homeopathy
By guest blogger Norbert Aust
The Germany based Informationsnetzwerk Homöopathie (“Information network Homeopathy”, INH) is a group of critics of homeopathy, with doctors, pharmacists, and other scientists as members.
Among other activities we are running a few websites to provide sound information not so much to the academic but to the more layman public and patients on what homeopathy really is all about. This should counterbalance the very positive impressions created by promotion and marketing activities of providers of homeopathic services, that is, manufacturers, pharmacies and practitioners. We want to offer some reliable source of information which otherwise is seldom to be found in Germany. And we want to strip homeopathy of its reputation of being an effective therapy – and of course have it banned from pharmacies, universities and public health insurance. But this is another issue.
More than once we were asked if our pages were available in English – and now we are happy to announce that we started to transcribe some of our content. We – that is Udo Endruscheit, Sven Rudloff and myself – are working on that project one piece at a time. We started with a series of quite new articles originally published in German about the FAQs that can be found on the website of the Homeopathic Research Institute (HRI). We feel, this might be of interest for some of the English readers too. As these FAQs are available in more than just English or German, HRI seems to try to set some standard of arguments to rebuke their critics and provide arguments in favour of homeopathy – with some doubtful, some very doubtful and many outright wrong points. (BTW: If someone feels inclined to translate our English (or German) versions to yet another language, please proceed. Just give us credit and let us have some link to the site where you publish the translation.)
You may find our articles on two of our sites, namely the INH-website for just reading and my blog, where you can comment and discuss them. In the future, my blog will contain a more in depth analysis and the INH-website will provide a more easy to read version – but this is to be in the future.
Here are the links:
HRI FAQ #1: There is no evidence my blog; INH-Website.
HRI FAQ #2: No good positive trials my blog; INH-Website.
HRI FAQ #3: It’s impossible my blog; INH-Website.
In future, all my English articles will be found here but right now there are only the three listed above.
This of course is work in process and sooner – or more probable later – all our articles that we feel may find interest with a more international public will be translated into English. However, if any of you readers would want to have a special article of ours translated at once, please feel free to contact me by commenting on my blog or by email (dr.norbert.aust(at)t(minus)online(dot)de – just drop the dots before the (at) and replace what is in brackets with the proper signs).
The Royal London Homeopathic Hospital, recently re-named as the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine (RLHIM), has been one of the most influential homeopathic hospitals in the world. It was founded in 1849 by Dr Frederick Foster Hervey Quin. In 1895, a new and larger hospital was opened on its present site in Great Ormond Street. Many famous homeopaths have worked there, including Robert Ellis Dudgeon, John Henry Clarke, James Compton Burnett, Edward Bach, Charles E Wheeler, James Kenyon, Margaret Tyler, Douglas Borland, Sir John Weir, Donald Foubister, Margery Blackie and Ralph Twentyman. In 1920, the hospital received Royal Patronage from the Duke of York, later King George VI, who also became its president in 1924, and in 1936, the Hospital was honoured by the Patronage of His Majesty the King gaining its ‘Royal’ prefix in 1947. Today, Queen Elizabeth II is the Hospital’s Patron.
On 18 June 1972, 16 of the hospital’s doctors and colleagues on board were killed in a plane crash. During the following years, several reductions in size and income took place. From 2002 to 2005, the hospital underwent a £20m redevelopment and, in 2010, its name was changed to Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine.
The hospital just published a new brochure for patients. It contains interesting information and therefore, I will quote directly from this document.
START OF QUOTES
The Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine (RLHIM) is part of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and accepts all NHS referrals. GP referrals are by letter or via Choose and Book. Patients can also be referred by their NHS hospital consultant.
NHS Choices provides information and an opportunity to provide feedback about our service at www.nhs.uk
….
The General Medicine Service is led by three consultant physicians. The team also includes other doctors and nurses, a dietitian, a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist and a psychotherapist. The service sees patients with chronic and complex conditions. The team is trained in many areas of complementary medicine. These are used alongside orthodox treatment, allowing them to offer a fully integrated General Medicine service. The General Medicine Service offers a full range of diagnostic tests as well as a variety of treatments and advice on orthodox treatment.
From 3rd April 2018, The Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine (RLHIM) will no longer be providing NHS-funded homeopathic remedies for any patients as part of their routine care. This is in line with the funding policy of Camden Clinical Commissioning Groups, the local NHS body that plans and pays for healthcare services in this area.
