Homeopathy

May 25 20:40 UTC 1994

Lately I'm seeing homeopathic remedies all over the place.  All the 
health food stores carry them, and I even saw some in a new display 
at the local Arbor Drugs.  The freebie pamphlets read like 
advertisments (because they are, I guess), and are suspect for that 
reason.  Nevertheless, from them and from a couple of other sources 
I gather that homeopathy enjoyed a vogue in the 19th century, was 
thought to be discredited for many years, and is now making a big 
comeback.  Homeopathic theory ("like cures like") is that you 
*cure* a sick person's illness with very small doses of a substance 
which, if given a healthy person in large doses, would *cause* the 
symptoms of that illness.  

For that reason, many homeopathic remedies contain such alarming 
substances as arsenic and deadly nightshade, but the doses are so 
minute that it's legal.  (In literature, a "homeopathic" quantity 
means a vanishingly tiny one.)  Also, through what can only be a 
temporary loophole in FDA regulations, it's obvioulsy legal to 
label homeopathic remedies with the names of the diseases they are 
supposed to treat - headache, flu, arthritis, indigestion, fatigue, 
anxiety, hemmorhoids, and so on.  

The reason homeopathy is making a comeback is that, according to 
one piece of promotional literature after another, it works.  Now I 
have to caution you not to bring homeopathy up with any mainstream 
medical practitioner, especially the "it works" part, unless you 
enjoy seeing mainstream medical practitioners rave loudly and froth 
at the mouth.  The ones of my acquaintance, anyway, swear that it's 
the most outrageous form of quackery now going, even worse than 
chiropractic.  

Has anyone here tried out any homeopathic remedies?  What were they 
called and where did you get them?  Did they really work?  Did they 
cause any side effects?

response 2 of 52:

May 26 13:18 UTC 1994

I don't think the category includes Bach flower remedies,
but I will expand the scope of the item to include them,
if you like.  I believe Dr. Bach's theory was that diseases
are caused  by negative states of mind.  He identified 38
such states of mind, and found 38 flowers which counteract
them.  If you've had any experience with these remedies,
please share them with us.  If they work, I'll go out and
buy a large supply of Bach's heather essence, which is said
to work on people who are "talkative (obsessed with own
troubles and experiences)," and force-feed it to a couple
of coworkers.

response 4 of 52:

May 26 19:48 UTC 1994

We use homeopathy quite a bit, especially for things that alopathic medicine
tends to ignore or handle badly.  We've had mixed results, perhaps partly
because the remedies tend to be quite fragile; they can be antidoted by such
things as mint, coffee, eucalyptis, camphor, clove, and other strong aromatics.

I don't think belief enters into the matter at all, since the appropriate
remedy will have a fairly quick effect on a small baby or animal.  Perhaps the
hardest aspect of this sort of treatment, other than remembering to avoid mint,
is finding the exactly right remedy; there seem to be many, for example, for
different kinds of colds.  Of course, that's one of the things I like about
this kind of treatment- it is more specific, more tailored, than "take two
aspirins...".  

Our family doctor is a GP who practices both homeopathy and alopathic medicine.
I think his range of treatment is slightly limited by his medical training,
that is, he tends to look at illnesses symptomatically rather than systemically
but I do like the fact that he looks to a homeopathic solution before bringing
out the big guns.  So far, neither boy has ever been given antibiotics.

I haven't tried the flower remedies.  Tempted to, although they are a bit 
beyond my level of credulity.  I've used medicinal herbs a bit, and tend to
look for dietary solutions to some problems, rather than using drugs.

