Guest guest Posted January 15, 2001 Report Share Posted January 15, 2001 My son and I both tried direct homeopathic detox for mercury, aluminum and arsenic. It may have helped some but DMSA and DMPS brought out much more. We do use homeopathic drainers for the liver, spleen, kidney, colon and lymph regularly during detox and it does help alot. I'd imagine everyone's response to homeopathics may be a bit different. The nice thing about them is that if it doesn't help, it at least doesn't make things worse. However, much as I believe in homeopathy, I wouldn't count on it to fully detox my son. Gaylen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 16, 2001 Report Share Posted January 16, 2001 I have many reports of people who got a lot worse from homeopathic " detox. " I highly reccomend avoiding that. It seems that the body has no natural mechanism to remove mercury from the brain so it isn't possible to stimulate it to do that - but you CAN stir the mercury up a lot. On the other hand I have heard uniformly positive reports regarding " drainage remedies " from mercury toxic people who tried them. Andy > Fiona: > > > > Does anyone use homeopathy to rid the mercury? My son's chiro is > > suggesting a homeopathic route and I am quite nervous about this. > I > > believe my son has detox problems and would like to supplement his > > chelation with a homeopathic detox program (like Gaylen I believe?) > but > > for the mercury? Geez, I don't know. Any thoughts or > experiences? > > I am thinking of doing the " constitutional " homeopathy which treats > the whole person rather than a specific illness (per my son's > Naturopath). I heard that this works better - so if the individual > happened to have problems with detoxing then supposedly the > constitutional homeopathy can carry this along too. > > Try these sites > > http://www.relaxall.com/Constitutional.html > > http://www.homeopathways.com/ > > http://library.thinkquest.org/24206/homeopathy.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 16, 2001 Report Share Posted January 16, 2001 Andy, What is a " drainage remedy " Also, do you or anyone know if my son's (age 2) high Aluminum level could be caused my usage of deoderant while he was in utero or while nursing. The active ingredient is Aluminum ZirconiumTetrachlorohydrex Glycine Complex? Just wondering. At 10:01 AM 1/16/01 +0000, you wrote: >I have many reports of people who got a lot worse from homeopathic > " detox. " I highly reccomend avoiding that. It seems that the body >has no natural mechanism to remove mercury from the brain so it isn't >possible to stimulate it to do that - but you CAN stir the mercury up >a lot. > >On the other hand I have heard uniformly positive reports regarding > " drainage remedies " from mercury toxic people who tried them. > >Andy > > > > Fiona: > > > > > > > Does anyone use homeopathy to rid the mercury? My son's chiro >is > > > suggesting a homeopathic route and I am quite nervous about this. > > I > > > believe my son has detox problems and would like to supplement his > > > chelation with a homeopathic detox program (like Gaylen I >believe?) > > but > > > for the mercury? Geez, I don't know. Any thoughts or > > experiences? > > > > I am thinking of doing the " constitutional " homeopathy which treats > > the whole person rather than a specific illness (per my son's > > Naturopath). I heard that this works better - so if the individual > > happened to have problems with detoxing then supposedly the > > constitutional homeopathy can carry this along too. > > > > Try these sites > > > > http://www.relaxall.com/Constitutional.html > > > > http://www.homeopathways.com/ > > > > http://library.thinkquest.org/24206/homeopathy.html > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 16, 2001 Report Share Posted January 16, 2001 the aluminium also likely came from your son's vacines, they put it in to prompt the immune system to respond to the vaccine quicker. rgds paul --- knowles@... wrote: > Andy, > > What is a " drainage remedy " > > Also, do you or anyone know if my son's (age 2) high > Aluminum level could > be caused my usage of deoderant while he was in > utero or while > nursing. The active ingredient is Aluminum > ZirconiumTetrachlorohydrex > Glycine Complex? Just wondering. > > > At 10:01 AM 1/16/01 +0000, you wrote: > >I have many reports of people who got a lot worse > from homeopathic > > " detox. " I highly reccomend avoiding that. It > seems that the body > >has no natural mechanism to remove mercury from the > brain so it isn't > >possible to stimulate it to do that - but you CAN > stir the mercury up > >a lot. > > > >On the other hand I have heard uniformly positive > reports regarding > > " drainage remedies " from mercury toxic people who > tried them. > > > >Andy > > > > > > > Fiona: > > > > > > > > > > Does anyone use homeopathy to rid the > mercury? My son's chiro > >is > > > > suggesting a homeopathic route and I am quite > nervous about this. > > > I > > > > believe my son has detox problems and would > like to supplement his > > > > chelation with a homeopathic detox program > (like Gaylen I > >believe?) > > > but > > > > for the mercury? Geez, I don't know. Any > thoughts or > > > experiences? > > > > > > I am thinking of doing the " constitutional " > homeopathy which treats > > > the whole person rather than a specific illness > (per my son's > > > Naturopath). I heard that this works better - > so if the individual > > > happened to have problems with detoxing then > supposedly the > > > constitutional homeopathy can carry this along > too. > > > > > > Try these sites > > > > > > http://www.relaxall.com/Constitutional.html > > > > > > http://www.homeopathways.com/ > > > > > > > http://library.thinkquest.org/24206/homeopathy.html > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2001 Report Share Posted January 17, 2001 In a message dated 1/16/01 6:18:31 AM Central Standard Time, snickol@... writes: << Hi Gaylen. I may have missed some of your previous posts to this list. Are you still chelating your son? >> Yes but he's almost done. He's doing nightly sauna treatments now and will probably do a few more rounds of DMSA and maybe one more of DMPS. We had thought we were done but his recent stool test showed high in arsenic. <<How old is he?