Should you choose you will be able to purchase these medicines from the RLHIM pharmacy, while other homeopathic pharmacies may also be able to supply the medicines. You can speak to your clinician or the RLHIM pharmacy at your next visit about this…
Conditions commonly seen include:
- Recurrent infections, such as colds, sore throats, cystitis, thrush, chest infections and bacterial infections
- Some persistent symptoms where tests have not revealed a serious underlying disorder
- Asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Digestive disorders, for example acid reflux, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease
- Endocrine (glandular) disorders such as under-active thyroid
- Type II diabetes
- Some types of heart disease, high blood pressure and palpitations (requiring no orthodox treatment)
- Chronic headache such as migraine or tension-type headache
- Side effects of prescribed medications
END OF QUOTES
Clearly, the big news here is that the RLHIM has been forced to stop providing NHS-funded homeopathics. This could be indicative of what might soon happen throughout NHS England.
But there are other items that I find remarkable: “The General Medicine Service offers a full range of diagnostic tests as well as a variety of treatments and advice on orthodox treatment.” Call me a nit-picker, but this is not INTEGRATED! Integrated medicine means employing both alternative as well as conventional therapies in parallel. The best of BOTH worlds and all that…
In the same vein is the statement that they treat “some types of heart disease, high blood pressure and palpitations (requiring no orthodox treatment)” I am sorry, but this again is not INTEGRATED MEDICINE! I ask myself, is it ethical to mislead patients, colleagues, NHS officials and everyone else pretending to deliver ‘integrated medicine’, while in fact all they seem to offer is ‘alternative medicine’?
The RLHIM has recently dropped the term HOMEOPATHY from its name. Soon it might have to also abandon the term INTEGRATED, because it does not seem to be able to provide a safe level of conventional medicine.
How shall we then call it?
Suggestions please!
The authors of this review aimed to present an overview of the literature on physicochemical research performed on homeopathic preparations with respect to publication quality and methods used. They searched major scientific databases to find relevant publications from its origin to the end of 2015. Publications were assessed using a scoring scheme, the Manuscript Information Score (MIS). Information regarding country of origin of the research and experimental techniques used was extracted.
The authors identified 183 publications. The rate of publication in the field was 2 per year from the 1970s until 2000. Afterward, it increased to over 5.5 publications per year. The quality of publications was seen to increase sharply from 2000 onward: before 2000, only 12 (13%) publications were rated as ‘‘high quality’’ (MIS ‡7.5); 44 (48%) publications were rated as ‘‘high quality’’ after 2000.
Countries with most publications were Germany (n=42, 23%), France (n=29, 16%), India (n=27, 15%), and Italy (n=26, 14%). Techniques most frequently used were electrical impedance (26%), analytical methods (20%), spectroscopy (20%), and nuclear magnetic resonance (19%).
The authors concluded that physicochemical research into homeopathic preparations is increasing both in terms of quantity and quality of the publications.
They also announce that there will be a further paper on the subject: In part 2, we aim to identify the most interesting experimental techniques. With this, we aim to be in a position to generate meaningful hypotheses regarding a possible mode of action of homeopathic preparations.
It might be relevant to ask who the authors are and where they come from. They are Klein SD, Würtenberger S, Wolf U, Baumgartner S, and Tournier A. And their affiliations are:
- Institute of Complementary Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland.
- Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, Hevert-Arzneimittel GmbH & Co. KG, Germany.
- Society for Cancer Research, Arlesheim, Switzerland.
- Institute of Integrative Medicine, University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany.
- Homeopathy Research Institute (HRI), London, United Kingdom.
In other words, they are without exception proponents of homeopathy, some burdened with considerable conflicts of interest in the subject. Personally, I think it unlikely that anything meaningful will ever come of this research. But unsurprisingly, the enthusiasts beg to differ: on facebook, the HRI claimed that this new systematic review is a major step towards developing clear and testable hypotheses regarding the mode of action of homeopathy.
In a previous blog-post I have tried to explain my reservations in some detail; please allow me to repeat them here:
… homeopaths have been keen to find more rational support for their theories. Thus they have developed several ‘sciency’ concepts to explain the mode of action of their highly diluted homeopathic remedies. For instance they postulated that water can form secondary structures that hold some information of the original substance (stock), even if it has long been diluted out of the remedy. Alternatively, they claimed that the shaking of the remedy generates nano-particles or silicone-particles which, in turn, are the cause of the clinical effects.
Today, I want to assume for a minute, that one of these theories is correct – they cannot all be right, of course. Homeopaths regularly show us investigations that seem to support them, even though it only needs a real expert in the particular field of science to cast serious doubt on them. I will nevertheless assume that, after potentisation, the diluent retains information via nano-particles or some other phenomenon. For the purpose of this mind-experiment, I grant homeopaths that, in this respect, they are correct. In other words, let’s for a moment assume that the ‘memory of water’ theory is correct.
