Homeopathy for PANDAS

/

Due to online parent forums, I have an increased interest and therefore many more phone call and email queries about using homeopathy for PANDAS (pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections).

It is difficult to start advising as to what choices the parents should take with regards to the healing route for their children without seeing them first. The background information is as important as what is the current state of concern for the child.

I find that homeopathy has a deep acting effect on the health of the child and can permanently relieve the child from experiencing PANDAS symptoms. However, this is not always an easy process. Neurological and behavioural disruptions associated with streptococcal infections and with prolonged use of antibiotics and anti-inflammation drugs create very persistent health concerns. OCD, tics, fears, rages, anxiety, enuresis (bed wetting), insomnia, hyperactivity, sensory issues, executive functioning concerns, headaches, sore throats, cough, colds, fevers are not as easy to cure in PANDAS as on their own.

What works for me is using the principles I’ve learned within the two courses of CEASE Therapy. As a professional homeopath, I believe it is extremely important to keep up with the most high caliber training in the profession. This allows me to confidently promise to my clients/patients that I am able to provide them with the most high caliber homeopathic services.

Treating PANDAS can be a challenge but it is a rewarding one that I am proud to be able to offer.




Use of Homeopathy Around the World

/

Homeopathy use around the world

Worldwide

  • Worldwide, over 200 million people use homeopathy on a regular basis.1, 2
  • Homeopathy is included in the national health systems of a number of countries e.g. Brazil, Chile, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

India

  • India leads in terms of number of people using homeopathy, with 100 million people depending solely on homeopathy for their medical care.1
  • There are over 200,000 registered homeopathic doctors currently, with approximately 12,000 more being added every year.3

Europe

  • 100 million EU citizens, some 29% of the EU’s population, use homeopathic medicines in their day-to-day healthcare.2
  • Homeopathy is practised in 40 out of 42 European countries.4

France

  • Oscillococcinum, a homeopathic medicine for ‘flu, is one of the best selling over-the-counter medicines in France.5

UK

  • 10% of people in the UK use homeopathy – an estimated 6 million people.6
  • In Britain, the market for homeopathy is growing at around 20% per year.  In 2007, it was estimated to be worth £38m, and is projected to reach £46m in 2012.7
  • In the NHS approx. 40,000 homeopathic prescriptions are provided to patients per year by doctors working within the homeopathic service. There were originally 5 homeopathic hospitals (Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Bristol and Tunbridge Wells). Tunbridge Wells closed in 2007 and earlier this year the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital changed its name to the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine.8
  • There are ~ 400 doctors in the UK that use homeopathy, regulated by the Faculty of Homeopathy and promoted by the British Homeopathic Association.8
  • There and ~1,500 professional homeopaths (non-medically qualified homeopaths) in the UK,9 regulated by the Society of Homeopaths (65%), Alliance of Registered Homeopaths and Homeopathic Medical Association. They largely operate in private practice outside the NHS.
  • See NHS spending on homeopathy

US

  • According to the National Institutes of Health, over 6 million people in the United States use homeopathy, mainly for self-care of specific health conditions.
  • Of those who use homeopathy, ~1 million are children and over 5 million are adults.10, 11
  1. Prasad R. Homoeopathy booming in India. Lancet, 2007; 370:1679-80 | Full Text
  2. Homeopathic medicinal products. Commission report to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of Directives 92/73 and 92/74 | Full Text
  3. Ghosh AK. A short history of the development of homeopathy in India. Homeopathy, 2010;99(2):130-6 | PubMed
  4. Legal Status of Traditional Medicine and Complementary/Alternative Medicine: A Worldwide Review, World Health Organization, 2001 | Full Text
  5. Vickers AJ, Smith C. Homoeopathic Oscillococcinum for preventing and treating influenza and influenza-like syndromes. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2006; 3: CD001957 | Link
  6. Professor Woods of the MHRA, response to Q211, House of Commons Science and Technology Committee hearing of evidence in preparation of Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy report (London: The Stationery Office Limited, 2010) | Full Text
  7. Mintel, Complementary Medicines, April 2007 | Link
  8. Faculty of Homeopathy | Link
  9. Society of Homeopaths | Link
  10. Black LI, et al. Use of Complementary Health Approaches Among Children Aged 4–17 Years in the United States: National Health Interview Survey, 2007–2012. National Health Statistics Reports, 2015; 78: February | Link
  11. Clarke TC, et al. Trends in the Use of Complementary Health Approaches Among Adults: United States, 2002–2012. National Health Statistics Reports, 2015; 79: February | Link

https://www.hri-research.org/resources/homeopathy-the-debate/essentialevidence/use-of-homeopathy-across-the-world/

Homeopathy for Substance Misuse and Addictions; Side by Side Homeopathy

/

Side by Side Homeopathy

Elena Cecchetto

Hpathy Ezine, November, 2015 |  Print This Post | November 21, 2015

Homeopath Elena Cecchetto reports on her experiences using homeopathy in a community of homeless and substance addicted people. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of homeopathy in situations where there is extreme need but there are very few resources.