>> 9 <<Does chelation help allergies?>> Absolutely! I recently cleaned out an old file cabinent and came across some allergy testing for myself done six years ago when I was very toxic. I'd forgoten all of the things I was allergic to and am not anymore. I have done alot of TBM allergy treatments for various things but only a small portion of what I formerly tested allergic to. Now there are very few things I still have difficulty with. The most dramatic change in reactions has been with my son for chemical inhalants like perfumes and such. He used to react very negatively to them and now very rarely has difficulty with it. Gaylen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2001 Report Share Posted January 17, 2001 In a message dated 1/17/01 4:00:47 PM Central Standard Time, snickol@... writes: << Was your son diagnosed with autism?>> yes, severely so. <<And if so, does he still have the diagnosis? >> Kind of. Four out of his last five evaluations by different docs placed him outside the autism spectrum but we keep the label so he can still get some help for remaining challenges. In Texas, the autism/PDD label gets you more service funding. His main diagnosis now is toxic encephalopathy with a secondary one of mild PDD. Gaylen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2001 Report Share Posted January 17, 2001 In a message dated 1/17/01 4:00:47 PM Central Standard Time, snickol@... writes: << Do you know anyone good in the Chicago area that does NAET or TBM? >> Oops, just saw this after I sent the previous e-mail. I don't know anyone personally but you could call the TBM practitioner refferal line to find someone who's been trained in your area. 1-800-243-4TBM Gaylen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 19, 2001 Report Share Posted January 19, 2001 Hi Everybody! I'm new to the list and this is the first time I've written in. My 5 yr old son is autistic. He definitely has vaccine induced autism because he had immediate adverse reactions right before my eyes. I recently had him detoxed using homeopathic remedies and it did the trick. When I had hair and stool sampling done there was no mercury indicated. There was however antimony, aluminum and arsenic. These are all in the 90% range .My naturopath is recommending thiodox, chlorella, pro-biotics and a vitamin complex especially compounded for him. The difference in his language has been explosive in just the few weeks he has been on the regiment. He also is more aware of what is happening and commenting about everything, even past situations he never talked about before. He is still however freaking out over the littlest things that go wrong and my husband and I are working on calming him down. This may not be due to the autism , because my husband has alot of anxiety when things go wrong. R., Nashua, NH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 20, 2001 Report Share Posted January 20, 2001 Hi! Your son's high aluminum level could be from the vaccines.Many of the vaccines have aluminum in the their base. R.Nashua,NH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 21, 2001 Report Share Posted January 21, 2001 Dear , Are you endorsing the view that you CAN remove heavy metals through homeopathy? Ken Sokolski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 21, 2001 Report Share Posted January 21, 2001 Magnesium Malate also helps for alluminum. Ken Sokolski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 21, 2001 Report Share Posted January 21, 2001 Response to Ken's question: I am a lay person with no medical knowledge other than the research I have conducted on the computer for the past 2 yrs. I am thinking that maybe my son still could have mercury in his brain after reading the comments about not being able to get rid of it. I saw a big difference in my son's behavior and language after treating him homeopathically for the detoxification of mercury. That's the only proof I have and I am not an expert and am very open to other opinions, R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 21, 2001 Report Share Posted January 21, 2001 : What homeopathic remedies did you use? Janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 8, 2001 Report Share Posted April 8, 2001 It does seem to do something. I have a large number of uniform reports of people doing " homeopathic " detoxification and all getting worse in the same way. I reccomend NOT using homeopathy for detoxification - you may wish to use it for other supporting things though. Andy > We went to see a naturopathic doctor last Tuesday, and she recommended homeopathy for Ben. I really don't think that it's going to work, but my husband said to ask anyone in the group if they've tried it. So, has anyone tried this on their heavy metals poisoned kid? Feel free to email me privately. Thanks. > > Kris > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 9, 2001 Report Share Posted April 9, 2001 Dear Andy, what kind of homeopathic medicine are you talking about and what potency level are they using to detox and how are they getting worse ? [ ] Re: Homeopathy It does seem to do something. I have a large number of uniform reports of people doing "homeopathic" detoxification and all getting worse in the same way. I reccomend NOT using homeopathy for detoxification - you may wish to use it for other supporting things though.Andy> We went to see a naturopathic doctor last Tuesday, and she recommended homeopathy for Ben. I really don't think that it's going to work, but my husband said to ask anyone in the group if they've tried it. So, has anyone tried this on their heavy metals poisoned kid? Feel free to email me privately. Thanks.