As I have been more than generous, I want homeopaths to return the favour and consider what this would really mean: information has been transferred from the stock to the diluent. Does that prove anything? Does it show that homeopathy is valid?
Could the homeopaths who make this assumption be equally generous and answer the following questions, please?
- How does a nano-particle of coffee, for instance, affect the sleep centre in the brain to make the patient sleep? Or how does a nano-particle of the Berlin Wall or a duck liver affect anything at all in the human body? The claim that information has been retained by the diluent is no where near to an explanation of a rational mode of action, isn’t it?
- Most homeopathic remedies are consumed not as liquids but as ‘globuli’, i. e. tiny little pills made of lactose. They are prepared by dropping the liquid remedy on to them. The liquid subsequently evaporates. How is it that the information retained in the liquid does not evaporate with the diluent?
- The diluent usually is a water-alcohol mixture which inevitably contains impurities. In fact, a liquid C12 remedy most certainly contains dimensions more impurities than stock. These impurities have, of course, also been vigorously shaken, i. e. potentised. How can we explain that their ‘potency’ has not been beefed up at each dilution step? Would this not necessitate a process where only some molecules in the diluent are agitated, while all the rest remain absolutely still? How can we explain this fantastic concept?
- Some stock used in homeopathy is insoluble (for instance Berlin Wall). Such stock is not diluted but its concentration in the remedy is initially lowered by a process called ‘trituration’, a process which consists in grinding the source material in another solid material, usually lactose. I have granted you that potentisation works in the way you think. But how is information transferred from one solid material to another?
- Everything we drink is based on water containing molecules that have been inadvertently potentised in nature a million times and therefore should have hugely powerful effects on our bodies. How is it that we experience none of these effects each time we drink?
Now, homeopaths, let me propose a deal.
If you can answer these questions satisfactorily, I will no longer doubt your memory of water theory. If you cannot do this, I think you ought to admit that all your ‘sciency’ theories about the mode of action of highly diluted homeopathic remedies are really quite silly – more silly even than Hahnemann’s idea of a ‘spirit-like’ effect.
HELLO HOMEOPATHS OF THIS WORLD…
SO FAR NOBODY HAS TAKEN UP MY OFFER.
BUT IT STILL STANDS!
HOW ABOUT IT?
You might remember: I have been badly misquoted in an article in THE DAILY TELEGRAPH. Based on a newly published scientific paper, the Telegraph article was about herbal medicines and their potential to interact with synthetic drugs. Towards its end, it cited me stating this:
Emeritus Professor Edzard Ernst, Britain’s first professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University said that doctors should make it clear to patients that they could not be taking herbal remedies alongside drugs.
Prof Ernst said there was no good evidence that they work and that doctors were ‘contributing to disinformation’ by turning a blind eye to the practice.
Not only did this not make any sense (I felt, it made me look like an idiot), but crucially I had never stated this nor had I even commented to a Telegraph journalist about this scientific paper. This was (27/1) when I wrote my blog-post about it.
Several friends persuaded me to file an official complaint – which I somewhat reluctantly did. Subsequently, I received an email from the paper’s ‘editorial compliance executive’ asking me to supply more details about my grievances. I complied with the request by pointing out that:
The following things are wrong with this passage:
1) I never said this.
2) I have not even been interviewed by your journalist and do not know where this quote is supposed to come from.
3) As far as I am aware, I also never stated anything like this anywhere else.
4) It is not and never has been my view that there is no good evidence that herbal remedies can never be combined with drugs.
5) It is not and never has been my opinion that there is no good evidence to suggest that herbal remedies work.
6) It is not and never has been my view that doctors were contributing to disinformation by turning a blind eye to the use of herbal remedies.
The response came swiftly:
The quoted words were recorded at a briefing at the SMC to launch your new book, More Harm than Good? The Moral Maze of Complementary and Alternative Medicine on 17th January 2018.
We are aware that you have had correspondence with our Science Editor, Sarah Knapton who has since amended the online article to make this clear.
We do however accept that one sentence was mistakenly attributed to you. We have therefore amended the online article and added a footnote to explain what has been updated.
This was most bizarre, I thought, because I did NOT have a correspondence with Sarah Knapton, the author of the Telegraph article. On the plus-side, the Telegraph had indeed changed the passage in question; it now read (and did so until yesterday):
Emeritus Professor Edzard Ernst, Britain’s first professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University said there was a ‘potential for harm’.
“It’s a lazy way out of the problem,” he said at a briefing to launch his new book More Harm than Good? The Moral Maze of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. “In medicine you give treatment for a reason and if there is no reason for the homeopathic remedy why should you support it for the placebo treatment.
