The madness of some homeopaths who claim they can cure cancer has irritated me and others repeatedly, for instance here and here. Many apologists of homeopathy say that responsible homeopaths would never make such a claim. They may be right – but the sad reality is than there are far too many irresponsible homeopaths.
This article by Dr Pankaj Aggarwal, a ‘senior homeopathic physician’, marks in my view a new record in homeopathic ineptitude and irresponsibility. Here is an excerpt (it seems that the actual article has disappeared; luckily I saved it before):
“In homeopathy, non-toxic medicines are used to treat this cancer. There are no side-effects associated with homeo medicines for cervical cancer. If this problem is diagnosed at earlier stages, it becomes easier to treat and takes very less time. In advanced stages, more time is required to improve the situation. It is actually possible to treat cancer with homeopathic medicines. In fact, homeopathy is the only treatment method that can completely cure this disease. There are different approaches to treat this disease in homeopathy. Good homeo practitioners usually use a combination of these approaches while treating a cancer patient.
Treatment Approach 1
The first philosophy to treat cancer is to directly target the cancer tumors. In this way, the practitioner selects the proper medicines that match the symptom picture of tumors. An example of such medicine is Conium Maculatum, which can be used to treat immovable, hard and slowly developing tumors. In this approach, other symptoms of patient are also taken into consideration and are treated. This approach targets tumors and reverses their growth to the point where they no more exist or become harmless.
Treatment Approach 2
The second or indirect approach is to strengthen the cell detoxification process and eliminative channels of patients like liver, lymphatic system, urinary tract and kidneys. From this approach, the homeopathy practitioner uses low potency drainage remedies that detoxify particular substances like heavy metals or target particular body systems. The particular medicines used for this drainage is selected after thorough analysis of the particular cancer case.
Treatment Approach 3
In this approach, a complete interview of the patient’s emotional, physical, and mental symptoms is conducted. After that, best matching remedies are selected to address the complete constitution of the patient. Most of the times these homeopathy medicines will affect and target the cancer tumors directly. This treatment, if done properly, can result in complete removal of cancer tumors, resulting in full recovery.”
END OF QUOTE
The facts about homeopathy are very clear and tell a totally different story:
- the assumptions that underpin homeopathy are implausible,
- homeopathic remedies usually are far too dilute to have any effects whatsoever,
- there is no evidence to support any of the above claims,
- believing such claims will almost inevitably cause great harm to patients.
What follows is simple: HOMEOPATHS WHO MAKE THERAPEUTIC CLAIMS BEHAVE UNETHICALLY, ARGUABLY EVEN CRIMINALLY
185 Responses to Homeopathy for cancer? Not again! No, no no!!!
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It’s the 99% of delusional charlatans who let the 1% of responsible homeopathists down every time.
Are those just the 0.9% who are scientifically illiterate or do you include the 0.1% knowingly committing fraud? (rough guess on the ratios there)
What do you mean by responsible? A homeopath who are telling himself: oh, I am not milking absolutely healthy patient, because if I do not give him plain water/sugar, he will certainly find some dishonest “allopath”who will prescribe him unnecessary meds?
Did I miss something??
Well, you can believe what you like, Mr Enrst, but I once had terminal cancer. The docs gave me chemotherapy and radiotherapy and all that did was make me feel sicker. Then I visited a homeopath and he prescribed 30C cacca di vacca three times a day. Almost immediately my tumor started regressing and now I’ve survived for 40 years.
[Just anticipating one kind of ‘evidence’ that will be offered to contest the outspoken hostility to homeopathy contained in this blog post.]
What do you mean by “made you feel sicker”? Anyway feelings is not the main thing that matters during the cancer treatment. What matters are lab and radiology results.
I mean it made me fell sicker than I already did. What do you want? Precise details? That’s what’s wrong with skeptics. Always wanting details so they can pick holes in the story. Just like the people at Lourdes who refuse to register miracles without massive supporting evidence: as if peoples’ word isn’t good enough!
I feel like you are joking here. Cacca di vacca really? You had terminal cancer and water cured it? Saying peoples words should be enough proof for anything? Either you are insanely stupid and should go back to primary school or you are joking.
Errm… welcome to the blog. Yes, I was joking: read the words within the square brackets in my first comment.
There are always side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy which are not as simple as feeling a bit light headed.
Anecdotal testimonies are the backbone of faith healers and fraud.
I’m sorry but cacca di vacca makes me smile. I don’t speak Italian but I’m Portuguese and also speak two other latin languages fluently, Spanish and French, and I could SWEAR cacca di vacca is, literally, cow shit.
Cacca looks like caca (French), caca (Spanish) and cocó (Portuguese)
Vacca looks like vaca (Portuguese), vaca (Spanish) and vache (French).
Why would cow shit help cure cancer?
Ups didnt read the square brackets sorry
Thank you for letting us know. Homeopathy is a medicine of the future. I was helped in endless times.
LOL!
First, show that homeopathy is, indeed, medicine…
Homeopaths treat the whole person and not Cancer. There is nothing any of you can do about Homeopaths taking a case and giving homeopathic remedies to people with Cancer. So long as no claims to treat Cancer are made.
Justpassing said:
Well, that’s their frequent claim…
Oh so wrong.
Alan
Please show me cases of homeopaths treating people with Cancer who have been prosecuted under the Cancer Act. where no claims to cure Cancer have been made. No marketing to cure Cancer has been made.
@Justpassing
Erm… why?
I said
‘There is nothing any of you can do about Homeopaths taking a case and giving homeopathic remedies to people with Cancer. So long as no claims to treat Cancer are made.’
You said ‘Oh so wrong.’
I ask you to show me prosecutions.
You can’t really answer can you?
@Justpassing
LOL!
You need to re-read what I actually said and what you claimed. I made no mention of the Cancer Act; you did.
@Justpassing
You wrote: “So long as no claims to treat Cancer are made.” Did you read the original post? This homeopath, like many, is claiming to do precisely that.
You wrote: “Homeopaths treat the whole person and not Cancer.” So why are pharmacists and ‘health’ stores allowed to sell
homeopathic medicineswater directly to customers? Surely only a homeopath can can decide whichhomeopathic medicinetype of water will treat the whole person?Wrong.
Homeopaths treat nothing. They only provide make-believe conversation and useless make-believe pills.
If you have any evidence that I am wrong, please provide it instead of unsubstantiated claims.
You don’t get it. Homeopaths say they treat the whole person. I am not arguing whether they do or not. However, by saying that they treat the whole person they can then legally treat people with Cancer. Only those homeopaths making claims to treat Cancer can be prosecuted. Do you get it now?
They are misleading the patients with legal trickery. What are they actually telling the cancer patients to convince them the cancer will be treated other than “they will treat the whole person?” (treat them for what?)
@Justpassing,
Since you are so clever, please explain your intentions?
No because I am just passing.
I once met a homeopath who was convinced she had cured someone of skin cancer. It turned out that the woman she thought she had cured had had several months of radiation therapy after which according to the homeopath you could see the cancer was still there. But having been treated with a homeopathic ointment for several months went back to the hospital for some tests an lo and behold was told the cancer had gone.
The interesting thing was that she simply would not consider any alternative explanations. Maybe the “cancer” she has seen was scarring from the radiation therapy. Maybe these wounds do tend to heal up whether you put homeopathic ointment on them or not. Why rely on the hospital’s opinion about whether the cancer was gone; couldn’t you just see whether this were the case? etc.. Her final piece of evidence was a testimonial I could read on her web site. Hmm… I suppose that settles it then!
Mustard gas makes u sick. That’s what chemo is made of.
Errm… sorry to have to correct you, Paua, but there are more than 400 chemicals and combinations of chemicals used for cancer chemotherapy according to CRUK. The long list does not include mustard gas (or ‘sulfur mustard’ as it is also known). Mustard gas is highly toxic and a strong carcinogen (cause of cancer): like you say, it “makes u sick”.
Frank,
While strictly true that we don’t use mustard gas, other mustards are used in oncology.
The original mustard gas was sulphur mustard, but by replacing the central sulphur atom with a nitrogen a whole class of nitrogen mustards has been derived, and some of them are still used for cancer treatment. Mustine (chlormethine) was the first nitrogen mustard, and although it is too toxic to be useful in cancer treatment, its derivatives are, such as carmustine (BCNU) sometimes used in treating lymphoma, and estramustine, used for prostate cancer (mainly in the USA, where diethylstilbestrol, a synthetic oestrogen, is not available; it seems that the oestrogenic effect of estramustine is more useful than its cytotosic action).
Other nitrogen mustards (more usually known as alkylating agents) in regular use include cyclophosphamide (breast and lung cancer, lymphoma, marrow conditioning prior to stem-cell harvest), chlorambucil (ovarian cancer, lymphoma), and melphalan (multiple myeloma).
These drugs are all toxic, and (like all chemotherapy) have to be used carefully. They are also carcinogenic, much more so than radiation. A total body radiation dose that doesn’t quite kill you will give approximately a 0.1% risk of causing a cancer over the next 40 years (although certain groups such as adolescent girls are much more sensitive). A course of chemotherapy containing an alkylating agent gives a risk of developing a second malignancy, usually leukaemia, of the order of 1 – 3%, and these can occur much sooner than with radiation. Of course this needs to be weighed against the risk of not giving chemotherapy.
Other types of chemotherapy are less likely to cause second malignancies. For instance cisplatin does not appear to carry such a risk, but it commonly damages the kidneys, peripheral nerves and hearing.
@Julian
Many thanks for the comprehensive account of nitrogen mustards. I’m fully aware that these are in clinical use, but Paua’s bare statement: “Mustard gas [i.e. sulfur mustard, not nitrogen mustard] makes u sick. That’s what chemo is made of.” was just too wildly inaccurate to let pass without comment.
By the way — just a bit of pedantry I got picked up about years ago on this blog… In the UK we traditionally spell sulphur with a ‘ph’, but in any chemical or other scientific context, the correct spelling is ‘sulfur’ with an ‘f’. Yes, it’s the US spelling, but it was formally adopted as ‘correct’ by the IUPAC in 1990 and the Royal Society of Chemistry Nomenclature Committee followed suit in 1992. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority for England and Wales decided to fall in line and insist on ‘sulfur’ in 2000, so it’s been the official spelling for GCSEs and A-levels for many years. So much for imagining we can ‘take back control’ of all things British by leaving the EU! 🙂
Frank,
I wasn’t aware of the change in spelling of the element with atomic number 16, though I believe it was sulphur in Latin (not that many Latin words contain a ph).