> > Kris> ======================================================= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 9, 2001 Report Share Posted April 9, 2001 The " standard " homeopathic remedy for mercury poisoning is a tremendously dilute solution of mercury (mercuric chloride, I think). Fortunately, it doesn't matter what mercury compound they use, since the dilution is so great that it's even odds whether there is a single molecule in the vial. Unless Andy has seen something different, my experience with homeopathic remedies is that, while they don't make anybody worse, they don't get better either. The naturopathic remedies are a whole different issue. Jim Laidler > > We went to see a naturopathic doctor last Tuesday, and she > recommended homeopathy for Ben. I really don't think that it's going > to work, but my husband said to ask anyone in the group if they've > tried it. So, has anyone tried this on their heavy metals poisoned > kid? Feel free to email me privately. Thanks. > > > > Kris > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 9, 2001 Report Share Posted April 9, 2001 Kris, This could be my ignorance of homeopathy here, but any branch of medicine that uses something like "Arsenicum" does not have my vote even if it is in small doses. Jon . [ ] Homeopathy We went to see a naturopathic doctor last Tuesday, and she recommended homeopathy for Ben. I really don't think that it's going to work, but my husband said to ask anyone in the group if they've tried it. So, has anyone tried this on their heavy metals poisoned kid? Feel free to email me privately. Thanks. Kris aka@... ======================================================= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2001 Report Share Posted April 10, 2001 > Dear Andy, > what kind of homeopathic medicine are you talking about and what potency level are they using to detox and how are they getting worse ? Most of the people used what was described to them by their doc as " homeopathic detoxification. " A few used things like mercurius solubilis or arsenicum. I don't know the strength. Most I believe were high enough dilution that the remedies could not have been directly toxic. The people uniformly report a worsening of neurological and liver symptoms, with improvement of other symptoms. One of the people actually had allopathic testing done and had lasting increases in urinary and blood porphyrin levels. Most people who have tried this or that homeopathically have reported good experiences with " drainage remedies. " I am not familiar enough with homeopathy to understand exactly what those are, or what is prescribed as a " detox remedy, " but the patient reports are numerous and uniform enough I suggest people avoid homeopathic DETOXIFICATION treatment that is intended to move mercury around. .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2001 Report Share Posted April 10, 2001 > > Dear Andy, > > what kind of homeopathic medicine are you talking about and what > potency level are they using to detox and how are they getting worse ? > > [ ] Re: Homeopathy > > > > > > It does seem to do something. I have a large number of uniform > > reports of people doing " homeopathic " detoxification and all > getting > > worse in the same way. I reccomend NOT using homeopathy for > > detoxification - you may wish to use it for other supporting > things > > though. > > > > Andy > > > > --- In @y..., " Al and Kris Asker " <aka@m...> wrote: > > > We went to see a naturopathic doctor last Tuesday, and she > > recommended homeopathy for Ben. I really don't think that it's > going > > to work, but my husband said to ask anyone in the group if they've > > tried it. So, has anyone tried this on their heavy metals > poisoned > > kid? Feel free to email me privately. Thanks. > > > > > > Kris > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 15, 2002 Report Share Posted January 15, 2002 Hi Gaylen. I may have missed some of your previous posts to this list. Are you still chelating your son? How old is he? You sound knowledgeable and I was wondering if you know the answer to this: Does chelation help allergies? My son has mold allergies and other environmental ones- I would think that once ridding the body of toxic metals this may have some effect on the immune system and thus help alleviate some of the allergic symptoms. Any thoughts on this? (My son Evan is 6 years and we've just finished five rounds using DMSA and ALA.) Thanks. ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 19, 2002 Report Share Posted January 19, 2002 Thanks for the info, Gaylen. Congratulations on the success of your son. That is so wonderful and encouraging...We are continuing with round 6 tomorrow for my son (Evan) we took 6 weeks off to try to get rid of his bacteria (4+) problem. He seems to be better and strong now, hope he's ready for it. I don't think it was a good thing to take time off. He is HYPER and irritable lately. Good for you to be so smart to receive services. I do anything I can to get insurance and school to cover things. Right now I'm trying to figure out the right code so we can get a developmental psychologist covered under our mental health plan. Any ideas? ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 28, 2002 Report Share Posted May 28, 2002 My son was given a homeopathic sulphur and hepb vaccine remedy last month -- 3 days on, 3 days off, repeat 3 times...and WOW. I was amazed to see his skin color return--he had been so pale and dark circles under eyes. He had diarrhea on day one of the first two cycles--normally he is more on the constipated side. He was coughing up a ton of mucus from his lungs (he is asthmatic, so I thought this was a good thing--to clear all the junk out). His ribs were normally visible (due to the impaired breathing), but he looked great during these cycles. The last day of cycle two, he became really obsessive compulsive, which has always been an issue for him, but it seemed to peak and we completed cycle three with no problems. I am anxious to do more homeopathy with him, but so far, his practitioner has not felt he needed the hepb vax remedy again. Last week she gave him a one time dose of sulphur. I don't know. My guess is she is not a classical homeopath and so I am thinking I need to find one. We did acupuncture for my then 14 month old dd whose bowels stopped working following her 7 month vaccines. She was able to pass stool on her own following acupuncture treatments. Problem was that the acupuncturist wanted me to be giving her all these herbs to make her go,a nd I never could get enough herbs in her, and I got frustrated buying herbs every week... frustrated that the problem wasn't resolving. So I haven't taken her back. Am thinking of chelating with ala to see if that helps. Again, would have stayed with using acupuncture for my son, but the guy was an herb-pusher. Didn't understand why my son was reacting so badly to the herbs. W > IIf you are having succcess with homeopathic,accupuncture,transdermal,etcc. please share on list or e- mail me privately. Thankss, Barbara Biegaj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 29, 2002 Report Share Posted May 29, 2002 W, Is this herbal acupuncturer a Chinese? I right now got a traditional Chinese prescription and got all the herbals and started to give my son. Mainly I was asking for treating the residual measles virus in the gut. I didn't tell the whole story about the vaccines to my relatives in China. My son gave clay colored sticky stool every day with the herbals. He seems more attentive. I also got good school notes. I am really not sure whether it is because of these herbals. I am very interested in the acupuncturer you are using right now. Would you please pass me some info? Thanks! Ping " merrywbee " <maryandphilip@ attbi.com> 05/28/02 11:56 PM Please respond cc: to Subject: [ ] Re: homeopathy Caterpillar: Confidential Green Retain Until: 06/27/2002 Retention Category: G90 - Information and Reports My son was given a homeopathic sulphur and hepb vaccine remedy last month -- 3 days on, 3 days off, repeat 3 times...and WOW. I was amazed to see his skin color return--he had been so pale and dark circles under eyes. He had diarrhea on day one of the first two cycles--normally he is more on the constipated side. He was coughing up a ton of mucus from his lungs (he is asthmatic, so I thought this was a good thing--to clear all the junk out). His ribs were normally visible (due to the impaired breathing), but he looked great during these cycles. The last day of cycle two, he became really obsessive compulsive, which has always been an issue for him, but it seemed to peak and we completed cycle three with no problems. I am anxious to do more homeopathy with him, but so far, his practitioner has not felt he needed the hepb vax remedy again. Last week she gave him a one time dose of sulphur. I don't know. My guess is she is not a classical homeopath and so I am thinking I need to find one. We did acupuncture for my then 14 month old dd whose bowels stopped working following her 7 month vaccines. She was able to pass stool on her own following acupuncture treatments. Problem was that the acupuncturist wanted me to be giving her all these herbs to make her go,a nd I never could get enough herbs in her, and I got frustrated buying herbs every week... frustrated that the problem wasn't resolving. So I haven't taken her back. Am thinking of chelating with ala to see if that helps. Again, would have stayed with using acupuncture for my son, but the guy was an herb-pusher. Didn't understand why my son was reacting so badly to the herbs. W > IIf you are having succcess with homeopathic,accupuncture,transdermal,etcc. please share on list or e- mail me privately. Thankss, Barbara Biegaj ======================================================= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 18, 2003 Report Share Posted October 18, 2003 >Have you bought homeopathics recently? They're as cheap as aspirin. >Cheaper! Not only that, but a bottle will last forever, regardless of the expiration date. And you can stretch it so that you can get thousands of doses out of it, more than you'd ever need. My homeopath charges a reasonable fee for consultation, and doesn't charge for remedies. It's the cheapest form of health care I've ever used. And when I was using an MD homeopath, the office visits were all covered by insurance. (Had to get a few words in :-) Back in the 80's I used homeopathy for about eight solid years, believing in it so much that I kept persevering with trial and error through many different remedy choices even though it wasn't helping me. The reason I persevered was because I was having definite reactions to the remedies, although nothing curative, but quite dramatic effects that showed that the remedies were active and not just sugar pills. Then I switched to a different practitioner and a different form of homeopathy, which is now having quite profound positive effects. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 18, 2003 Report Share Posted October 18, 2003 > > Homeopathy - a Critique > by Rasmus Jansson, May 1997 > Last revised: December 11, 2000 I forgot to give the URL for this article. It is http://www.lysator.liu.se/~rasmus/skepticism/homeopathy.html Here are some more links to information about homeopathy and several studies and experiments proving its ineffec- tiveness. I've included some quotes from the sites to give an idea of what can be found there. ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/homeopathy_memory.html For a humorous look at homeopathy as well as commentary on some of the latest studies. Two of my favorite homeopathic jokes come from this site. " I drank a homeopathic remedy. I urinated and flushed. Soon the remedy will spread throughout the world, becoming ever more powerful as it becomes more diluted. " " Homeopathy is bullshit. Only very, very diluted. It's completely safe to drink. " ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/homeopathic_booze.html Getting " drunk " on homeopathic beer and the placebo effect. A must read for those on this list who are self-diagnosing. ---------------------------------------------------------- Stan Polanski, a physician assistant working in public health near Asheville, North Carolina, has provided additional insights: " Imagine how many compounds must be present, in quantities of a molecule or more, in every dose of a homeopathic drug. Even under the most scrupulously clean conditions, airborne dust in the manufacturing facility must carry thousands of different molecules of biological origin derived from local sources (bacteria, viruses, fungi, respiratory droplets, sloughed skin cells, insect feces) as well as distant ones (pollens, soil particles, products of combustion), along with mineral particles of terrestrial and even extraterres- trial origin (meteor dust). Similarly, the " inert " diluents used in the process must have their own library of microcon- taminants. The dilution/potentiation process in homeopathy involves a stepwise dilution carried to fantastic extremes, with " succussion " between each dilution. Succussion involves shaking or rapping the container a certain way. During the step-by-step dilution process, how is the emerging drug preparation supposed to know which of the countless substances in the container is the One that means business? How is it that thousands (millions?) of chemical compounds know that they are required to lay low, to just stand around while the Potent One is anointed to the status of Healer? That this scenario could lead to distinct products uniquely suited to treat particular illnesses is beyond implausible. Thus, until homeopathy's apologists can supply a plausible (nonmagical) mechanism for the " potentiation " -through-dilution of precisely one of the many substances in each of their products, it is impossible to accept that they have correctly identified the active ingredients in their products. Any study claiming to demonstrate effectiveness of a homeopathic medication should be rejected out-of-hand unless it includes a list of all the substances present in concentrations equal to or greater than the purported active ingredient at every stage of the dilution process, along with a rationale for rejecting each of them as a suspect. The process of " proving " through which homeopaths decided which medicine matches which symptom is no more sensible. Provings involved taking various substances recording every twitch, sneeze, ache or itch that occurred afterward -- often for several days. Homeopathy's followers take for granted that every sensation reported was caused by whatever substance was administered, and that extremely dilute doses of that substance would then be just the right thing to treat anyone with those specific symptoms. " ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/hypothetical_homeopath.html " What they came up with was the memory of water. I assume lactose has a similar memory, but nobody seems to be talking about it. The memory of water voodoo says that water remembers things that it has been in contact with even after all traces of the substance havebeen removed. Strangely, however, it doesn't remember the bottles or bladders it has been stored in, or the chemicals that may have come into contact with its molecules, or the other contents of the sewers it may have been in at one time, or the cosmic radiation which has blasted through it. It just remembers the one thing that the " researcher " wants it to remember. " ---------------------------------------------------------- From a post I made to 's IndianCivilization group. " . . . Many are insulted at the suggestion that they are susceptible to the placebo effect. They shouldn't be, it's a normal, natural human behavior and in no way implies that the individual is any less intelligent. The addresses I gave, http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/homeopathic_booze.html and http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/hypothetical_homeopath.html describe how powerful and common the placebo effect is. Medical treatments cannot be evaluated without making recognition of it. " ---------------------------------------------------------- Refutation of the " memory of