Introduction:

I went to school at Vancouver Homeopathic Academy with Murray Feldman graduating in 2007. When I was in my fourth year of school, I did a project on using homeopathy for substance misuse. This work was inspired by the troubles my partner at the time was going through. I was asked by a woman who worked for the Portland Hotel Society if I would be interested in doing that kind of work for the people in Vancouver’s DownTown EastSide (DTES).

The area is known as a downtown Vancouver area covering a few block radius where the police turn a blind eye to drugs being used and dealt very openly. It’s a very densely populated area where there are many marginalized, homeless and substance addicted people.

Portland Hotel Society (PHS) is a Canadian non-profit society created in 1993 to provide advocacy, housing and various services for the marginalized citizens of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. It had approximately 451 staff and supports, 1,153 rooms (AKA SROs-Single Residency Occupancy hotels – old hotels that are used as living spaces in the DTES). PHS is also famous for opening North America’s first legal supervised-injection site called INSITE.

PHS began by converting old local hotels to housing for homeless people and named the first one after the American city of Portland, Oregon due to its reputation for aiding homeless people.

Once I graduated I put in a proposal to the executive director but it didn’t go forward at that time. Less than a year later, I was working with a homeopath who also held a ‘doctor’ title before his name and I told him he should give it a try. We were able to get on the PHS’s good side and were allowed to offer homeopathy to their clients. Then a group of more than 20 homeopaths started the non-profit group called Side by Side Homeopathy back in 2008 to volunteer with the marginalized populations of Vancouver in the DTES.

We now have three ‘pods’ (different DTES PHS locations) that we send our homeopaths to. Each pod gets a team of two homeopaths one half day weekly or every second week.

At the POD that I work at (ONSITE which is above the injection site called INSITE) we’ve been consistently seeing approximately 200 people per year. There, we are using homeopathy for acute and chronic trauma, PTSD, constipation, digestive concerns (and other detox-like symptoms), anxiety/restlessness, anger/irritability, grief/loss, insomnia, liver problems and acute and chronic pain.

 

 

Case

Examples:

(Excerpts from Materia Medica are taken from Vermeulen’s Synoptic unless otherwise noted.)

This was one of our very first clients and we were being observed by the social worker staff member of PHS to see what it was we were going to actually do. Along with another homeopath I started asking some questions of our first client. She’s was an obese, elderly woman hooked up to an oxygen machine because she suffered from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Crack was her drug of choice and it sends her into panic attacks. Neither of us had seen a client this fragile with such a deep chronic illness as COPD in our regular private practice. Luckily she described to us what she needed and what she felt like during those panic attacks. “I Couldn’t breathe – felt like I wasn’t getting enough air”. We could see in that she was slouched. I thought she was going to slip down out of her wheelchair. She looked clammy, grey and like she was trying to use the least energy to exist. After hearing her tell us that she needed to have the window open no matter how cold it is in the room or outside – that she wanted the air blown directly on her face, we just turned and looked at each other and it was decided… Find The Carbo Veg!

CARBO-VEG Allen’s KEYNOTEs:

-desire to be fanned (air on her face)

-Hippocratic pallor (grey clammy look)

-craves things that do themselves harm (her drug of choice gives her panic attacks)

THE STATES

When I was doing my project in the fourth year, I theorized that it would be relatively easy to do homeopathy for that population. I had watched documentaries on addictions and on the DTES and saw some very distinct characters and characteristics. Mainly the impression I got is that there is that raw state – the uncompensated state – they are who they are – been through so much – they have no energy for keeping up pretenses or ‘compensating’. Some of this is true. At ONSITE, the POD that I volunteer at, most of the people that we see are fresh off injectibles as their drugs of choice.

Prescribing on ‘THE STATE’ fresh from detoxing from various injectibles…

1. ACUTE/IN AGITATION

Everything is very immediate and sudden. There is a lot of restlessness, nervousness, they are very tense, they have a very wide eye response with a feeling of imminent danger/threat to someone/something. Distrust is common.

REMEDIES

– aconite, arnica, arsenicum, carb-v, opium, nux-v, ign, liver rxs, stram, gels,

Aconite:

Great fear, anxiety and worry accompany every ailment, however trivial. Forebodings and fears. Delirium characterised by unhappiness, worry, fear, raving, rarely unconsciousness. Fears death, but believes that he will soon die; predicts the day. Fears the future, crowds, crossing busy streets; of touching others passing by; fear of loss of reason. Restlessness, tossing about. Tendency to start. Imagination acute, clairvoyance.

  • Stupefaction alternating with restlessness
  • self soothing mechanism for substance users

Nux Vom: (Agitated)

  • Fastidious, ambitious, irritable, malicious, violent, hurried.
  • Worse Early morning [unrefreshed, irritable, depressed, pains].
  • Very chilly. Pains better heat.
  • Craving for stimulants.
  • Cramped states.
  • Strong urge; ineffectual urging; feeling as if not finished. Pains and urging for stool.

 

2. NUMBED

Everything seems unreal, there is a pronounced lack of reaction,

there is an element of escapism, heroic efforts,

ANGER (reserved).

REMEDIES

opium, the solonaceaes (belladonna, hyos, helleborous), staphysagria, phos-ac, natrums

Phos Acid:

Emaciation with suffering expression and sunken eyes. Twitching here and there, agg. lower limbs. Epilepsy. Discomfort after eating, with anxiety. Dullness of head and limbs as after intoxication or loss of sleep. Think of them as burning through or burnt out.

NITRIC ACID:

Pains: sticking, pricking as from splinters; suddenly appearing and disappearing; Sensation: of a band around head, around the bones. broken - down constitutions. After continued loss of sleep, long - lasting anxiety; over - exertion of mind and body from nursing the sick; anguish from the loss of his dearest friend; indifference; tired of life;

 

OPIUM/PAPA (NUMBED)

•Withdrawal, especially after emotional or physical shocks [fright, shame, sight of an accident, reproaches, head injury, surgery].

•Unaffected by external impressions; or boldness and fearlessness.

•Snoring respiration.

•Worse Heat; better cold.

•All secretions suppressed [ie. CONSTIPATION], except perspiration.

•No pain.

Needs stimulants (coffee, alcohol, heroin

 

3.CHRONIC SUFFERER

Trauma (discrimination), abuse, injuries, ANGER (expressed or reserved).

 

The state has a stronger hold on them. It is more complex and a deeper part of them at this point.

REMEDIES

• alum, natrums, the lacs, ANGER (EXPRESSED), androc, latrodrectus, some snake remedies.

 

Chief Complaints (agitated and/or numbed) Matching to… the Homeopathic Remedies’ state.

 

Treating the DRUGS’ STATES:

•methadone

•Suboxone

•Clonazepam (benzo)

•Xanax

•Respiradone

•Trazedone

•Prozac

•Divalproacz (was for seizures, bipolar (epival)

•zoplaclone

 

Numbed states, joint pains, nightmares, foggy head, tired feeling, OR nervous/jittery feeling, constipation, diarrhea, other digestive complaints…

 

DIGESTIVE COMPLAINTS

•Nux vom (agitated) impatient, irritable, hurried

•Opium (numb)

•Sulphur

agitated.

Hurried. Sharp pains. extreme. Burp and tastes of sulphur. Can’t eat. Needs to lie down. Lying down helps. Sharp cramps in right side. Two hours after eating. Quickly. Pain, burping & gas. Wrs from dairy. Takes lactaid but it doesn’t help. Sulphur 30C single dry dose followed by sulphur 6X in RSB every second day for two weeks. Follow up after two weeks. Less indigestion, haven’t been burping, no burps, stomach not cramping anymore. Just better generally. Sleep is great.

 

ACUTE AND CHRONIC PAIN

ACUTE

CHRONIC

Arnica

Arnica

Rhus tox

Camphor

Bryonia

Crot casc

Methadone

 

 

A case example of Crot Casc for agitated/restlessness and pain in the ribs (hernia).

 

CASE: “Constant. Like a knot. Size of an egg”. He broke his leg in 5 places. “Head injury. Sucker punched. Never saw it coming. Spit out teeth. ‘took it like a champ’.” He has a heart murmur. Is on methadone. Has constipation and sleep problems. So we give arnica and some methadone 6C in RSB daily. Follow up – he has had a heart attack. Feeling better than before the heart attack. He had felt like it was heart burn. Burning & squeezing feeling. Wants to quit smoking. He talks about nasty dreams. Violent dreams. Flying dreams. Colours in his dreams. Green. It is about people being two faced and about being lied to. There is a duality within him where he is joking with us but also very serious. He is loquacious and he is flirting with us.

 

We give crot casc 220C dry doses.

Follow up – feeling on top of the world. Talks about reconnecting with his sister. Constipation is not bad. Digestion is good. Appetite is good. Talks about quitting smoking. Only two cigarettes today. … he called to pass on the message that he did really well at the treatment centre and has been reunited with his family and is doing great. Said to say thank you to the homeopaths.

 

Panic attacks, anxiety/restlessness/agitation/anger/irritability
 

REMEDIES

•Stramonium

•Aranea

•Tarentula

•Carbo veg (as above)

•nux (as above)

 

STRAMONIUM (AGITATED/but can see it in numbed state)

Mostly – if not then STARING (eyes off kilter)):

Violence and violent fears.

•Worse darkness; better light.

•Worse alone; better company.

•Suppressed secretions.

•Spasmodic affections; recurrent.

 

ARANEA (AGITATED)

CASE: He presents very very restless [observations]

Has anxiety.

“Do I speak really quickly? Can you understand me? Go, go, go, comes out in the way I talk. Tried to read out loud yesterday. Not breathing between sentences. Like holding my breath. Need to slow down. Take a deep breath. Confusion. Discombobulated. All these thoughts. Trying to assemble them. Can find the words but can’t get them out. My brain is like mush. Pains – neck, limbs, knees ankles and esp hands. I’ve seen a lot of violent things that the human mind isn’t supposed to see. Worst dream ever last night. Crying when I woke up. A vicious attack. Traumatic. Stunned. Petrified. Like a deer in headlights. Had to wake myself up in it. I was seeing myself die, or almost. I’ve lived a crazy life. Could write a book or a movie. Sold drugs on the street. Chaos, death, destruction, tragedy, trauma… Wants children. Two miscarriages then Gf had baby the both GF and baby died.”

 

ARANEA:

frantic restlessness and ailments from unrequited love and the pain in the hands. Foggy headed. Sleep restless, with frequent waking, and always with a sensation as if hands and forearms were swollen and heavy.

 

Next time we see him (two weeks later), he says he is happy. So we give him some of the rx to bring with him (aranea 220C)

 

TARENTULA:

•OBSERVATIONS = fidgeting, very jittery, knees bouncing, hand spinning, rubbing fingers]

•He says – “I’m a bit irritable, hyper, can’t sit still. Can’t concentrate, I pace around. Like a dog that’s jumping up and wants to go for a walk or begging for food. He’s trying to quit smoking… he says – it’s like somebody keeps nagging at you, knocking at your door. Your mind goes 100 miles an hour.”

 

 Constant movement of the legs, arms, trunk, with inability to do anything; twitching and jerking of muscles.

    Restlessness, could not keep quiet in any position; must keep in motion, though walking agg. all symptom

    Amelioration. In open air; music; rubbing affected parts.

    Termini of nerves became so irritated and sensitive that some kind of friction was necessary to obtain relief

 

GRIEF AND LOSS:

REMEDIES

•Ignatia

•‘Papa’ 

 

Ignatia part:

 

CASE: “My wife just died (3 months ago). Aches in back of neck and shoulder. The grief is way worse than anything. There’s Anger, Confusion, Loss, Despair – all at once… the first week, all I did was cry. We made it through everything. That’s what we wanted. To live old and die old together. I’m not accepting of it yet. Denial. Blame myself. anger.”

 

IGNATIA:

    Mental conditions rapidly, in an almost incredibly short time, change from joy to sorrow, from laughing to weeping moody.

    Persons mentally and physically exhausted by long - concentrated grief.

 

A year and two months later:

 

“my wife died last feb. I did drugs for five months, then came here… I think about her all the time, miss holding her hand. Smells remind me of her. I’ve been everywhere in the city with her. Coffee shops. Etc… all I see is my death. I am very violent when I’m on drugs. I rob people, hurt people. I have a head injury from a big chunk of glass. It opened my skull. April 2, 2010 (two months prior). I think it did brain damage. I hurt myself sometimes, subconsciously. Gets me out of myself, stop thinking of her…. I don’t care how I come out of it. I’m very strong – I just use my knuckles. I got attacked by ‘-‘ gang. 20 people. They had bats and bars. I walked away… I welcomed death at that time”

 

Remember the description of opium earlier? Strength in the face of danger…

 

PAPA (OPIUM) (NUMBED)

•Withdrawal, especially after emotional or physical shocks [fright, shame, sight of an accident, reproaches, head injury, surgery].

•Unaffected by external impressions; or boldness and fearlessness..

•Worse Heat; better cold.

•All secretions suppressed [ie. CONSTIPATION], except perspiration.

•No pain.

•Needs stimulants (coffee, alcohol, heroin)

OR!    

AGITATED!

Heroic measures. Bold actions in the face of danger (adrenaline – pumped physical feats).

 

INSOMNIA (AGITATED)

REMEDIES

•Avena

•Opium/Papa (as above)

•Coffea (as above)

 

AVENA:

Improves the nutrition of brain and nervous system. It is useful therefore in nervous exhaustion; debility after exhausting diseases. Nervous tremors of the aged,

Inability to keep the mind fixed on any one subject. Bad effects of Morphine habit.

 

Insomnia.

For our client (C.F.) for her insomnia… she gets up 3-4 times a night. It’s from the pain. It’s been like this for years. Will have a cigarette each time she gets up.

 

OBSERVATIONS: She is very sleepy and lethargic. She is talking a lot but not really saying much. Fibromyalgia, swelling. Hot showers help for about a half an hour afterwards. We gave her avena and apis and then kali carb. She reported that the avena is helping for the sleep. First time she’s slept only getting up once a night instead of 3 or 4 times a night. Sleeping longer (four hours).

 

ACUTE TRAUMA PTSD

REMEDIES

•Aconite (as above)

•Androctonos (Scorpion)

 

ANDROCTONOS

•Over confidence

•potentially dangerous, either to self or to others.

•A sense of adolescent omnipotence, of invulnerability emerged.

•Contemptuous. Want of moral feeling.

•Quarrelsome. Unsympathetic.

•Deceitful and defiant.

•Delusion they are going to be assaulted.

•Malicious with desire to injure.

•Cruel and unfeeling.

•Cold knife-edged violence, desire to stab things.

•Suspiciousness.

•Fear of one's own impulses.

Lack of control.

•Uncontrollable emotions. Or: complete inability to express emotions; can't weep.

•Wants to control others.

 

 One of the main features of the remedy is a total lack of guilt and remorse, unfeeling. This is more so than in Anacardium which is more like snake remedies in that there is a strong sense of duality.

 

CONCLUSIONS:

 

•The Swiss government has determined that homeopathy is the most cost effective method of the medical treatment of ‘ambulatory’ patients.

 

•“From 1999 to 2005, 5 methods of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) applied by physicians were provisionally included into mandatory Swiss basic health insurance. Within this process, an evaluation of cost-effectiveness is required.”

 

•Homeopathy was one of the five methods and it turns out that it is the most cost effective, more than conventional medicine or any other complimentary medicine. And patients reported better quality of the patient-physician relationship and fewer adverse side effects with all complimentary medical approaches.

•The positive general conclusion of the study was: “This study uses a health system perspective and demonstrates at least equal or better cost-effectiveness of complimentary and alternative medicine in the setting of Swiss ambulatory care. CAM can therefore be seen as a valid complement to conventional medicine within Swiss health care.”

•The study “Comparison of swiss basic health insurance costs of complementary and conventional medicine” was published in PubMed. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22189362

Homeopathy may NOT be easy BUT it’s CHEAP!

Posted in Materia Medica, Clinical Cases, Homeopathy Papers

Elena Cecchetto

Elena Cecchetto DCH, CCH, HMC, RSHom(NA), MSc (Cand) El Cecchetto is on the founding board of Side by Side Homeopathy, a group of Homeopaths who are helping people in the Downtown Eastside with any of their health concerns. Some of the common complaints she helps people to address include anxiety, PTSD, depression, migraines, digestion concerns and insomnia. Her most happy moments are when she hears back from new parents about getting the colic, teething, nursing, sleeping, coughing, and rashes successfully addressed with homeopathic care. Her Homeopathic Pediatrics studies have been supported by extra conferences with Dr. Sunil Anand and Louis Klein.El makes is very involved in Homeopathic associations such as the West Coast Homeopathic Society (WCHS), the BC Society of Homeopaths (BCSH) and the Canadian Society of Homeopaths (CSH).

http://hpathy.com/materia-medica/side-side-homeopathy/

Homeopathy Works - for your pets.

/

Homoeopathy Works;

It is amazing to me the amount of confusion surrounding homeopathy these days.  Amongst it all, one thing to me is always clear - it works.  Each and every party/social gathering that I go to where I encounter new people and of course they ask what it is that I do - I gather stories.

Last weekend at a wonderful Holiday Season gathering this happened with two lovely hippy-like dykes who enthusiastically recounted the story of seeing a homeopath for their dog. Their lovely dog had a list of complicated dire health needs. They had been going from vet to vet trying to get solutions and spending thousands and thousands of dollars with no results. They gleefully explained about the homeopath who was humbly going to 'give it a try'... to help their canine family member.

It was amazing to them that a $19 vial of homeopathic remedy could do wonders for their little fur baby. Homeopathy helps their dog recover in ways that no other medicine had done. They were so shocked in the contrast of spending over $26,000 on their dog, that the solution was in this very refined homeopathic medicine chosen by an experienced homeopathic practitioner. Homeopathy works wonders.

https://homeopathysquamish.wordpress.com/twyla-brooks-dch-animal-homeopath/

Nonsense about science

/

People have been asking me whether homeopathy will be banned. It has been around for centuries and no one has the power to tell people what health modality to choose or what could possible determine what is a 'legitimate' healing choice or not. So NO, it could not possibly be banned.

This media campaign in the UK has been created by a 'denialist' organization (they call themselves skeptics, but I call myself a skeptic which has driven me to become a homeopath) called Sense about Science. Their campaign against homeopathy has been ongoing for decades. But here is some recent news revealed about the people and corporations and money that runs this organization. With this news in mind, I would like to rename their group 'Nonsense about science'.

"Coca-Cola’s spin doctor quits after emails leaked

December 3rd 2015

The senior Coca-Cola executive who arranged donations to Simon Singh’s Sense About Science—a charity that subsequently published a report that sugary drinks don’t cause obesity—has been forced to step down after her emails were made public

Rhona Applebaum, Coca-Cola’s Chief Science & Health Officer, has taken “immediate retirement” after the Associated Press published her emails to another lobby group, the Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN), which had received $1.5m donations from the drinks conglomerate.

Sense About Science had been given donations of £20,000. GEBN promotes the idea that lack of exercise, and not sugary drinks and colas, is the primary cause of obesity. A similar line was taken by Sense About Science, which discredited a major study that had found that 184,000 deaths a year are directly attributable to sugary drinks.

Its conclusions were tweeted by Applebaum, who had attended a Sense About Science meeting in the US. The group also ‘corrected’ a newspaper columnist, who had said—rightly—that sugar causes and feeds cancer. Again, Ms Applebaum re-tweeted the group’s comment. https://www.wddty.com/news/2015/12/coca-colas-spin-doctor-quits-after-emails-leaked-2.html"

And here is the debate about homeopathy that they've somehow conjured up.

"Prominent homeopathy advocate Dr Peter Fisher and leading skeptic Simon Singh [not a scientist... ED] went head to head on Radio 4’s Today on Friday when they were asked to comment on plans to end NHS funding for homeopathic treatments.

Asked bluntly by Today anchor Justin Webb “does homeopathy work, because scientists say it doesn’t?” Fisher – who is director of research at the Royal London Hospital of Integrated Medicine – replied: “Of course it does, and it is a gross simplification of you to say that scientists say it doesn’t. He added: “The most recent analysis of all the clinical trials on homeopathy conducted by the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics at the University of Glasgow came to a clearly positive result when it was published last December.”