“As a good doctor you should be able to transmit a placebo effect any case. I just don’t see a reason, I see the potential for harm.”
The research was published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
CORRECTION: This article originally stated that Professor Edzard Ernst said there was no good evidence that herbal remedies work and that doctors were ‘contributing to disinformation’ by turning a blind eye to their usage. In fact, this was not said by Professor Ernst. The article has been amended.
I felt that this was a correction of one mistake by another mistake and pointed out that the briefing had been about homeopathy and NOT about herbal medicine or herb/drug interactions. Therefore I replied to the ‘editorial compliance executive’ insisting on further corrections and pointing out that such an utterly nonsensical comment might harm my reputation as an expert. I also posted a comment under the Telegraph article explainig that homeopathy is not herbal medicine.
Sadly, nothing happened.
So, a few days later, I sent a reminder to the ‘editorial compliance executive’.
And again nothing happened.
… until yesterday.
I had almost given up and was contemplating what to do next, when I received an email. It was not from the ‘editorial compliance executive’, but from THE TELEGRAPH’s ‘Head of Editorial Compliance’. He wrote that he had listened to the tapes of the original briefing and realised that my comments were indeed made in a different context. Therefore, they had now erased all of the nonsensical stuff and replaced it with this text:
CORRECTION: This article originally stated that Professor Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University, had said there was ‘potential for harm’ in herbal remedies and that doctors were ‘contributing to disinformation’ by turning a blind eye to this. These comments did not in fact relate to interactions between herbal remedies and prescribed medication, and they have been removed. We apologise to the Professor for the error.
I am pleased!
And I gratefully accept the apology.
This might be a long, convoluted and somewhat boring story, but I think it has at least two important elements to it:
- It may seem petty to complain, and complain, and send reminders when the complaint seems to be getting ignored (I certainly did not feel sure that I was doing the right thing). But occasionally, it is worth the effort – not because of the personal satisfaction (nice but not essential), but because the truth has a high value which should be respected.
- Wondering how all this mess came about, I am asking myself: Does the author of the Telegraph article perhaps genuinely not know the difference between herbal and homeopathic remedies? Obviously, I don’t know the answer to this question, but it would explain the mess she got herself (and me) into. And it would also suggest that it might be necessary to educate journalists about alternative medicine in general and homeopathy in particular (In case there is any interest, I offer to give a few informative lectures with opportunities to ask questions to London-based health writers and science journalists).
Virologists have discovered the very virus that is threatening the survival of the UK. It is a Coxsackie virus, to be precise, a mutation of the one responsible for HAND FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE. In contrast to the Coxsackie A 16, the new ‘Coxsackie Brexit Strong’ (‘Coxsackie BS’ for short) seems to attack mostly adult Brits. By no means everybody is affected, and the scientists have already identified important risk factors:
- being English,
- being a nationalist,
- white colour,
- male gender,
- age 60 and older,
- low intelligence,
- affluence,
- cronyism,
- aversion to Frogs,
- dislike of Huns,
- unusual dress-sense,
- propensity of fill own pockets,
- urge to invest in tax-heavens.
The infected individuals display a wide range of symptoms, including the compulsory repetition of slogans such as:
- Brexit is Brexit!
- We want our country back!!
- The will of the people!!!
- Get over it!!!!
- Strong and stable!!!!!
- The treasury are fiddling the figures!!!!!!
The disease is dangerously progressive, and its victims show increasing breakdown of reason, critical thinking, insight into facts, common sense, understanding of economics, ability to consider the views of experts, as well as further cognitive functions. Other significant symptoms, particularly of the later stages of the condition, is the urge to become the laughing-stock of other nations, galloping jingoism, and depicting uninfected individuals as ‘Remoaners’.
The danger for the UK arises from the fact that victims are eager to take over high places, for instance in politics. As the disease progresses, they become more and more ruthless in pursuing their aim to ‘MAKE BRITAIN GERAT AGAIN’. They tend to make false promises, lie in Parliament, avoid questions, withhold information, engage in intrigues, attempt to turn the BBC into a propaganda machine in the style of Josef Goebbels etc. … and, when confronted with the truth, shrug it off with an imbecilic smile.
The virus, it is assumed, affects the brain’s newly discovered ‘honesty-centre’ and turns it into a malignant ‘xenophobia centre’. The victim feels no pain; instead (s)he is taken over by an ever-increasing sense of righteousness and an urge to behave like a ‘little Englander’. In some badly affected individuals, this phenomenon shows itself in a bizarre dress-sense (e. g. ‘Victorian undertaker’).
