Essay Topic:

The evaluation of homeopathy as a potential “medical tool”.

Essay Questions:

How is Homeopathy treated nowadays?

What the attitude of modern medicine to homeopathic treatment?

What is the general principle of functioning of homeopathy?

Thesis Statement:

Homeopathy, if conducted properly is an effective “medical tool” and can cure people that have spend years trying to find a relief in numerous drugs, doctors and hospitals.

Homeopathy Essay

 

Table of contents:

1. Introduction

2. Homeopathy

1. The principle of functioning

2. Legal aspects

3. Myths associated with homeopathy

3. Conclusion

1. Introduction.

It is common knowledge that contemporary medicines, while abetting the recovery of the damaged organs of human body, can negatively influence the sound ones. In medicine this phenomenon is called a side effect, which basically treats one part of the body by creating malfunctions in another one. Some of the modern medicines have side effects of such a dominating influence that the allopathy can be compared to a two-edged sword. Unfortunately, too little allopaths report their patients on such a direction of medicine, for which the problem of side effects is unnatural at all. This silence may be interpreted as the absence of broad medical enlightenment of the population. This is all about a verily miraculous phenomena in medicine to which people refer as to the homeopathy. Sometimes it may be also called “untraditional” medicine. The term “homeopathy” is made up from two Greek words, that mean “similar” and “disease”, which makes it “similar to disease”. Hopefully, this term is familiar to almost every literate person, but very few people know its history and principles of functioning. Though these facts have undermined the prestige of homeopathy in the recent times, nevertheless there is a lot more to know about homeopathy in order to make concrete conclusions, which certain individuals tend to obtrude. Homeopathy, if conducted properly is an effective “medical tool” and can cure people that have spend years trying to find a relief in numerous drugs, doctors and hospitals. If the evaluative factor is the health of the person than homeopathy should be revised and analyzed for new.

2. Homeopathy

Homeopathy, as a method of therapy appeared more than 200 years ago and it is a method of treatment, which belongs to the regulative types of therapy. This therapy is aimed to “reconstruct” the life power of the organism by means of activating the processes of body self-regulation, leading to the recovery. A homeopath selects a corresponding homeopathic remedy to each patient according to his health condition. Generally saying, its main advantage is that is helps the organism cope with the disease by itself. A homeopathic remedy only gives the impulse to the organism that directs its activity in the correct path. Ordinary medicines either suppress or agitate certain processes in the body, while homeopathics - simply regulate these processes; they treat the person, not the disease itself.

2.a. The principle of functioning

According to the definition of the National Center of Homeopathy: “Homeopathy is a system of medicine that is based on the Law of Similars”[1]. It was Samuel Hahnemann in 1775 who converted this law, and earlier a principle into homeopathy, a complete system of medicine. Contemporary homeopathic remedies function upon three main principles [2]: 1) Like cures like, 2) Minimal dose and 3) The single remedy.Like cures like – means that a perfect remedy to a disease would be a “poison” that causes the very same symptoms. So basically saying the homeopathic remedy would cause a healthy person suffer the symptoms that an ill person suffers, but at the same time it is able to cure the ill person.Minimal dose – the cure is taken in the minimal quantity, so by itself it is not dangerous for the patient but at the same time it neutralizes the causes of the disease.The single remedy – What is means is that there is only one cure for a given set of symptoms. A patient does not have to take numerous drugs for each of the symptoms he has but only one homeopathic remedy to influence and cure the whole set. After an individually selected homeopathic remedy the whole health conditions gets better and then the complaints disappear. It is important to remember that homeopathies do not “fight the germs” but do intensify the immune system to fight the reasons of the disease. Aside from strengthening the immune system, homeopathies strengthen the psychological and psychical condition of a patient, which sometimes can play a vital part in the recovery process. The most wide spread theory explaining the functioning of the homeopathies claims that during the process of creation of a given homeopathic remedy a specific change the structure of molecular conglomerates of the water-alcohol solution of the source material occurs. Probably, the influence of these molecular clusters is the process that mediates the effect of homeopathic medicines. This may explain the fact the according to the latest homeopathic information it popularity has significantly grown1[2]. Homeopathics do not cause addiction and can by prescribed to people of any age including pregnant women and infants. Thy only minus that makes many people turn away from homeopathy is that it takes a long time to select the correct remedy that will help the organism to cope with the disease, while the majority of people seek for instant relief not thinking about the further complications. Such people prefer taking chemical medications and get the instant effect the want, without treating the reason of the organism’s malfunction.

2.b. Legal aspects

The position of homeopathy in the contemporary world has become clearer lately. One of the facts that destroyed the notion that homeopathy is “quackery” occurred in 1991, when three conventional-medicine professors from the Netherlands conducted a meta-analysis of twenty five years of homeopathic clinical experience. The results were astonishing even fro themselves, as non of them was a homeopath: “13 of 19 trials- successful treatment of respiratory infections, 6 of 7 trials-positive results in treating other infections, 5 of 7- improvement in diseases of the digestive system, 5 of 5 -successful treatment of hay fever, 5 of 7-faster recovery after abdominal surgery, 4 of 6- -healing in treating rheumatological disease, 18 of 20- benefit in addressing pain or trauma, 8 of 10 showed positive results in relieving mental or psychological problems, and 13 of 15 -benefit from miscellaneous diagnoses”[Ullman,1995].Nowadays, the process of manufacturing and selling of all types of homeopathies is controlled by the FDA (The Food and Drug Administration)2[1]. Thought homeopathy is completely legal its effectiveness is still questioned and it has a strong opposition in the face of conventional medicine3.