Shortly before I stopped practising there were a number of drugs which changed their name to match the US spelling, as Americans seem quite unable to adopt standards used by the rest of the world. So frusemide became furosemide, chlorpheniramine became chlorphenamine and methotrimeprazine became levomepromazine.
Particularly odd is that adrenaline has always been known as epinephrine in the US. This is because some pharmaceutical company patented the name Adrenaline, so they had to come up with another name for the hormone (epinephrine is derived from Greek and adrenaline from Latin and their literal meaning is more-or-less the same, like entomos and insect).
Personally I get very confused by the US practice of giving biochemistry results in mg/l, whereas most of the rest of the world uses mmol/l. There is no simple conversion factor unless you happen to know the molecular weight of whatever it is that is being measured. I have on occasion found myself faced with pages of blood tests that my patients have had abroad, and trying to make sense of the unfamiliar numbers.
Then there was the problem of trying to get hold of some paracetamol when I found myself in Kyoto with a fever. In America, paracetamol is called acetaminophen, and a popular brand is Tylenol. So the Japanese for paracetamol is タイレノール (tairinouru). The adoption and mangling of English words by the Japanese is a source of much bafflement but can give you a useful vocabulary once you get the hang of it; the special phonetic script used is a clue.
Julian
You’re right about the USA sticking to mg/L while the rest of the world moved on years ago to mmol/L. One might argue the units don’t matter so long as physicians have easy access to reference normal ranges measured in those units. But in practice, normal ranges are stored mainly in clinicians’ heads, which makes the lack of global standardization of units a matter for concern.
When the substance being measured is a polymer, e.g. haemoglobin and many of the cancer biomarkers you must be familiar with, I notice we still use mass per unit volume: g/L or /100 mL for Hb and ng/mL for biomarkers. It would be quite problematic to ‘go molar’ for such large molecules.
“I notice we still use mass per unit volume: g/L or /100 mL for Hb and ng/mL for biomarkers”
And “International Units” for some complex molecules including certain drugs.
Mustard gas is designed to make you sick, or even better, dead. It is a chemical weapon.
However, mustard gas (named for its smell – nothing to do with the plant) is how chemo was discovered – soldiers exposed to mustard gas were found to develop low white blood counts, leading the the idea that it might be a possible line of treatment for acute leukaemia (at the time rapidly fatal, though nowadays generally curable with chemotherapy). It forms cross-links between strands of DNA and prevents it from replicating. Mustards aren’t used very much any more, and have been replaced by less toxic drugs with a similar mode of action.
Other chemotherapy is derived from fungus (e.g. daunorubicin – found in a red fungus in the area occupied by the Dauni tribe in Puglia in ancient Roman times, hence the name), bleomycin and others.
Then there are plants – taxanes (paclitaxel, docetaxel) from yew, vinca alkaloids (vincristine, vinblastine, vindesine) from periwinckle.
Platinum derivatives – cisplatin, carboplatin, oxaliplatin – were discovered after somebody tried passing electric currents through cancer cells in culture and realised it was the composition of the electrodes which was killing them, not the electricity.
Other cytotoxics are entirely synthetic, based on what is known of cell biology.
All of these drugs are very powerful, and it is up to the oncologist to manage the toxicities and balance them against the benefits. Happily this is something we are getting steadily better at. The days of having to manage uncontrollable vomiting (when I was a junior doctor in the 1980’s) are long gone.
We don’t know what sort of skin cancer this was, but two that are commonly treated with radiotherapy are basal cell carcinoma and squamous carcinoma. A typical course would be weeks, however, not months. A larger tumour might be treated more slowly (i.e. spreading the dose into more fractions) but even so, more than 30 fractions in six weeks is unusual.
The effects of radiotherapy are delayed, so it is not at all surprising that the cancer was still there at the end of the course. Even after the tumour itself has gone, there is often an ulcer left in its place which can take a long time to heal (radiation burns heal a lot more slowly than other types of burn). Disturbing the irradiated skin, for instance by putting ointment on it, can slow this process still further.
I would generally want to see the patient at six weeks post-treatment to ensure that everything was going as expected and then review them in another three months by which time the reaction would have settled down and the tumour hopefully gone.
Here’s my treatment for cancer: no treatment. Die in peace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsOPzBHPsqM
I was diagnosed with cervical cancer stage 4 last August. It was spread in lymph nodes,liver, and brain(left side). It was no hope . Gladly doctors told that, I refuse to chemotherapy and steroids. Choose homeopathy.my seizures stopped in two weeks,scan was done in April this year. Brain is clean. Liver just shade. Still more to do. Its working. Fact!
I am very pleased for you and hope you recover fully.
but I can also assure you of one thing: this has NOTHING to do with the homeopathic remedies they gave you!
I would not necessarily disagree with the decision not to have chemotherapy, radiotherapy or steroids for stage IV cervical cancer with brain metastases, particularly as standard treatment has limited effectiveness in this situation, and is aimed primarily at relieving symptoms and temporarily reducing the tumour burden. However, each component of the treatment should ideally be discussed in detail with the oncologist and other members of the team before coming to an informed decision, and the door should be left open should the situation change (for instance common complications of this type of cancer such as hypercalcaemia and kidney obstruction can be readily dealt with provided that someone picks them up).
All oncologists have seen spontaneous regressions, though so far the mechanism(s) have not been identified. There is research going on in this area, however.
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are blunt instruments, but they work well in many cases and we know a lot about how they work and how to use them. Over the years their use has been greatly refined.
However, cancer research now is focusing on understanding what is going on at the genetic and molecular level within tumours and in their interplay with the immune system and other body systems. This has led to the recent development of many new, targeted drugs that are beginning to find their way into clinical use, and cancer treatment is changing rapidly as a result.
It seems odd to me to accept the science and technology that gives us diagnostic MRI scans (which rely on how the behaviour of water molecules is affected by their surroundings and by magnetic fields) and then when it comes to treatment, to dismiss the same science and expect water molecules to behave quite differently at the behest of a homeopath.
You have no ideal what your talking about I’ve been studying and using homeopathy for about 5 yrs I can use homeopathy for pneumonia colds ear infection cut infection all without antibiotics it works so well that doctors are afraid of it working it would put a lot of doctors out of business all you nay sayers haven’t study it or tried it also about 80 yrs ago that’s how they treated people instead of modern medicine the hospital and doctors wanted to make more money so they started modern medicine well cure rate was bad and homeopathy hospital was curing people so the modern med had them make a law to get rid of homeopathy hospital and it worked for 50 yrs it was banned from the USA but it’s making a come back and doctors and hospital don’t like it so that’s why all these doctors are blasting homeopathy again they are very afraid of it!!!
in medicine, we have a nice rule: show evidence or it is you who does not know what you are talking about.
Plenty of evidence but they don’t get reported or recorded because most of the time they don’t see a doctor to record it so I have enough evidence of my own when I can get well with homeopathy I’ve had pneumonia cured it homeopathy I have hay fever I use homeopathy for it I’ve had the flu fixed it with homeopathy I’ve used homeopathy for five yrs no need for me to go to a doctor that’s why doctors are afraid of homeopathy they lose money on it so if it cures a lot of diseases when I believe it can cure cancer not remission in a lot of cases but u can’t have evidence because it’s not reported by a doctor for one if they did people would be going to homeopathy doctors and the hospital would lose a lot of money but you keep saying you need evidence well keep a closed mind and don’t open your eyes you will never see the evidence around you go to India and see the success they have without modern medicine just try it for one problem as an experiment and see for yourself thank you!!!
as you have no evidence for your claims, it would be perhaps best to not make them and do something about your paranoia.
Dear Ernie,
“Truth will always be truth, regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief or ignorance” 🙂 🙂 🙂
W. Clement Stone
thank you – but you don’t need to embarrass yourself to send a message, you know.
@ Barbara,
Every time you speak about Homeopathy, you will be asked for evidence 🙂 So next time, please ensure you bring Evidence along 🙂
On the subject of cancer, I doubt Conventional (allopathic) medicines will ever be able to come out with a cure for cancer but at the most they will come out with a way to control it just like they have medicines for controlling blood pressure, asthma etc. Neither will Homeopathy be able to cure a big disease like Cancer.
in most cases, homeopathy can treat a patient independently well. What is the wrong if in few cases, homeopathy and Allopathy supplement each other?
“in most cases, homeopathy can treat a patient independently well.”
any evidence?
Ausra wrote:
I was diagnosed with cervical cancer stage 4 last August. It was spread in lymph nodes,liver, and brain(left side). It was no hope . Gladly doctors told that, I refuse to chemotherapy and steroids. Choose homeopathy.my seizures stopped in two weeks,scan was done in April this year. Brain is clean. Liver just shade. Still more to do. Its working. Fact!
It’s a true story, it will inspire me on the path of homeopathy
I am very pleased for you.
spontaneous remissions or cures are very rare, but they do happen.
How do you know it is a true story?
If it is true how do you know that homeopathy had anything to do with the remission?
If it isn’t true, then it may be inspiring you to take unwise decisions.
Remember there is a difference between what ought to be and what is.
Please provide names of some homeopathic doctors in New Jersey or in the us who specialize in cancer
any homeopath specializing in cancer is a quack
@ Romi,
From experience and experiments at home I can say that Homeopathy does not cure cancer or any other chronic illness. If any Homeopaths say they can cure cancer, they are only fooling the people.
@ Dr. Julian,
I too wish you all the best and a speedy recovery.
As occurs so often, doctors tell cancer patients there is nothing more they can do to help them. Go home and get your affairs in order. Only a stubborn fool would not pursue an alternative approach to a cure.
really? that occurs often? in your dreams!
It is very seldom that there is nothing that can be done to help a cancer patient. In the case of incurable cancers, treatment aimed at reducing the cancer burden can prolong life and improve symptoms. Even in cases where there is no specific treatment that can do that, there are usually many things that can improve quality of life. Short courses of radiotherapy, for instance, are well tolerated and are often very effective at relieving cancer pain. Recognising and treating specific complications of tumours such as clotting disorders, hypercalcaemia and other metabolic effects can prevent a lot of suffering, and all the support systems associated with an oncology multidisciplinary team are there to help the patient manage themselves and cope with their situation.
