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Homeopathy
The
history of homeopathy
Homeopathy is derived from the two Greek words –hómoios which
means similar and páthos that signifies suffering. The term
homeopathy was used by the German physician Christian
Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann and first appeared in print in
1807, although he had began outlining his axiom of medical
similars in a series of articles and monographs from 1796.
This method of treatment is widely popular in India and
Europe; in the United States, it is not mcuh used
as such therapies have been subject to very strict ordinances;
very recently, even in Europe very strict and tight rules and
regulations have been implemented by the EDQM.
The
Theory of Homeopathy
The principle of homeopathy believes in treating the sick and
unhealthy with exceptionally diluted agents that in
concentrated form produce similar symptoms in the healthy or
the normal. The homeopathic doctors believe that the chances
of recovery are much higher if the serial dilution of the
medication is increased laong with succussion or violent
shaking. Unlike the established school of medicine, homeopathy
believes that any disease is nothing but just a “morbid
derangement of the organism”. This theory also asserts that
every instance of an ailment differs from one person to
another and an ailing person has a ‘dynamic disturbance in a
hypothetical vital force’; hence, the conventional method of
diagnosis and medication is not acceptable.
Since this alternative medical
therapy believes in the principle of diluting the drugs to
make them more effective, Homeopathy has faced tremendous
amount of criticism from various sections of medical science;
professionals have debated its authenticity and even termed it
as “quackery” or “pseudo science”. Unfortunately placebo
controlled clinical trials have only given mixed results and
better quality trials are more likely to produce negative
results. To make matters worse quite a few cases of critical
conditions have proved to fatal from attempts made to treat
serious diseases solely with homeopathy drugs.
Use of homeopathy for the treatment
of Cancer
At the beginning of 2006, the European Journal of Cancer
conducted a research and published the results of six trails
of homeopathic treatments for the treatment of Cancer which
included chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Amongst these six,
three were were randomised double-blind placebo-controlled
clinical trials. The authors of this publication were the
Department of Complementary Medicine at the Universities of
Exeter and Plymouth. According to their investigation, there
were not enough evidence to suppport the homeopathic use for
the cancer therapy; however, the results were pretty
encouraging and requires further investigation.
Popularity of homeopathy
As discussed earlier, homeopathy is much popular in India and
Europe than in USA. Research has indicated that the growth of
homeopathy in the British market is almost 20 percent every
year; the growth rates are far high in Germany and Portugal.
However, it is interesting to note that while this alternative
form of medical treatment is usually considered to be
complementary to its conventional counterpart, in India almost
10 percent of the population use homeopathy exclusively for
their medical requirements.
Some
interesting data
• More than 30 percent French doctors and 20 percent German
medicos advise homeopathy to their patients.
• Almost 40 percent of British doctors recommend patients to
seek homeopathy treatment.
• Nearly 45 percent of Dutch medicos firmly believe that
homeopathic medicines are very effective.
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