3.c. Myths associated with homeopathy

As it has been mentioned before homeopathy has existed for already more than 200 years. Nevertheless it still does cause watchfulness and even rejection from the side of both patients and doctors. In many cases it is the result of a great amount of widespread myth connected with homeopathy.Of course some of these myths have a base. According to the laws of the majority of the developed countries, including USA, a person may become a homeopath even without a medical diploma and this is the reason homeopathy in these countries (from the point of view of legislation) is viewed as a type of public medicine. An attitude corresponding to the true results that homeopathy is performing would completely change the present situation, as no other system of medicine provides a complete “individualization of remedies”[Ullman, 1995].Another problem is that the philosophy of homeopathy is rather simple and idealistic at the same time and what is even more important goes in cut with principles of the recognized medical methods. It is also common knowledge that all the information concerning the effect of the homeopathies has been received from the experiments held on healthy people and have nothing hypothetic in their core. Even the researches made with the application of “placebo” revealed the efficiency of homeopathy4.

Another strong myth is that homeopathic remedies are believed to be extremely expensive. This is correct only in the TV advertised homeopathies and the price is influenced by the costs spent on expensive ads. A bright example of the homeopathic advertisement can be Club moss Lycopodium clavatum (also known as Selago, Foxtail, Lycopod, Wolf Claw or Stag’s Horn Moss), which is a widely advertised homeopathic substance. It is a plant, which is extremely poisonous when overused. Only the spores of the plant are non-toxic and are recommended for use. It is used as an additive to different homeopathic remedies. Its spores are used to cope with diarrhea and dysentery, spasms, a mild laxative in cases of gout, as a corroborant for rheumatism and for skin diseases. The dose is ten to sixty grains of the spores. As every homeopathic remedy it is poisonous, nevertheless it is believed to be rather effective.Advertisements show people a great number of chemical medications and only a short, limited variety of homeopathic remedies. This is partially due to the fact that contemporary medications have also become a real business, like selling different beverages. In other words the majority of medications seem to be competing, like their major goal is not to cure people and make them health but to addict people to them.

3. Conclusion

I personally consider homeopathy to be decent equivalent to the conventional medicine and a system of medicine that is truly worth of respect. The reason I consider homeopathy to be rather valuable in the terms of contemporary medicine is that is comparison to chemical drugs homeopathics are made out of vegetable, bestial and mineral components. They do not contribute anything new to into the organism, no alien chemical materials; they do not suppress anything, do not stimulate anything and do not obtrude anything. Such remedies are made in the manner of brandies, granules, powder, tablets, and cream for external use. I believe that the basic advantage of homeopathic remedies is that they deal with the reason of the disease, and even through a patient has to wait to get the exact remedy he needs, nevertheless the remedy is individualized and works in the majority of cases. In my humble opinion a human being is able to cure himself without the external interference this is how I explain miraculous cures from cancer and other fatal diseases and this is why I trust homeopathy - it does not interfere the internal immune processes but simply finds their natural catalysts.

So instead of spending years trying to suppress the progression of the disease homeopathy gives the possibility to cure and become a healthy full-fledged person. The contemporary world cannot leave a person blind to the effects of homeopathy. So many people suffer from incurable disease and suppress them with strong chemicals that caused numerous side effects eventually making the condition of the patient even worth, as he becomes completely depended not depending on the fact whether they are addictive or not.It was interesting to find out the information about the use of “placebo” in the homeopathic researches and to learn the homeopathic remedies revealed higher results than the “placebo” groups. So if the homeopathic remedies are a “paleholder” then why are they more effective than a true “placeholder” – known as the “placebo effect”. Homeopathy has always been an alternative medicine, but nowadays I suppose the situation has changed not only because people support the “close to nature” tendency, but also because the homeopathic remedies are honestly effective which is proved by the homeopathic sales of $150 million the United States. I think that this is conditioned by the possibility to avoid operations with the help of homeopathic remedies.In the long run, I believe, that the reason so many doctors do not accept homeopathy is because it is a real threat to their job. For they hardly achieve the results of the homeopathic remedies, while there remedies provide people the possibility to live in harmony and be healthy. I am completely for homeopathy and I actually think that these “unaffordable” chemicals sold to people are not able to achieve the effect of the homeopathies. I also believe that our health care would not be so expensive if we would start using homeopathic remedies to cure our diseases.

I know that so many people suffer from different disease nowadays but I also know that our future is homeopathy, when we will forget about all the chemicals and “be natural”.

1 “Its growth in popularity in the United States has been around 25 to 50 percent a year throughout the last decade”[2].

2 “The Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States was written into federal law in 1938 under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, making the manufacture and sale of homeopathic medicines legal in this country”[1].

3 In the 1879 epidemic of yellow fever, homeopaths in New Orleans treated 1,945 cases with a mortality rate of 5.6 percent, while the mortality rate with standard medical treatment was 16 percent.

4 “TraumeelTM has been studied for its efficacy in the treatment of sprained ankles. After 10 days, 24 of the 33 patients who were given the homeopathic medicine were pain-free, while 13 of 36 patients given a placebo experienced a similar degree of relief”[3].