The Strange Case of Homeopathy - Psychology Today

1994, NASA computer scientist Amy Lansky of Portola Valley, California, began wondering about her two-year-old son. Max knew the alphabet and could beat adults at memory games, but he barely spoke and, despite normal hearing, didn't seem to understand language. At preschool he was a loner. His main form of communication was poking people with his finger. Eventually, school officials urged Lansky to have him evaluated. The diagnosis: autism, a neurological and behavioral disorder for which there is no known remedy.

But Lansky refused to believe Max was untreatable. Her search for an answer led her to homeopathy, an 18th-century healing art now enjoying renewed popularity because of Americans' growing interest in alternative medicine. Homeopathy involves treating illnesses with such extreme dilutions of herbs, animal substances and chemical compounds that frequently not one molecule of the diluted substance is left in the solution. Homeopathy defies the known laws of science, not to mention common sense. But rigorous studies show it just may work.

In a German trial, a homeopathic treatment for vertigo outperformed the pharmaceutical remedy; at Harvard, subjects with mild brain injury showed significantly greater improvement with a homeopathic treatment than with a placebo. And homeopathic remedies have been found to augment conventional treatments, as well. In the case of infectious diarrhea, a University of Washington study found that children given the standard rehydration fluid containing water, sugar and salt, plus a homeopathic remedy, recovered after two and a half days—a day and a half earlier than those who received just the rehydration fluid.

"I believe new science will explain how homeopathy works," says Ellen Feingold, a Wilmington, Delaware, pediatrician who left conventional medicine to practice homeopathy. "But research is not my concern. I want to heal patients. As an M.D., I mostly suppressed symptoms. Now I truly heal people."

"Critics of homeopathy say that because its mechanism of action can't be explained, it can't possibly work," says Michael Carlston, a Santa Rosa, California, physician who has combined mainstream medicine and homeopathy for more than 30 years. "But that's hypocritical. Aspirin was used for 90 years before its efficacy was explained—and no doctors shunned it."

Strange Medicine

Shortly after her son's diagnosis, Lansky found a magazine article on alternative treatments for childhood behavioral problems.

Lansky's acupuncturist referred her to homeopath John Melnychuk. He did not perform a physical exam, nor did he order diagnostic tests. He just asked questions, including many that M.D.s would consider irrelevant. He explored Max's milk craving, his fitful sleep, the bluish tint in the whites of his eyes and his restlessness, intensity, sweetness, stubbornness and perfectionism. Then, using reference books, he looked for substances that produce the same effects in healthy people. This is the fundamental principle of homeopathy, the Law of Similars. It's the idea that illness can be cured by substances—plant, animal or mineral—that evoke the same symptoms in those who are well. Melnychuk decided to give Max Carcinosin, a treatment made from—of all things—an infinitesimal amount of human cancer tissue.

"There are two types of homeopathic remedies," Melnychuk explains. "Some treat symptoms; For example, arnica works well for muscle strains. Then there are 'constitutional' remedies, ones that have to be matched to the patient's personality. Max seemed to fit the Carcinosin profile, which includes symptoms of perfectionism, restlessness, sleep difficulties and milk cravings." However, Melnychuk cautions, not every autistic child should receive Carcinosin. "You have to tailor the remedy to the patient's unique traits."

Lansky mixed a little Carcinosin in water and gave Max a teaspoon each morning. Within two days, she noticed subtle changes: "Max's speech improved, and he seemed more socially aware." In the next two months the trend toward improvement continued.

Maybe It's Doing Nothing

Homeopathy developed during the late 18th century, a time when physicians knew little about disease. They treated most illnesses by bleeding patients and administering powerful laxatives. Such treatments were called "heroic measures," but the heroism was entirely on the part of patients, many of whom suffered more from these interventions than from their illnesses.