But science writer Singh (and co-author of Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial) said: “There are many reasons why a few studies may show that homeopathy has some benefit. But when you look at all the data, to the editors of the best medical journals, the chief medical officer, and you look at the report of the House of Commons Select Committee – homeopathy doesn’t work.”

And when Webb suggested to Singh that the cost of homeopathy in the NHS was “tiny out of a total NHS budget of nearly £100 billion”, he commented: “The money is one part of this – and £4 million is £4 million. But perhaps more important is that when the NHS funds homeopathy it gives it undue credibility. These pills typically have nothing in them whatsoever. But you find charities that will send homeopaths to West Africa to treat ebola, or Southern Africa to treat Malaria. Every week I am contacted by the relative or friend of somebody who has died because they were misled by a homeopath.”

“There are have been a number of comparative effect studies where GP practices that use homeopathy are compared to those that don’t – typically in France or Germany, but also in the UK. All of them show that you get better outcomes with homeopathy”

Webb asked Fisher why NHS funding was needed. “Can’t homeopathy be done outside of the NHS, for people who like it?”. Fisher replied that “there is evidence that bears on precisely this issue”. He explained: “There are have been a number of comparative effect studies where GP practices that use homeopathy are compared to those that don’t – typically in France or Germany, but also in the UK. All of them show that you get better outcomes with homeopathy. Either you get a plain better outcome, or get the same outcome for less drugs.” http://www.camexpo.co.uk/fisher-and-singh-go-head-to-head-on-nhs-homeopathy-ban-proposal/

Reversing Autism

/

Alison’s Mum tells her story… I have a 6-year-old daughter Alison, with Aspergers, who has been treated with constitutional homeopathy for just over a year.

She was not a healthy or settled baby and I ended up having to wean her at 3 months as she didn’t tolerate my breast milk and I had to put on her on an elemental formula for protein allergies and Losec for reflux. By the time she was 1-year-old she still didn’t tolerate any food and the next years were spent managing her health with a limited diet as she got older and some biomedical supplements.

When we started homeopathy the things I wanted help with was her behavior and some physical health symptoms. She is a very sensitive child and has lots of allergies that can bring on sensory seeking behavior and at the time of our first consult she had become very bossy, argumentative, defiant and inflexible. She was demanding and not coping with much in general. She also was having constipation problems and reflux and some other physical issues.

I remember the day of her first dose as being a particularly difficult day for us. I was so keen to give her the indicated remedy to see if it helped. She was in a very bad mood and being very rude. I gave her a sniff of the bottle as we always start gentle with her being so sensitive and within 15 minutes she came up to me where I was sitting on the rocking chair and asked for a cuddle. She climbed onto me and just melted into me in a way I hadn’t felt before. She was far more balanced, settled and relaxed. This was a really strong noticeable response and from that moment on I have focused on healing her with constitutional homeopathy.

As she had more doses we had more breakthroughs with behavior and her health symptoms were improving too.

She regularly used to be unreachable. So for example she may wake up one morning and decide to be a fairy and then she would stay in that persona all day. It would be hard to reach her and even though it was easy because she was happy amusing herself as a fairy, it was like I had lost her. After improving on the homeopathy and not going into her own world so often, I noticed she would express her feelings to me when things were upsetting her. So I assume she was escaping reality into her own world previously where-as now she is in the moment and able to express what is upsetting her.

There are so many little changes that are huge to me such as her initiating holding my hand in public, compared to previously where I would have to force her to hold my hand to cross a road for example. She didn’t like holding hands at all. There are also health improvements. Her diet is increasing and she is not sensitive to so many foods. Her tolerance of allergens is improving.

I have 6 weekly appointments with her homeopath and I keep a diary of her improvements so I have notes for the past year. As I read over them, it really confirms how far she has come in that year. Her progress is steady. I don’t expect a quick fix because she came into this world with several issues and developed more as she grew older so it is going to take time and persistence to undo them. But I would rather heal her gently with homeopathy and know that she is healed rather than manage or suppress her symptoms long term with diet and lifestyle changes and medications.

I use homeopathy on the whole family now and am grateful that my daughter’s health issues have directed me to learn about homeopathy as it is now impacting us all in a positive way.

Life is so much easier with homeopathy and now when people meet my daughter for the first time, they don’t recognize her as being on the spectrum.

Practitioner Comment

Some children with Asperger syndrome progress rapidly and lose their diagnosis within the first few months of homeopathic treatment while others make slow, steady gains over many years. Most however, like Alison, progress somewhere between the two extremes. The end results are just as heart-warming though, irrespective of the rate of improvement.

For many children with autism and Asperger syndrome, hypersensitivity of the immune system to various foods and environmental allergens is a problem but in Alison’s case, this was more severe than usual. To minimize any aggravating effects she was started on “sniff” rather than oral doses of her remedy and as you can see from her mother’s story, they were still effective. If you would like to read more of this method for dosing hypersensitive people, visit: http://homeopathyplus.com.au/i-sniff-at-homeopathy/

Treating Homeopath: Fran Sheffield Homeopathy Plus! T: +612 (2) 4304 0822 W: www.homeopathyplus.com.au August 28, 2013

http://homeopathyplus.com.au/reversing-autism-alisons-story/

PANDAS and the conventional medical system

/

There are only a few occasions where I am hopefully impressed with the way the conventional medical system acknowledges the connection between our physical health symptoms, bacteria, viruses and our mental state of health.

