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Homeopathic medicine Belladonna

Posted by Sanjib Sarkar on Thu, Jul 03, 2008 @ 05:12 PM

Tags: homeopathic remedies, Belladonna, homeopathic medicine

Belladonna is a very poisonous plant species. A common name for Belladonna is deadly nightshade. The plant species is distributed throughout Europe, West Asia, North America and North Africa.

 

Allopathic uses for Belladonna

Belladonna is given in small amounts for over the counter flu and cough medicines. It is also used in prescription drugs for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, acute enterocolitis and as an adjunctive therapy in the treatment of duodenal ulcers. Eye doctors also use this drug in small amounts to dilate pupils.

Homeopathic uses for Belladonna

Hanhemann proved this remedy in 1799 and used it to treat scarlett fever. Belladonna is used to treat conditions with a sudden onset. The type of conditions Belladonna treatments are similar to the symptoms if someone is poisoned with Belladonna. Belladonna poisoning results in people getting a high fever, sore throat or loss of voice, nausea, delirium, muscle spasms, flushed skin and dilated pupils. Homeopathic Belladonna is used to treat these type of conditions in a person.

Belladonna is also used to treat cold and flu symptoms, infections with inflammation, intense pounding headaches, boils, earaches, seizures, labor pain, pink eye, nose bleeds, nephritis(inflammation of the kidneys) restless sleep, teething pain, tonsillitis, acne and sunburn.

Female use Belladonna to treat breast infections, urinary bladder infections, menstrual cramps, and irritated nipples due to breast feeding.

Symptoms for these conditions are usually better with warmth and standing. Conditions usually worsen with cold air, at night, movement and lying down.

Information Referenced from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadly_nightshade

http://www.answers.com/topic/belladonna

Complete Guide to Homeopathy. Dr. Andrew Lockie and Dr. Nicola Geedes.

If you know of other uses for allopathic or homeopathic Belladonna, please put them in our comments section.

 

 


Homeopathy:Proven Medicine or a Placebo (part 2)

Posted by Sanjib Sarkar on Fri, Jun 27, 2008 @ 05:10 PM

Tags: homeopathic remedies, Homeopathy Trials, Homeopathy, homeopathic medicine

In part 1 of our series, we found that when looking at the best trials, Homeopathy performed better than a placebo on a 2 to 1 scale. However, all these trials were before 1991. We are now going to look at more modern trials.

The most recent homeopathic trials include a trial done by A Swiss-UK review of 110 trials found no convincing evidence the treatment worked any better than a placebo.
However, there seems to be many problems with this type of trial.

We are going to examine the better done trials since 1991. We will not examine all of them but look at a fair amount of promising and not so promising evidence of properly conducted homeopathic trials.

Homeopathy Trials and Information Below:

Trials when comparing Homeopathy to A Placebo

A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of 242 participants aged 18 to 55 years. Trial compared an oral homeopathic treatment to placebo in asthmatic people allergic to house dust. Authors found the homeopathic treatment "no better than placebo." They noted "some differences between the homeopathic immunotherapy and placebo for which we have no explanation." This was actually an attempt to replicate a successful homeopathic trial with allergies and asthma. No one could explain why the replication was not successful. This trial was much larger than the intial trial that proved successful.

Randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of 126 children; 116 completed the study. Individualized homeopathic treatments improved digestive problems in children with acute childhood diarrhea. Results are consistent with findings of a previous study.

Randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of 519 people; 400 completed the study. Homeopathic remedies, including arnica, are not effective for muscle soreness following long-distance running.

Meta-analysis of six controlled clinical trials. Controlled clinical trials indicate that homeopathic remedies appear to work better than a placebo in studies of rheumatic syndromes, but there are too few studies to draw definitive conclusions, and efficacy results are mixed.

The most promising remedy for Homeopathy according to our research is Oscillococcinum. There were several large trials showing positive results for Oscillococcinum in shortening the duration of the flu. Oscillococcinum shows that is has no effect on prevent the flu.

Other successful trials on a smaller scale include perennial allergic rhinitis. The trials showed increased nasal flow as compared to the placebo. This was the fourth replication of this trial. It is noted the trial size was quite small.

In conclusion, more research needs to be done but some Homeopathic remedies are showing promising results in large double blinded placebo studies. Larger studies after 1991 showed approximately a 1 to 1 ratio of successful and unsucessful homeopathic trials. Better quality studies before 1991 showed approximately a 2 to 1 ratio. A couple of the trials have been reproduced in several studies. Oscillococcinum was the only study that we found was reproduced several times by different researches.

 

References

Vickers and Smith, 2002 Review of Oscillococcinum on flu symptoms

Lewith et al., 2002 Asthmatic People Allergic To House Dust

Jacobs et al., 2000 Acute Childhood Diarrhea

Vickers et al., 1998 Muscle Soreness

Jonas et al., 2000 Studies Of Rheumatic Syndromes

Papp et al, 1998 Oscillococcinum Onset of Flu Like Symtoms

Taylor et al., 2000 Perennial Allergic Rhinitis

 

Homeopathic Strength and Potency

Posted by Sanjib Sarkar on Thu, May 22, 2008 @ 06:01 PM

Tags: homeopathic remedies, Homeopathic potency, homeopathic medicine

I don't understand potency with regard to 6x, 12x, C, M, etc. is what David asked us in our Hmedicine.com forums. We referred him to our single remedies guide but we are going to attempt to answer this question in a little more detail.

The more dilute a homeopathy remedy is, the stronger it is and the higher the number or potency. A less dilute remedy is not as strong and has a lower number or potency.

To answer David's question, a list is below from the least strong homeopathic remedy to the most strong homeoapthic remedy.

Remedies from least strong to most potent

1X would be the least strong remedy.

3X

3C

6X

6C

12X

12C

30X Middle Strength

30C

200C

1M

LM

CM+ Strongest remedy

X verus C - This question often confuses the novice to homeopathy. An "X" potency is a remedy diluted 1 to 9. 1 part remedy to 9 parts alcohol. The "C" potency is 1 go 99, 1 part remedy to 99 parts alcohol. X and C are fairly interchangeable since both have been potenized the same number of times. If you can not find a 6X of a homeopathic remedy, the 6C would be an okay substitute.

Low potency homeopathic remedies(1X-30C) are generally used to treat acute illness, whereas higher potencies homeopathic medicines(200C-CM+) are used to treat chronic complaints.

Most people treating acute illness should generally start with a 6X potency. If they feel that potency is not strong enough, they may move up to a 12X or 12C. They may also decide to move up to a 30X or 30C for even more strength.

Most chronic complaints should be treated with a licensed homeopathic physician. 200C remedies and upwards should generally not be self prescribed. Homeopathic physicians for chronic compliants may not necessarily prescribe a 200C or higher remedy. Starting with a high potency may overshoot the problem. The homeopath may start the patient on a 6X. The homeopath may move up to the 200C or higher potency if they feel more strength is necessary in treating the chronic condition. 200C, 1M and higher are rarely taken as often as low strength homeopathic remedies.

 

References

A Guide For Taking Homeopathic Remedies Washington Homeopathic Products.

Complete Guide to Homeopathy. Dr. Andrew Lockie and Dr. Nicola Geedes.

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