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?

52 responses total.

Does this catagory include bach flower remedies...
<<The bait set, the wiley hunter sat back in wait for the kill>>

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.

it seems to me that for minor (and maybe even not so minor) things that if 
you think it will work, then it will. My doctor gave these pills. My doctor
knows what is best for me (and is charging me money). So it must be good for
me. So I suppose that if people think it will work on them it will. Kinda
like drinking coffee to stay awake, and then being told that you had drunken
decaf.

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?

Seeing homeopathic remedies sold at Arbor drugs.  I never paid
much attention to the subject, but now it seems to be everywhere.
Thanks for your response, kami, as always.

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...

I have used homeopathy for all my life, one reason being
that I'm allergic to that stuff in tylenol.  I'll enter
more later, cuz I'm late for school.

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.

Anyone know a good remedy for an ear infection?  

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

my pediatrician recommends a little vegetabel or mineral oil in the ear that
hurts...

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

shit!  You can't fly like that!  I'll see what I can find out by tomorrow.
Meanwhile, drink lots of hot liquid, esp. mild herbal tea (no caffine to make
your body work harder).  You can try a hot compress of goldenseal (it's a
natural antibiotic), but it's a bit strong for drinking so I'd be careful 
there: like any antibiotic, it can wipe out all your friendly flora which is
rough on the stomach and leaves too much territory for aggressive yeasts. You
might as well try the hot onion routine, too.  (Not sure how to heat it: try
steam, bake (I think that's the one) or nuke) Wrap half a hot onion in gauze
and hold it to your ear until it gets cool.  How disgusting- if you can't
stand the smell, try squeezing half a lemon over it first.  Let me know if
it works.
Good luck!        Yet more proof that Murphy is chief god of the universe...

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...

Re the Bach Flower Remedies: Ever since the topic came up in
this item, it seems I'm running into them everywhere.  They
were always there, but now my consciousness is raised, I guess.
Anyway, my curiosity got the best of me and I went and got a
reference book, _Handbook of the Bach Flower Remedies_, by Philip
Chancellor.  Reading the book, it seems almost a kind of
astrology or Tarot - ie, something a very rational mind might
have trouble with, but which more intuitive people perceive
truth in and which works for them.  That's just a first impression.
If anyone has had any experience with the Bach Flower Remedies,
do tell.

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

the jury is still out...

[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.  

They say that until their pharmacological researchers "discover" a remedy
and develop a way to make a fortune from it.  Then it's a "breakthrough
in medical science brought to you by Eli Lilly and the AMA"

That isn't to say that homeopathy is incapable of attracting charletans
or that the placebo effect has nothing to do with why some remedies work --
but I find the cynical, patronizing attitude of MDieties most infuriating!

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.

I think that just buying those homeopathic remedies found in stores is not
enough.  Only a trained homeopath can make an accurate recommendation for
using this type of treatment.  The way I understand it, this is a *holistic*
treatment and the "symptom names on the bottles may not be completely accu-
rate for the *whole* problem.  I also understand that these initial confer-
ences can be a little expensive, but the homeopath need only meet with you
once to make the diagnosis (unlike Western doctors who can find reasons to
require several return visits).  Of course, I did find out most of this 
information from my "Quack" chiropractor.  All I know is that I would like
to at least try homeopathy to deal with an ongoing arthritis problem.

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.

Thanks kami.  I would like to look her up before we move (?) to Louisiana.
Did Arwen tell you about that?  Never mind, she is looking over my shoulder
and she said "yeah".  I'm not so sure I would want to try to diagnose
myself.  The Western doctors that I've seen have had difficulty reaching
a conclusive diagnosis and I feel much too close to the situation to be
completely objective.  I guess if it were just a single-symptom problem
like headaches or menstrual cramps I would feel better about a self-evalu-
ation.  Maybe I'll get to meet you on the 30th :). 

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

I wondered just how small a homeopathic dose might be, so I read 
up on it.  If you look at the labels on the bottles of 
homeopathic medicines, you'll see that they use the symbols "3x," 
"4x," etc.  The manufacturer will mix one part of, say, arsenic 
with nine parts water.  That would be a 1x mixture.  Then they'd 
mix one part of that mixture with nine parts water to get a 2x 
mixture.  One part 2x to nine parts water equals 3x.  And so on.  

An actual formula for one commercially produced remedy contains 
the following:  Alfalfa 3x, Arsenicum album 12x, Echinacea 
angustafolia 3x, Phosphoricm acidum 6x, Picricum acidum 12x, 
Ferrum phos 6x, Gelsemium 12x, Scutellaria 12x.  Something that 
says "Arsenicum album 12x" would be .000000000001 arsenic, or 1 
part per trillion.  I wonder what effect such an insignificant 
quantity of something can have.  Homeopaths will tell you that 
there is an actual physical cause-and-effect, as unlikely as that 
seems.  

for what it's worth, I once had a MD-type py hysician (local to AA - 
and shn all be nameless) who was into homeopathy.  He gave
me a homeopathic remedy for a bad case of gingivitis - which served
to make it worse, since the "remedy" was stinging nettle, and seemed to 
exacerbate the condition.  A few weeks later (this was sever a   al years
 ago) my parents sent me a plane ticket to come visit them, cause it had gotten
 
so bad I couldn't eat or swllow.  One visit to the doctor for an antibiotic and
topical  anaestheia, and I was cured in about 3 days.

sorry, but neveragain.

bummer.  I've been fortunate to have only postitive experiences.  And my
boys have not had to be given antibiotics yet.  I'm rather glad of that.
Sigh, better get them their shots soon, though.

I wholeheartedly agree with Kami.  I have had only
positive experiences.  That is too bad to be that
ill, Becca.

Becca, this is entirely off-topic, but I found the modem for Thea.  How
shall I get it to her?  (yea!!!  I'm so happy to have found it! <big grin>)

My mother had used it on myself and a few of my friends and allot of hers and I
never had any trouble with it. The thing i like about homeopathics is that if
you are given the wrong one it woun't effect you  unlike allot of modern
medicinens.

From what my mom said it's like taking a weaker form of the problem and letting
it kill the stronger  one. strang as it may be but it works. 

The other night Comedy Central ran the episode of Absolutely Fabulous
where Patsy accidentally burns down Edina's kitchen.  They're all
sitting in Edina's upstairs living room the next day, when Edina's
mother complains of a headache and asks for "some of those homophobic
remedies of your."  Before Edina has a chance to say anything, her
daughter runs out of the room and returns with a small wooden chest
presumably filled with vials of homeopathic remedies, only when she
opens it up, the vials are all empty.  "They're all empty!" she says;
"Why are they all empty?"  Edina sheepishly admits that she'd gotten
hungry the night before and eaten them all.  "There was no food in the
house!" she explains.

Followed by a line like, "They're full of vitamins" or somesuch; 
I loved that scene.

that's really funny.  and pretty obscure for tv.  thanks.

[You're welcome, sweetie darling.  The writer, Jennifer Saunders
(who also plays the part of Edina in the series) has a book of
her AbFab scripts being published now.  It should hit the bookstores
in a week or so.  Borders have my order.]

Anyone know of an herbal compound that works on toothache pain?>

        Willow bark, Krista says..

Cool.....

re:37
ROTFL!

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss