Alternative Medicine and Homeopathy

For many years modern medicine looked down on Alternative medicine. There are some good and bad reasons why this was the case. Most doctors have not studied alternative medicine and therefore do not understand it. Therefore it is easy to look down on these practitioners as quacks. However due to a mounting pile of evidence showing that the results many alternative medicine providers have achieved has many doctors working in accord with alternative medicine.

There are some good reasons that the medical community mostly does not condone the use of alternative medicine. Some AM practitioners claim an ability to heal any disease, and some insist on the first visit to cease all medications prescribed by a doctor. Just as there are doctors that are quacks and are horrible at their craft, there are certainly many AM practitioners that are not doing their contemporary professionals any favors by practicing the way they do.

I would like to discuss one branch of AM known as homeopathy. Homeopathy has been around for over 200 years. Some form of homeopathy is practiced in modern medicine in several different instances. For instance what is the treatment for a child suffering from ADHD? to give this child with hyper activity disorder Ritalin, a stimulant. It doesn't seem to make much sense but that is the treatment. As well one treatment for many patients suffering from severe allergies is to administer low doses of pollen into their system. Then over time increase the dosage until a tolerance is built up in the system and the patient is either allergy free or the symptoms are greatly lessened. These treatments are founded on homeopathic principles.

So what is homeopathy anyway? The key principle is treating a "like with a like" So let's take an example of homeopathy in action. If a patient complains of symptoms of sleeplessness and agitation, a homeopathic practitioner may administer a low dose of caffeinated coffee as a treatment. Why is this? Because in high doses coffee can cause these symptoms. So a homeopath seeks the symptoms and then ties them to something in nature that may in high doses cause these symptoms and then administers the low dosage treatment.

What is the science behind homeopathy? While modern science is unsure what makes the treatments so effective numerous laboratory tests have shown the efficacy of homeopathy. In one such study a homeopathy practitioner created a remedy out of thyroxine, (a hormone produced by the thyroid that is responsible for regulating normal growth) and then administered these to tadpoles. The result was a dramatic slowing in the metamorphosis process in which the tadpoles become adult frogs.

Homeopathy Succession

The typical preparation of these remedies involves a process of vigorously shaking the original ingredient with water and alcohol and by using dilution and succession the remedies are created. It is believed that during the succession process nanostructures are created and these are the active ingredients in homeopathy.

Whether or not science can explain it homeopathy has sound roots in medicinal practices, while not all treatments may be successful the data indicates that there is a great deal of merit in homeopathy as it is practiced today.

Which is a better healer, medicine or the human body?

It truly is amazing what the human body can do. Many times all that is necessary is to give the body what it needs to heal itself, and it will take care of the rest on its own. Surprisingly though modern medicine doesn’t hold the human body’s healing ability in such high regard. The reason for this is twofold. First of all as a society we want the solution right now and in a pill form. Secondly there is no money in healthy people. There is also no money in dead people. So the real money is somewhere in the middle. Doctors want to keep us alive, but sick enough to keep coming back for more medicine. The following examples help to illustrate this point.

A good doctor should treat the patient not the disease. This means taking a look at the underlying causes rather than the symptoms. The human body works in concert to perform every task. This includes healing itself. Take some wisdom from the song, “The ankle bone is connected to the leg bone” because treating one part of the body, or treating a symptom does not work. Treating the body is the key to health. Take for instance some medicines that claim an ability to help reduce belly fat. This just isn’t possible you can reduce fat, which over time will reduce belly fat naturally. By reducing cortisol and allowing the body to unnaturally deal with the issue of fat in the body does not attack the underlying cause of all that extra cortisol which is stress. By tricking the body you rob Peter to pay Paul. This will ALWAYS catch up to you in the end. Peter must be paid as well. It is sufficient to say that the ankle bone is indeed attached to the leg bone.

Let’s take a look at the placebo effect. There is a study that was done on terminally ill cancer patients with late stage lymphatic cancer. One of the patients had orange size tumors throughout his body in his lymph nodes. The doctor fully believed in the new experimental drug, as did the patient. Three days after administering the drug the tumors had all shrunken to half their size. Within weeks the tumors were all but gone, and the patient was in remission. The miracle drug was saline. The human body healed itself.

I am not advocating abandon all medicine and just hope you will get better by drinking some V8. That is absurd. I will say however that if you are on medication, an especially if you are heavily medicated, have a consultation with your doctor and ask him why you are taking every medicine you are one, if there are any known complications with mixing the meds you are on, and if it would be possible to get off of any of the medicines or reduce the dosage. Give your body a chance to heal yourself, if not new symptoms may occur and your overall health level can continue to go down.
Recently a Grandmother from Seattle checked into the hospital because she was having a severe asthma attack. The MD gave her steroids to stop the asthma; this treatment caused high blood pressure, which caused vertigo. In an effort to treat the vertigo, blood pressure medication was issued, which caused dizziness, which caused the lady to stay in bed for fear of falling, which caused swelling of the legs. The treatment for this was to issue a water pill, which caused her potassium levels to plummet, so a potassium supplement was issued. The good doctors also found that she was suffering from Osteoporosis, so treatment was administered for this, which ultimately caused gastric bleeding. Later the Grandmother commented. “I was sicker when I got out than when I went in”

I am not saying that doctors or medications in and of themselves are bad. I am simply commenting that the system itself is broken. With many doctors keenly treating symptoms with medication, all the while creating more symptoms, the patient is forgotten about as the good doctor chases down the disease. There is no one on the planet more qualified or motivated to take charge of your own health. Responsibly question you health care providers, and find out if you are overmedicated. Give your body a chance to heal itself. And put down that donut, and try some broccoli!