One 18th-century German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann, became so disgusted with heroic medicine that he closed his practice. But Hahnemann did not exactly reject conventional medicine. He was impressed with cinchona, the South American tree bark that was the first effective treatment for malaria. In 1790, Hahnemann ingested cinchona and became cold, achy, anxious and thirsty—all symptoms of malaria. That experience led him to postulate his Law of Similars.

Hahnemann tested hundreds of substances on himself—plants, animal parts and chemical compounds, including salt, zinc, gold and marigold flowers—cataloging their effects. Eventually, he reopened his practice but prescribed only homeopathic medicines.

Homeopathy was controversial from the outset because of Hahnemann's other postulate, the Law of Potentization, which holds that homeopathic medicines grow stronger as they became more dilute. Critics howl at the law. Homeopathy is "absurd," argues William Sampson, a clinical professor of medicine at Stanford University. "It is bankrupt in theory and practice."

"There is no basis for believing that homeopathy has any effect," says Robert Baratz, president of the National Council Against Health Fraud, in Peabody, Massachusetts. "Homeopathy is a magnet for untrustworthy practitioners who pose a threat to public safety. It's quackery."

Maybe homeopathy involves treatment with nothing. If true, it's still an improvement over 18th-century heroic medicine—even if patients get little more than water.

By the late 19th century, conventional medicine had moved away from heroic measures. As they disappeared, the medical opposition led by homeopaths lost steam. The discovery of antibiotics and other modern drugs further strengthened conventional medicine at homeopathy's expense. While homeopathy remained popular in Europe, there were fewer than 100 homeopaths in the U.S. by the early 1970s. Critics dismissed homeopathic treatment as placebo.

Strange Power

Placebos have no direct impact on the body. But when given to treat almost any illness—from colds to serious conditions—about one-third of recipients report benefits. "Placebos work as well as they do because of the mind's ability to affect the body," says Brown University psychiatrist Walter Brown. Many studies have shown that when a doctor offers any treatment, people expect it will help, and that expectation itself can aid healing. Also, through a mind-body mechanism not entirely understood, placebos trigger the release of endorphins, the body's mood-elevating, pain-relieving compounds. "Improvement in patients receiving homeopathy is simply a placebo effect," Sampson says.

But studies consistently yield conflicting reports. British researchers are divided as to the power of arnica, often prescribed by homeopaths for musculoskeletal pain. Patients who received arnica after wrist surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome reported significantly less pain than did those in a placebo group; yet patients with other joint conditions had no such luck (among 58 rheumatoid arthritis sufferers, the placebo group reported significantly greater pain relief).

In 1991, Dutch epidemiologists analyzed 105 studies of homeopathic treatment from 1966 to 1990, most from French and German medical journals. Eighty-one studies found patients had benefited from homeopathy, prompting the Dutch researchers to conclude that "the evidence is to a large extent positive. [It] would probably be sufficient for establishing homeopathy as treatment for certain conditions." A 1997 German analysis of 89 studies agreed that homeopathy is often significantly more beneficial than the use of placebos.

Preferring Alternatives

Ambiguous as the evidence is, homeopathy has enjoyed renewed popularity in the U.S., coinciding with Americans' ambivalence about mainstream medicine.

One-half to two-thirds of Americans have used alternative therapies, and Americans visit alternative practitioners more often than they visit conventional practitioners—some 600 million consultations a year. They now spend $30 billion a year on alternative therapies, according to a report in Newsweek, and have as much confidence in alternative practitioners as they do in M.D.s, according to a study in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Americans have not lost confidence in physicians—they've just expanded their view of what's medically helpful, believing that the combination of mainstream and alternative medicine will provide the best results. "The renewed interest in homeopathy," explains Dana Ullman, author of eight books on the subject, "is part of the groundswell of interest Americans have shown for all the alternative therapies. People are not satisfied with conventional medicine."

Homeopathy is not the only alternative therapy conventional medicine can't fully explain. The energy pathways deemed fundamental to acupuncture don't correspond to any known structures in the body, but a National Institutes of Health report concluded, "The data in support of acupuncture are as strong as those for many accepted Western medical therapies."

