How many of you practice homeopathy?

CharlieRN · Mar 1, 2005

Ms Paul,

The tummy ache - appendix, is an example intentionally exagerated. But if you look back at Nemhain and vervain's posts they were using homopathy to treat themselves and their families. "The doctor who treats himself, has a fool for a patient." You can't use placebo effect on yourself. If it works on you, then you have to believe in homopathy. I'd prefer to trust fairies and pixidust.

weetziebat · Mar 11, 2005

Charlie, I see where you are coming from, but just because we don't know why somthing works doesn't mean it does not work. Allopathic medicine has great stakes in making people think they need an allopathic physician, with his chemicals to 'cure' things. But as I believe we all know, our mental and emotional states play a huge part in what appears to be physical ills. So, even if homeopathy works on the placebo effect (and I personally think there is a lot more to it than that) if it works, don't mess with it. I think we'd all be in better shape if we took more responsibility for illness and used homeopathy as much as possible. Remember, first do no harm. If it does not work for that particular ill then one can turn to allopathic medicine if desired. After all, no reputable homeopathic practitioner would treat a patient obviously in need of surgery, for example.

renerian, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2005

Interesting thread.....thanks for starting it.

renerian

Ranger12 · Apr 5, 2005

I blend alternative and traditional medicine and nursing quite well in my practice (I'm a Nurse Practitioner). :)

I am glad to hear this, as many of the alternative medicine therapies work well with "modern medicine." Modern medicine often treats a person like a car; replace parts etc., without understanding the person's issue. Sometimes there are mental, mind-body reasons why a person is ill. For example, stress has many negative effects on a body. Just think about having to take a test (RN boards) and see what happens in your body, or the comment your spouse said that made you angry and upset. :rolleyes:

Ranger12 · Apr 5, 2005

2 words : annecdotal evidence
2 more words : placebo effect
Jeeze folks, modern nursing is a branch of modern medicine. Modern medicine is based on modern science. It is the science that has made the difference between just offering comfort to the dieing and being able to actually reverse the effects of disease in some cases.
There is no scientific base for the primery beliefs of homeopathy. There is no evidence that exposure to doses of medications in amounts that are too small to detect has any effect on the human body.

Please don't forget the history of medicine and that early "medication" came from herbs etc. And, that early doctors used quiet primitive methods to learn about the human body... Modern medicine has brought with it many postive aspects but it also has a shadow side... medications on the market to soon, and the technology to save a life without considering quality.

deegale · Apr 6, 2005

Paul,
I don't hesitate to use any tool that comes to hand to threat my patients either but if I'm using a placebo effect I want to be clear with myself and other professionals that I am doing so. These techniques will relieve symptoms. But there is a derth of evidence that they have reliable effects on causes. It is not ok to make the patient's tummy ache go away if he has a hot appendix.

how many medications cure? most only mask symptoms and sometimes the side effects are worse than the illness or symptoms that they treat. people go to the doctor with a complaint, the doctor puts them on a medication and before long they're on another med to treat side effect of the first one before long they're on 10 meds with a whole lot of polypharm happening

healinghand · Jun 29, 2005

Interesting thread.....thanks for starting it.
renerian

When I practiced Homeopathy back in my country only thing they asked was "Can you heal this complaint?"

I tried my best to help.And Homeopathy did help them.

Here the world is different.Now many a times I have to question myself how I am going to explain that this is not a placebo therapy.How can one see beyond the actual material substance.The principle of Dynamic healing is nonpalatable here.

I may have to ask each of them to read 'Organon of Medicine " by Samuel Hahnemann(Founder of Homeopathy) which explains in detail how it works.

The only reason to start this thread is to see how many of us know what Homepathy actually is.How can we practice it legally?How can we give our clients an opportunity to choose alternative therapy when they are told that "THERE IS NO KNOWN CURE FOR THE CONDITION"

I respect all alternative treatment as far as it does NO HARM.

The healers high and only mission is to cure the sick.

atlantis · Jul 10, 2005

When I practiced Homeopathy back in my country only thing they asked was "Can you heal this complaint?"
I tried my best to help.And Homeopathy did help them.
Here the world is different.Now many a times I have to question myself how I am going to explain that this is not a placebo therapy.How can one see beyond the actual material substance.The principle of Dynamic healing is nonpalatable here.
I may have to ask each of them to read 'Organon of Medicine " by Samuel Hahnemann(Founder of Homeopathy) which explains in detail how it works.
The only reason to start this thread is to see how many of us know what Homepathy actually is.How can we practice it legally?How can we give our clients an opportunity to choose alternative therapy when they are told that "THERE IS NO KNOWN CURE FOR THE CONDITION"
I respect all alternative treatment as far as it does NO HARM.
The healers high and only mission is to cure the sick.

Totally agree, once you tell someone THERE IS NO CURE, they believe it they set their mind to believe it, and so after the mind, the body believes it as well. Modern medicine has it advantages, but the side effects on drugs or crazy, truth is no drug totally works for everyone!

zenman · Jul 11, 2005

The healers high and only mission is to cure the sick.

Medicine is curative. The healers job is to enable the body/mind to heal itself.

renerian, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2005

Coming from an RN perspective of almost 20 years in a variety of settings, personnal experience and educational programs. I have two additional degrees in holistic nutrition for which I took some non-tradditional classes for credit to expand my own knowledge bases about alternative medicine used for centuries in other countries. I am inclined to think that western medicine is sadly missing the boat by utilizing some tried and true treatment techniques rather than trying "a pill" per say. Different therapy modalities work on people differently depending on the person's needs. Not everything can be cured. Not every person wants to face a boatload of medical bills, bankrupt their family or take an armful of pills.

If I can do something for a patient that works, causes no harm, and they smile at me and say they feel better, I am all for it without seeing a "study per say".

My motto is be open minded for the sake of your patient.

renerian

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jul 12, 2005

If I can do something for a patient that works, causes no harm, and they smile at me and say they feel better, I am all for it without seeing a "study per say".

Very well said.

CharlieRN · Jul 15, 2005

If I can do something for a patient that works, causes no harm, and they smile at me and say they feel better, I am all for it without seeing a "study per say".

"If I can do something for a patient that works"

How do you define "works"? That is the key question. I define it as "causes measurable positive changes in the patient's physical status, that are not explainable as placebo effect." Note that the question is not if we can cause the positive physical changes but if we can show that the medicine or treatment causes the positive changes. That is why we have to screen out the placebo effect. Unless we screen it out we have not shown that the medication is the effective agent. The positive effect may just be our smiling faces. There is nothing wrong with healing by "the theraputic use of self." There is a whole lot wrong with charging money for worthless medication, or of "healing by theraputic use of self" without being aware that is what we are doing.

It is not evidence of effectiveness that the patient says they feel better. Neither is that evidence that the treatment is harmless, but that is another question.