[SymphonicHealth] The story of homoeopathy and how it has flourished (fwd)

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Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 07:06:34 -0500

From: Ruby <ruby@...>

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Subject: [symphonicHealth] The story of homoeopathy and how it has flourished

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/story.jsp?story=b8309

11 April 2005

The story of homoeopathy and how it has flourished

Snake-oil or cure-all? 250 years after the birth of its founder, the

scientific controversy still rages, but its sales are rising quickly.

nce investigates a medical phenomenon

11 April 2005

Some call it snake oil, some believe it is the 21st century's

cure-all: 250 years after the birth of Hahnemann, the system of

medicine he founded, homoeopathy, is still the focus of scientific

controversy.

Yet despite being mocked and ridiculed by the scientific establishment

from the start, it flourishes today as one of the leading branches of

complementary medicine, with millions of adherents across the world.

In England, an estimated 470,000 people use homoeopathic remedies

every year. Walk into any high street chemist and in the complementary

medicine section you will find arnica, nux vomica, pulsatilla and rhus

tox on the shelves. The Queen, Beckham and Geri Halliwell are

among those said to swear by them.

The origins of the treatment lie in the dissatisfaction that the young

Dr Hahnemann, a German physician who practised in the late 18th

century, felt with the orthodox medicine of the time. Born in Meissen,

Saxony, on 10 April 1755, to poor but middle-class parents, Hahnemann

spent his childhood attaining " knowledge by every possible means " and

became proficient in eight languages. By his late teens he had

developed an interest in medicine and qualified at Erlangen in 1779.

His distaste for the then favoured treatments - blood-letting, purging

and burning and the administration of toxic substances such as arsenic

and mercury - was not difficult to understand and it led him to devote

his energy to his " beloved chemistry " . He gave away his medical

practice in 1790, just 11 years after qualifying, and began a new

practice based on the principle that " like cures like " which underlies

homoeopathy.

One of his earliest experiments involved the drug quinine, used to

treat malaria. He had read that it was effective because it was bitter

and astringent, but realised that, if this were the case, all bitter

and astringent substances would be effective, which they clearly were

not.

By testing it on himself he discovered that it produced symptoms of

fever similar to those produced by the disease itself and he

speculated that this could be the real secret of its curative power.

He began to test other drugs on himself, his family and friends, such

as belladonna, camphor and aconitum to study the symptoms they

produced. But it was not until 1796 that he " first communicated to the

world by means of public print his new discovery in medicine " .

It was based on two principles. The first, called the law of similars,

can be seen in the way that an effective treatment for a hangover is

to have another drink in the morning. This was not the sort of

treatment that Dr Hahnemann had in mind, but it demonstrates that it

can work. Homoeopaths, however, believe it applies universally.

The second principle is that a treatment becomes more powerful the

more it is diluted - even to the point where it is so dilute that the

remedy cannot contain even a single molecule of the original

substance. The process of repeatedly diluting and shaking a remedy is

known as potentisation and it may be carried out so many times that it

is equivalent to diluting a tiny speck of the original substance in

all the world's oceans.

This is the central difficulty that scientists have with homoeopathy.

If a homoeopathic remedy does not contain a single molecule of the

original substance from which it was made, how can it exert any effect?

The question did not trouble Dr Hahnemann because molecules were still

awaiting discovery at the time he was writing his Organon of Ration

Healing, published in 1810 and Materia Medica Pura, setting out his

ideas. His remedies gained currency because they were notably kinder

and less injurious than the conventional treatments handed out by his

colleagues.

In 1811 he moved with his family - he had married Joanna Kuchler in

1782 and they had 11 children - to Leipzig where he began teaching a

small group of students in the university. But his growing success

provoked jealousy and he was eventually forbidden by the courts from

dispensing his medicines.

In 1821 he moved to Köthen and devoted himself full time to

homoeopathy. People travelled hundreds of miles to consult him as his

fame grew, but he was constantly attacked and persecuted by

establishment colleagues. In response, he increasingly isolated

himself leaving the movement leaderless and resulting in the formation

of different sects.