It takes a stubborn fool to turn their back on this and follow charlatans and liars who promise much that they cannot deliver.
Homeopathic is an ancient medicine and DOES work. People who say it is a placebo effect should take a real placebo and then compare to the homeopathic med.
I have taken homeopathic for several diff things e.g gerd, migraines , cysts, ear ache, fevers and was completely cured
“Homeopathic is an ancient medicine”
No it isn’t. It was invented by Samuel Hahnemann roughly 200 years ago.
“and DOES work”
Can you provide any evidence, other than anecdotal?
“People who say it is a placebo effect should take a real placebo and then compare to the homeopathic med.”
That has been done. In the more rigorously designed trials it has been shown to be equivalent to placebo. And don’t dismiss the power of the placebo effect.
“I have taken homeopathic for several diff things e.g gerd, migraines , cysts, ear ache, fevers and was completely cured”
1. What is gerd? I’m guessing gastrointestinal reflux disorder or something along those lines. The symptoms are usually due to an infection with Helicobacter pylorii.
2. These conditions are generally self-limiting and would be expected to resolve of their own accord.
Hi edzard are you a medical doctor…i see lot of useless arguments here and nobody is addressing the real issues here..cancer is a multi billion dollar industry..there is a homoepathy practitioner in india who treated more than 40000 patients and wrote a book on cancer and its treatment of homoepathy..guess what..he was bribed for miilions of dollars to remove it from the bookstore..and he did that but didnt stop his practice..u can still find it in india…he was bribed by the USA pharmaceutical industry…when somenone here say he treat the whole body here…first let me say the best remedy of any diseases is not pain killer or any shit like chemo etc or antibiotics..the best remedy is the body mechanism itself..its immune system..what a homoe practitioner do is that it balance the body mechanism which was unbalance..then the body direct its vital energy the the wounded part like tumor or cancer and heal itself…your body is 10000000000000 time smarter than your server or smart phones…the body itself the the best cure…but all this is against the establishment the freemason…if cancer is cured it will directly affect the pharma..many people might lose their jobs..that how the government is govern…sad reality but truth…time to wake up..stop sleeping with eyes open…all the doctors who dont believe in alternative madecin have been brainwash and its not their faults…the book they have read in medical college is written by the pharma industry or drug industry…its just part of the system where we are the scapegoats…sad reality but truth..
this is one of the most deluded comments I read for a while; thank you
I am a medical doctor, and I find it hard to make any sense of what you are saying. I am not a Freemason. I am not in the pay of Big Pharma. The reason I read this blog and contribute posts to it is that I have a strong aversion to bullshit, and I have seen first-hand the damage that blind faith in alternative medicine can do.
As an undergraduate studying medicine at Cambridge University I was taught anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, pharmacology (i.e. the basic mechanisms of how drugs work), statistics, and I was lucky enough to have among my lecturers and tutors some of the researchers who had made important discoveries themselves in these areas. There was no input from the pharmaceutical industry.
As a medical student studying clinical medicine at Westminster Medical School I was taught how to assess a patient, about disease processes, how to make a diagnosis, the principles of treatment, etc. Essentially the basics to enable me to practice safely as a junior doctor under the supervision of more senior colleagues. Again no input from the pharmaceutical industry.
As a junior doctor working in various hospitals in and around London, I started learning in earnest – this phase is essentially an apprenticeship. I learnt primarily from my colleagues and from the many patients that I saw. The pharmaceutical industry would try to have some influence by supplying free pens, tourniquets, post-it notes etc. with their logos on, and by buying sandwiches for various meetings that occur in hospitals at mealtimes. I suppose it was at this point that I became aware of some of the branding of drugs. I also became aware of how effective the body is in healing itself (after all, for most of the millions of years over which life has evolved, there has been no medical care of any kind whatsoever). I learnt that doctors have to work with the body, not against it.
As a trainee oncologist working in various oncology centres, again in and around London, I attended lectures at the Royal College of Radiologists, and learnt the practical skills of administering chemotherapy and radiotherapy. I learnt a lot about how cancers behave, and about how they affected the people who had them, as well as their families. The free sandwiches continued, but otherwise there was little influence from the pharmaceutical industry.
As a consultant oncologist the pharmaceutical companies were able to push harder. They paid for me to attend international meetings, and they sponsored academic meetings closer to home. Where there were two similar alternative drugs, perhaps that influenced me to some extent to prescribe one rather than the other, though usually the hospital pharmacy did not stock alternatives since one was generally more cost-effective than the other. Mostly the presentations at these academic meetings were by independent experts and researchers, and the main thing that the drug companies achieved was to facilitate the dissemination of information. Of course if an independent clinical trial had shown a drug to be effective then it was in the interests of the manufacturers of that drug to ensure that I knew about it. I was also involved in a number of national and international clinical trials which had been set up by independent oncologists collaborating, though the pharmaceutical industry did contribute to the costs. By this time I was well aware of the tricks that companies use to try to influence doctors, and I can certainly recommend Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre if you want to read more about this.
Of course as an oncologist I have continued learning throughout my career, and things change so quickly that I have found that if I am treating my patients the same way as I did last year then I am not keeping up with current research. This is more than can be said by the advocates of ancient wisdom. In particular I have learnt what I can do and what I can’t, and that I should never offer something that is not in my power to deliver. A big part of what I have been able to do for my patients is to enable them to understand clearly what is happening to them, and that even when they can’t be cured there is much that can be done to relieve pain and other symptoms, to improve their quality of life, and to control the cancer for a while to enable them to continue with normal life as much as possible. And by the way, there are many patients who I have been able to cure, with the help of my colleagues and the rest of the team.
Meanwhile the whole landscape of oncology has been changing due to the development of the science of molecular biology, which has enabled researchers to work out in great detail what is going on within tumours at a molecular and genetic level, and how this interacts with the immune system, which is indeed many times smarter than a server or a smart phone and rivals the brain in complexity. This has led to the development of many new treatments and targeted drugs, with many more on the way.
I am now retired as a result of having developed cancer myself (diagnosed two years ago), and without effective targeted therapy I would certainly not be here to write this post. I have continued following developments in my own area of specialisation (genitourinary tumours) and I think if I were well enough to go back to work I would be rather out-of date now.
Coming back to alternative medicine, medical scientists and researchers have examined them all in detail, and where something has been found to work it becomes incorporated into normal medical practice. What remains as alternative is what has been shown not to work. To my mind much of it is akin to witchcraft, but I don’t believe in magic.
I don’t think there is going to be a simple cure for cancer as such, as the term includes so many different disorders, and even within a single type (adenocarcinoma of the lung, for instance) each tumour is different, more so as you start to examine its genome and its immunological effects. The pharmaceutical industry knows that there is a lot of money to be made from effective treatment and there is no reason for them to suppress it. In any case, if the problem of cancer were solved, people would live long enough for something else to kill them, something else for Big Pharma to concentrate on.
Sorry to ramble on, particularly in response to a post which, if I am charitable, reads like the ravings of a conspiracy theorist, and if I am being realistic, more closely resembles the word-salad of someone in the grip of an acute psychosis.
Do we understand how iCloud works? Or any of the quantum physics modalities which rule our lives these days? We are not cars to be fixed; we are energy systems and homeopathy is an energy based system. Thus the infinitesimally tiny amounts in the original remedy are often the most potent. I am so tired of this dinosaur speak, that obdurately refuses to acknowledge all the excellent results achieved by homeopathy. Blinkered doesn’t even begin to describe it. But then doctors have been denying the effects food has on us for decades and still is even in the face of all the new scientific awareness of eating nutritionally rich food, which, mostly these days, it isn’t. What did Hippocrates say? Your food will kill you or cure you, yet you don’t even get taught nutrition in medical school. And also he advised to “do no harm” so you pump the most toxic ingredients into people that you can find, ingredients, which, if spilt, have to be cleared up by men in space suits, ingredients which burn holes in concrete and make women infertile and prone to osteoporosis. I don’t hear homeopathy dissing chemo etc (although of course that may be because they would be hounded out of the country, if they dared) so why don’t you foolish, harm-inflicting dinosaurs back off and leave people to make their own choices. We have all seen the damage blind faith in allopathic medicine can do; “Death by Medicine” is a book worth reading and so are the statistics.
My brain-injured son was treated homeopathically by a doctor from the Royal College of Surgeons (no idiot he, then) and was transformed from a vacant unaware small child into a lively curious-about-everything child, who became so fascinated by his world, that we had to watch he didn’t harm himself. I understand the dedication of people working in the field of cancer and admire them for that, but I also think it is time they came into the 21st century, the century of quantum healing.
“Do we understand how iCloud works? ”
I an mot sure.
but CONTRARY TO HOMEOPATHY we know it does work!
to use the term ‘quantum healing’ discloses that you have not understood either of the two words it is composed of.
“Do we understand how iCloud works?”
I am sure that the engineers who designed it understand how it works. However, there are probably some important aspects of it which are commercial secrets and therefore not in the public domain.
“Or any of the quantum physics modalities which rule our lives these days?”
I suppose that depends on how well educated you are. I had to learn a bit about quantum physics as part of my training to be an oncologist, but I couldn’t explain Schrodinger’s wave equations or chromodynamics to you. Nor could I design a computer chip, which relies on quantum tunnelling to work. On the other hand this information is readily available and there are courses. Have you considered the Open University?
“we are energy systems and homeopathy is an energy based system”
I have no idea what you mean by this, or how it relates to the previous sentence about quantum physics.
“obdurately refuses to acknowledge all the excellent results achieved by homeopathy”
I will be happy to acknowledge those results if somebody could provide any evidence that they exist. By evidence I don’t mean faith or anecdotes.
“doctors have been denying the effects food has on us… eating nutritionally rich food, which, mostly these days, it isn’t”
I don’t think this is anything that doctors deny. On the other hand, how many people take the advice of their doctors when it comes to food?
“you don’t even get taught nutrition in medical school”
Yes we do, although there is a lot of nonsense about nutrition circulating in the popular press and on the Internet that we don’t get taught.
“What did Hippocrates say?”