water " theory, and veterinary homeopathy. http://spot.colorado.edu/~vstenger/Medicine/Homeop.html " In 1988, homeopathy was thrust into the forefront of controversy with the first publication of work supporting effects of homeopathic solutions in a mainstream science journal. The authors of the paper suggested that extremely dilute solutions of antiserum against human IgE were able to induce basophil degranulation.18 Although the experi- mental model chosen is known to be extremely unstable, the journal in which the study was published could find no apparent flaws. Subsequent to publication, however, the journal sent an investigating team to the laboratory which concluded that there were serious flaws in the original investigation.19 That a war of words subsequently commenced is inarguable. More to the point is that at least three separate investigators using identical or similar experimental models have failed to reproduce the results.20, 21, 22 In fact, the only studies which indicate an in vitro effect of homeopathic dilutions come from the same laboratory. The lead investigator of the studies has since gone on to claim that homeopathic information has been digitized and can be transferred by computer disk over the Internet. Furthermore, his immunopharmacology laboratory has been shut down by INSERM, the French medical research agency.23 Finally, a libel claim by the investigator against two French Nobel prize winners who called the investigator a fraud was recently thrown out of French courts.24 " " In 1985, a chapter on veterinary homeopathy concluded that, " Contrary to what you hear or read too often, rigorous scientific demonstration of the therapeutic effect of homeopathic remedies in veterinary medicine has not yet been done. " " A 1990 review of 40 published randomized trials of homeopathy in human medicine found that most of the studies had major methodological flaws and concluded that, " the results do not provide acceptable evidence that homeopathic treatments are effective. " " Curiously, the lack of good evidence of effectiveness of homeopathic remedies may be irrelevant to supporters of homeopathy. One leading advocate asserts that proving the effectiveness of homeopathy through scientific research is not important and suggests that personal experience is more important that any number of carefully controlled studies.45 Positive expectations and beliefs of patients and healers have historically resulted in reports of excellent or good outcomes in more than 70 per cent of cases even though the treatments given are now known to have been worthless.46 " ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/rational_medicine.html " THE HOMEOPATHIC METHOD. -- Homeopathy may be defined as a specious mode of doing nothing. While it waits on the natural progress of disease and the restorative tendence of nature on the one hand, or the injurious advance of disease on the other, it supplies the craving for activity, on the part of the patient and his friends, by the formal and regular administration of nominal medicine. Although homeopathy will, at some future time, be classed with historical delusions, . . . " ---------------------------------------------------------- http://skepdic.com/homeo.html " 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); ( spontaneous remission (the body healed itself) or © 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. " " In short, the main benefits of homeopathy seem to be that its remedies are not likely to cause harm in them- selves, 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 conventional 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 with known facts but which promises to lead us to a greater understanding of the nature of health and disease. " ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.homeowatch.org/articles/schwarcz.html " Nevertheless, homeopathy did not disappear and its advocates gleefully point to studies in peer-reviewed scientific journals that appear to show benefit. But wait a minute. A careful review of these studies yields unimpressive results. In the treatment of a few minor conditions, homeopathy has been reported as slightly more effective than a placebo, but this has no practical implication; it merely attracts academic interest. How can there be any positive results at all when there is no active ingredient? Publication bias is one explanation. " Positive studies " are more likely than than negative studies to be reported. If enough studies are carried out, sooner or later some will have to show positive results based on the law of averages. Reporting these while maintaining silence on negative findings can create the illusion of effectiveness. " " Several large reviews of homeopathic research have been published, some done by proponents and some by critics. All agree that homeopathy has not been proven clearly effective for any clinical condition. A detailed analysis of homeopathic research will be posted to HomeoWatch within the next few months. " ---------------------------------------------------------- Studies of homeopathy, including veterinary homeopathy. http://www.vet-task-force.com/Medline3.htm ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi? cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=11801202 & dopt=Abstract " A systematic review of the quality of homeopathic clinical trials. " " RESULTS: 59 studies met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 79% were from peer-reviewed journals, 29% used a placebo control, 51% used random assignment, and 86% failed to consider potentially confounding variables. The main validity problems were in measurement where 96% did not report the proportion of subjects screened, and 64% did not report attrition rate. 17% of subjects dropped out in studies where this was reported. There was practically no replication of or overlap in the conditions studied and most studies were relatively small and done at a single- site. Compared to research on conventional therapies the overall quality of studies in homeopathy was worse and only slightly improved in more recent years. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical homeopathic research is clearly in its infancy with most studies using poor sampling and measurement techniques, few subjects, single sites and no replication. Many of these problems are correctable even within a " holistic " paradigm given sufficient research expertise, support and methods. " ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.reall.org/newsletter/v05/n11/homeopathy-the-ultimate- fake.html " Homeopathy - The Ultimate Fake " " In 1994 the journal Pediatrics published an article claiming that homeopathic treatment had been demonstrated to be effective against mild cases of diarrhea among Nicaraguan children. The claim was based on findings that, on certain days, the " treated " group had fewer loose stools than the placebo group. However, Sampson and London noted: (1) the study used an unreliable and unproved diagnostic and therapeutic scheme, (2) there was no safeguard against product adulteration, (3) treatment selection was arbitrary, (4) the data were oddly grouped and contained errors and inconsistencies, (5) the results had questionable clinical significance, and (6) there was no public health significance because the only remedy needed for mild childhood diarrhea is adequate fluid intake to prevent or correct dehydration. " " In 1995, Prescrire International published a literature review that concluded: As homeopathic treatments are generally used in conditions with variable outcome or showing spontaneous recovery (hence their placebo-responsiveness), these treatments are widely considered to have an effect in some patients. However, despite the large number of comparative trials carried out to date there is no evidence that homeopathy is any more effective than placebo therapy given in identical conditions. " ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/homeopathyrandi.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/homeopathytrans.shtml An interview with Randi about his million dollar offer to proponents of the " memory of water " theory. The experiment was the subject of a BBC television show. ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.skeptic.com/03.1.jarvis-homeo.html " Hahnemann's Law of Similia utilized the primitive view of monism that " nature is a unitary, organic whole with no independent parts " (Webster's) with inherent principles that like is like, like makes like, and like cures like. Monism is the basis of many ancient practices (e.g., eating the heart of a lion for courage), and holds that if one object resembles another they are alike in essence (like is like); idolatry in which carving a likeness of a god actually produces the god (like makes like); and folk medicine practices such as snakeroot being good for snakebite, because of their resemblance (like cures like). Hahnemann revived Paracelsus' Doctrine of Signatures, which declared that herbs would cure conditions or anatomical parts they resembled (Garrison, 1929, p. 206). The homeopathic Law of Similia, however, is unsupported by the basic sciences of physiology, pharmacology and pathology. " " Controlled studies involving homeopathic remedies appear to divide along political lines. While the results of most studies do not support the use of homeopathic remedies, some ostensibly well-designed trials have yielded positive findings. Some of these, however, have been done by homeopaths, and their reports contain rhetoric that reflects bias strong enough to undermine confidence in the researchers' veracity. The best of these studies should be repeated by objective investigators with independent analyses of the homeopathic formulations employed to assure that they have not been adulterated with active medications. " " In 1988, a French scientist working at that country's prestigious INSERM institute claimed to have found that high dilutions of substances in water left a " memory, " providing a rationale for homeopathy's Law of Infinitesimals. His findings were published in a highly regarded science journal, but with the caveat that the findings were unbelievable, and that the work was financed by a large homeopathic drug manufacturer (Nature, 1988). Subsequent investigations, including those by Randi, disclosed that the research had been inappropriately carried out. The scandal resulted in the suspension of the scientist. Careful analysis of the study revealed that had the results been authentic, homeopathy would be more likely to worsen a patient's condition than to heal, and that it would be impossible to predict the effect of the same dose from one time to another (Sampson, 1989). " " The sectarian nature of homeopathy raises serious questions about the trustworthiness of homeopathic researchers. Scofield appropriately stated: " It is hardly surprising in view of the quality of much of the experimental work as well as its philosophical framework, that this system of medicine is not accepted by the medical and scientific community at large. " Two guiding rules required by skeptics of pseudoscience should be applied to homeopathic research, to wit: (1) extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence; and (2) it is not necessary