Several concerned scientists have issues a nation-wide alert stating: ‘This is a national emergency! If the virus remains unchecked, the UK will go straight back into the Dark Ages.’
Virologists are currently working tirelessly trying to find a cure; experts say that it will take months to make meaningful progress. “We are working flat out, but our immunisation might come too late – not least because, due to insufficient funding, we have to work on a shoestring”, said one desperate scientist.
By contrast, enthusiasts from the alternative medicine scene claim to have found the solution: homeopathy!
Researchers at ‘British Science in Homeopathy’ (or ‘BS Homeopathy’) have re-analysed Hahnemann’s Organon in full detail and extrapolated that, based on the guru’s words, they can produce an effective remedy in a timely fashion. In fact, they already have exposed distilled water to the sound of recorded speeches by Hitler, Mussolini, the KKK and Trump. According to homeopathy’s ‘dislike cures dislikes’ principle, this procedure generates a novel ‘mother tincture’, fittingly called ‘Brexit Solution’, or BS for short.
Currently, the homeopaths are potentising this remedy and are organising its large-scale production. However, a fly has been discovered in the homeopathic ointment: a heated debate has erupted amongst these experts whether to employ ‘BS C30’ or ‘BS C200’ for the planned nation-wide emergency immunisation programme. Proponents of the ‘BS C200’ solution insist that such a dramatically high potency is needed in our present acute emergency, while members of the ‘C30 camp’ caution that it might cause a severe homeopathic aggravation which would lead to an outbreak of open hostilities in Europe. “After 70 years of peace, it would be foolish to risk it”, one senior homeopath has been quoted saying.
I have recently moved to Cambridge. Once I had unpacked my boxes etc., I decided to have a look at what Cambridge offers in terms of homeopathy. My hope was that, being a town dominated by higher education and top science, Cambridge would be free (or almost free) of quackery.
This hope was sadly disappointed. The first website I came across was this one:
Homeopathy can be used to treat a wide range of complaints…
- mental and emotional states (eg OCD, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, irritability, etc)
- respiratory tract disorders (eg asthma, bronchitis, laryngitis, rhinitis, sinusitis, hayfever, etc)
- digestive problems (eg IBS, IBD, heartburn, colic, constipation, candidiasis, etc)
- skin conditions (eg eczema, psoriasis, acne, warts, molluscum, urticaria, herpes etc)
- musculo-skeletal complaints (eg rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, etc)
- hormonal problems (eg thyroid disorders, menstrual and menopausal complaints, etc)
- male and female reproductive issues (eg PCOS, infertility, endometriosis, fibroids, etc)
- sex related issues (eg physical and psychological issues, diminished libido, etc)
- complaints of pregnancy (eg nausea, fatigue, emotional upset, etc)
- complaints of babies and children (including behavioural issues)
- acute and/or recurring illnesses (eg ear infections, tonsillitis, cystitis, childhood diseases, etc)
- disorders affecting the immune system (eg autoimmune disorders, allergies, etc)
- side effects of conventional drugs (eg nausea of chemotherapy, skin burns of radiotherapy, etc)
- and many more (eg ME, chronic fatigue, glandular fever, migraines, headaches, insomnia, etc)…
You would be forgiven for finding this list worrying – I certainly do. But there was an assurance:
Each homeopath at the Centre holds a Licentiate qualification from a respected homeopathic college and has many years experience. All are registered with at least one professional body, whose code of ethics and conduct they adhere to.
It seems that the code of ethics of these professional bodies has nothing against making bogus therapeutic claims.
Cambridge also offers training and education in homeopathy – even homeopathic first aid courses for lay people:
Courses typically cover the following topics:
- The principles of homeopathic first aid
- How to choose the right remedy
- Understanding homeopathic potency
- How to treat conditions such as colds, flu, fever
- How to treat conditions such as insect bites, bee and wasp stings
- How to treat food poisoning and other digestive ailments, acute tendon inflammations caused by overuse of parts of the body (tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, ‘keyboard’ wrist) and exam nerves…
Whether you are looking after yourself or looking after your family, knowledge of homeopathic first aid equips you with safe, simple and proven treatments for many common ailments and conditions…
The course fee is £90 and includes a booklet and refreshments. Fees are payable in two instalments.
A choice of homeopathic first aid kits is available on the course…
And there is more!
Take this website, for instance:
The healing process using clinical homeopathy, shortly explained
The homeopathic case-taking will assess a patient in respect to the position of the symptoms and vitality on the two charts above.