PANDAS is one of those occasions. I was reminded the other day by a patient of mine who stated it clearly by saying something to the effect of 'even the medical diagnosis actually understands the link between an infection and behavioural symptoms' so now what about the others. As Homeopaths, we don't try to separate out peoples' parts to simplify matters. We acknowledge and accept the challenge of the mystery of humanity and the human immune system in all its intelligent wonders (despite that it makes our job difficult sometimes). As Homeopaths, looking at the whole person is essential - not just an ideal. How everything works together for one person is going to be entirely different for another. I love my job, it is always an adventure and keeps me entranced by our amazing abilities to heal. It is so rewarding to know that I can offer more than more antibiotics (which sometimes can cause more complications for certain people).

Here is the National Institute of Mental Health's take on Pediatric Autoimmune Neurological Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS), not cute and cuddly;

What is PANDAS?

PANDAS is short for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections. A child may be diagnosed with PANDAS when:

  • Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and/or tic disorders suddenly appear following a strep infection (such as strep throat or scarlet fever); or
  • The symptoms of OCD or tic symptoms suddenly become worse following a strep infection.

The symptoms are usually dramatic, happen “overnight and out of the blue,” and can include motor and/or vocal tics, obsessions, and/or compulsions. In addition to these symptoms, children may also become moody, irritable, experience anxiety attacks, or show concerns about separating from parents or loved ones. Taken from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/pandas/index.shtml

Homeopathy Works

/

This entry was posted on September 8, 2011 by Mary Aspinwall.

Homeopathy Works

Homeopathy is perhaps one of the most contentious areas in holistic medicine, with opinion polarized into two camps:

- those who think it is scientifically impossible for homeopathic remedies to work

- those who have used homeopathic remedies and know from direct experience that they do work

Homeopathic preparation of most remedies involves so much dilution that not even a molecule of the original substance remains. Although this may sound strange, some scientists, even those with no affinity for Homeopathy, have claimed that dilutants can have ‘a memory’ of the original substance even when no molecules are present.

The best known was French immunologist Jacques Benveniste who was head of a research team at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. He diluted a solution of human antibodies until not a single molecule remained. Provided the solutions were shaken vigorously, Benveniste found that human basophils reacted as if the original antibody was still there.Two years after publishing his findings he lost his job and research funding.

In 1999, a team of scientists led by Professor Madeleine Ennis of Queen's University of Belfast claimed they had replicated his results. Benveniste died in 2004. Nobel prize winner, Luc Montaignier who is now researching in China, to avoid people trying to influence or suppress his work, recently confirmed that homeopaths are right. He stated serial dilutions are "not nothing," because the dilutant is imprinted with the original substance. The "Memory of Water" controversy will not go away.

When others try to replicate these findings they are unable to do so and some suggest that this is due to a phenomenon called 'plausibility bias'.

Dr.Peter Fisher, who is Clinical Director at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital, and since 2001 has also been the Physician to Queen Elizabeth II notes that:

"Plausibility bias obstructs a fair evaluation of the evidence around homeopathy; its extent and implications have not been adequately recognized or discussed. It should not impede further research, but we must recognize that such new research in homeopathy, if positive, may have limited impact on practice until a plausible theoretical framework is established."

In simple terms this means some observers will not be able to accept that homeopathy works, whatever the evidence until they know exactly how it works. Whatever evidence they are presented with they tend to insist that any benefit users experience is purely due to placebo effect.

Placebo effect is undoubtedly a powerful tool against illness. If someone is convinced a medicine, even a sugar pill, will help them, it generally does. However, this effect fails to explain why animals, babies, small children and skeptics, respond beautifully to a well prescribed homeopathic remedy or why a poorly prescribed homeopathic remedy has little lasting effect.

A further issue to consider is that true Homeopathy does not fit well into the double blind method. Many of the trials of homeopathy, including those which found it was beneficial, have often been unsatisfactory. The experimenters design double blinds, where the first group takes sugar pills and the second group all take the same homeopathic medicine (e.g. diluted grass pollens to treat hay fever). This is not Homeopathy. A homeopath would interview each member of the second group about the precise symptoms they get and prescribe each with a different medicine accordingly.

Skepticism is healthy, but not if it means you ignore a huge amount of empirical evidence from people who are certain that their return to health was due to Homeopathy. One of the easiest ways to see if Homeopathy works is to try it. The healthiest mind is an open one.

http://www.homeopathyworld.com/blog/homeopathy-and-placebo-effect/

Homeopathy is a very economically efficient choice

/

People should have the right to access Homeopathy

Yesterday, an acquaintance asked me if I had heard that people in the U.K. are wanting to ABOLISH and BAN Homeopathy. I assured him that Homeopathy has a long history and could never be 'abolished'. Last night, I saw the movie Spotlight and it has inspired me to keep putting this type of information across for those who are looking.