Today there are two kinds of homoeopaths in the UK - those who trained

first as doctors and those non-medically qualified homoeopaths who

have studied the principles for several years. The latter far

outnumber the former and there are at least 2,000 registered

homoeopaths in Britain.

The NHS has since its inception backed homoeopathy. And five

homoeopathic hospitals in Britain have enjoyed royal support.

Fisher, the clinical director of the Royal London Homoeopathic

hospital signs himself Physician to the Queen. At one of the earliest

debates on the NHS Act 1948 the Government pledged that homoeopathy

would continue to be available on the health service as long as there

were " patients wishing to receive it and doctors willing to provide it " .

When challenged about the scientific implausibility of their practice,

homoeopaths reply that their remedies do not work like pharmacological

drugs but that, in some way, the " energy " in the original substance is

passed on to the water or other liquid in which it is diluted. The

water thus retains a memory of the substance.

This theory was proposed by Jacques Benveniste, a French biologist, in

the 1980s. In a paper published in Nature, one of the world's leading

science journals, in 1988 he claimed that experiments in his

laboratory in Paris had shown that an ultra-dilute solution could

exert a biological effect.

However, Dr Benveniste was investigated by a team appointed by the

then editor of Nature, Sir Maddox, and after they failed to

repeat his experiments successfully Dr Benveniste was ridiculed in a

subsequent edition and his theory consigned to history.

Last year, interest in the theory was revived by the publication of

new research which appeared to lend weight to Dr Benveniste's claim.

Four teams of researchers working in four countries separately

observed that a highly dilute solution of histamine, the substance

produced in the skin in response to an insect bite or sting, exerted

an effect on a type of white blood cell called a basophil in the test

tube.

Three of the four laboratories found a statistically significant

effect and the fourth found an effect which lay just outside the

significant range. Writing in the journal Inflammation Research in

August 2004, the authors said: " We are not yet able to propose any

theoretical explanation for these findings " .

If confirmed, they may require the laws of physics to be rewritten.

Critics claim it is more likely there is some error in the experiment,

a charge which the scientists reject.

Philippe Belon, the lead researcher, was a former collaborator of Dr

Benveniste's, but fell out with him many years ago. He now works for

the French homoeopathy company Boiron, although he claims to be

interested only in discovering scientific truth. The British arm of

the study was led by Professor Madeleine Ennis, an asthma specialist

and sceptic on homoeopathy, at Queen's University, Belfast, who agreed

to participate only to prove the theory wrong. " I know what we tested

and I cannot explain the results, " she said.

Support for homoeopathy also came from an analysis of 89 trials

published in The Lancet in 1997 which appeared to show that the

remedies produced an effect more than twice as great as a placebo. But

the analysis was criticised on the grounds that it did not make sense

to lump together highly diverse studies in this global fashion.

A much larger review encompassing 200 trials of homoeopathy by the NHS

Centre for Reviews and Dissemination based at York University, which

issues advice to the NHS on effective treatments, delivered a damning

verdict in March 2002.

" There is currently insufficient evidence of effectiveness either to

recommend homoeopathy as a treatment for any specific condition or to

warrant significant changes in the current provision of homoeopathy, "

it concluded.

A similar verdict was reached by the influential Academie de Medicine

in Paris, an advisory body of distinguished physicians. In a report in

September 2004 it upset practitioners and users of homoeopathy by

concluding that they subscribed to mumbo jumbo. " Homoeopathy is a

method dreamed up two centuries ago, based on prejudices that were

devoid of any foundation. It has survived as a doctrine completely

outside the remarkable scientific movement which has been transforming

medicine for two centuries. "

Verdicts do not come much more damning than that. But it is unlikely

to deter the hundreds of thousands of adherents to the philosophy in

France or Britain.

The British Homeopathic Association claims that heightened public

awareness of the dangers of chemicals in the food chain, growing

resistance to antibiotics through over-use, and concerns about the

side effects of conventional drugs, are contributing to a rethink

about the way we live and how we seek to regain health.

