recently had this to say.3a “….Yet dismissing homeopathy as quackery given by and for the feeble-minded is surprisingly hard. Anti-elitism dominates our society and many feel uncomfortable saying that the six million people who take alternative medicines are foolish - to put the case against them at its kindest. They sincerely believe in phoney remedies and sincerity trumps sense in modern culture.” And, “(homeopathy’s) effects can be positively deadly”, a sentiment repeated recently in the Lancet.3

All this ignores conventional medicine’s own highly questionable safety record, something that has recently come under scrutiny from the UK’s House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. Thus, it concluded that in 2006 alone and including fatalities, at least 2.68 million people were harmed by conventional medical intervention: that represents a staggering 4.5% of the UK population.4

Clearly, homeopathy is being deliberately misrepresented when it is referred to as ‘deadly’, but is now considered fair game; to be lambasted and lumped together with religion and creationism, etc: a point of view that uncritically condones a Procrustean version of scientific rationality. From whence does it spring?

Read Full Paper: Homeopathy and the New Fundamentalism

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are increasing in number, perhaps signaling the end of an era in drug treatments.

The December 7, 2010 edition of Newsweek magazine paints a frightening picture regarding conventional medicine’s ability to fight bacterial infections.

“But infectious-disease specialists like Brad Spellberg of UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine have been reading up on those days because of a growing fear they are not all in the past. Wealthy countries take for granted the triumph of science over bacteria, but increasingly doctors are coming up against infections that can be quelled only by the most powerful antibiotics known to medicine—or by none of them. “It’s already happening,” says Spellberg, to the tune of roughly 100,000 deaths a year from antibiotic-resistant infections in the United States alone. “But it’s going to become much more common.” Imagine a world in which antibiotics resemble chemotherapy drugs—producing toxic side effects and unpredictable outcomes instead of the guaranteed cures we have come to expect—and you can understand what keeps Spellberg awake at night.”

While it is true that medicine’s anti-biotic defenses are growing weaker, there is another option, one that has been used effectively for over 200 years.  Homeopathy.

Homeopathy is a system of medicine used by tens of millions of people around the world that is based on a law of nature first discovered by Hippocrates and others.  That law states that substances capable of producing symptoms of disease can cure those symptoms in a sick person.  In the US, the medicines used in homeopathy are produced in pharmacies under strict FDA guidelines. They are non-toxic, gentle, inexpensive – and effective.

There are hundreds of high quality, peer reviewed pre-clinical and clinical studies published in journals like Pediatrics, Rheumatology, Lancet, CHEST, and others showing that homeopathy works for patients with a range of ailments.  What’s more, reliable medical records from the 19th and 20th centuries recorded during deadly bacterial and viral epidemics of influenza, pneumonia, cholera, diphtheria, yellow fever, dengue fever, scarlet fever, typhoid, malaria and other infectious diseases repeatedly show that homeopathy is an effective system for treating patients with virulent infectious conditions.  Epidemiological evidence from those epidemics reveal mortality rates in patients treated with homeopathy that were a small fraction of those seen in untreated as well as conventionally treated patients.

As Newsweek states in the conclusion of the article:
“The future will almost certainly be different. Antibiotics will cost more and do less. They will also be less readily available than we are accustomed to. No more fast cures, free giveaways, or “just in case” prescriptions.

Given these facts – shouldn’t homeopathy be an option for patients and physicians?

For a more extensive list of basic science, pre-clinical and clinical research papers showing the effect of homeopathy, a good resource in the United States is the National Center for Homeopathy website (www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org and look under “Articles” and then “Research”).

Homeopathy is a system of medicine that has been practiced for over 200 years with an extensive and laudable clinical record.

There are literally hundreds of high quality, basic science, pre-clinical and clinical peer-reviewed studies showing its effects.  The system’s so called ‘implausibility’ is one of the major reasons for skepticism about homeopathy, even in the face of positive clinical evidence.  For instance a systematic review of clinical trials, published in the British Medical Journal (1991) stated ‘we would accept that homeopathy can be efficacious, if its mechanism of action were more plausible’.

The claim of “implausibility” directed at homeopathy is often made by those with an economic interest in seeing the system destroyed and arises from the system’s use of very highly diluted medicines.  These medicines are prepared through a series of sequential dilutions of medicinal substances with vigorous shaking at each stage of dilution, a process known as succussion.  Thanks to the work of scientists at institutions like Penn State University, the University of Washington, Stanford University, Moscow State University, and London South Bank University, we now know that the properties and effects of substances are dictated by their molecular structures, not their chemical composition.  Thanks to these same scientists, we also know that ultra-dilutions, like homeopathic remedies, do indeed contain stable and unique molecular structures with recognizable properties (Materials Letters. 62. 2008).

What’s more, there have been numerous high-quality peer reviewed studies showing the biological effects of homeopathic remedies.  The most frequently used experiment on ultra-dilutions has involved basophils.  Basophils are white blood cells involved in the immune response.  One series of experiments conducted in Europe over a period of 25 years on a multi-laboratory basis with independent replications has consistently shown the inhibition of basophil activation by high dilutions of histamine (Inflammation Research. 2009).   Another study, a meta-analysis led by Claudia Witt M.D.  of the Charité University Medical Centre, Berlin evaluated the quality and results of biological experiments with ultramolecular agitated dilutions.  Seventy-three percent of these studies showed an effect with ultramolecular dilutions (Complimentary Therapies in Medicine.  2007).   Yet another study – this one also the subject of repeated experiments over a long period - shows the effect of ultramolecular dilutions of aspirin on blood clotting (Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis.  2008).  And there are others.

No evidence of effectiveness??  Or misplaced and unscientific skepticism of how homeopathy could work?   What is clear - those who choose to attack homeopathy should at least look at the scientific facts first.