When faced with disease and symptoms, the body does not heal in a haphazard, accidental way, but according to a deep biological intelligence. A true healing process will mirror the body’s own healing strategies. It will not be about a specific herb or remedy but about understanding and helping the way our mind and body heal themselves.
The healing process can broadly be divided into five stages. For some cases, the focus is only needed in one or two stages, but in others, the healing process will require all five. Depending on the individual and the situation, each stage will be best done one-by-one but sometimes several stages can be achieved simultaneously.
1. Symptom Relief
What drives most patients to a health practitioner is relief from some kind of pain, discomfort or lack of freedom on a physical or psychological level. All systems of medicine are involved with alleviating these symptoms. While, this is the primary focus of conventional medicine, holistic treatment such as homeopathy will also seek to unravel deeper causes and promote lasting changes in your level of health.
2. Revitalisation
As the body has devoted parts of its energy to eliminate an illness, there is usually a loss in vitality and internal resources suffered by the individual. In order to have an effective response, it is important to ensure that the body has the right nutrients and resources to promote health. This is often overlooked by conventional medicine and also many holistic practitioners. Providing nutrients and support to a sick body will help with the recovery.
3. Detoxification
Very often, the body cannot function properly if there are high levels of damaging toxins or free radicals within the lymphatic system or at a tissue or cellular level. Toxins are often found at an area where disease occurs or has occurred. Toxins can be external (virus, metals, chemicals) or internal accumulations of the body’s own by-products. These wastes slowly and inexorably weaken the organism on all levels, generating both chronic disease states and acute illness. Clearing debris from cells, tissues and organs relieves the body of a tremendous burden and allow the body to work as it should…
But the proverbial biscuit is taken by another Cambridge institution, The Quantum Medicine of our Time:
LOOKING-GLASS MEDICINE is pioneering work in Homeopathy energy healing, and particularly in medicine. It possesses the capacity to heal the mental, emotional, and physical illnesses (refer to Case Studies under the title “Publication”). This energy form of medicine culminated a synthesis of the healing laws and principles of Homeopathy and Jungian psychology of the archetypes, and of which also incorporates the human energy system (the chakras) in both theories and practice. Counselling is an integral part of this healing process for one to achieve deep healing.
My working and researching, over the years, in how individuals whose life/psyche impacted severely by trauma can be healed has given rise to Looking-Glass Medicine’s sound theoretical foundation in terms of congruence and consistency in its healing system and healing outcome. It is this unique three-dimensional energy healing system’s capacity to heal from the personal unconscious that these patients’ healing outcome is INNER TRANSFORMATION that shifts their negative/harmful behaviour patterns into life affirming ones. Particularly, many of them were severely traumatised…
Einstein says, “The field is the sole governing agency of the particle.” Particle is matter, which is determined ultimately by the field as in how things manifest. Our body in disease and health is influenced and impacted by the individual energy field, the vibratory frequencies, in our evolution of consciousness…
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There would be much more but, at this point, I stopped my searches and asked myself, HOW IS IT THAT A MAJOR CENTRE OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE IS ALSO HOME TO SOME OF THE WORST QUACKERY?
Is it that excellence in science always attracts an excess in pseudo-science?
I am not sure.
Perhaps there is a much simpler explanation: Cambridge is a fairly wealthy town, and quackery always thrives where there is money to be earned with it.
PS
I will soon give a talk in Cambridge about homeopathy. If you are a Cambridge homeopath, please reserve the date. This could be fun!
An article in the medical magazine ‘GP’ caught my eye. In it, a GP from Southampton argues that it is counter-productive for the NHS to ban ineffective treatments. Here are a few excerpts (my comments are inserted in brackets and are in bold print):
START OF QUOTES
NHS England’s recent decision requiring GPs stop prescribing a list of 18 medicines will reinforce the fears of many doctors that healthcare rationing is being introduced by the back door (all finite NHS resources need to be and always have been rationed). I would also argue that it is an illogical and ill-informed decision that will not achieve the professed aim of saving NHS resources (perhaps the decision is not purely based on the need to save money but also on a matter of principle and an attempt to make the NHS evidence-based?).
The decision to impose a blanket ban on these items will disproportionately affect those patients who currently receive free prescriptions: the young, the poor and the elderly (where is the evidence for this statement?). The conditions these patients are suffering from will persist (treating them with ineffective medications would also make them persist).
