Homeopathic Medicine - Essay Example

?Homeopathic Medicine – Alternative Medicine Homeopathy had its origins in the later part of the 18th century and developed mainly in the 1800's. Around those times only scientific advances were seen in various fields including the fields that are related to medicine like chemistry. Even with this advancement, the medical practices were imbued with irrational treatments with small ‘dosage’ of superstitions thrown in. These unfavorable situations prevailing then only spurred Samuel Hahnemann, regarded as the “Father of Homeopathy”, to come up with an alternative treatment. Although he himself was a physician with a degree in Medicine, the faults of the allopathic system only ‘circulated’ in Hahnemann’s mind. So, he started to write many critical papers on the negative effects of the allopathic system, raising awareness about it. Apart the written literature, he started to conduct experiments which brought out some of the fallacies of the existing system and thereby originated new treatment concepts, which was only formalized into homeopathy. He advocated that the dosage of medicines should be reduced to most minimal levels. Hahnemann compiled all these results into a specialized treatise called the Organon of rational therapeutics, publishing it in 1810. Further editions of the book came out successively with the ‘latest’ sixth edition, published in 1921, still being considered as homeopathy's basic text. Basic Concepts of Homeopathy The basic concept behind diseases in Homeopathic treatment is it is caused due to the disturbances in the flow of an ‘invisible’ vital force. Homeopathy states, if this vital force flowing in the body is disturbed or diverted, it will manifest itself in the form of the symptoms of the diseases. The other hypothesis of Homeopathy is that, there will be disturbance in the flow of vital force and body will be susceptible to diseases, when the mind is in a ‘negative’ state. As the brain only controls all the workings of the human body, its condition is crucial for the overall health of the human. If the mind gets upset, depressed and becomes ‘weak’, it will attract disease entities called miasms according to Homeopathy’s law of susceptibility. “Miasms can be acquired acutely or they can be congenital or latent, until some negative experience or normal aging trigger their appearance as a symptom and then as disease” (“Cause of Disease”). The treatment for this miasms should be in ‘tune’ with them. That is, Hahnemann had stated that the treatment for the diseases can be carried out not by opposing the disease’s action, but by correcting the vital force and blocking the miasm. For that, the “'principle of similar', expressed by Hahnemann as “similia similibus curentur” or 'let likes cure likes' can only be adopted” (Boericke). This principle states that if a drug or a substance, given to a group of ‘healthy’ individuals induces a set of symptoms similar to the symptoms of the actual diseases, which the drug can cure, then it can surely cure that disease. Thus, with the help of a “drug picture”, which was compiled by giving different drugs and substances to healthy persons and observing their reactions, all the diseases can be treated. Homeopathy follows the concept of “Law of Similars”, giving the basis for the use of the term homeopathy, which means “similar suffering”. Positive views about Homeopathy After the introduction and the development of Homeopathy in the initial years of 19th century, it created a major impact on medical treatment. Starting with the first specialized homeopathic hospital in Leipzig, homeopathy and its practitioners all over the world produced better results than their allopathic counterparts. The optimized results, which emerged due to the beneficial side of homeopathy when compared with the toxic and harmful nature of allopathic treatments, continued in the following centuries as well. Today, homeopathy is one of the famous alternative forms of medicine. About 3000 remedies or homeopathic medicines are available today with the number expanding in future as well. With these homeopathic medications, it is possible to cure a wide range of diseases and other complications. Homeopathy treatment can be given even to a pregnant woman without affecting the child, thus validating its harmless nature. That is, homeopathy is considered to be very helpful and effective in women in their childbearing years because of its non-toxic nature. The pregnant women will normally live with the discomfort of minor complaints such as morning sickness or heartburn, rather than seek treatment because they may be concerned about the possible side effects of “orthodox or allopathic medicines on their unborn child” (Sutherland). However, Homeopathic medicines are considered to be safe for the unborn child because of its benign at the same time effective nature, and also due to the use of ‘normal’ substances that too in minimum quantities. Apart from helping the unborn child and the pregnant women, homeopathy’s role can be seen in the treatment of many diseases, including chronic diseases. “A study carried out at Bristol Homeopathic Hospital, UK,” has revealed that more than “70% of over 6,500 patients with chronic diseases have said homeopathy helped them feel better”. (Nordqvist). Particularly around 89% of the patients who were under the age of16 and who had “asthma said homeopathy helped them” (Nordqvist). The highly respected British Medical Journal has reported cases in favor of homeopathy. In a carefully controlled, rigorously scientific study of 50 allergy sufferers conducted by the journal, “a homeopathic preparation for nasal allergies reduced symptoms by 28%, while a placebo reduced symptoms by only 3%.” (Greene). So, these advantages have increased the worldwide sale of homeopathic preparations. Homeopathic preparations made in the form of tablets, creams and also liquid extracts, have been treating and will also treat in future, many diseases from common