A new study was done to see if the placebo effect is greater in homeopathy than conventional medicines. Researchers went through literature to match homeopathy trials to conventional trials.  These trials matched classical homeopathy trials.  In classical homeopathy trials, each remedy is individualized for each person and condition.   

Some matches had to be excluded for the data because insufficient amount of data.  Other matches were excluded because there was not a sufficient match on the conventional side to compare against.  Similar criteria was evaluated for each trial.  25 trials were evaluated.  13 trials showed the placebo effect in homeopathy to be more than conventional medicines.  12 trials showed the placebo effect in conventional medicines to be greater than homeopathy. The researchers found that the placebo effect in homeopathy is no greater than in conventional medicines.  

Homeopathy success rate in clinical trials is about 44%.  Roughly half of the trials in homeopathy are successful.  These trials include both classical homeopathy and combination medicine homeopathy in the trials.  Homeopathy has been successful in the following areas.  These trials have been replicated a couple of times as well.  The study groups in most of these trials are small.

The following treatments that homeopathy seems effective for in clinical trials are childhood diarrhoea , fibromyalgia , influenza, osteoarthritis, seasonal allergic rhinitis , sinusitis  and vertigo.

The treatments that homeopathy are not good for according to clinical trials are  anxiety, childhood asthma, insect bites  menopausal symptoms in breast cancer , migraines , muscle soreness, post-operative bruising, swelling, rheumatoid arthritis  , stroke , upper respiratory tract infection and warts.  Trials for these were either negative or inconclusive.

This basically shows that homeopathy's placebo effect is not stronger than conventional medicine.  People had theorized that homeopathy trials had a higher fail rate in trials because of a greater placebo effect than conventional medicines.  

References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20129180

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/memo/homeopathy/ucm2402.htm

Arnica Montana is also known as Leopard's bane, wolf's bane, mountain tobacco and mountain arnica. Its orange-yellow flowers and the rootlets are naturally therapeutic. It’s grown in herb gardens found across many European countries.  It has been used for medicinal purposes since the 1500s.

The plant also contains derivatives of Thymol, which may have anti-inflammatory effect therefore it has many uses in reducing pain and swelling and promoting healing by increasing circulation to the blood vessels. Arnica Montana acts best on skin with debilitated and impoverished blood. When applied on skin it helps circulation to relax blood vessels. This promotes tissue regeneration and healing.

Arnica Montana contains a toxin call Helenalin, if ingested by mouth in large quantities, could be very harmful because it causes gastroenteritis and internal bleeding in digestive tract. Even though it’s seldom used in the ingested form, it has some diuretic effects and it is chiefly used in low fevers. 

Homeopathic preparations of this drug are diluted to the point where it is not toxic any more. These are safe for digestion.  Homeopathic preparations come in the forms of liquid and pills. Creams and ointments forms are more commonly used as a homeopathic medicine.

Arnica used in its external form is extremely useful in promoting healing by increasing blood flow to areas that are injured. This medicine is primarily used to treat strains, sprains, rheumatic pain, inflammation from insect bites, and bruises. Professional athletes with swelling due to fractures also frequently use commercial preparations.  Athletes often carry arnica with them to help with muscle soreness.

Hemmorhoids is a skin conditon that causes painful and swollen veins in the rectum area.  These veins can become itchy and painful when sitting.  There may also be pain during bowel movements.

Homeopathy has a wide range of remedies to fight this condition.  Some may be taken internal.  Other ointments and creams may help fight the hemmorhoids externally.

The most common cause of hemmorhoids are straining during bowel movements.  This is commonly caused by constipation.  Constipation causes the veins to be bruised and inflamed.  This causes the hemmorhoid.  Other causes of hemmorhoids include sitting to much, anal infections and possible liver disease. 

The most common medicines to treat hemmorhodis  are

Hamamelis Virginiana

  Hamamelis should be taken if you have a bruised anus.  The hemmorhoid may bleed.  Applying warmth to the affected area makes things worse.

Aesculus Hipposcastanum

  Aesculus needs to be taken if the hemmorhoid feels itchy.  Sharp shooting pain the rectum area is usually felt.

Aloe Socotrina

  This remedy is used to for severely swollen hemmorhoids.  The hemmorhoids protrude out like a bunch of grapes.

Collinsonia

  Hemmorhoids that are large and itchy.  This is a chronic condition accompanied with constipation.