Nonetheless, homeopathy is nowhere near as accepted as acupuncture. A Harvard report on Americans' use of alternative therapies shows that homeopathy accounts for less than 0.5 percent of alternative-practitioner visits. University of Maryland researchers surveyed coverage for alternative therapies by six major managed-care plans—five covered chiropractic, four covered acupuncture, none covered homeopathy. "Homeopathy," Ullman says, "is the Rodney Dangerfield of alternative therapies: It gets no respect."

Impossible Cure

Amy Lansky didn't care that homeopathy is one of America's least accepted alternative therapies. After nine months of homeopathic treatment, Max was a different child: talkative, active, sociable and popular. Under Melnychuk's guidance, Lansky gradually decreased his dose of Carcinosin, eventually discontinuing it. Max continued to improve. By age five, he was virtually indistinguishable from any other kid. "He now sees Melnychuk maybe twice a year," says Lansky. "As far as I'm concerned, he's cured." Max's experience led Lansky to quit her job and study homeopathy full-time. In the fall, she hung out a shingle. "As a scientist," she explains, "I recognize that homeopathy is implausible. But I've seen it cure my son."

Article by Michael Castleman
Source: http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/index.php?term=pto-20040302-000003&page=1

The Homeopathic Revolution: Famous People & Cultural Heroes Who Chose Homeopathy

A NEW book by Dana Ullman, MPH

The foreword to this book was written by Dr. Peter Fisher, the Physician to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The book documents many famous people of the past 200 years who have been known to use and/or advocate for homeopathic medicine. I am not simply talking about "celebrities." The book contains specific quotes and/or documented stories about each person listed below and his or her experiences with homeopathy.

- Charles Darwin could not have written Origin of Species without the homeopathic treatment that he received from Dr. Gully (based on Darwin's own letters!).

- Numerous leading conventional physicians and scientists who have had extremely positive things to say about homeopathy include Sir William Osler (the "father of modern medicine"), Emil Adolph von Behring, MD (the "father of immunology"), Charles Frederick Menninger, MD (founder of the Menninger Clinic), August Bier, MD (the "father of spinal anesthesia"), C. Everett Koop, M.D. (former Surgeon General, U.S.), Brian Josephson, PhD. (Nobel Laureate & Cambridge professor).

- At least eleven American Presidents used homeopathic medicines or sponsored legislation to allow homeopathic practice (Lincoln, Tyler, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, McKinley, Coolidge, Harding, Hoover, & Clinton)...and two British Prime Ministers (Disraeli and Tony Blair).

- Many of America's literary greats advocated for and often wrote about homeopathy, including Washington Irving, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Mark Twain... and European greats such as Goethe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Alfred Tennyson, and George Bernard Shaw...and many modern greats including J.D. Salinger and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

- Numerous sports greats have bragged about their use of homeopathic medicines including David Beckham, Martina Navratilova, Boris Becker, and many more.

- Many world-class musicians have greatly appreciated homeopathy including Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Frédéric Chopin, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Cher, Tina Turner, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Townshend, Annie Lennox, Bob Weir, Paul Rodgers, Axl Rose, Moby, Jon Faddis, and Dizzy Gillespie.

- Numerous movie and TV celebrities have benefited from homeopathy, including early stars such as Sarah Bernhardt, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne… and some of the modern-day stars, including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lesley Ann Warren, Pamela Anderson, Jane Seymour, Suzanne Somers, Lindsay Wagner, Michael York, Dr. Phil and Robin McGraw, Priscilla & Lisa Marie Presley, Jennifer Aniston, Jade Jagger, Tobey Maguire, and Orlando Bloom.

To find out more visit http://www.homeopathicrevolution.com/

'Homeopathy worked for me' - HMC21 petition

Michelle Shine who spearheads HMC21 is working to get 250,000 signatures to take to parliament in June 2008 for Homeopathy Awareness Week. If you haven't already signed their petition, please click the link below and be counted!