If in future these vulnerable patients want to continue with their medicines, they will be forced to pay for them. While wealthier patients will have the option to pay for their medications, those unable to do so will return to their GP for an alternative medication or procedure that has not been prohibited by NHS England’s recommendations. GPs will then find themselves prescribing other more costly medications. How this is helping NHS England to reduce prescribing costs is difficult to see (really? I don’t find it difficult to see that spending money on effective treatments is a better investment than wasting it on ineffective stuff)…
… ‘evidence-informed practice’… not only includes scientific research, but also evidence from clinical practice acquired over many years and endorsed by numerous clinicians. Yet this type of evidence, from the front line of medicine, is being dismissed as ‘unscientific’ or ‘anecdotal’ (no, it has never been considered to be evidence; remember: the plural of anecdote is anecdotes, not evidence)…
We all want the NHS to operate cost effectively… (as long as the NHS continues to pay for homeopathy?). Of course, treatments that have no good evidence of benefit to patients should be questioned (as long as the NHS continues to pay for homeopathy?)…
NHS England needs to conduct a review of how it evaluates treatments and take far more notice of the experiences of doctors and patients. Then perhaps we will see a more financially efficient health service, healthier patients and an end to the injustice of healthcare rationing (the author forgot to tell her readers that she is a homeopath – in fact, she did not even once use the word ‘homeopathy’ in her diatribe. Because of her extreme views, she has featured on this blog before. [“homeopathy can be helpful for pretty much any condition”] Dr Day also forgot to declare conflicts of interest in her most recent vituperation [easy mistake to make; I know I am being petty).
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If I were a fan of homeopathy and a believer in the magical healing power of shaken water, I would be very worried. While homeopaths put forward such embarrassingly daft arguments, the future of homeopathy looks bleak indeed.
How often have we heard this? YOU ARE WRONG! MY TREATMENT DOES WORK!!! ONLY THE OTHER DAY, I HAD A PATIENT WHO WAS CURED BY IT.
Take for instance this tweet I got yesterday:
You go too far @EdzardErnst. In fact I was consulted about a child who hadn’t grown after an accident. She responded well to homoeopathy and grew. How much are you being paid for your attempts to deny people’s health choices?
The tweet refers to my last post where I exposed homeopathic child abuse. Having thought about Thomas’ tweet, I must say that I find it too to be abusive – even abusive on 4 different levels.
- First, the tweet is obviously a personal attack suggesting that I am bribed into doing what I do. I have stated it many times, and I do so again: I receive no payment from anyone for my work. How then do I survive? I have a pension and savings (not that this is anyone’s business).
- Second, it is abusive because it claims that children who suffer from a pathological growth retardation can benefit from homeopathy. There is no evidence for that at all, and making false claims of this nature is unethical and, in this case, even abusive.
- Third, if Thomas really did make the observation she suggests in her tweet and is convinced that her homeopathic treatment was the cause of the child’s improvement, she has an ethical duty to do something more about it than just shooting off a flippant tweet. She could, for instance, run a clinical trial to find out whether her observation was correct. I admit this might be beyond her means. So alternatively, she could write up the case in full detail and publish it for all of us to scrutinise her findings. This is the very minimum a responsible clinician ought to do when she comes across a novel and potentially important result. Anything else is my view unethical and hinders progress.
I do, of course, sympathise with lay people who fail to fully understand the concept of causality. But surely, healthcare professionals who pride themselves of taking charge of patients ought to have some comprehension of it. They should know that clinical improvements after a treatment is not necessarily the same as clinical improvement because of the treatment. Is it really too much to ask of them to know the criteria for causality? There is plenty of easy-reading on the subject; even Wikipedia has a good article on it:
In 1965, the English statistician Sir Austin Bradford Hill proposed a set of nine criteria to provide epidemiologic evidence of a causal relationship between a presumed cause and an observed effect. (For example, he demonstrated the connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer.) The list of the criteria is as follows:
- Strength (effect size): A small association does not mean that there is not a causal effect, though the larger the association, the more likely that it is causal.
- Consistency (reproducibility): Consistent findings observed by different persons in different places with different samples strengthens the likelihood of an effect.
- Specificity: Causation is likely if there is a very specific population at a specific site and disease with no other likely explanation. The more specific an association between a factor and an effect is, the bigger the probability of a causal relationship.
- Temporality: The effect has to occur after the cause (and if there is an expected delay between the cause and expected effect, then the effect must occur after that delay).
- Biological gradient: Greater exposure should generally lead to greater incidence of the effect. However, in some cases, the mere presence of the factor can trigger the effect. In other cases, an inverse proportion is observed: greater exposure leads to lower incidence.
- Plausibility: A plausible mechanism between cause and effect is helpful (but Hill noted that knowledge of the mechanism is limited by current knowledge).
- Coherence: Coherence between epidemiological and laboratory findings increases the likelihood of an effect. However, Hill noted that “… lack of such [laboratory] evidence cannot nullify the epidemiological effect on associations”.