Try these remedies in a 6C potency.  Take up 4 pills about 4 times a day.  Do this for about a week.

  Of course with the condition of hemmorhoids, remedies that fight constipation should also be considered. 

Alumina

Alumina helps stool pass without sweeling your veins. This is used when little or few stools pass.  Sluggish stools occur.  A craving for fruits and vegetables.  Prefers not to eat meet or drink beer.

Nux vomica

Seems like their is a need to pass stool but nothing comes out.  People that have a not active lifestyle and have a poor diet need this type of remedy.

Try these remedies in a 6C potency.  Take up every couple hours upto 10 doses or the constipation eases.

Diets high in fiber also help ease constipation symptoms.  This is a long term goal.  It is easy to get more fiber in your diet.  Try brown rice instead of white rice.  Have wheat bread instead of white bread.  Take oatmeal for breakfast instead of sugary cereal.

Hemmorhoids can be treated with homeopathy.  There are several remedies that can be used.  Match your symptoms closest to the remedy that you need.  Lifestyle changes will stop the hemmorhoids from coming back.

  Homeopathy is a system of medicine developed well before vaccines came on the market.  Homeopathy is an all natural form of alternative medicines that uses diluted substances to treat a disease. 

Vaccines are made from a weakened microbe of the disease such as whopping cough.  These vaccines are injected so the body can easy fight off the infection.

Homeopathy and vaccines are similar in this regard that they both use diluted substances for treatment.  Homeopathy does dilute many medicines to the point where there is no substance left.  However, the slighly diluted substances in homeopathy would be similar to a vaccine. 

There is a misconception that all homeopaths are against vaccinations.  This is certainly true in some cases.  This blog show an entry of a homeopath against vaccinations.  However, Dr. Peter Fischer, the homeopath to the queen, has said homeopathy is in no way against vaccinations.  

Vaccines have help to eradicate diseases such as measles, small pox and whooping cough.  Most children's immune system can fight off diseases on their own, the vaccines do reduce the suffering.  Some children are not strong enough to fight the disease.  This vaccine helps save these children lives.

The controversy with the vaccines start with a trial done by Dr. Andrew Wakefield in England.  He say there is a link between vaccines and autism.  However, this study was later found to be flawed.  They found the researcher manipulated data and broke other ethical codes.  Dr. Wakefield is now in the US.  He says that  he still stands by his study. 

Subsequent studies found no link between autism and vaccines.  However, these studies were not as large as the Wakefield study. Let us also remember that Dr. Wakefield did not recommend not getting your kids vaccinated.  Wakefield had suggested that kids not receive all their vaccines at once.  He recommended giving the kids one vaccine at a time per month. 

The US government has compensated victims of vaccination.  See the article below.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/06/vaccines.autism/

However, the US still states there is no correlation between autism and vaccines.

Do vaccines cause autism?

Why are some homeopaths against vaccination? 

Is the Wakefield trial flawed?

I look forward to your comments.

Rhus Toxicodendron is a very popular homeopathic medicine.  It is often called Rhus Tox for short. Rhus tox is made from the poison ivy plant itself. The plant is picture above.  It is generally hand picked and then diluted. The dilution process removes most of the poison ivy out of medicine.  There are trace amounts of poison ivy left in various potencies.  The poison ivy plant is easy to identify.  Each leaf on poison ivy and poison oak has three small leaflets. The middle leave is longer than the other two leaves.  The poison ivy plant is found all throught out most of the eastern United States. In the west coast, a close cousin of poison ivy called poison oak is found there.

 Rhus tox is used to treat a wide variety of ailments. Rhus tox is most famous for treating outbreaks of poison ivy. Rhus tox comes in ointment, liquid and pill form to help treat poison ivy.  Since poison ivy produces an inflammation, Rhus Tox is commonly used to treat conditions with inflammation such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Rhus tox in the lower potencies with less dilution are used to treat conditions such as poison ivy.  Rhus Tox 4X is the common potency for poison ivy pills.  Higher dilutions such as Rhus Tox 200C are generally used to treat conditions such as arthritis. 

