integrative medicine - homeopathy the inconvenient truth
DESCRIPTION
Many scientists believe that Homeopathy is just quackery. However, it is used by many Medical Doctors in Europe. So are the scientists correct or are the family physicians, sports doctors and the public who use Homeopathy all misguided. This presentation discusses the controversy and presents solutions to this on-going controversy.TRANSCRIPT
Homeopathy
The Inconvenient Truth
Integrative Medicine
http://www.smartfamilydoctor.com
Part of winning any championship is dealing
with injuries or avoiding them in the first
place.
This study revealed that the German Medical
Staff from the national and top league teams
used Homeopathy to treat aches and pains in
professional athletes.
A 2012 study
showed that the
German national
team places a lot
of trust in natural
healing remedies.
This was presumably an objective study which
was carried out by an academic institute in
Koblenz.
It found that 92 percent of medical doctors who
work for the Bundesliga's first and second-
division sides prescribed homeopathic remedies.
So would these “billion
dollar” organisations
permit the use of
Homeopathy in their
elite athletes if it had
no value.
These organisation
with world’s best
sponsors play for high
stakes!
Scientific investigations have never found
any healing benefits other than a placebo
effect from homeopathic treatments.
Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council released a draft information paper in April 2014 which says "there is no reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective for treating health conditions.
versus
The ANHMR review summarised, “No good-quality,
well-designed studies with enough participants for
a meaningful result reported either that
homeopathy caused greater health improvements
than a substance with no effect on the health
condition (placebo), or that homeopathy caused
health improvements equal to those of another
treatment”.
When one examines
the findings the
ANHMRC one
wonders if they have
rushed to make a
conclusion based
solely on the available
data interpretation
rather than clinical
observation.
Was this research a waste of the
Australian Tax payer’s money?
Perhaps the money spent on this study could have
been better utilised on other research programs.
e.g. initialising research studies on the addiction
rates of pharmaceutical pain medications or on how
to combat the ever-increasing obesity rates.
There is no pharma conspiracy as some may think,
but careful use of funding should be considered
especially in a tough economic climate; the findings
of the ANHMRC will have no impact on the
consumer and only serve to create the usual
temporary media-frenzy!
So are the millions of people who
buy homeopathic remedies
deluded?
Of course not!
These are not ‘one-off
purchases’, so why
has there always been
a public demand for
alternative medicine
such as Homeopathy if
they only have a
placebo effect.
Homeopathic treatment works on “quantum
healing” and currently science is limited in the
measuring subtle energies.
However, there are studies that indicate that
histamine dilution modulate basophil activation and
also check out the many research papers for
Traumeel.
Are the scientific reviews that
have been carried out justified in
their conclusion that homeopathy
has no effect?
In an extreme case the scientific argument can be
correlated to saying that there is no scientific
evidence that God exist so no one should believe in
God and it is a waste of time.
Conversely, in 2011, the Swiss government
released a report that claimed that "homeopathic
treatment is both effective and cost-effective.
There was strong demand from both consumers and physicians for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments:
“Approximately half of the Swiss population have used CAM treatments and value them.”
“About half of Swiss physicians consider CAM treatments to be effective.”
“85 percent of the Swiss population wants CAM therapies to be a part of their country’s health insurance program.”
Findings
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This was a more comprehensive report that the ANHMRC, it included:
Randomized double-blind and placebo controlled clinical
“Real world effectiveness”
Safety and cost-effectiveness.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyse
Outcome studies
Epidemiological research.
Quality of design and execution (called “internal validity”) and how appropriate each was for the way that homeopathy is commonly practiced (called “external validity”).
The report cited 29 studies in "Upper Respiratory Tract Infections/Allergic Reactions," of which 24 studies found a positive result in favour of homeopathy.
6 out of 7 controlled studies that compared homeopathic treatment with conventional medical treatment showed that homeopathy to be more effective than conventional medical interventions (the one other trial found homeopathic treatment to be equivalent to conventional medical treatment).”
Visit:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-ullman/homeopathic-medicine-_b_1258607.html
So do we believe the
ANHMRC meta-
analysis research
data or the more
comprehensive Swiss
report?
Other factors to consider:
There are at least 38% of German MD’s who use homeopathic remedies to treat their patients.
In the departments of obstetrics in hospitals in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia 96 percent of the obstetrical departments offered homeopathic medicines for obstetrical care.
Homopathic treatment is very popular in the UK and other European countries such as Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands. In the Netherlands 45 percent of physicians consider homeopathic medicines effective
In India there are 500,000 registered homeopaths, 185 homeopathic colleges in the country, and 11,000 homeopathic hospital beds
So where does this leave Medical
Doctors
As a scientist it is implausible that Homeopathy works.
But then consider:
Can science measure everything ?
How many times has Science changed theories?
Why do millions of people use homeopathics e.g. 10 million in the UK alone including allopathic doctors and scientist?
Why is it popular amongst MD’s in Europe?
Why are there over 500,000 registered homeopaths in India?
Despite the scientist conclusions that it only has a placebo effect, why is it still in demand?
Consider the following:
Highly dilute homeopathic remedies are devoid of side effects
Placebo who benefits patients one day but not the next
Giving a placebo to a patient with a serious condition may seriously endanger the health of that patient
It could be that the homeopathic consultation not the remedy is the element that improves clinical outcomes of patients after seeing a homeopath
Homotoxicology is the bridge between conventional medicine and homeopathy so this may be the answer
I have found Homeopathy to be effective in treating common non-serious ailments in babies and children and with no side effects!
In adults there have been great results using Homeopathy and even more remarkable results in using Homotoxicology.
Homeopathy is also very successful in treating emotional issues. This fact that is often overlooked by mainstream science, perhaps it is because Science is limited in measuring this domain.
A homeopath uses a holistic and patient-centred approach for prescribing remedies which makes it effective. In my opinion the effectiveness of therapy depends on the knowledge and experience of the homeopath in treating complex illness!
If you are an MD why not run a simple ‘ risk
management’ process at the time of your case
assessment e.g. the risks for using homeopathics
are higher in certain instances e.g. infectious
diseases or substituting for vaccines. In these
instances you would probably not advocate the use
of homeopathics.
Perhaps consider an integrated approach e.g.
Pharmaceuticals + Homeopathy
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The German, Swiss and Dutch MD’s may
be ahead of the game.
This is reflected in the success of their
inclusion of alternative therapies alongside
conventional healthcare in the treatment of
their sporting stars and also in their
application of the Integrative health in the
care in family medicine.
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Having worked alongside German MD’s in an Integrative Medicine centres was one of the best experiences of my professional life where MD’s, Complementary practitioners, pharmacists and scientists had open discussion with the aim of trying to resolve complex medical ailment by formulating an effective integrative approach to healthcare e.g. Yoga, Ayurveda, Homeopathy plus conventional health without losing sight of the safety of the patient which is of paramount importance.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWi4nkZMdCU
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This app has been designed primarily a resource
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Ray S Noronha BSc Hons
I worked for over 14 years with eminent scientists as a front line medical researcher for a top-flight pharmaceutical company in the areas of Oncology, Asthma, Neurodegeneration, Arthritis, Atheroma and Immunosuppression.
In the last 12 years I have been working with medical doctors as a practitioner of Ayurveda, Remedial Massage, Indian Neurotherapy, Homotoxicology, Yoga and Spiritual Counseling in Integrated Medicine Centres in Germany, Canada, UK and Australia.
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‘Integrative healthcare solutions for Family Doctors”
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