Hippocrates llived 2,000 years ago at a time when we knew nothing about how the body worked. He rightly counselled against many of the practices which were common in his time, useless and potentially harmful. For instance, the Hippocratic Oath specifically mentions not operating to remove bladder stones. It is important to remember that it has only been since the late 19th century that medicine has had any sound footing at all and has been able to do more good than harm.
“if spilt, have to be cleared up by men in space suits”
Space suits are designed to enable astronauts to work in a vacuum. I think you probably mean something else. Rubber gloves?
“so you pump the most toxic ingredients into people that you can find”
I think the most potent toxin we know of is Botox.
“ingredients which burn holes in concrete”
Lemon juice will burn holes in concrete.
“make women infertile and prone to osteoporosis”
Well, that certainly includes two of the side-effects of certain kinds of cancer treatment, such as removing an ovarian tumour. On the other hand, there can be worse consequences from not treating, so everything needs to be weighed up.
“I don’t hear homeopathy dissing chemo etc”
I have, via some of my patients who have been given that advice.
“why don’t you foolish, harm-inflicting dinosaurs back off and leave people to make their own choices”
In the UK it is a principle of law that people should take responsibility for their own folly. Nevertheless, I believe that choices should be informed, and as a doctor I have a responsibility to educate people so that they are in a better position to make choices. In any case, many choices that we make can affect others, too, and need to be made responsibly for that reason. Think of passive smoking, driving uninsured, not vaccinating…
“We have all seen the damage blind faith in allopathic medicine can do”
I’m not sure what you mean by that, though blind faith in anything is never a good idea.
““Death by Medicine” is a book worth reading”
Author? Publisher? Date? Affiliations? I would imagine that this is about the large number of iatrogenic deaths, particularly in the USA. This is a topic which is close to the heart of anybody providing health care, and something which needs to be studied openly so that the systems already in place to reduce harm can be improved. On the other hand it is not what is being discussed here.
“so are the statistics.”
Evidence-based medicine is all about statistics, though it helps to have some training in mathematics in order to interpret them correctly.
“My brain-injured son was treated homeopathically… and was transformed from a vacant unaware small child into a lively curious-about-everything child, who became so fascinated by his world, that we had to watch he didn’t harm himself”
People can make remarkable recoveries from brain injury, children in particular since their brains are more plastic. Why do you ascribe this to homeopathy?
” by a doctor from the Royal College of Surgeons (no idiot he, then)”
I don’t know about that. I have met some surgeons…
“people working in the field of cancer and admire them for that, but I also think it is time they came into the 21st century”
By going back to treatment invented in the early 19th century and long since discredited? In any case, cancer treatment has already changed a great deal in the current century and we aren’t even twenty years into it yet.
“century of quantum healing”
That is not a term that means anything to me whatsoever, or probably to anybody else reading this. Could you explain what you mean?
Dear Dr. Julian,
Did you go through the Facebook message I sent to you yesterday ? It has the pic also attached.
😀 Being one myself, I can verify that the title “surgeon”, or for that matter “MD”, unfortunately does not guarantee a sane mind or functional intellect.
Hi Julie just want to let you know that dr hahneman who discovered Homoeopathy was MD of his time in allopathic medicine and all Homoeopaths who do degree from good colleges and universities study the same subjects which you have studied . In initial stages it help if cancer is detected early . If you really want to learn with open minded ness then you have to go into the depth of it . It’s not only about cancer but lot of other chronic diseases have cure in Homoeopathy .Lot of people in this blog are not telling a lie you should believe them and dig it more to understand it . Both sciences can help the suffering humanity if work togather .
In Dr Hahneman’s time doctors had little understanding of physiology or pathology and were still basing their treatment on balancing the four humours (blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile). They didn’t really have much to offer in the way of effective treatment. Things have moved on a bit now and medicine tries to be evidence-based.
I am sure that many of the people who comment on this blog are not lying, but that doesn’t mean that what they have to say is true. In the case of homeopathy I am sure that they believe something for which there is no evidence and which contradicts much of what we know about physics, chemistry and biology.
Homeopathy is not in any way a science.
Do you have any evidence for your claim that it can help in the initial stages of cancer?
@Dev
Goodness me! Now we have (at least) two sciences! More, if you count astrology, telepathy, ancient astronauts, dowsing, spiritualism, numerology, feng shui, dianetics and ufology along with homeopathy as sciences. You’re absolutely right, Dev; we need to bring all these different sciences to bear to help suffering humanity. Never mind biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy and the like. They’re all just western nonsense.
Dear Dr. Julian, thank you for such a thoughtful and rational reply. It is very unfortunate that your illness forced retirement. I wish you the very best.
One of the most heart-wrenching series of videos I have ever watched was of a young mother with early stage breast cancer who documented her alternative treatment “journey”.
Her journey included her dying days before her death when she begged others NOT to reject recommended thoroughly researched standard-of-care treatments. By the time she finally recognized the wisdom of medical advice she received from oncologists, it was too late. Her cancer had metastasized and her children were left motherless, her husband a widower.
Homeopath saved my dog. Vet told me to put her down if i didn’t have the surgery for pyametra. I went to the health store an 6 to7months later she was healthy. Now she has a tumor and I’m gong right back to to get her med. Oh they work! Some ppl don’t realize that the med the doct prescribe the main ingredient is from the earth/plants( some ppl do they just want your money, it’s just a marketing scheme shame on you) Then they add there addictive poison to it messin up other organs so we come back to them. It’s all about the money. In sorry you waisted all those years in college then all those years to have to pay that college bill but your job isn’t safe either? . cause we are waking up an coming back to what GOD gave us. And you doc are no god your imitations. Your med are gmo of the real thing and have nerve to get mad when we don’t want your tampered with so called meds. No thank you! Give it to your kids and family since you pushing it So hard. Like we don’t know the meds is from the earth? why you mad? Oh cause you citedyour ducks before they hatched. Well tell your children/family to go get a job cause there ain’t nothing gonna be left for them cause we not coming to see the doct any more…???. Reevaluate your life oh an enjoyit while you still can cause big Parma is not wanted anymore! Takin to us like we missed the boat? you missed the boat along time ago. You should of made a better decision like your peers and became a homeopathic Doc. You would of made more money an your conscious would have been clear. Nooo you followed the system. Well the system played you an you bout to pay for it. Better scare back on a few things like less vacations maybe sale a couple of houses might have to cut the cable off? soon. But don’t you dare touch the college fund/ retirement fund etc matter of fact with ww3 coming up you gonna be like every one else no bank account. So you better start learning about the herbs/plants GOD gave you so you will be able to survive in that time of trouble cause you won’t be takin this ssh then? Shalom
Well that’s the whole of science and medicine overturned by that beautifully-worded and eloquently argued post.
If ever evidence was needed of the mindset of the average AltMed nutter, here it is.
I dunno, I still like a nice bit of prosciutto.
Anch’io. Mi piace molto il prosciutto grande di Parma.
I expect we’ll both be accused of being shills for Pig Farmer.
I have a lump of hard bone that has been erupted on the forehead. Consulted the doctor and they told me, it’s a forehead osteoma. I want it removed. So, please suggest me the homeopath medicine.
There isn’t one. Homeopathy is not medicine.
Homeopathy helps but does not cure a cancer patient 100% Allopathic line of treatment is required.
“Homeopathy helps but does not cure a cancer patient 100%”
EVIDENCE PLEASE!
Edzard, I have witnessed my close relative being cured by homeopathy + allopathy of colon cancer. The disease never metastasized, thanks to a rigorous homeopathic course undergone much earlier to getting the cancer. If any person (patient) wants to get an extension of life or may be lucky to get cured of cancer, I can give advise about how to go about it. Can give me their email address, I shall write to them.
Edzard, allopathic medicines loses their effect after some time and get reduced to a shade better than chalk powder (lol) I noticed that homeopathy does not allow allopathic drugs effect to fade.
I’m afraid that without evidence I cannot accept the notion that homeopathy [or any other therapy] cures cancer. did you know that there is such a thing as ‘spontaneous remission’?
if it were true that homeopathy cures cancer, it would show in clinical trials, wouldn’t it?
I shall explain everything to you. Just write to me at : [email protected]
sorry, I want evidence, not explanations
Evidence will be given in private through mail. I shall give the doctors name and cell number.
that’s not the type of evidence I mean; perhaps you want to read this:
https://edzardernst.com/2012/11/what-is-and-what-isnt-clinical-evidence-and-why-is-the-distinction-important/
Pamela said:
Make your mind up: will you provide evidence as requested?
Dear Dr. Edzard,
At least give me chance to explain the sequence of events that led to the cancer cure. You then make your own inference what led to the cure. I did my own analysis and attributed to 60% homeopathy and 40% allopathy helped in the cure. Can’t say, if it is right, you may get the Noble Prize and not Dr. Pankaj Agarwal.
Why do you attribute the ‘cure’ you say you witnessed to homeopathy and not the ‘allopathy’?
You are right Alan, the cure is due to allopathy. But the problem with allopathic drugs are that they lose their effect over a period of time. We noticed that due to homeopathic, the allopathic drug has not lost its effect and its still potent inspite of taking the drug for more than 12 years.
So you lied when you said it “never metastasized, thanks to a rigorous homeopathic course”.
Alan, the Oncologist Surgeon, seeing the recovery, gave credit to God for the cure.
Alan – I think it is a bit unfair to say that Pamela lied; she may simply have been mistaken.
Pamela – I can’t comment accurately on your history without more details. However, the fact that you have been on treatment continuously for 12 years, that it has never metastasised and that you remain well suggests that we are talking about receptor-positive breast cancer, and that you have been prescribed a hormonal treatment such as tamoxifen or anastrazole following initial treatment, which could have been surgery.
In this situation, the prescribed drugs aren’t to hold the cancer at bay, but to reduce the overall risk of it returning. That is, it may have already been cured by the initial treatment twelve years ago, or indeed it may be that it is going to come back regardless (breast cancer can relapse after as long as forty years). But for some people, adding these types of drug can prevent or delay a recurrence, and although much of the benefit comes from the first year or two of treatment, there is a small additional effect from continuing for longer.
