Homeopathy

Homeopathic medicines, which include minerals, vitamins, and animal products, are natural substances given in very low doses. Homeopathy is based on the principle that "like cures like," that is, substances that in large doses would cause adverse symptoms will, in small doses, treat those same symptoms. Homeopathy is highly individualized to a patient's symptoms.

Homeopathy shares many traits in common with allopathy, but differs in its approach to disease treatment. Homeopathic practitioners believe that the way to treat illness is to give their patients extremely small quantities of substances that, if ingested in larger doses, might cause the same symptoms they hope to alleviate.

Standard homeopathic remedies can often be recognized by their Latin names. There is very little scientific evidence that they work, but most are extremely diluted and should cause no ill effects. Before using homeopathic remedies, people with HIV/AIDS should consult a qualified practitioner.

Homeopathy is a system of medical treatment based on the use of minute quantities of remedies that in massive doses produce effects similar to those of the disease being treated. The term is derived from two Greek words: homeo (similar) and pathos (suffering). The 19th century German physician, Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), is considered the father of homeopathy, allegedly being inspired to the notion that like cures like from the treatment of malaria with cinchona barks. The bark contains quinine, which helps in the treatment of malaria but also causes fevers. Advocates of homeopathy think that concoctions with as little as one molecule per million can stimulate the "body's healing mechanism." Critics maintain that such minute doses are unlikely to have any significant effect on the body.

Homeopaths tend to believe in such things as "vital forces" being in harmony (health) or out of harmony (disease). And they tend to advocate HOLISTIC MEDICINE, treating "vital forces," "spirits," "minds", etc., as well as the body. Homeopaths like to say that they treat "persons" not "bodies" or "diseases."

Holistic medicine refers to alternative health practices which claim to treat "the whole person." To holistic practitioners, a person is not just a body with physical parts and systems, but is a spiritual being as well. The mind and the emotions are believed to be connected to this spirit, as well as to the body. Holistic practitioners are truly alternative in the sense that they often avoid surgery or drugs as treatments, though they are quite fond of meditation, prayer, herbs, vitamins, minerals and exotic diets as treatments for a variety of ailments.

One criticism of homeopathy is that it takes the "cookie cutter" approach to treatment: one-size-fits-all. No matter what ails you, treatment with a diluted like agent is the cure. Experience teaches otherwise. For example, the treatment for scurvy is not more scurvy but vitamin C; the treatment for diabetes is not sugar, but insulin. There seem to be countless examples one could come up which would contraindicate homeopathy as a reasonable approach to the treatment of disease. however, to compare the use of vaccines in medicine to homeopathic remedies; for, medical vaccines would be ineffective if they were as diluted as homeopathic remedies.

One of the stranger tenets of homeopathy, proposed by Dr. Hahnemann himself, is that the potency of a remedy increases as the drug becomes more and more dilute. Some drugs are diluted so many times that they don't contain any molecules of the substance that was initially diluted, yet homeopaths claim that these are their most potent medications! It is not surprising to find that there is no explanation as to how this happens or is even possible, though some homeopaths have speculated that the water used to dilute a remedy has a "memory" of the initial substance. Homeopathy's supporters point to clinical trials which indicate a homeopathic efficacy that cannot be explained by the placebo effect. Critics contend that such studies are poorly designed, methodologically biased, statistically flawed, etc. The known laws of physics and chemistry would have to be completely revamped if a tonic from which every molecule of the "active" ingredient were removed could be shown to nevertheless to be effective.

Homeopathic advocates give ardent testimonials to the curative powers of their remedies. How can so many case histories be dismissed? Easily: the "cures" are probably the result of (a) misdiagnosis (the patient wasn't cured since the disease it "cured" wasn't present); (b) spontaneous remission (the body healed itself) or (c) the Placebo effect. The many testimonials given as proof that homeopathy "works" are of little value as empirical evidence for the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies. Even so, such "cures" are not meaningless. Left alone, the body often heals itself. And, unlike traditional medicine with its powerful drugs and antibiotics, the likelihood of an adverse reaction to a homeopathic remedy is remote. The main harm from homeopathy is not likely to come from its remedies, which are probably safe but ineffective. One potential danger is in the encouragement to self-diagnosis and treatment. Another is not getting proper treatment by a traditional medical doctor in those cases where the patient could be helped by such treatment, such as for a bladder or yeast infection, or for cancer.

In short, the main benefits of homeopathy seem to be that its remedies are not likely to cause harm in themselves, and they are generally inexpensive. The main drawbacks seem to be that its remedies are most likely inert and they require acceptance of metaphysical baggage incapable of scientific analysis. Homeopathy "works", just as astrology, biorhythms, chiropractic or traditional medicine, for that matter, "work": i.e., it has its satisfied customers. Homeopathy does not work, however, in the sense of explaining pathologies or their cures in a way which not only conforms to known facts but which promises to lead us to a greater understanding of the nature of health and disease.

The placebo effect

A placebo (Latin for "I shall please") is a medication or treatment believed by the administrator to be inert or innocuous but believed by the patient to be an effective remedy. Placebos may be sugar pills or starch pills. Even "fake" surgery or psychotherapy is considered a placebo. The placebo effect is the measurable, observable, or felt improvement in health not attributable to treatment. This effect is believed by many people to be due to the placebo itself in some mysterious way.

Placebos are sometimes given to patients who are deceived into thinking that the placebo is a known causal curative agent or remedy for the patient's ailment. Anecdotal evidence for the placebo effect is garnered in this way. Those who believe there is scientific evidence for the placebo effect point to clinical studies, many of which use a control group treated with a placebo. Why an inert substance, or a fake surgery or therapy, would be effective is not known.

In other words, the placebo can be an open door to quackery