to prove fraud, rather, the research must be done in such a manner that fraud is not possible. " " Scofield's most encouraging statement for homeopaths was that " homeopathy has most certainly not been disproved. " However, Scofield ignored the scientific process. It is the absence of proof, not the absence of disproof, that is important. This is consistent with scientific dicta (based upon the statistical null hypothesis) that (1) no practice can be deemed safe or effective until proved to be so; and (2) the burden of proof is upon proponents. " " In 1988, a French scientist working at that country's prestigious INSERM institute claimed to have found that high dilutions of substances in water left a " memory, " providing a rationale for homeopathy's Law of Infinitesimals. His findings were published in a highly regarded science journal, but with the caveat that the findings were unbelievable, and that the work was financed by a large homeopathic drug manufacturer (Nature, 1988). Subsequent investigations, including those by Randi, disclosed that the research had been inappropriately carried out. The scandal resulted in the suspension of the scientist. Careful analysis of the study revealed that had the results been authentic, homeopathy would be more likely to worsen a patient's condition than to heal, and that it would be impossible to predict the effect of the same dose from one time to another (Sampson, 1989). " " Much has been made of the fact that a 24X dilution would no longer contain a single molecule of the original substance, and reported benefits are generally attributed to the placebo effect. However, many homeopathic dosages, although dilute, may contain enough of a substance to be effective. Homeopathic products also may work because of adulteration. Morice (1986, pp. 862-863) reported that a homeopathic remedy called " Dumcap " appeared to be effective in treating asthma. Although labeled as containing " nux vomica " (strychnine), arsenic album (arsenic trioxide), Blatta onentalis (cockroach extract), and stramoni folic (stramonium), analysis revealed that the product was adulterated with therapeutic levels of the antiasthma, steroidal drugs prednisolone and betamethasone. Studies of homeopathic deemed unacceptable unless they have been monitored to assure that they were prepared according to homeopathic principles, their contents verified and dosage quantified, and secured to prevent tampering. As was stated above, simply labeling a product " homeopathic " does not guarantee that it does not contain a pharmacologically active dosage of an active substance (not all dilutions exceed Avogadro's number). To validate a specific homeo pathic remedy, replication by others who have no vested interest in the results is required. To validate homeopathic theory, higher dilutions would also have to be shown to work better than higher concentrations. Paine, a signer of the United States' Declaration of Independence, is credited with establishing a principle for judging supernatural phenomena. He asked, " Is it easier to believe that nature has gone out of her course or that a man would tell a lie? " ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.phact.org/e/skeptic/hom.htm 's HOMEOPATHY page " If there is something to it, let's find out so we can tell the world " : ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.randi.org/jr/031403.html Randi Educational Foundation ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.biochemistry.louisville.edu/grad/alternative_med/Homeopathy ..htm A list of sources on Homeopathy and other forms of medical quackery. ---------------------------------------------------------- www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy . " Lack of logical consistency Another criticism of homeopathy is that it is not logically consistent. This theory assumes that water somehow " remembers " the chemical properties of molecules that it once came in contact with. In this practice one dilutes the original solution to the point where one removes all molecules, yet is is claimed that the water retains some chemical properties of the molecule. If this were so, then where did the pure water used in this process come from? The water that homeopaths themselves use once was in contact with other chemicals, including chemical wastes, urine, radioactive metals and various poisons. According the homeopathic theory, all water in the world should " remember " its contact with millions of chemical substances. Yet in practice we find that the homeopathic water remembers absolutely nothing at all, except for the properties of the chemicals that the homeopath claims will be useful. " " Magical thinking Although the claims of homeopathy have not been justified by scientific testing, many people widely accept homeopathy due to magical thinking. As Dr. s points out " Many of today's complementary or alternative systems of healing involve magical beliefs, manifesting ways of thinking based in principles of cosmology and causality that are timeless and absolutely universal. So similar are some of these principles among all human populations that some cognitive scientists have suggested that they are innate to the human species, and this suggestion is being strengthened by current scientific research....Some of the principles of magical beliefs described above are evident in currently popular belief systems. A clear example is homeopathy...The fundamental principle of its founder, Hahnemann (1755-1843), similia similibus curentur ('let likes cure likes'), is an explicit expression of a magical principle. 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