- Experiment: “Occasionally it is possible to appeal to experimental evidence”.
- Analogy: The effect of similar factors may be considered.
And this brings me to my 4th and last level of abuse in relation to the above tweet and most other claims of this nature: being ill-informed and stupid while insisting to make a nonsensical point is, in my view, offensive – so much so that it can reach the level of abuse.
Brace yourself: the wonders of homeopathy seem to be without limits. You can even increase the height of your children with homeopathy!
This website explains in some detail:
SBL Rite-Hite Tablets growth promoter homeopathic medicine is indicated for children who do not grow or develop satisfactorily, suffer feeble digestion & imperfect assimilation, anemia, lack of concentration, poor memory. A clinically proven homeopathy research product from SBL that aids proper physical development of growing children to gain proper body size in terms of height and girth
SBL’s Rite-Hite is a homeopathic medicine for height increase in children. It is a clinically established proven formulation which contains well balanced homeopathic medicines. Rite-Hite helps to achieve the optimal balance of factors like genetics, hormonal balance, nutritional status and general health and thereby promotes optimal growth…
Other Height (Growth) promoter Homeopathy medicines similar to WL14 drops
Buy Bhargava Tallo-Vit Tablets, Homeopathic Grow tall medicine
Lords Hite Up Tablets for Height Growth. Homeopathy medicine
Haslab Physi Hite Tablets– homeopathy medicine for height increase
SBL Rite Hite Tablets. Homeopathy Medicine for Height increase
Blooume16 GRO T Drops. Homeopathy grow tall medicine-Buy online
Wheezal WL14 Grow Tall drops – Homeopathy height increase medicine
Action of individual Ingredients in Rite-Hite:
Baryta carbonica: For children who are mentally and physically backward, do not grow and develop swollen abdomen, loss of memory.
Silicea: For imperfect assimilation and consequent defective nutrition. Children who are slow walking.
Natrum Muriaticum: Great emaciation; losing flesh while eating well. Anaemia
Calcarea Phosphorica: For anemic children who are peevish with feeble digestion, it is excellent for tardy dentition troubles and promote growth of healthy bones. It also covers abdominal flatulence in children, mild inflammation of tonsils, colic or soreness around navel, diarrhea with undigested food in stools.
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In my view this is plain and obvious child abuse (I don’t need to go into showing that none of the claims are plausible/evidence-based because it is painfully obvious). Some of the clinical scenarios are indicative of a severely sick child, for instance:
- mentally and physically backward, do not grow and develop swollen abdomen, loss of memory;
- anaemic children who are peevish with feeble digestion;
- losing flesh while eating well, anaemia.
To not take such children to a doctor or hospital and instead lose valuable time with homeopathy is criminal neglect and unethical abuse. No question about that!
I can only hope that no parent will ever fall for it.
UK farmers are being taught how to treat their livestock with homeopathy “by kind permission of His Royal Highness, The Prince Of Wales”. This website explains:
The Homeopathy at Wellie Level (HAWL) Course has been developed specifically for those who tend livestock by the School of Agricultural Homeopathy, and is taught by homeopathic vets and qualified homeopaths – all with farm experience. This is the ONLY course in the UK to provide qualified teaching aimed at empowering farmers and smallholders to use homeopathy for their animals with both confidence and understanding. We have been operational since 2001 and over the years have gathered literally hundreds of positive feedback comments and course testimonials…
HAWL is funded largely by donations, relies heavily on the generosity of supporters and volunteers, and makes no profit. We subsidise our courses, and our post-course support groups, in order to make them affordable to all; many of our farmers and smallholders run their farms single-handedly or with family members. Our aim is to educate, inform and support those who seek to reduce the burden of antibiotics, chemical wormers, and other drugs in the food chain and on the environment…
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Today, Oliver Kamm, a Times business columnist and leader writer, sates in THE TIMES that part of the blame for the persistence of fake medicine lies with, of all people, the heir to the throne. In a new book titled More Harm than Good?, Professor Edzard Ernst says that, as the most prominent advocate of homeopathy, the Prince of Wales is engaged in “foolish and immoral” support for unproven remedies for serious illness. You can say that again.
Yes, let’s say that again: foolish and immoral!
In our book, Kevin Smith and I develop the argument that the practice of and education in alternative medicine systematically violates medical ethics. We are sure that our argument holds water. It is not possible, we think, to practice or teach fake medicine within the rules and standards of medical ethics. This means that most of alternative medicine is unethical.
We have not drawn such conclusions lightly and feel that our ethical perspective on alternative medicine deserves serious consideration. It would be good, if the Prince of Wales gave it some thought.