It is not true to say that the drugs stop working after a while. Cancer cells are genetically very unstable and by the time a cancer is diagnosed, there are many different populations of malignant cells within it, with different characteristics (they may reproduce at different rates, they may or may not carry hormone receptors, they may have mechanisms for neutralising some types of drug, they may have a propensity to seed themselves in different parts of the body). If a drug is able to destroy (or at least halt the growth of) most of these cells, then the body’s own defenses may be able to deal with the rest. However, if there are cells remaining that were never sensitive to the drug in the first place they will keep on growing until eventually there are enough of them to detect in the form of a cancer recurrence (either at the original site or elsewhere). This can take many years, or sometimes even decades, as even a tumour the size of a pea contains 1,000,000,000 cells.
Unfortunately most cancers can’t be cured with drugs alone (there are some, such as acute leukaemia, high-grade lymphoma and germ-cell tumours such as testicular cancer, which can be), but if surgery, radiotherapy or both can reduce the number of cancer cells enough (i.e. by removing or destroying the primary tumour), then the addition of short-term drugs such as chemotherapy, or longer-term drugs such as those with hormonal effects, can significantly increase the chances of a cure.
There is no theoretical reason why homeopathic treatment should have any effect on these processes, and nor is there any clinical evidence that it does so in practice, or that it can interact with conventional drugs.
Dr. Julian,
It is not me but my mother who was suffering from colon cancer (Stage III but no metastasis) in 2005-2006. It is an interesting case of cure as the cancer was genetic in origin. I don’t want to discuss in the forum. Kindly let me know which email address should I give the full history. You can write to me at [email protected]
Please note that I am not a doctor. I am a Commerce graduate. I am from Mumbai, India. Namaste.
Dear Alan : I will explain the sequence of events that took place which led to the patient getting cured from colon cancer. You can draw your own inference. What ever I said was my inference. So let us find out exactly what is the reason for the cure. Write to me. Give me a chance to explain. Then can’t say, it is you who will win the Noble Prize for finding a cure for cancer.
Yes, I will give you evidence of the patient getting cured.
Pamela,
I was clearly wrong in trying to draw too detailed an inference from very limited data, though much of my previous post applies to most types of cancer.
However, this is a public forum, and if you are going to make any claims for treatment please don’t back them up with an invitation for a private discussion, which is rather a cop-out and might lead people to draw the wrong conclusions about you. Also, readers may not want to give out their email address to a stranger.
I for one would be interested to know more about the case history you are referring to so that I can make my own judgement as to what might have been expected from conventional treatment alone. I am not asking for details that could identify the person in question. However, if there is anything you can tell me about the cancer itself (particularly the stage, pathological grade if you know it) and how it was treated (whether chemotherapy, any details at all) it would be very helpful. I don’t need to know who the doctor was.
I don’t know any drugs used in the treatment of colon cancer that are taken for twelve years, though it is quite common to give chemotherapy for twelve months if the tumour is initially thought to be at risk of recurring.
Also, I would be interested to know how you performed your analysis and came to your conclusions about the relative contributions of conventional and homeopathic treatment, particularly as this generally requires enough cases to rule out the contribution of chance, not just one.
If, for example, your friend’s oncologist gave him a 40% chance of survival for 5 years, that would mean that in a group of similar patients, after five years you would expect roughly two fifths of them to be still alive. If it were a large enough group, and additional treatment led to the survival of nearly all of them, that would be remarkable, though it would not mean that such treatment contributed 60% (you can’t sum probabilities in this way).
Dear Dr. Julian Money-Kyrle,
I sent the required details to your Facebook Account.
Pamela said:
Well, now we have homeopathy, ‘allopathy’ and now some god or other to thank for the cure. What are we to believe?
Pamela said:
I wait with bated breath… but why is there a nagging voice in the back of my head telling me all we’ll get is an unverified and unverifiable anecdote?
Dr. Julian,
A brief summary what happened :-
She was taking treatment for irritable bowel from family doctor who prescribed antibiotics. However, the problem was recurring. The stool test was showing red blood cells. The doctor than ascribed some reasons but advised colonoscopy. We postponed the colonoscopy and started treating her with an allopathic drug. Surprisingly, the symptoms decreased and she started putting on weight. The number of red blood cells in the stools reduced to half. Her condition improved considerably. But one day, she began throwing up after eating some roadside stall food. We took her to the doctor and did the tests. The USG & CT Scan & CT Scan guided biopsy stated that it is adeno carcinoma of Colon. We then went for Surgery as advised by an Oncologist. The surgery was successful but still Oncologist advised to undergo 6 chemotherapy cycles which we did but only 5 as it is so painful. We continued giving the miracle drug that helped her condition improve considerably before cancer was diagnosed. The cancer disappeared. The surgery was done on 29.4.2006.
Now question is where did homeopathy played a vital role. In 1994 she took treatment for Bronchial Asthma & Hypertension and the Homeopath had said take the course for 6 months and she will enjoy good health throughout her life. She undertook the course which was 3 bottles of mixture pills, 6 pills from each bottle 3 times a day (Total 54 homeopathic pills per day). I have no idea what the medicines consisted. Homeopath also advised to never discontinue allopathic tablets but only reduce the dosage. Her lungs became clear and she was able to breathe without wheezing.
I feel, if her genetic colon cancer never metastasize inspite of lymph nodes being affected, then it is due to homeopathy. The miracle drug we are still giving is still effective, it is all because of homeopathy.
My personal opinion is allopathic medicines, whether for HTN, DM, BA or any disease are very effective initially but later on their effect fades and the patient is left suffering. That is why homeopathic treatment is essential.
Dr. Julian,
Any further questions ? I can’t recollect clearly, but I think it was graded as T4N1M0 – poorly differentiated adeno carcinoma. Eight inches of colon along with externally attached tumor was removed.
There was some negligence on our part as well as family doctor’s part but all is well that ends well. The disease was cured.
Dear Pamela,
Thank-you for that information.
I have recently retired as an oncologist, and in the last few years I was mostly treating prostate and testicular cancer, so I am a little out of date with regard to colorectal cancer.
At around the time your friend had her treatment, the five-year survival rate for her type of cancer was of the order of 40%. That is to say, two-fifths of patients with that stage of colon cancer would be alive five years after surgery.
Chemotherapy improves the long-term survival rate by 10 – 15% in node-positive colorectal cancer. Five cycles are probably almost as effective as six, though I don’t suppose there have been any trials making this specific comparison.
So for your friend to be alive and disease-free twelve years after surgery and chemotherapy is not particularly remarkable, leaving out any other treatment that she might have had.
You have mentioned several times what you refer to as “an allopathic drug” which she was given before she was diagnosed, and which she has been taking for the past twelve years. You have also referred to it as a “miracle drug”. Would you be able to tell us what drug this is?
You also state your belief that allopathic drugs lose their effectiveness with time for the conditions HTN, DM and BA. I am guessing that you mean hypertension, type II diabetes and bronchial asthma, rather than hypertensive nephropathy, degenerative myelopathy and bacillus anthracis. Hypertension generally changes with age as the arteries become less flexible. Type II diabetes usually gets worse with time. Asthma can vary depending on the cause and the age of the patient (some people grow out of it, on the other hand sometimes it can progress to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). A disease getting worse with time is not the same as drugs becoming ineffective, however.
Dear Dr. Julian,
Yes, HTN, DM and BA are Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus and Bronchial Asthma. The miracle drug I kept mentioning, I want some person to do research in it. It is not a chemotherapy drug. I have drawn inference that it expels cancer cells from the body and puts and end to the division and multiplication of abnormal (cancer) cells. I observed that it also helps in putting our vital parameters in place i.e. blood sugar level, blood pressure. For personal reasons I don’t want to disclose the name of the drug on public forum. You can see how Alan Henness is making fun and pooh poohing all I say 🙂 Guide me how to share details of the drug. If you don’t wanna share your email address, then some other email address which is not very active.
Dear Pamela,
I can’t speak for other regular readers of/contributors to this blog, but I have so far patiently restrained myself from attempting to respond to your comments. I’m sure you’re very sincere about your mother’s medical experiences, but they amount only to testimonials (anecdotes) about one person. That’s not evidence for anything. And you had to be pressed even to tell your (not very coherent) story.
Why even bother posting on a blog that exists to allow open discussion of pseudo-medicine if you are not prepared to present what you consider to be your evidence to its readers?
Now you’re claiming knowledge of a ‘miracle drug’ that you think “expels cancer cells from the body and puts and end to the division and multiplication of abnormal (cancer) cells”. But once again you’re claiming you will only share the details in private. You say “I want some person to do research in it”. Do you have even a vague idea just how much research is already done on discovery of medicines?
If your ‘miracle drug’ is a product known only to yourself, then please contact appropriate pharmaceutical companies or public research institutes (mostly universities) and set up non-disclosure agreements to protect your intellectual property before interesting them to research it. If the ‘miracle drug’ is an already known product, you can bet your bottom dollar it will already have been investigated for potential as a cancer medicine.
You are not convincing any of the many highly qualified and experienced readers of this blog with your faux secrecy. And this comment is NOT poking fun at you. Just trying to get you to see some perspective on the things you write. If you’re not prepared even to discuss your ideas, your evidence, your knowledge and your experiences with others, then please don’t post on a public forum.
Dear Frank,
If people are afraid to share their email address, then you say why I am keeping secrets. It is not justified. I have already shared the secret cure with a Homeopath who is a Ph.D and in U.K. He thanked me but I don’t know whether he will take it forward. I don’t mind sharing it but not on a public forum because I don’t like people making fun of me. I am a Commerce Graduate, so my knowledge of medicine is very limited. You are always welcome to write to me at [email protected]
It would be my pleasure if a break through in cancer cure is achieved and alleviate the sufferings of so many people.
Carl Sagan’s story of The dragon in my garage comes to mind, yet again.
Dear Pamela,
It’s very self-evident from your posts so far that your knowledge of medicine is limited. That’s why I (and some other folk) are trying hard to be kind and not to make fun of you. I just wish you could, for once, make the effort to see how your comments might appear to readers with some knowledge of medicine.
You’ve now told us that your ‘miracle drug’ is “a common drug which is available world wide” and that “I have already shared the secret cure with a Homeopath who is a Ph.D and in U.K. He thanked me but I don’t know whether he will take it forward.” So a homeopath with a PhD is not sufficiently excited by your claim that you have a product that “expels cancer cells from the body and puts and end to the division and multiplication of abnormal (cancer) cells” to take it forward.
But such a drug would be an absolutely certain Nobel Prize winner. It would make you a fortune — please don’t say it can’t be patented: a ‘use patent’ supported by credible evidence that it works in the way you describe would still be a valid route to fame and fortune.