cold to life threatening Cancers. Thus, diseased people all over the world including America are increasingly using it because of its inexpensiveness, low-risk nature and importantly effectiveness. Negative views about Homeopathy The critics of Homeopathy have questioned even the logic behind the origination of Homeopathy as a practice. That is, as discussed before Samuel Hahnemann initiated the process to find an alternative medicine due to the irregular and superstitious nature of the allopathic medicines in his times. However, the critics consider this pretext as not maintainable because only in the 19th century coinciding with the homeopathy development, new advancements in the medical field came about overriding the earlier negatives. These advancements gave affected people optimized treatment, and only became popular all over the world, surpassing the homeopathy’s popularity in the later centuries. The other negative view about homeopathy focuses on its basic principles, with critics calling it as a pseudoscience. This is because its basic concepts are not founded through in-depth and analytic research, and importantly those concepts have remained largely unchanged close to two centuries, without keeping up with the changing scenario. Homeopathy’s important practice of reducing the dosage of the drug to minimal levels also has negative views. That is, the view among the researchers is that, if the small amount of drug is further diluted using fluids, the drug’s potency will be greatly reduced. In addition, questions are raised regarding how simple water molecules used to dilute can accentuate the drug’s potency and effective treatment. According to them, this concept of homeopathy regarding drug dosage, is clearly defying the concepts of chemistry, physics, and other sciences. That is, chemically any substance will have more potency, if it is used in optimum quantities, but homeopathy stipulates an opposite concept, raising doubts about its efficiency. The other negative view about Homeopathy is that most of the successful treatments or cures caused by Homeopathy are nothing but a placebo effect. With the concept, “mind over matter” working in many situations, the minds of the homeopathy treated patients only play an important role in treating themselves. When the patient takes the homeopathic formulations, they take with the confidence and belief that it will surely cure their diseases. As that belief could treat the physical problems in the body, it is the mind which could have treated the body and the credit should not go to Homeopathy. The hesitation on the part of homeopathic practitioners to go for double blind testing further accentuates this dubious image. “Unlike most potent drugs, they have not been proven effective against disease by double-blind clinical testing. In fact, the vast majority of homeopathic products have never even been tested” (“Homeopathy.”). This placebo effect of homeopathy is clearly proven by the article which had appeared in the Review of Epidemiology. It “analyzed 40 randomized trials that had compared homeopathic treatment with standard treatment, a placebo or no treatment,” and the majority of the trials showed negative results pinpointing placebo as the likely cause making the authors conclude that there is no evidence that homeopathic treatment has any more value and effect than a placebo. (Barrett) From the above analysis about Homeopathy’s positive and negative effects, one can assume that it is working and benefiting many people, but some of its fallacies have prevented it from becoming a main form of treatment, sidelining it as an alternative medicine. However, viewing Homeopathy as an alternative medicine would work for it because people, who do not see positive results in Allopathic treatment, will surely turn towards it. The key factual point is, allopathic treatment has spread its wings all over the world, with majority of the population trusting and depending on it. Because of its extensive spread, it will not be possible for Homeopathy to dethrone it, or even capture a sizable portion of its customer base. The only way it can ‘exist’ and reach sizable patients is by focusing on few key diseases, to which it can provide better and quicker relief than allopathic treatment. That is, instead of publishing that it can treat wide variety of diseases, which has remained incurable by any medicines till now, and making people skeptical about it, homeopathy practitioners can focus on few diseases. As pointed out in the positive effects, Homeopathy has be quite effective against certain diseases or complications like asthma, allergies, kidney related malfunctions including stones, etc. In addition, with the governments of various countries also backing and setting up homeopathy teaching academic institutions as well as hospitals, it can coexist with the allopathic medical practices. Coexistence is the key and it will lead to better understanding of this treatment among the people. However, the bottom line, it is up to the individuals to chose which form of treatment will be beneficial to them, and importantly follow that treatment for quite a sizable time and complete its course, without diverting from it midway. Works Cited Barrett, Stephen. “Overview of Homeopathic Research.” Homeo Watch, n. d. Web. 4 Nov 2011. Boericke, William. A Compend of the Principles of Homeopathy as Taught by Hahnemann and Verified by a Century of Clinical Application. Kessinger Publishing, 2004 “Cause of Disease.” Creighton University School of Medicine, n. d. Web. 4 Nov 2011. Greene, Alan. “Does alternative medicine work for allergies?” University of Maryland Medical Center, 4 April 2007. Web. 4 Nov 2011. Nordqvist, Christian. “Homeopathy helps 70% of patients with chronic diseases, 6 year study.” Medical News Today, 23 Nov 2005. Web. 4 Nov 2011. Sutherland, Emma. “Pregnancy and Childbirth.” Southern Health, n. d. Web. 4 Nov 2011. “Homeopathy.” Doctors Corner INternet Group, n. d. Web. 4 Nov 2011. Read More