THEN send the link to ten other people so they can be counted too!!
http://www.hmc21.org/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/2555?opendocument&part=3

Guardian: In Defence of homeopathy,13 November 2007

Picture this. I am staying in a remote cottage in Cornwall without a car. I have a temperature of 102, spots on my throat, delirium, and a book to finish writing. My desperate publisher suggests I call Hilary Fairclough, a homeopath who has practices in London and Penzance. She sends round a remedy called Lachesis, made from snake venom. Four hours later I have no symptoms whatsoever.

Dramatic Astuff, and enough to convince me that while it might use snake venom, homeopathy is no snake oil designed for gullible hypochrondriacs. Right now, though, a fierce debate is raging between those, like me, who trust homeopathy because it works for them, and those who call it shamanistic claptrap, without clinical proof or any scientific base.

There have been a number of articles in the press recently criticising homeopathic remedies as worthless at best, and potentially lethal at worst, if they are being taken instead of tried-and-tested conventional medicines for conditions such as malaria or HIV.

I have found myself cited, and drawn into this, because I am on record as supporting homeopathic practice in general, and in particular the Maun homeopathy project, a clinic in Botswana set up by Fairclough.

The organisation Sense About Science and journalists such as Ben Goldacre and Nick Cohen are targeting a symposium in London in December that will discuss HIV and Aids and the homeopathic response to such diseases. Of particular concern is a claim by the British homeopath Peter Chapel and his Dutch colleague, Harry Van Der Zee, that Chapel has developed a remedy, PC1, that can be used to treat the HIV virus.

As a patron of Fotac (Friends of the Treatment Action Campaign) that has been fighting President Mbeke's lunatic insistence that HIV sufferers just need Vitamin C and a good diet, I am dismayed by any claim that may deter HIV sufferers from taking anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). And so is Peter Fisher, an NHS doctor, director of the Faculty of Homeopaths, and, incidentally, homeopath to the Queen. Good homeopaths know the value of conventional medicine and do not seek to undermine that value. Fairclough's clinic, and her talk at the symposium, concentrate on using homeopathy to support the ARV programme by alleviating the side-effects of ARVs, and boosting the patient's immune system so they are better able to fight off the opportunistic viruses that follow behind HIV, and the drugs necessary to suppress it. There is no suggestion that homeopathy can replace ARVs.

Edwin Cameron, a justice of South Africa's supreme court of appeal who is HIV positive, has done much to counter the disastrous Aids denialists there. He visited Maun and agreed in writing that "there are patent health benefits". He also admitted that, although initially sceptical of homeopathy, he had had a persistent mouth and gum disease, untreatable by antibiotics, but which was cleared by homeopathic intervention.

I use the word "intervention" because I admit it is hard to talk about what it is that homeopathy actually does, or why it works. For my part, I want to know more, not less, but I can't dismiss the thing in the way that Sense About Science, many doctors, and some journalists are asking me to.

A recent furore over those homeopaths who offered an undercover journalist alternative remedies for the prevention of malaria has also prompted long-term critics of homeopathy to demand its head on a plate. There will soon be an article in the Lancet calling on doctors to tell their patients that homeopathic medicines offer no benefit. Until now the caveat has been no "proven" benefit. But where is the scientific sense is saying that because we don't understand something, even though we can discern its effects, we have to ignore it, scorn it, or suppress it?This homeophobia is, I think, a genuine terror of what homeopathy is suggesting; which is that we think differently about the relationship between the cure and the disease. It is not enough to say Disease A is caused by B and can be cured by C. Homeopathy, in common with other holistic approaches, asks that we look at the whole picture - the person, and not just his illness. Specifically, in the case of homeopathy, the remedy picture, which is carefully drawn up after full consultation with the patient, follows the "like by like" premise - that tiny dilutions of the "problem" can prompt the body to effect its own cure. This is why the homeopathic code of practice does not talk about the medicines themselves having a simple causal effect - C cures A. Homeopathy seeks to understand everything we are, everything we do, as a web of relatedness. The reason why I have a recurring sore throat will not be the reason why you have one, and what helps me may not help you.This seems to be partly why tests used for conventional medicines fail when used to test homeopathy. Sceptics will say it is the medicines that fail, and not the trials, but if the medicines really are ineffective, why is it that so many people who have tried homeopathy have found that it makes a difference to their wellbeing?