Rhus tox is also used to treat other various conditions such as  restlessness, sprains, burning discharges, dehydration, ailments of skin and joints, sciatica, back pain, chicken pox,  flu, skin rashes, sore throat, and stiff upper back and neck. People who use this remedy show restlessness, indifference, and sadness. These people often better with warmth and walking, and worse at night during sleep

Rhus Tox can be used for a wide variety of things and aliments.  All homeopathic medicines are individualized.  Start with a low potency when you begin a treatment.

A very large homeopathic trial has been done in Cuba.  This trial shows evidence that a highly dilute substance, prepared according to homeopathic principles, may help stop the spread of Leptospirosis.

Leptospirosis (also known as Weil's Disease) is a contagious disease carried by rodent and caused by bacteria called spirochetes. People contract the disease through contact with contaminated water. 

Leptospirosis usually happens during heavy rainfall.  Rodents become more active and the bacteria spreads to the drinking water.  In late 2007,  Cuba only had enough Leptospirosis vaccine to treat 15,000 people. Cuba decided an alternative approach using homeopathy.  Homeopathy could easily treat most of Cuba's population.

The homeopathic medicine was given to the 2.3 million population of the provinces usually worst affected with an outbreak. Within a few weeks the number of cases had fallen significantly.  The provinces that did not receive the homeopathic treatment did not see a drop in the outbreak.  Homeopathy was tried again in 2008 to prevent this infectious disease.  Homeopathic remedies were given to the areas that are generally most affected by Leptospirosis.  A significant drop was seen again. This was the first time Leptospirosis had seen a drop during heavy rain fall season.  The provinces that did not take the homeopathic medicines saw increase in the infectious disease.

This trial is still not yet confirmed.  Observers are going through the trial to make sure things are accurate.  If the trial is confirmed, it shows homeopathy can be effective in stopping certain infectious diseases. 

references

The National Healthcare Service(NHS) will continue to fund homeopathy.  The Commons Science and Technology Committee claimed that trials in homeopathy show that they are no better than a placebo.  They claim that the NHS is funding tax payer money for a sugar pill.

The British Medical Association backed the committees report.  They say all homeopathy referrals should be removed from the NHS.  Homeopathy medicines should not be sold as medicine on pharmacy shelves. The BMA voted on the issue of homeopathy at their last conference.  Most doctors voted against in favor of supporting homeopathy.  However, some doctors thought homeopathy was a good alternative for some patients.  They said many medicines used today are unproven.  It would be unfair to prescribe unproven medicines and not prescribe homeopathic medicines.     

The UK Health minister has said patients should have the choice to choose the treatment that they feel is appropriate for them. Homeopathy does not pose a risk to patients.    

This system of medicine has been on the NHS since 1948.  There are four homeopathic hospitals in the United Kingdom.  Patient satisfaction is quite high with this form of treatment. UK spends about 4 million pounds a year on homeopathy.  This is an extremely small amount of money in the NHS budget.  The NHS budget is more than a 100 billion pounds.

   Homeopathy is not as popular in the US as it is through out Europe.  However, it is still a 2 billion dollar industry.  Single remedies are definitely hard to find in the US.  Combinations medicines are much easier to find.  In this blog entry, we are looking to see where we can find homeopathic remedies.

The picture above shows the popular store fronts that I went to in search of homeopathic medicines.  These are national stores. Most of them can be found through out the country. 

I went into the GNC inside the mall.  This is a mini GNC.  Larger stores may have more selection of homeopathic products. I did not find any single remedy products.  I found a bunch of Hylands combination remedies such as Nerve Tonic, Leg Cramps, Calms Forte and Arnica ointment.  I also found BHI traumeel and Bach rescue remedies.  The most surprising discovery was GNC had their own manufactured homeopathy products.  They had their own GNC homeopathic nerve tonic as well as their own Arnica.

The next store I went to was Vitamin Shoppe.  I was expecting to find quite a bit of homeopathy here since it a health food store.  I was disappointed with the single remedy selection.  They had many of the most common single remedies in a 6x, 6c, 30x, 30c potency.  They also had all the homeopathy cell salts in a 6X.  There were no other potencies.  The single remedies were only in a small size.  I was really astonished how much homeopathic combination medicines were available. They had pretty much every combination product from Hylands, Boiron, Nelsons, Similiasian, king bio and natur bio.  They also had some brands that I was not familiar such as Dent tox, and Vaxa. 

The next store was cvs pharmacy.  No single remedies to be found here.  I did not find any homeopathy products other than cold remedies.  These included Boiron products such as oscillococcinum, cold calm, sinusalia and Zicam cold products such as cold remedy and sinus relief.  I was also shocked to see CVS making their own version of oscillococcinum.