Homeopathy will always exist. Here is a succinct list of facts from the Homeopathic Research Institute (please consider funding their essential work):

Some people take the position that public money should not be spent on homeopathy because “there is no proof that it works” or “tax-payers money shouldn’t be spent on placebos”.

 

How much is spent on homeopathy?

Looking at the situation in the UK, this is what the National Health Service spends on homeopathy:

  • From the total NHS drug budget of £11 billion a year, it spends £152,000 (0.0013%) on homeopathic prescriptions.1
  • Out of the total NHS budget of £100 billion a year, it spends £4 million (0.004%) on Homeopathy2

£4 million covers everything from running the hospitals departments to paying the doctors. This provides treatment for approx. 40,000 patients a year.

What ‘proof’ is there that other NHS treatments work?

Some people argue that the NHS should not pay for homeopathy because it should only offer treatments that have been ‘tried and tested’ scientifically and been shown to work.

This sounds logical, but according to the prestigious British Medical Journal only 13% of 2,500 commonly used NHS treatments are known to be beneficial:3

What evidence is there that homeopathy helps NHS patients?

Six studies carried out from 1999 to the present day have tracked the outcome of patients being treated at NHS homeopathic hospitals. These observational studies show patient benefit in terms of clinical outcomes (often for chronic difficult to treat conditions), as well as areas of potential economic benefit in terms of reduced prescribing of conventional drugs.

The largest one, an observational study at Bristol Homeopathic Hospital, followed over 6,500 consecutive patients with over 23,000 attendances in a six-year period4. 70% of follow-up patients reported improved health; 50% reported major improvement. The most common diagnostic groups were Dermatology, Neurology, Rheumatology, Gastroenterology, Psychiatry and Ear, Nose & Throat. The best treatment responses were reported in childhood eczema or asthma, and in inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, menopausal problems and migraine.

A 500-patient survey at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital showed that many patients were able to reduce or stop conventional medication following homeopathic treatment.5 The size of the effect varied between diagnoses e.g. for skin complaints, 72% of patients reported being able to stop or reduce their conventional medication. The study also showed that many patients seek homeopathy because of their concerns about the safety of conventional treatment.

When assessing value for money, it’s important to bear in mind that patients referred for homeopathy have difficult to treat chronic conditions i.e. they have either tried conventional medicine and it has been unsatisfactory, or conventional treatment is contra-indicated in their case. One has to ask, if these homeopathy services were not available, who could treat these 40,000 people instead? And what would that cost the NHS?

  1. Science and Technology Committee ‘Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy’ HC 45
  2. Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Health by the Faculty of Homeopathy. Cost was £11.89 million between 2005 and 2008.
  3. Garrow JS BMJ 2007 335:951 [Pubmed]
  4. Spence D, Thompson E A, Barron S J. Homeopathic treatment for chronic disease: a 6-year university-hospital outpatient observational study. J Altern Complement Med 2005; 5: 793-798 [Pubmed]

https://www.hri-research.org/resources/homeopathy-the-debate/homeopathy-is-a-waste-of-tax-payers-money/

Homeopathy – The Ghost in the Room

/

Succinct insight from 'HealingHaven.co.nz'

Sometimes we have an amazing effect from our remedies.  We take the remedy and instantly feel relief, our symptoms subside, and we are awed and impressed by the response.  These are great instances where we feel complete vindication as homeopathy users.

There are also more subtle responses – such as a dose of Aconite or Anas Barb before bed when feeling like an illness is coming on, and waking up the next day feeling much better, or a response that may not be so physically felt, but shows up in the form of improved blood tests or the like.

Then there are the other types of responses, those that act on a much deeper level, and where the healing response is difficult to track.  Often I hear ‘Well, that remedy didn’t do anything but I’m so much better now from a, b or c!’.

The thing about a remedy is sometimes you’re not going to notice a lightning strike reaction or a thunderclap of healing.  Homeopathic remedies work on an energetic level to bring back balance – this could be unblocking a deeply stuck pattern of thought or behaviour or an old emotional trauma.  After the remedy, the person can find that they are able to move through to the next stage of their life, and feel empowered to do whatever it is that may be needed to bring about balance in their life.  Often a decision is made or a change of behaviour occurs which eventuates in a healthier, happier person.  And it is very difficult to attribute this to a simple pillule or drops!

I was discussing this with a very good friend and client recently.  Although she had not had a return of her emotional symptoms since taking her remedy, she found it difficult to attribute this to the remedy itself, because she couldn’t help but wonder if it was just something like a good night’s sleep which had improved her, or whether the problem was about to resolve anyway.  She put it so well when she said “Its like there’s a ghost in the room – is it there, is it not?”.  

This is so common in homeopathy, and one of the main reasons people struggle to accept it.  You certainly aren’t alone if you’re doubting your remedy brought about the change in your life!  But let me say, in my own journey with constitutional homeopathy, it only takes a reflection on where I was when I started my treatment to how I was after to leave me in no doubt that the ghost is definitely in existence!

http://healinghaven.co.nz/homeopathy-the-ghost-in-the-room/