You’re characterizing yourself as a person with limited medical knowledge, who believes in magic (homeopathy) and who believes a god directed you to a cure for your mother when, if he/she/it were in any way less than sadistic the god could have simply not given your mum the disease(s) she suffered in the first place (as Woo Fighter already pointed out). Can you still not see that you have a little bit of a credibility problem?
Dear Frank Odds,
I think you are getting bugged with me bcoz the debate is going on and on and then you are coming to your own judgement of me. There is a hindi song that goes “Gussa itna haseen hain toh pyaar kaisa hoga, pyaar kaisa hoga ?…” Your spouse must be a lucky person 🙂 Are you a doctor by any way ?
But you are spot on when you say that it can fetch me the Noble Prize if what I say turns out true about this drug. I am looking out for a Doctor to explain my point of view and even have the Doctor’s point of view. I did tell you that the Oncologist Surgeon initially claimed credit for doing a good job but later on when he did the Hernioplasty for Incisional Hernia she developed 3 years later, he opened up the abdomen and saw with his own eyes that there is no trace of cancer. That is when he said that it is the work of God.
Dear Frank Odds,
Suppose you had accidentally tripped over a medicine that you feel convinced has cured a person from cancer, would you have put it up on a Public Forum giving all the details ? What ever brief summary I gave to Dr. Julian, do you feel it is a cock and bull story ? I am convinced in what inference I have made and I am just looking out for a suitable person to narrate.
Pamela has let me know in a private message the name of the drug in question. I do not want to betray her confidence by giving the exact name, but I don’t think she would mind me saying that it is a combination of a tricyclic antidepressant and a benzodiazepine. For non-pharmacologists, tricyclics were very commonly prescribed until serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s such as Prozac) came along. I don’t know whether SSRI’s are more effective (not my area of expertise), but they are certainly safer, and I regularly found myself treating tricyclic overdoses when I was a junior doctor, and saw a few fatalities. Benzodiazepines are drugs such as diazepam (Valium) classified as minor tranquilisers, in contrast to drugs used in treating psychosis.
I don’t think you can get combination pills such as this in the UK, and in any case they would be considered bad prescribing practice as the optimum dose and duration of each ingredient is likely to vary. However, this sort of thing is commonly on sale in India, I suppose so that you get an immediate effect from the benzodiazepine whereas the antidepressant takes about a month to start working. I remember once seeing a cream for sale containing an antibiotic, an antiviral, an antifungal, and antihistamine and a corticosteroid. I would think it would make most rashes better in the short term but it wouldn’t be appropriate treatment for anything.
Pamela’s relative initially had weight loss and rectal bleeding, and for whatever reason her symptoms were initially ascribed to stress. If indeed she did have depression (of course I don’t know, but somebody thought she was stressed so this seems plausible), this could have been the cause of her weight loss rather than the cancer, and one might expect her to regain the weight on treating depression. Rectal bleeding from tumours tends to come and go, and is often not at all obvious to the naked eye in any case (hence the use of screening tests). Essentially what I am saying is that her initial improvement was coincidental.
The surgeon removed a locally extensive tumour, which had also spread to the local lymph nodes, but as far as I can gather it was completely removed. She then went on to have most of the recommended course of chemotherapy. Clearly this would have been regarded as a high risk tumour, with a less than 50% chance of surviving 5 years. On the other hand, quite a lot of people are cured of such tumours by surgery with or without chemotherapy, so the fact that she did well could not really be described as a miracle.
A quick search shows that there have been studies looking at tricyclic antidepressants and cancer, including one retrospective case-control study suggesting that they may have some protective effect against certain kinds of cancers, including colorectal, and also a suggestion of possible mechanisms involved. This, of course, is quite different from suggesting that they could be an effective treatment, and in any case they have too many side-effects to justify a relatively small potential benefit.
Dear Dr. Julian,
I read your views but I beg to differ on some points :-
It is not stress that caused loss of weight but the cancer which caused loss of weight. Main signs of cancer is loss of weight especially digestive system cancers. But, after the genetic cancer got triggered, add to that stress/worries and the cancer kept growing till it was detected in April 2006.
The rectal bleeding was seen by the naked eyes as much as size of egg yolk. Complaints came often but we admit there was negligence on our part as well as the treating M.D. doctor’s part not to read the symptoms.
As regards the drug given, it does have its side effects but I give credit to homeopathy to offset the side effects and also keep the drug potent till date. Initially the drug was supposed to be taken for 3 months but we voluntarily continued it because we found many benefits from the drug.
Pamela,
“Main signs of cancer is loss of weight especially digestive system cancers.”
For most cancers, by the time they cause weight loss they have spread widely and are not curable by surgery. Some gastrointestinal tumours can cause weight loss by obstructing the bowel (i.e. physically preventing you from eating or digesting food), but you have not given me any reason to suppose that this was the case here. Therefore I don’t think the cancer was the cause of her weight loss.
“after the genetic cancer got triggered”
You have a rather different idea of how cancers arise than I do. Inasmuch as we can ever identify something that may have caused a cancer, it is repeated exposure to something over a long period of time (e.g. smoking, sunlight etc.), not a single event acting as a trigger. (One exception to this is radiation exposure, but even that is not nearly as carcinogenic as most people think.) Also, I’m not clear why you refer to this as a genetic cancer, which is a term that would only apply if there were an inherited risk (for instance if there were a known genetic mutation in your family which was associated with cancer, such as DCC or Li-Fraumeni syndrome).
“add to that stress/worries and the cancer kept growing till it was detected”
You are confirming that there were stress and worries, so why do you think that they were not the cause of your mother’s weight loss? Most people with stress and worry lose weight. The fact that she was diagnosed with cancer later on does not mean that the cancer was responsible for the weight loss, particularly as she started to regain weight again after receiving treatment for depression, but before the cancer was diagnosed.
“The rectal bleeding was seen by the naked eyes as much as size of egg yolk. Complaints came often but we admit there was negligence on our part as well as the treating M.D. doctor’s part not to read the symptoms.”
The presence of rectal bleeding at all would indicate that she should be investigated (usually by a colonoscopy). The amount of blood, however, doesn’t add much useful diagnostic information, particularly as bleeding from tumours can come and go, and is often not enough to see with the naked eye.
“As regards the drug given, it does have its side effects but I give credit to homeopathy to offset the side effects and also keep the drug potent till date. Initially the drug was supposed to be taken for 3 months but we voluntarily continued it because we found many benefits from the drug.”
There is always a judgement to be made about how to balance side-effects of treatment against benefit. Some people find it difficult to tolerate this kind of drug, and others find them so helpful that they don’t want to come off them. Homeopathy doesn’t come into it.
Of course, I only know what you have told me about your mother’s case. I have never met her, let alone examined her. You have given me the following story:
1. Stress, weight loss, rectal bleeding
2. Antidepressant started, also homeopathic treatment
3. Rectal bleeding stops, weight regained
4. Cancer diagnosed
5. Surgery removes all the cancer; it is locally advanced but has not spread beyond the lymph nodes. Expected chance of long-term cure about 40%
6. Chemotherapy given, and most of the course completed
7. Still well 12 years later. Still taking antidepressant and homeopathic drugs
To me, the most straightforward explanation for all this is:
Stress helped by antidepressant (which may or may not still be working)
Cancer cured by surgery and radiotherapy
Antidepressant has not had any material effect on cancer
Homeopathic medicine has done nothing at all
Clearly all people are different (if they weren’t medicine would be very simple), but it seems to me that you fixed upon an explanation very early in the sequence of events when you decided that the weight gain following the antidepressant could only because it treated the cancer, and having made up your mind about this you haven’t subsequently considered any other explanations.
It is very tempting to believe that when one event follows another, they are cause and effect, but usually they aren’t.
I don’t think it is very fruitful for either of us to go through this again; I have only been as detailed as I have in my reply as other readers may find it edifying. You have your reasons for believing what you do. I have my reasons, which are based on a thirty-year career as a doctor, mostly spent studying and treating cancer. I am very pleased that your mother is doing so well, whatever the reason for it, and I wish you both the best in the future.
Dear Dr. Julian,
Okay, as you say, the cancer got cured by the explanation given by you.
Only a small correction. She was not taking homeopathic medicines after the 8 month homeopathic course given in 1994. After that she never took homeopathic again because homeopathic brings out symptoms of disease and we feel the patient is getting worser than better. So we never gave her again. Homeopathic is like a tree that will continously give fruits once we finish the course. We are still reaping the fruits till date.
Dear Dr. Julian,
You are always welcome to write to me at [email protected] at your own convenience. It will be my pleasure to share with you the full story.
I am actually not very active on the above email id and have another email id in Gmail for my regular use. Still I shall check this mail regularly.
Dear Alan,
I was not ready to write because I know you will debunk everything. It is the Oncologist Surgeon who said it is work of God. I gave credit to homeopathy & allopathy and of course God who guided us to the right treatment for curing this dreaded disease.
If you know it will be debunked, does that not tell you something?
Alan,
What ever your want, you can say. It doesn’t matter to me.
Pamela
That’s very kind of you. But unnecessary.
Pamela, why did your god give the patient cancer in the first place?
Couldn’t he have saved a lot of time and effort and inconvenience but not giving the patient cancer at all? If he was going to cure him/her anyway? Or “guide” you to a cure?
It’s been years I’ve been asking this question of believers but have never, ever received an answer.
I have been raised up in a very religious family and I am a practicing Roman Catholic from Mumbai, India. In my country, most of the people are very religious. We always remember God when ever something miraculous happens.
Dear B Geir,
The allopathic drug that I speak of is a common drug which is available world wide. What brought me to this forum is I was looking out for a Homeopath who also believes in Allopathy to try this cure for cancer. I partially succeeded. I am a working woman and have no time writing mails to people. But still I felt if it can cure others how it cured my mother, I will feel very proud.
@Pamela
Listen carefully to what Julian says. He is absolutely right. Homeopathy is no good. It is a two century old mistake that has lived on as a kind off religion. There is no way it can work and this can be and has been proven.
Dr. Bjorn,
Okay, as you say.
