I used to be really nervous & was hearing voices. I couldn’t sleep, was very jumpy and quick to temper. And, I couldn’t have been more constipated than if I had jammed a rubber bung up the dirt chute.

But, I was in the Dominican Republic for a holiday a few months ago & made my way over to Haiti to see if I could help in the reconstruction. While there. one of my buddies told me about a Haitian, Woody Tobias (such an unusual name for Haitian, you’d think it was fake) who could help me.

Anyway, Woody practises a derived form of homeopathy called homeo-voodoo, a cross between the ancient medical art of voodoo & its western science counterpart of homeopathy. He gave me this potion that stunk like you wouldn’t believe. My knowledge of patois is weak, so perhaps I misunderstood but I could swear he said something about mixing dried bat testicles and chicken bones & then mixing it with some diluted hot pepper sauce. He said that normally I would have drink it but because I was constipated, he recommended it as an enema. It worked like a charm.

When I finally flew home a week later I was able to sleep like a baby. No more of the willies and jitters. And, even better, he got me off my 10 cup a day coffee habit with donuts and no more french fries and Coke for dinner. He even got me doing something called fibre, so now sleep is not the only thing I do like a baby.

The price/value is another problem – and not only for HP.
but if you are interested see – Boiron Net profit margin.
http://www.google.com/finance?q=EPA:BOI

—————

but my honest opinion – that ethicaly acceptable to use HP
– for example – in case of pregnant women ..
because:
– safety, no alternatives, ( sometimes patient preference )

see acupuncture treatment example :
“Ethical principles of enhancing placebo effects in clinical care”
http://press.thelancet.com/placebo.pdf
“Can a recommendation for a treatment intended to
promote the placebo effect be made without deception
and also without undermining its therapeutic potential?
Consider, for example, the case of a clinician who
recommends acupuncture treatment for a patient with
chronic low back pain who has not been helped by
standard medical therapy. Aware of the results of the
recent acupuncture trials, this clinician thinks that
acupuncture might work by promoting a placebo
response. The clinician might provide the following
disclosure to the patient: “I recommend that you try
acupuncture. Several large studies have shown that
traditional acupuncture is not better than fake
acupuncture treatment, but that both of these produce
substantially greater symptom improvement in patients
with chronic low back pain compared with those
patients who receive no treatment or conventional
medical therapy. Although the specific type of needling
does not seem to make any difference, it is possible that
acupuncture works by a psychological mechanism that
promotes self-healing, known as the placebo effect”. At
face value, this disclosure seems honest. A patient who
received this disclosure and subsequently got better
after undergoing acupuncture might nonetheless
develop a false belief about why it worked. This does
not mean, however, that the patient has been deceived
by his or her clinician.”

——————–
I beleive in integrating of conventional and holistic care tends.
and all HP doctors should have education in conventional medicine.

———————

so IMHO – HP medicine – is not BS .
- and it promotes self-healing ….

see: http://www.google.com/search?q=critics+evidence+based+medicine

The problem is not so simple ..

- see : “placebo paradox”, – it may be unethical to use a placebo, but also unethical “not to use something that heals”

- placebo effect – is normal – and not problem ..
see:
Biological, clinical, and ethical advances of placebo effects
Damien G Finniss, Ted J Kaptchuk, Franklin Miller, Fabrizio Benedetti
http://press.thelancet.com/placebo.pdf
”
Laboratory evidence supports the existence of several
placebo mechanisms and placebo effects in both healthy
volunteers and patients with a variety of medical
conditions. Furthermore, clinically relevant evidence
shows that placebo effects can have meaningful
therapeutic effects, because of their long magnitude
and duration, in different patient populations. Although
substantial progress has been made in understanding
placebo effects, much laboratory and translational
clinical trial research remains to be done, with the
ultimate aim of harnessing placebo effects to improve
patient care.”

-So what can Clinical Evidence tell us about the state of our current knowledge?
11% Benefical
23% Likely to be benefical
7% Trade-off between benefits and harms
5% Unlikely to be beenfical
3% Likely to be ineffective or harmful
51% Unknown effectiveness
http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge.jsp

———
and if you are interested in CAM – you have to see :
http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/search?fulltext=homeopathy&x=0&y=0
http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/3/3/293
———–

I beleive in “evidence hierarchy,” [ safety, effectiveness, strength of evidence, alternatives, and patient preference. ]
“The real difference between conventional and holistic care tends to be less about evidence, and more about priorities. In holistic care, the priority is relief of symptoms whether or not there is a known disease to treat. That is a laudable principle. So, too, is respect for scientific evidence”
http://www.davidkatzmd.com/admin/archives/Holistic%20Care.Times.10-28-07.doc

——–

I had an acute throat infection and had consulted one of my friend who is a doctor. He gave me 6-7 different medicines (one strong Antibiotic, one he said was for stomach, one was paracetamol of anti allergen,a gurgling solution-others i forgot). It did fine and cost me 300 bucks. It came back again after 1-2 months. This time he suggested a stronger antibiotic. I was about to get the medicines when my father suggested I should try homeopathy. Then after a 30 bucks diluted syrup the infection went away in 3-5 days. Miracle!! Isnt it. All thanks to Placebo.

See I don’t say it is the best or you should discard allopathy or other forms of medicine. But you should learn to appreciate and choose wisely from these different types of medicines.
To the core I was also anti-homeopathic, but in time I have learnt to respect it. You cannot prove its effectiveness through science but it is effective. I have seen cases of severe skin infections and disorder cured by homeopathy which allopathic medicines couldn’t do. Talk to those patients who tried all forms of tests and medicines and have visited almost all reputed skin clinics and couldn’t find a cure but was cured by homeopathy and enlighten them with your science theory and see what reaction you get.
To be honest ill also talk about some failures I saw as well. My sister is asthmatic and my father and his homeopath friend tried all possible treatment but couldnt cure her attacks. We had to finally turn to allopathy for her relief. This is what we should do.
Rather than blabbing about what we can prove or what we cannot, we should discuss what type of medicine is effective on which kind of diseases and share our good experiences. Everyone has a right to choose.
It should not be about believing in it religiously but believing by experience.
Regards

How can you be sure it wasn’t your prayers that were finally answered and if so, why were you forsaken for all those years?