As I understand it, homeopathy is not a linear medicine - a drug aiming for a target - nor does it seek to remove the human factor. The patient and the practitioner are both important and relevant when it comes to understanding how humans respond to treatment.

That a good doctor is part of the therapeutic process is commonsense to anyone who has ever visited their GP or been for surgery. We know too that patients heal differently, develop complications or not, secondary infections or not, and so on. The placebo effect that is often cited by detractors as homeopathy's only resource (ie that people like being talked to and then given a pill to take), is common to all therapeutic processes, and it is valuable. We can feel better in the right hands - everyone knows that - and people can shrivel and die in the wrong hands - whatever the treatment.

I am sure that there is a placebo effect in homeopathy, but it is a fact that many of the people who end up visiting a homeopath do so as a last resort, when nothing else is working. That such people often see an improvement suggests that the remedies themselves are contributing to the wellness of the individual.

Objections to homeopathy begin with what are viewed as the impossible dilutions of the remedies, so that only nano amounts of the original active substance remain, and in some cases are only an imprint, or memory. Yet our recent discoveries in the world of the very small point to a whole new set of rules for the behaviour of nano-quantities. Thundering around in our Gulliver world, we were first shocked to find that splitting the atom allowed inconceivable amounts of energy to be released. Now, we are discovering that the properties of materials change as their size reaches the nano-scale. Bulk material should have constant physical properties, regardless of its size, but at the nano-scale this is not the case. In a solvent, such as water, nano particles can remain suspended, neither floating nor sinking, but permeating the solution. Such particles are also able to pass through cell walls, and they can cause biochemical change.

We do not know whether this has a bearing on homeopathic dilutions, but it may well be that nanoparticles offer a clue.

Fisher says that water as a solvent has properties that are not yet understood, and there was great excitement recently when a team of Korean scientists seemed to show that water has "memory". I take New Scientist every week and I am continually amazed at how the seemingly well-known physical world of ours is beginning to show itself as stranger than anyone imagined.

I would like to see homeopathy better regulated. I would like to see the Society of Homeopaths engaging with its critics, as well as initiating more research. There will always be rogue homeopaths and bad homeopaths, but that is true of any profession. Above all we should be careful of dismissing the testimony of millions who say the remedies have worked for them.

· Jeanette Winterson is donating the fee for this article to the Maun homeopathy project.
(Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2209998,00.html)

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) & Homeopathic Treatment

The change of seasons from autumn to winter brings with it shorter days, cloudy skies, cold weather and longer nights. This shift affects us all, we change our habits, e.g. the food we eat and the activities we do; and it can affect our mood. For some however the change brings with it feelings of depression and is termed Season Affective Disorder or SAD. People living in the Northern hemisphere are more susceptible to SAD. Symptoms begin in September and November and continue until March or April.

On a psychological level light, especially sunlight represents a powerful life-giving source of energy. By contrast, darkness represents the hidden, dark side of life and therefore represents those hidden parts of ourselves that we might rather not look into.

People with SAD might want to stay away from social situations, they may not be able to tolerate stress. And they may want to sleep more and find it hard to get going in the morning. And don’t feel quite like they do in the summer months with the long sunny days. These people may even feel manic in summer and spring months.

Homeopaths consider the sensitivities that people feel from the darkened days and that the grey and cloudy skies may be accompanied by feelings of depression and feeling lethargic. Homeopaths take an individual approach to treating the issue o SAD. No two patients would necessarily receive the same homeopathic treatment.