Recently my friend was diagnosed from Breast Cancer and undergone Surgery and undergoing chemo cycles. She looked at me earnestly and said I know a lot about Ca (implying I know the cure) but I just had to say to continue the treatment, eat a healthy diet, have enough physical exercise and stop worrying. It is a very difficult situation but at home they scold me not to behave like a doctor. If anything goes wrong, I will be blamed, so just keep quiet.
Dr. Geir,
Since we’re both here, I’m hoping Prof. Ernst will allow this off-topic question to you. I followed, with great amusement, your conversation with one Peter Harris, a “naturopath” from Austraila, on Britt Hermes’s blog a few months ago. Your patience goes beyond what any words can express. I would have given up months and thousands of comments earlier. But one day all the comments disappeared and in fact there is no longer any provision to leave comments. Any idea what happened? Was is because of Harris’s endless nonsense?
I actually have no idea?
Perhaps it is due to advancing age, but I don’t even the dialogue you refer to.
Dear Dr. Julian Money-Kyrle,
I have sent a message to your Facebook account letting you know the allopathic drug which I call a miracle drug. I am also sending you a pic of the removed colon. Just share me your views as to what was the reason for the cure.
Dear Pamela,
I’m sorry, I haven’t received your message.
Julian
Sorry, I have found the message now and replied to it.
Dear Dr. Julian Money-Kyrle,
Just a clarification. The homeopathic treatment was in the year 1994 for Bronchial Asthma & Hypertension but the Homeopath had said that time that it would ensure good health throughout her life. However, cancer did come calling in 2006 but it was treated as mentioned to you in the Facebook messages. I think I have explained every thing and hereby thank you for your time and your views.
Dear Pamela,
Thank-you for the clarification. May I take this opportunity to wish all the best to you and your family, now and in the future.
Julian
I want to ask all Doctors dealing with conventional medicines (allopathy). My relative who suffers from Type 2 Diabetes was diagnosed almost 18 years back. First time the doctor gave medicines, the blood sugar level fell down to below normal. Then, after some months, it was not effective like the first time. Her sugar level continued to be above normal. Then she was put on insulin. Why is this drug resistance issue not resolved by the doctors ? If you can so easily criticize homeopathy, why Homeopaths cannot criticize conventional drugs ? Homeopathy addresses this problem. I found that if we take homeopathic medicines, then allopathic drugs become very effective and its potency remains optimal.
“why Homeopaths cannot criticize conventional drugs ?”
you can do that; who is stopping you?
however, this is off topic + this is not a forum where people can seek advice from doctors; I believe there are plenty of those out there. please go elsewhere for such advice.
Okay, I don’t fancy this site of blogging. I have spoken about the good things of homeopathic. What is wrong in it ? It does help to a great extent but not fully. With these word, I quit this site.
I have spoken about the good things of homeopathic. What is wrong in it ?
NOTHINGIf you can read, you will see that my criticism was about something else entirely.
Again I am going off-topic. Why don’t you put up your profile pic just like how I did ? And make it a rule for all on this site 🙂 🙂 Even, I agree that these Homeopath are searching for a cure for Cancer. They see little improvement in the patient and think that they will find the ultimate cure. But that never will happen. Homeopathy cannot cure big diseases like cancer, diabetes, hypertension. I feel like telling them to stop their research, it is all futile.
you should find a remedy for your verbal diarrhoea
Pamela said:
What slightest difference would that make? Do you think that somehow enhances the evidence or makes your unverified and unverifiable anecdote somehow more reliable?
” Why is this drug resistance issue not resolved by the doctors ”
It is the normal behaviour of type II diabetes to get worse with time, regardless of how it is treated. This is not a drug resistance problem.
It is also important to remember that drugs are only part of the treatment of type II diabetes. A suitable diet, weight loss and regular strenuous exercise are much more important.
I said it in a light way, just for fun.
Now, I am searching for someone, preferably a Homeopath who will verify it and make some conclusions as to how the colon cancer got cured. When I showed the strip of the Miracle Drug to the Oncologist Surgeon, he had a look at it but not knowing what it is as it does not relate to his field, he returned it back to me saying “Continue this medicine” All the Doctors are totally flummoxed as to how she got cured. The tumor was horrible to look at and it did not cause sepsis, such a miracle. I sent the photo to Dr. Julian Money-Kyrle to his Facebook Message Box.
there is absolutely no need to repeat the same story endlessly
Okay, I shall put an end. It is becoming repetitive. I am into correspondence elsewhere and hope I succeed. Wish me Best of Luck.
why?
why so jealous about Homoeopathy ? You are doing a crime by misleading ignorant people for which God will not forgive you.We have cured many cases of Cancer after operation chemotherapy radiotherapy failed.By dissuading people from trying Homoeopathy you want to make money by butchering cancer patients.You may one day suffer from cancer and see the miracle of Homoeopathy.
thank you for this comment.
allow mw to say that I find your stance revolting to the extreme.
have you ever heard about evidence or ethics or integrity?
@Dr.A.K.Patnaik
Quote: ”You are doing a crime by misleading ignorant people for which God will not forgive you.”
Two quick questions:
• Which god exactly (of the several thousands of gods dreamt up by humans) are you referring to?
• How come that you can read the mind of “your” god, can you teach me how to do it?
@ Dr. Panaikji :
Itna gussa kis baat ka Doctor Saheb ? (Why so much anger Doctor ?) Itna shrap mat do (do not curse)
And which cancer have you cured by homeopathy alone ? Homeopathy can never cure such big diseases like cancer, diabetes, hypertension etc. Do not fool people. I know a case where one Homeopath was treating the patient for Hypertension and the patient got a stroke because he did not take the conventional medicines. Homeopathy may help but not cure the disease.
Homeopathy may help THE FINANCES OF THE HOMEOPATH but not cure the disease.
@ Edzard – Good reply 🙂
To each his own way of thinking. Homeopathy may help THE FINANCES OF THOSE HOMEOPATHS WHO CLAIM THAT HOMEOPATHY CAN CURE CANCER !!!
@ Dr. Patnaik : Are you making a lot of money by claiming to cure cancer through homeopathy ?
@Edzard,
On a serious note, don’t you feel if these Homeopaths were offering WATER as medicine, the government of various countries would have cracked down on these Homeopaths for defrauding people. Homeopathy has some science involved in it. Our body is mainly made of water. And these Homeopaths say that water is carrying the properties of the plants, metals etc. of which homeopathy is made. Looks like there is some sense in it. It is not right to out rightly condemn Homeopathy.
Homeopaths say that water is carrying the properties of the plants, metals etc. of which homeopathy is made. Looks like there is some sense in it.
AS MUCH SENSE AS WHEN I CLAIM THE MOOD IS MADE OF CHEDDAR CHEESE!
@Edzard,
Then tell me Intelligence is an abstract thing and it is produced by our brain cells and brain cells are made of what ? Simple, it is water.
oh dear!
Hi,
I also don’t believe in homeopathy but a nobel price winner did some research (un related to his award) about water containing kind of memory in extreme dilutions. Point is how medical science understands power of immune system and so many things not understood objectively. Secondly why in UK, Germany, Holland etc its not doscouraged if its mere placebo thing.
@ Naeem,
Even I can’t understand how homeopathy works because, if you see, there is only water in the final product after all those dilutions. But during each succussion procedure, there must be some science involved. I, myself, was very very thin earlier but once I did a homeopathic course for some other problem and left the homeopathy, I immediately put on weight. And everyone said I have become fat and it made me so happy. But all homeopathic medicines adapt themselves to act in the same way. They arouse the innate vital energy in our body which leads to PARTIAL healing. And when they say they can cure Cancer, they are just fooling us. None of the homeopathic medicines can cure cancer and it is no use searching for different herbs, minerals for a cure for cancer. If Aconite cannot cure cancer, neither will Beladonna nor Chamomilla nor Arsenic Alb nor Anacardium nor any new thing will cure Cancer. So must tell them to put an end to the research. I always maintained that Homeopathy can cure 60% of the chronic disease but not 100% Co-incidentally our body content is 60% water. So it is water curing water 🙂 🙂 🙂
oh dear!
” I always maintained that Homeopathy can cure 60% of the chronic disease but not 100% Co-incidentally our body content is 60% water. So it is water curing water”
This sounds rather like the sort of thing I encountered when I was doing my psychiatry module at medical school, though I will give you the benefit of the doubt.
@Dr. Julian,
That way Ayurvedic medicines are better than homeopathy bcoz at least they give herbs as medicine rather than shaken water 🙂 🙂 But still people all over the world prefer homeopathy over ayurvedic medicines. I was really shocked when I got to know how homeopathy medicines are prepared but much more confused as to how this shaken water works as it did in my family. I tried to get the answer but nothing was convincing how homeopathy work.
Another anecdote. My mother had approached the same Homeopath who treated her for Asthma, for dissolving the cataract in the eyes. He prescribed some eye drops which we would have to place order with the Chemist who would get it from Germany. And she put these drops daily in her eyes for around 10 months in 1996. In 1997 she underwent cataract surgery for both her eyes and she regained such good sight that the Doctor was surprised how good sight she got. Till date, after 22 years, she is still not wearing any glasses. The IOL number is still the same. When such things happen, our trust in homeopathy cannot go.
But you don’t have any idea how her eyesight would have been if she hadn’t used the homeopathic drops. How can you conclude that the drops made any difference?
Dear Dr. Julian,
You seem to ridicule every person who have a different opinion from yours. Even a spelling mistake (doscouraged) is made fun of. Anyway, it was many Allopathic Doctors (around 5 different doctors) who were all perplexed by the recovery shown. Now if it was something usual, they should not have been so surprised. One doctor went to the extent of asking me to show the strip of tablet for Hypertension (Encardil) and I showed him that this is the medicine taken for Hypertension 🙂
@Pamela
Your story reminds me of the person who was critically injured in a car smash. She was fortunate enough to have excellent treatment from a medical team who, over many months, restored her broken body pretty much back to full health. She was a devout christian. When she returned home she told her friends her recovery was “a miracle from god”.
“You seem to ridicule every person who have a different opinion from yours.”
It is not ridicule, it is discourse, and I am not giving opinions, I am drawing attention to inconsistencies, contradictions and logical flaws, and particularly to the fallacy of blindly accepting an explanation while ignoring alternatives. What seems plausible is not necessarily true. I am also stating some established facts, and trying to fit in a bit of teaching when people post about subjects about which they know very little. Ridicule is not an effective way of making a point.