The final store was Walmart.  No single remedies but quite a few homeopathic combinations remedies were found.  Hylands had the most combination products.  I found teething, calms forte, ear drops, nerve tonic, restless legs, children cough syrup.  Other brands included  Similisian eye drops and ear drops, Zicam allergy, Zicam cold relief and Zicam congestion and Boiron oscillococcinum.  Walmart had homeopathic remedies pretty much scattered through the store.  The other stores that I visited had a section for homeopathy or the remedies were in one area.

  In conclusion, homeopathy combinations seem to be available through many US store fronts.  Some stores offer large selections than others.  Single remedies are hard to find in the US.  They are not as readily available as the combination products. 

    Homeopathy which was invented in Germany by physician Samuel Hannaheman.  He came up with the idea because he was fed up with the medicine that he would have to give to patients.  Often times, the medicines given to patients would do more harm than good.  He came up with this idea of like cure like.  The medicines would have no side effects and be diluted so that it would not harm the person. This type of alternative medicine has flourished all over the world.  Homeopaths can be found through out all of Europe. 

Homeopathy is very popular in German.  Half of state insurers in Germany cover treatments.  Germany is also facing a health care crisis.  Germany will not be able to cover their health care costs.  They are looking to cut anything that they deem not to work.  

Karl Lauterbach, the centre-left Social Democrats’ chair on the Bundestag health committee, has said insurers should not use public money to pay for homeopathic treatments.  The director of federal joint committee for doctors and insurers, Rainer Hess, stated that Germany should not pay for unproven medical treatments such as homeopathy.

  However, politicians in Germany have prevented any legislation from passing to prevent treatments for now. The leader of the German medicines assessment body, Jürgen Windeler, says proof in homeopathy is well documented.  No more proof is required to deem this treatment as effective. 

The cost is also very minimal.  Removing homeopathy from the German health care system will not solve the health care crisis for Germany.  Medicines are very cheap and cost effective.  Pharmacetical drugs are 10 times the cost.

References

Homeopathy Targeted In Debate On Health Care Spending

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  Plantar Fasciitis is an inflammation of the plantar fascia. A picture of the plantar fascia is below.  The red area shows the inflamed fascia.  This can lead to serious foot pain. 

    There are various treatments that help with plantar fascitis.  Homeopathic treatment can offer pain relief form an inflamed plantar fascia.  

  Some popular homeopathic remedies for plantar fasciitis are hypericum perforatum.  This remedy helps relieve inflammation in the foot.  Hypericum is commonly know as Saint John's wort. The remedy should be taken orally in a 6X potency.  It should be taken 3 times a day with a dosage of 3 to 4 pills.

Thuja Occidentalis is another popular medicine for plantar fasciitis. This remedy is used to reduce aching feet and heel pain.  This helps feet that are tired and sore. This remedy is usually rubbed into the feet via an ointment.  

  Other remedies that are used for foot pain are Nux Vomica, Rhus Tox, Ruta Graveleons and Arnica Montana.  An ointment containing Rhus Tox, Ruta Graveleons and Arnica Montana can be found.  This can be rubbed into the feet as well.  

Homeopathic ointments can be found in either a lanonline and petroleum base as well as an olive oil base.  The olive oil base is more expensive.  However, olive oil is know to have some pain relief qualities.  Some people do opt to use the olive oil oinment due to its healing properties.  

Some other non homeopathic treatments to help with plantar fasciitis are foot massages.  You can do this yourself or go to a massage therapist. Ice baths for aching feets help relieve inflammation.  Orthodontics also help with foot support to get rid of the plantar fasciitis.  Stretching your calves, help ease the foot pain.  Stretching offers more elastic to the fascia which will leads to reduce pain.  Resting the feet by not running or walking help ease the inflammation.  Go swimming to get your cardio exercise, if you have aching feet.  Once your feet starts feeling better slowly resume your normal walking and running activities.  Start with 25% of your normal activity to start.  Slowly start increasing this activity.  Stop the activity if the feet start to hurt again.

  Homeopathic remedies can offer some relieve of an inflamed fascia without having the side effects of conventional medicines.  A combination of homeopathic pills and ointments offer a great way to relief plantar fasciitis.