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.  

  The summer is upon us.  This may be one of the hottest summers on record.  Many people have heat stokes and other heat related illnesses.  These tips should help you survive the heat.

1)  Drink plenty of water.  

  Water will keep you hydrated.  Drink at a minimum 8 cups a day.  Also keep some water with you at all times.

2)  Stay out of the sun at peak heat times

  The sun rays are strongest around 12pm-3PM.  Stay indoors during this time to avoid the sun.

3)  Use a natural sunblock to protect your skin.

  Make sure to get a natural sunblock.  Avoid sunblock with oxybenzone.  Apply sunblock even if you are not in the sun for too long.

4)  Take Byronia or Glonoinum in a 30C if you experience heat exhaustion.

  If you are feeling sick from the sun, get into a cool place if possible.  Drink some salty water or gatorade.  If you are feeling nausea or a headache that is caused by the slightest of movements take Byronia every 5 minutes up to 10 doses.

  If you have a hot face, sweaty skin and throbbing and splltting headache, take Glonoinum 30C every 5 minutes up to 10 doses.

  If you are still feel sick, go to the emergency room.

5)   If you do happen to burn your skin from the sun, apply calendula ointment to the burn.  This should help reduce the amount of pain from the burn.  

 6)  Treat insect stings with ledum and apis.

   Bugs come out in force during the summer months.  Everyone tries to avoid them but insects seem to sting every one.  If a sting is swollen, bruised and and painful use ledum in a 6C potency every 8 hours for 3 days.  This will help reduce the pain.  If the sting is hot, red and swollen, take apis 30C every 15 minutes up to 6 doses.

References

Complete Guide To Homeopathy

Dr. Andrew Lockie and Dr. Nicola Geddes

   A recent study conducted by the MD Anderson Cancer Center (pictured above) seem to suggest that homeopathy medicine may help fight cancer cells without destroying healthy cells.  The MD Anderson Cancer Center located in Houston was rated as the top hospital for treatment and research of cancer patients by US News and World Report.

   The study found that 4 homeopathic remedies may help with breast cancer treatment.  The four remedies and the potencies used were Carcinosin 30C, Conium maculatum 3C, Phytolacca decandra 200C and Thuja occidentalis 30C.  The remedies seem to kill breast cancer cells while not destroying healthy cells.  The strongest effect came from the Carcinosin and Phytolacca remedies.  These medicines seem to perform as well as paclitaxel (Taxol).  Taxol is the most commonly used chemotherapy drug used to fight breast cancer.  Taxol does destroy healthy cell as well as cancer cells. 

   More studies on homeopathic remedies to fight cancer will be conducted in the future at the Anderson Research Center. 

References

  Many children Tylenol products have been recalled recently.  These products include Children's TYLENOL, Infants' TYLENOL, Children's MOTRIN, Infants' MOTRIN, Children’s ZYRTEC and  Children’s BENADRYL.  All these products are by McNeil pharmaceuticals.  They have a website dedicated to the recall.  There is a website called http://www.mcneilproductrecall.com/.  They have information on how to return these medicines for a full refund.  You are not to use these medicines for consumption.

  The FDA inspected McNeil pharmaceuticals.  Upon inspection, the FDA found many issues with the way that the medicine was manufactured.  They did not meet the requirements for consumer safety.  The FDA warning letter  shows all the infractions.  They showed McNeil having poor quality control and possible contaminates into the medicines. These is simply a warning letter.

   A  homeopathy manufacturer was also warned by the FDA for having poor quality control.  Washington Homeopathic Products received a FDA warning letter in August 2009.  The FDA letters seem to be pretty similar for most violators. FDA does come down much harder on the second infraction.  If manufacturers do not start making significant changes after the first inspection, the FDA comes with the warning letter.  Most companies comply once the warning letter is received.  Washington Homeopathic has complied with all FDA requests.  McNeil pharmaceuticals is also making changes to make the FDA happy.  However, neither of these companies fixed their issues on the first inspections. I am really not sure why companies are not meeting the FDA initial requests.

  Kidney Stones are a common problem today.  Kidney stones are formed by a formation of crystal.  Causes of some kidney stones are largely unknown.  However, some hereditary and environmental factors are likely the cause of kidney stones.  Kidney disorders and urinary tract infections are also likely to cause kidney stones.  Other possible causes include disorder of uric acid metabolism, gout, excess intake of vitamin D and calcium based antacids.

  Kidney stones symptoms include difficult urination, sharp acute pain in the kidney and abdomen region and possible nausea and vomiting.  Most kidney stones will pass by drinking plenty of water. You should always go to your doctor to make sure that you have a small kidney stone.  Your doctor will also try to determine the possible cause of the kidney stone.  If the stone is too large, doctors may use ultrasound to break up the stone.  

  Persons with kidney stones should drink 2 to 3 quarts of water per day. This will help the stone pass.  Some homeopathic treatments to help with small stones include mag phos 6X and cantharis 30C.  Mag Phos helps with the sharp acute pain of the stone.  Cantharis helps with the burning pain of urination.  Make sure to drink plenty of water while taking these remedies.

  Talk to your medical doctor about why the kidney stones are forming.  Most kidney stones do reoccur.  You and your medical doctor should develop a strategy on stopping reoccuring stones.  Drinking plenty of water helps stones from reoccuring. 

 Thanks to Dr. Mittal with the solution to the homeopathic treatment of kidney stones. 

Top 5 Homeopathy Blogs That Are Out There

  We based this criteria on how much useful information that the blogs contain, how active they are and how many comments do they receive.

1)   Dana Ulman's Blog on the Huffington Post. 

   Interesting blog posts on homeopathy.  Many comments from supporters and skeptics.  Recent blog posts include Lies, Damn Lies and Medical Research, How Scientific Is Modern Medicine Really?
Do Antibiotics Make People Fat?

2)  Homeopathy For Everyone

  This blog is set up more like a magazine.  However, there are many interesting posts with this website.  Recent blog posts includes a homeopathic facial analysis.

3) Natural News

  This blog is set up for alternative medicines and natural health.  However, this blog contains quite a bit of information and news on homeopathy.

4)  Homeopathy Health Care Blog

  Homeopathy blogs that describes homeopathic remedies for various ailments.  The lastest blog entries are common homeopathic remedies for constipation, homeopathic remedies for hypothyroidism and homeopathic remedies for hair loss.

5)  Homeopathy Coach Blog

  This is a blog based by a homeopath in Australia.  Her blog posts are interesting and helpful.  Lastest blog posts include can you simply choose health, a new approach to asthma with homeopathy and diet and treating insomnia with homeopathy.  

  Do you already subscribe to these blogs?  Which blogs are your favorite?