“Even a spelling mistake (doscouraged) is made fun of”
Was HAS upset by what I said, or have you taken it upon yourself to be outraged on his behalf? I suppose I was a bit rude there, but I couldn’t resist the pun arising from the mistake. To quote you: “I said it in a light way, just for fun.”
In any case I am much harder on people that ought to know better, such as other doctors and scientists. For that matter, if you ever listen to scientists discussing anything with each other, any tiny mistake or ambiguity is highlighted and shot down. Everything has to be rigorously justified. Opinions count for nothing at all.
“Anyway, it was many Allopathic Doctors (around 5 different doctors) who were all perplexed by the recovery shown”
Were they specialists with experience of treating colorectal cancer, training in statistics and an awareness of the survival data? Doctors are often surprised by what they encounter outside their own area of specialisation. I have already explained that such a recovery is not particularly rare, but I am an oncologist and I am familiar with the wide range of behaviours that cancer can show.
Dear Dr. Julian,
Each have their own unshaken opinions 🙂 I am on to treat a patient suffering from Breast Ca and is undergoing Chemo. I advised her to undergo a six months homeopathic course from any good doctor. Then if the Ca still shows sign of presence, I will advise her the drug and tell her its at her own risk. I will explain the mechanism of action from what I understand. For this I am taking opinion about dosage from my relative who is a Mechanical Engineer and knows a lot of science. He says in small dose there is no much side effects. Wish me all the best.
You are of course entitled to your own opinions. You are not entitled to your own facts, though.
“For this I am taking opinion about dosage from my relative who is a Mechanical Engineer and knows a lot of science”
And presumably when your car goes wrong you’ll be taking it to your friend who’s a molecular biologist?
@ Dr. Julian,
She is already undergoing treatment which I have not stopped her. I only advised homeopathy. Now if still the disease is rearing its head, and she keeps persisting with me to disclose the name of the drug, I will have a discussion at home and decide. If nothing seems to work, then I feel obliged to help a person or else she may not live. That will be a sad thing.
Another Anecdote : A lady was taking insulin shots for diabetes and she once developed inflammation of stomach. So her doctor gave her that miracle drug. Inspite of taking the drug and insulin shots, her blood sugar was very high. Then I told her husband to try out homeopathy and he went to Dr. Wadia (famous homeopath in Mumbai) and got the homeopathic medicines. Her blood sugar level has come under control and all other parameters (kidney, heart functioning, creatinine) is within normal limits.
” I am on to treat a patient suffering from Breast Ca ”
“I am taking opinion about dosage from my relative who is a Mechanical Engineer ”
Have you considered whether you can treat breast cancer safely? You appear to have no training or expertise in this area, and little knowledge of cancer or indeed how the body works. Have you any idea of the ways in which you could cause harm? Have you indeed given any thought to the possible consequences?
Are you equally happy to have a go in other areas, without even seeking specialist advice? Fixing cars, gas leaks, wiring, flying a helicopter, making fireworks, defusing bombs? Are you completely reckless?
@ Lenny,
We have a lot of self medication going on here and no strictness regarding getting medicines OTC. Any what I said is only if nothing works out for her, then only. And before becoming a Mechanical Engineer, they have to study Physics, Chemistry, Biology.
“And before becoming a Mechanical Engineer, they have to study Physics, Chemistry, Biology.”
These subjects would also qualify him to study medicine, but not to give medical advice.
” If nothing seems to work, then I feel obliged to help a person or else she may not live.”
You have a remarkable belief in your ability to do good rather than harm in this situation.
One thing that I have learnt in 30 years of practice as a doctor is when to leave well alone.
@ Dr. Julian,
Okay, I am keeping my hands off and will not try anything. I leave everything to her fate and in the hands of God. I am not a doctor and that is why I was looking out for a good Homeopath to discuss the subject and come to conclusions. Now I think we put an end to this discourse as my office work is suffering due to continous blogging.
1. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nobel_disease
2. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Religion
” a nobel price winner did some research (un related to his award) about water containing kind of memory in extreme dilutions”
Unfortunately once they leave their area of specialist expertise, scientists are no more reliable than anybody else. However, it is a human characteristic to believe the fallacy that if somebody is exceptional in one area we tend to expect them to be exceptional in others. This is why Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel (he was wise enough to decline), and indeed how a lot of politicians are elected.
“Point is how medical science understands power of immune system and so many things not understood objectively.”
I don’t understand this sentence at all.
“Secondly why in UK, Germany, Holland etc its not doscouraged if its mere placebo thing.”
This is entirely due to the influence of lobbying and nothing to do with evidence. Again like many political decisions.
“doscouraged”
This must be another word for homeopathic potentiation…
@ Edzard : Then as Naeem says why these Homeopaths who are selling distilled water as medicine at such a high price should not be put behind bars ? At least in India, we can expect such Dhongi Babas to defraud the people, but why Developed Nations’ Govt. are not booking these crooks ? I have experience that it works, so my faith will not go.
we need evidence not your experience!
@ Frank Odds,
Hope your Gussa has subsided now 🙂 In the medical team that you mentioned, there was a good Homeopath too. 🙂
I have personally experienced healing by homeopathic medicines since my childhood. While I was 2 years old, I had serious adenoid problems and it had reached to a situation where I was admitted in a hospital for an operation, after which my mum who was a medical practitioner herself decided to take me off from there. I was further on treatment for adenoids, snoring, foaming from mouth etc., within homeopathy for the next 2 years. I am 37 today and I never a further problem in that regard, never ever had snoring problems, no adenoids, no regular infections etc.
My son is 11 years old and he has been suffering from immense amount sinusitis, allergies and he also has a nasal polyp that will soon require an operation. He would often have infections and go on antibiotics almost every single month. He had to use a nebuliser twice every single day to keep him away from sinus problems. Last Sept-2018, I decided to put him on Homeopathic treatment and by God’s grace he never had to go back to antibiotics nor had another infection. His medication is still on, however his condition is much better. I look forward to see a complete cure in his condition.
My sister married for the last 10 years, had severe gync problems with PID, she had undergone 4-5 years of allopathic medications, however nothing worked. 3 years ago, she decided to go with Homeopathic medications and she was cured in a period of 2 years. Today she leads a happy life.
One of my known family memeber was told for amputation of his right leg after severe complications with diabetes. He was then admitted to a Homeo Medical Hospital for treatment for the next six months and he never had to go through amputation. His diabetes was under control and further cured.
Now my own condition again-
1. I was suffering from chronic superficial yeast infection for the last 4 years and have been to several gync, been on different medications, steroids etc. Never found a permanent cure!
2. I had endometriosis and 2 cysts on my right ovary with 4 cms and 2.5 cms in dia respectively. Immediately was told by the gync to go on hormone treatment for 3 months and further to do a laproscopic surgery.
3. I was also diagnosed by abnormal HPV+ve condition and my biopsy showing high risk.
* I decided to stop all allopathic medications for fungal, it was difficult though as it had already become resistant with continuous usage.
* I decided not to go on any hormone medicines for my endometriotic cyst.
* I decided not to do excision for my cervical abnormal cells.
For all 3 conditions, I began to pursue homeopathy medicines, there is a huge amount of change that I have experienced. My infection is under control, my cyst have begun to shrink, and my HPV abnormality has moved from HSIL to LSIL and I am sure it will also be cured.
The first thing you need to know is to believe in the medication, second be spiritually prepared, completely stop any alternative medicines and the most important is follow the diet regulations advised by homeopathy. As one of you said here, Homeopathy treats the whole body in itself and the symptoms, not the disease in itself. I did submit the allopathy diagnosis and findings to the Homeo clinic, but they never wanted it. They did a whole history of my living, by body, my personal character, my food habits, my daily routines, my negative and positive thoughts, in fact they also tried to understand my inner consciousness and then began the treatment. I believe that kind of treatment of your inner wellbeing is the best treatment you can really have and that will cure your disease. Homeopathy is a very long medication, requires a lot of patience and dedication to practice it. If you have that kind of will power, homeopathy will work and this is my testimony.
TESTIMONIALS ARE NOT EVIDENCE!
https://edzardernst.com/2012/11/what-is-and-what-isnt-clinical-evidence-and-why-is-the-distinction-important/
RS John,
I have heard children getting cured by homeopathy because may be their immunity system is better than an older person who has a weak immunity system due to years of wear and tear.
When you say completely stop any alternative medicines, you are suggesting something very dangerous. I know of a person who was suffering from Hypertension and taking homeopathic medicine. His Homeopath told to stop the conventional medicine and after some days he suffered a stroke.
RSJohn,
Not very much of your account makes a great deal of sense. Adenoidectomy isn’t really a treatment for snoring or indeed practised much now at all, though it used to be part of a routine tonsillectomy and was also done for glue ear. In adulthood the adenoids more-or-less disappear, and as the face grows the childhood problems associated with a small nasopharynx resolve.
Nebulisers are not used for sinus problems but are a way of getting medication into the lungs.
I do not believe that the damage and complications from long-term diabetes can disappear, though unless your family member had gangrene the acute problem in his foot/leg may well have had a chance to resolve spontaneously with conservative treatment.
If you had a yeast infection I don’t know why you were prescribed steroids, which would be expected to make it worse.
Obviously good diet and taking care of yourself are areas where everybody should pay attention.
However, what worries me is the HSIL. Of course you haven’t given very many details so I don’t know whether this was diagnosed on the basis of a cervical biopsy or just a smear. If it was a smear then the apparent improvement may just be a sampling error (if you look for something and find it then you know it is there; if you look again and don’t find it you can’t say it isn’t there, only that you haven’t seen it this time around). This is important as it is a pre-cancerous condition and warrants proper investigation and (if necessary) treatment to prevent it progressing. Routine smears have halved the number of deaths from cervical cancer in the UK (I don’t know where you are) but they can’t achieve anything unless the results are acted upon.
PID can make you miserable and also infertile. Fungal infections are unpleasant and so is endometriosis. However, the symptoms of all of these can come and go and none of them will kill you. HSIL is in a different category altogether and you need to take it seriously and see your gynaecologist.
Hello Frank,
Thank you for sharing your Good News !!!!
Sure glad that YOU SURVIVED FOR 40 YEARS !!!!!!
That is ENOUGH to tell me…..your homeopathic treatment was A GREAT SUCCESS.
LIVE WELL, my friend !!!!!!