Two hundred years after Hahnemann raised parallel concerns

about the damaging effects of the medicine of the day, the public has

again grown anxious about what doctors do.

Homoeopathy - with its use of natural substances in minute doses, and

holistic person-centred approach - is attracting more and more

converts. And it scores one big advantage over conventional medicine.

Even though it may do little good, the absence of harmful side effects

means that it can do little harm.

PULSATILLA - WIND FLOWER

This is prescribed for complaints that cause a profuse discharge,

especially coughs and colds that produce catarrh. It is mostly given

to women and may also be used for depression, varicose veins,

nosebleeds, toothache, rheumatism, acne, migraines, and ear and eye

complaints. Advice on its use suggests people who respond well to

pulsatilla are empathic, swayed by emotion rather than reason,

dependent on others and easily led. Public opinion is very important

to them and they can easily feel slighted and full of self-pity. They

may fear enclosed spaces, crowds, being alone and the dark. Pulsatilla

people tend to be plump, fair-haired with blue eyes and can flush or

blush easily.

BELLADONNA - DEADLY NIGHTSHADE

Prepared from the poisonous plant, deadly nightshade, belladonna is a

first-aid remedy for headache and fever. It may also give relief for

earache, swollen glands, sore throats, boils, anxiety and teething.

Belladonna produces a headache which is more accentuated on the right

side of the head so the location of the headache must be taken into

account by the homoeopath. If the patient has a left-sided headache,

bromium is the more likely remedy.

BACH FLOWER RESCUE REMEDY - CHERRY PLUM, ROCK ROSE, IMPATIENS,

CLEMATIS STAR OF BETHLEHEM

The Bach Flower Remedies were created by a Harley Street doctor,

Bach, in the 1930s. He devised a system of seven major

emotional groups, such as fear, uncertainty or loneliness. He

categorised 38 negative states of mind and then formulated a plant or

flower-based remedy to treat each one. Bach Flower Rescue Remedy is

one of the most popular homoeopathic treatments. It is used by people

to combat stress. Rock rose is given for terror, impatiens for

impatience, clematis for dreaminess, star of Bethlehem for the

after-effects of shock, and cherry plum for fear of the mind giving way.

RHUS TOX - POISON IVY

Poison ivy can cause rashes or itching if touched. In the homoeopathic

dose, it is used to treat rheumatic pains and skin complaints which

may be accompanied by burning, itchiness, swelling and painful

blisters. People needing rhus tox are sensitive to the damp and can

suffer from arthritis with aching and stitch pains. It is a remedy for

backache, and for aching joints in flu. It is also useful for sprains

and strains and the effects of over-exertion as well as stiff neck,

sciatica, diarrhoea, swollen glands and backache.

IGNATIA - IGNATIA AMARA

Made from the seeds of the plant Ignatia amara, which contain

strychnine, ignatia affects the nervous system. It is prescribed to

sensitive, highly-strung people who tend to blame themselves when

things go wrong. Their over-reactive and over-sensitive nature leads

to rapid changes of mood. They may suffer from trembling and

agitation. Often their ailments have contradictory symptoms. Ignatia

is mainly given to women who tend to be thin, dark-haired and have

bluish circles around their eyes. They feel the cold and dislike

tobacco. It is prescribed for emotional upset or grief and can be used

to treat headaches, sore throats, coughs and menstrual problems.

ARNICA - ARNICA MONTANA LEOPARDS BANE

Probably the most popular homoeopathic treatment, it is widely used as

a first aid treatment for shock. It should be taken as soon after

injury as possible to ease pain and speed recovery. Little attention

needs be paid to detailed symptoms. It can be taken as a pill or

applied externally to bruises, sprains or an injury where the skin is

unbroken. It is made from a perennial herb which is native to central

Europe. Care must be taken as some people are sensitive to the plant

and poisoning has occurred.

Health, Hope, Joy & Healing :

May you Prosper, even as your Soul Prospers 3 2

Ruby

Email advice is not a substitute for medical treatment.

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