Symptoms of SAD
- Problems with sleep - Usually wake feeling un-refreshed, the desire for sleep and difficulty staying awake but, in some cases, disturbed sleep and early morning wakening;
- Depressed feelings – Having a gloomy outlook, guilt feelings, loss of self-esteem and sometimes hopelessness and despair. sometimes apathy and loss of feelings; - Lethargic feelings – Lack of enthusiasm and motivation. Fatigue and the inability to carry out usual tasks. There may be overeating, where there is a craving for carbohydrates and sweet foods, which can result in weight gain.
- Desire to hibernate. Avoiding social contact and irritability.- Anxiety – An inability to tolerate stress.- Changes in mood – For some there may be extremes of mood and short periods of hypomania (overactivity) in the spring and autumn.- Loss of libido.
- Weakened immune system - more vulnerable to infections and other illnesses during the winter months.

The importance of light
We all need light to survive, however there is little is known about the actual process of how and why we need it. What is know is that Melatonin, a hormone, produced in the darkness and inhibited by light. Melatonin is fundamental in the function of our body's Circadian rhythm, (a body rhythm), which plays a major role in our sleep-waking cycle, our moods and body’s thermostat. It is not certain that melatonin is the cause of SAD, but it is likely that it contributes to depression.

What you can do
- Make winter sunshine a priority, take advantage of any sun that does shine, especially if you live and/or work in a dark or darkish environment.
- Spend time outside during your lunch hour.
- Whether you work from home or an office, try and organise your working environment so that you can sit near a window, to make the most of the available light.
- Take your annual holiday in the winter months and travel to sunnier climates. This may provide only temporary relief and will help you to get through those winter months.
- A daily exercise routine will help to release endorphins which give a sense of well-being.
- Eat little and often and fresh fruit and vegetables.
- Wear sunny, brightly-coloured clothes, such as yellow, orange, and red.
- Keep a diary, where you record the weather and major events in your life and how they affect you, your body, your feelings, and your dreams. This will bring clarity and awareness.
- Learn a meditation that involves imagining a sunny place that you "visit" on a regular basis. Close your eyes and imagine yourself lying on a sun-drenched beach. Don’t underestimate the healing power of the imagination on our physical and emotional bodies.


Things to avoid:

Try not to wear sunglasses outside, as these cut down the amount of sunlight and vitamin D that is absorbed through your eyes in the winter and the summer months.

Homeopathic remedies
There are many homeopathic remedies that have SAD symptoms (being affected by the light and especially the lack of light in winter months) as part of their clinical symptom picture.

Self-prescribing is not recommended for chronic SAD which happens year after year. The expertise of a homeopath is advised to treat serious depression.

For short-lived (acute) SAD, you can try the following remedies. If you find them to be ineffective, consult a professional homeopath for their help:

Ammonium Carbonicum – people who are chilly. And are much affected by the dull and cloudy weather of winter. They feel unmotivated and apathetic and unmotivated. They have a sweet tooth and crave lots of sweet things and put on lots of weight.

Aurum metallicum – get terrible depression in the winter moths. They feel like a heavy cloud is sitting over them. IN their darkest hour, they feel suicidal. They take solace in work and/or religion and hide themselves away listening to sad music until the sun returns the following spring.

Phosphorus – there is a close relationship between their mood and the weather. They love the sun and feel upbeat from it. However their mood turns without the sun, they become miserable during winter, with the dark, cold and cloudy days and they feel unmotivated. They desire chocolate.

Rhus toxicodendron - is good for those who are susceptible to cloudy, grey weather. They are aggravated by the cold, damp, wet and cloudy weather. This climate makes them physically stiffen, especially the joints. When they first get up from sitting down, they feel stiff, but after being mobile for a while, their movement becomes freer. The joints also hurt again if they are using them for a while. They are very restlessness.

Sepia- is a remedy for very chilly types, they hate everything about winter. Their moods start to lift when they begin to get warm again in the late spring and early summer. They can get out in the fresh air and do some exercise which makes them feel really well. If they can't exercise, they sink into a depressed and irritable state and want to be alone.