Parents want alternatives to pharmaceutical drugs for their children’s illnesses, two recent studies show.  A Harvard Medical School study found that nearly 9 million children used complementary and alternative therapies (Birdee et al 2010). A second study showed that ninety percent of parents would like to know more about alternative medical options for their children, (2010 survey conducted by Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, a nationwide leader in integrative medicine).

The survey also found that eighty-five percent would like to reduce their children’s dependence on drugs.  Sixty-eight percent of respondents believed that integrative treatment could be effective, “and more than seventy-five percent said that hospitals should offer experts on both conventional and alternative treatments”.

Many over the counter medications for children have been found to be potentially toxic.  The use of children’s Tylenol, common cough and cold formulas, aspirin, etc. have caused numerous problems in children to the point where pediatric medical societies and the FDA have warned parents to be cautious when administering these potentially dangerous medications. What, then, are the alternatives for parents to have on hand to relieve the everyday pain and suffering of their children?

One alternative worth considering is homeopathy.  Literally hundreds of basic science, pre-clinical and clinical studies have been published in respected, peer-reviewed journals showing the good effects of homeopathic care.  A small sampling of those studies include those on childhood diarrhoea (Jacobs et al., 2003), influenza treatment with Oscillococcinum® (Anas barbariae hepatis et cordis extractum HPUS) (Vickers & Smith, 2006), osteoarthritis (Long & Ernst, 2001), post-operative ileus (Barnes, Resch & Ernst, 1997), rheumatic diseases (Jonas, Linde & Ramirez, 2000), seasonal allergic rhinitis (Lüdtke & Wiesenauer, 1997), seasonal allergic rhinitis (Taylor et al., 2000), upper respiratory tract infections and allergy (Bornhöft et al, 2006), upper respiratory tract diseases, including otitis media (Bellavite et al, 2006), on adverse effects of cancer management (Kassab et al 2009), and vertigo (Schneider, Klein, & Weiser M, 2005).

There have also been extensive observational studies conducted throughout Europe on large patient populations.  An 8 year long German study showed significant improvement in children treated for skin conditions and recurring upper and lower respiratory infections (Witt et al 2008).
In general, patient improvement on homeopathy in these studies for both acute and chronic conditions typically falls in 70-80% range with high patient satisfaction with homeopathic treatment.  And many studies have found greater cost-effectiveness of homeopathy because of fewer doctor visits and its ability to reduce or even eliminate the use of conventional drugs.

For a more extensive list of basic science, pre-clinical and clinical research papers showing the effect of homeopathy, another good resource in the United States is the National Center for Homeopathy’s website (www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org and look under “Articles” and then “Research”).
Parents are right in wanting to avoid the over prescribing of prescription drugs for their families.  Homeopathy offers a great alternative for raising healthy kids – and adults!

Homeopathy is a system of medicine that has been practiced for over 200 years with an extensive and laudable clinical record.  Over 100 million patients currently use it around the world. 

Skeptics and those with an economic interest in seeing the system discredited often make the false claims that there is no evidence.  This is preposterous and unscientific.  Literally hundreds of basic science, pre-clinical and clinical studies have been published in respected, peer-reviewed journals showing the good effects of homeopathic care.  A small sampling of those studies include those on adverse effects of cancer management (Kassab et al 2009), childhood diarrhoea (Jacobs et al., 2003), HIV/AIDS (Ullman, 2003), influenza treatment with Oscillococcinum® (Anas barbariae hepatis et cordis extractum HPUS) (Vickers & Smith, 2006), osteoarthritis (Long & Ernst, 2001), post-operative ileus (Barnes, Resch & Ernst, 1997), rheumatic diseases (Jonas, Linde & Ramirez, 2000), seasonal allergic rhinitis (Lüdtke & Wiesenauer, 1997), seasonal allergic rhinitis (Taylor et al., 2000), upper respiratory tract infections and allergy (Bornhöft et al, 2006), upper respiratory tract diseases, including otitis media (Bellavite et al, 2006) and vertigo (Schneider, Klein, & Weiser M, 2005). 

There have also been extensive observational studies conducted throughout Europe on large patient populations.  Patient improvement on homeopathy in these studies for both acute and chronic conditions typically falls in 70-80% range with high patient satisfaction with homeopathic treatment.  And many studies find greater cost-effectiveness of homeopathy because of ability to reduce use of conventional drugs.

For a more extensive list of basic science, pre-clinical and clinical research papers showing the effect of homeopathy, another good resource in the United States is the National Center for Homeopathy’s website (www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org and look under “Articles” and then “Research”).
No evidence that homeopathy works???  Ask the over 100 million people that rely on the system worldwide – or check the research facts.  Both sources will tell you otherwise…

Clinical Research on Homeopathy

For those that know the pain and suffering of sinus problems, there may be hope. A large European multi-practice study (BioMedCentral. 2009)) of patients suffering chronic sinus problems was recently concluded by Claudia Witt M.D., Rainer Ludtke M.D., and others. Patients seeking homeopathic treatment for sinus problems were followed-up for two years and then eight years. Complaint severity, health-related quality of life (QoL), and medication use were regularly recorded.

The study included 134 adults treated with homeopathy by 62 physicians. Patients in the study had suffered from chronic sinusitis on average for over ten years and almost all patients (97.0%) had previously been treated with conventional medicine. The study showed homeopathy brought improvements for patients in the study - improvements that persisted even after 8 years.
Click here to read the this Homeopathy Research Abstract.

Click here for more information on homeopathy and research go to www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org

The U.S health care system needs help. Perhaps homeopathy should be part of the solution! It is a gentle, non-toxic and inexpensive system of medicine.