What prompted the original question?

response 6 of 52:

May 26 23:07 UTC 1994

I tend To belive canis in this...that the mind usually plays a big role in
this...As an example...When I was a younger I had a Quack Neuroligist Perscribe
Barbituates for My Headachs...Now My mom would NOT let this happen So she
Bought eaquil tablets.. As it turned out Just eating artificall sugar cured my
headachs...this has always proved to me a very important exampel of how
effencient the mind can cure a person...

response 8 of 52:

May 27 13:51 UTC 1994

re #6 yeah stuff like that, why not step back and look at it, do any of us
reallly know what the medicnes do to your body? homeopathic, or otherwise.
People say that this is what it cures, and we okay I'll take it. So we get
better.

response 10 of 52:

May 27 19:12 UTC 1994

Steam.  Warmth.  Pressure.  I've heard- a warm onion-half (ugh.  might work).
Can't think what remedy, just off hand.  Who needs it?

response 12 of 52:

May 28 00:49 UTC 1994

Kami: I DO!  I have a really bad infection, what timing huh?

response 14 of 52:

Jun 12 01:56 UTC 1994

my remedy for a stuffy nose
(and no, it isn't *really* homeopathic, dummy)
stand in a shower, point the shower head up to the wall,
turn the water up to really really excrutiatingly hot, and
breathe the steam
my remedy for a earache
i have found that the steam thing works temporarily, as does
anything warm in the ear (liquid, pleez.  don't want a hot
knitting needle up the inner ear)  for a more permanent remedy,
i dunno...

response 16 of 52:

Jun 17 12:05 UTC 1994

Yes, please. I'm interested in hearing about these remedies too. 
It seems to be mostly whitelighters that are into it.

response 18 of 52:

Jun 17 20:26 UTC 1994

[Back to homeopathy for a bit:] 

The AMA's position is that the apparent success of homeopathy and 
other alternative medicines is due to the fact that most symptoms 
eventually go away without any treatment.  There was an article in 
a recent issue of Natural Health magazine by a man who had 
consulted a traditional physician for blood in his urine.  The 
doctor referred him to a urologist, who performed an expensive and 
painful series of invasive procedures, only to conclude that there 
was absolutely nothing wrong.  The man went home and a day later 
the hematuria went away by itself and never recurred.  The point of 
the article was to contrast the overkill of traditional medicine 
with the gentle and natural procedures of alternative medicine 
practitioners.  

This provoked an angry letter from a traditional physician who 
pointed out that hematuria is the presenting symptom of bladder 
cancer, and those expensive and painful tests *had* to be done in 
order to rule that out.  If the physician had adopted a wait-and-
see attitude and the patient had had bladder cancer, the patient 
(or his widow) would now be suing for malpractice, with good 
reason.  As it happens, he didn't have cancer.  If he had gone to 
an alternative medicine practitioner and had taken some homeopathic 
preparation for a few days and the hematuria had gone away, as it 
in fact did, the patient would now be singing the praises of 
homepathy for "curing" his nonexistent bladder problem.  *All* 
homeopathic cures, says the AMA, are in this category.  

response 20 of 52:

Jun 19 16:45 UTC 1994

One of the things I like about homeopathy is it's specificity.  If I offer my 
boys a remedy and it's the right one, they'll take it quite willingly.  Now, 
mind you, all the bottles look alike and they certainly can't read the labels.
They also seem to work very fast, at least in the case of Chamomile for the
baby and stuff like that.  On the other hand, there have certainly been plenty
of inconclusive or ineffective uses of remedies, especially for Michael and me,
and I don't know if it's because a.) I've antidoted the remedy by accident,
b.)I picked the wrong remedy or c.)homeopathy is the wrong treatment modality
for that particular problem.

response 22 of 52:

Jul 18 18:09 UTC 1994

Hi Terrie!  We finally get to meet you.  Welcome!
Hm, one of the things I like about homeopathy is that it's fairly safe and
easy (?) to take more control of treatment at home.  The single-substance
remedies sold in stores are the same as you'd get from  homeopath, and they
often refer to the same books that one can get to keep at home.  Certainly,
the blurb on a bottle doesn't give the whole picture, but with practice one
can get the hang of using emotional, environmental, and other symptoms to
clarify the physical ones in choosing a remedy.  It also helps to take a 
class or workshop or join a study group.  If you have a chance to come into
Ann Arbor before you go away, do look up Branwen Gates.  A really neat woman,
British trained homeopath, with a really pragmatic approach.  She might have
some good suggestions to get you started.

response 24 of 52:

Jul 20 02:21 UTC 1994

you two are moving???? aaag! um, you'llneed to find a telnet site in LA...