[NPInfo] Iron Deficiency Anemia

Thu Aug 21 12:19:16 PDT 2008

Are homeopathic treatments useful other than as a placebo? They are  
so extremely diluted that they must be about 99.999% diluent and on  
top of that, are dosed in minute quantities. There used to not be any  
research supporting their use, but there may be some now that I'm  
unaware of.

People very badly want alternative remedies but after about 25 years  
of reading about the next great white hope, and various claims for  
various products, and never seeing anything actually pan out all  
these years, my conclusion is that there is no basis for any  
recommendations for most of what's out there. I heard that St. John's  
wort has a very mild effect for mild depression (with major CYP450  
enzyme interactions), I recall hearing something positive about sam- 
e, and something about silymarin for liver inflammation, but if you  
have no idea how potent each individual dose or product is, that  
problem seems to cancel out any benefit.

Meanwhile, people are still buying echinacea thinking it prevents  
colds, glucosamine and chondroitin thinking they are arthritis  
treatments, and otherwise throwing money away on useless products.  
This is a rip-off of the consumer.

And if legislation is passed to make the "supplement" drugs comply  
with the same FDA regulations as OTC and Rx do, so that they named  
and quantified all ingredients and had to pass tests of potency, they  
wouldn't have the same mystique for people that they have now. They'd  
be no different from OTC and Rx drugs.

A few years ago I purchased a huge fat book from Prescriber's Letter  
called "Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database" (and boy is it  
comprehensive). Most of the supplements I looked up in there seemed  
to offer very little to justify the price you pay for them.

Stephanie Walker, FNP

On Aug 20, 2008, at 10:08 PM, ROBERT DOERFLER wrote:

> Conrad
> It sounds interesting. I don't know Daniel personally, nor do I  
> know this
> course. It sounds like a number of similar surveys of homeopathy  
> that give
> providers the background to confidently treat milder maladies with  
> an array
> of common homeopathic remedies. The nice thing about this sort of  
> course (I
> took a similar one from the New England School in 1993) is that it  
> gets you
> into the theory behind homeopathy, while also giving one a set of  
> "tools" to
> use for the sorts of things that patients often want something for,  
> but for
> which prescription drugs are often inappropriate. Viral infections,  
> sore
> throats, allergies, beestings, mild poison ivy, sprains and  
> strains, and
> such are often covered in these courses. At the Beverly Hilton? It'll
> probably be expensive, so she might want to shop around. But Boiron  
> is a
> good outfit, and if it's reasonable and she's interested, I bet  
> she'd have
> fun.
>
> As for Alz dz, there's not a whole lot of experience with treating  
> that.
> Most people don't think of homeopathy, let alone think of it for  
> something
> as serious as that. There's no trial data, so any such case is a  
> labor of
> treatment and careful observation...all in the midst of other  
> things, such
> as concomitant treatment with regular drugs, etc. So it's hard to  
> say what's
> having an effect. That said, I have treated a couple of cases of  
> dementia of
> various types and have noted marked cognitive improvements, but I  
> have never
> had enough follow up with those very few patients to know what the  
> long term
> outcome was.  The longer the existing problem, the poorer the  
> response; the
> shorter the symptomatic period, the more robust the response.
>
> Peace
> Eric
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: npinfo-bounces at nurse.net [mailto:npinfo-bounces at nurse.net] On  
> Behalf
> Of Conrad Rios
> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 6:11 PM
> To: NP Info
> Cc: 'NP Info'; npinfo-bounces at nurse.net
> Subject: RE: [NPInfo] Iron Deficiency Anemia
>
> Thanks Robert. I have a PA friend of mine who is also a Homeopath.  
> I know he
> would understand your explanation better then I. Not to say you did  
> not
> explain it well but it is a different language for me, and right  
> now I do
> not have the time.
> I do have a question, another NP friend of mine who works in Alz  
> dementia
> care she is thinking about attending a class. See below. Have you  
> heard of
> it? She works mainly with demented patients and I asked her how she  
> thinks
> Homeopathy would help with Alz.  Dementia. Do Homeopath address this
> disease?
> Thanks.
> Conrad
>
> My name is Daniel Dereser, Pharmacist for Boiron, world leader in
> Homeopathy.
>
> I would like to take the opportunity to discuss with you about the  
> Clinical
> Homeopathic Training Course for NP in Los Angeles.
>
> The CEDH - Continuing Education for the Development of Homeopathy has
> developed a course that offers practitioners 104 CMEs by the AAFP  
> when they
> complete the course work of 136 hours. The course is held in Los  
> Angeles at
> the Beverly Hilton Hotel from November to June, annually.
>
> This course is designed for physicians who would like to expand  
> their daily
> practice and need answers to questions that often come up in  
> today's medical
> practice.
>
> The CEDH - Continuing Education and Development of Homeopathy has  
> 30 years
> experience and is educating over 3,000 physicians in 20 countries  
> annually.
>
> Conrad J. Rios, NP, PA, MSN
> Faculty
> UC Davis, FNP/PA Program
> 559-281-8211
>
> Email: conrad.rios at ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
> Web: http://fnppa.ucdavis.edu
>
>
>
> "ROBERT DOERFLER" <redoerfler at verizon.net> Sent by: npinfo- 
> bounces at nurse.net
> 08/20/2008 02:37 PM
> Please respond to
> NP Info <npinfo at nurse.net>
>
>
> To
> "'NP Info'" <npinfo at nurse.net>
> cc
>
> Subject
> RE: [NPInfo] Iron Deficiency Anemia
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Ok, I'll give this a go...
> I am a homeopath, and we look at disease not as "How do lump this  
> patient
> into a diagnostic category?" rather as "What is unique about this
> patient?"
> We see symptoms--even specific diseases--not as just categorical  
> problems,
> but as maifestations of the essential "imbalance" of a system that  
> keeps
> everything working together.
>
> When taking a case, we work with symptom rubrics, under which are  
> listed
> various homeopathic remedies associated with that symptom. The symptom
> GENERALS - ANEMIA, lists 183 remedies known to be associated with  
> anemic
> patients. The symptom GENERALS - FOOD and DRINKS - ice - desire,  
> lists 16
> remedies. I noticed from Kimberly's references that not all anemic
> patients
> crave ice, thus we'll consider the intersection of those 2 sets, which
> includes only 9 remedies. (Many anemic patients DON'T crave ice, etc.)
>
> Calcarea carbonica: deficient in the metabolism of structure, they  
> often
> crave foods or ingestants with "structure" such as starches,  
> indigestible
> mineral substances (as in ordinary pica), cheese/dairy, etc. Calc carb
> patients often suffer from hemorrhagic problems, and uterine  
> fibroids in
> women are an especially common complaint that might prompt a  
> selection of
> this remedy.
>
> Phosphorus: imbalances related to fluid dynamics, these patients  
> are often
> "open"--having boundary issues--and are often anxious. Fluid  
> discharges
> (such as loose stools, nosebleeds, metrorrhagia, etc.) are a key  
> feature
> of
> Phos pts.
>
> Veratrum album (white hellebore): again, fluid dynamics, but with a  
> mental
> picture that is more hyperactive than anxious. These people often  
> "go from
> both ends" in gastroenteritis, and hellebore poisoning is  
> associated with
> a
> dysenteric type of diarrhea with nausea/vomiting (much of what informs
> homeopathy is based on toxicology, since the treatment principle is  
> "like
> cures like").
>
> Mercurius corrosivus (mercuric chloride): mucus membranes that  
> "burn like
> fire", it is a remedy that is often helpful in ulcerative colitis,  
> Crohn's
> disease, and other ulcerative conditions.
>
> These are just a sample of 4 remedies, but one can see how this  
> view of
> disease and the symptoms (such as chewing ice) they manifest may  
> make more
> sense. So is there a physiological cause across the board? Maybe.  
> Maybe
> not.
> Maybe the cause arises from a behavioral drive (as in Calc carb), an
> amelioration of a pain (ice soothing "hot" membranes--as in the  
> glossitis
> example in one of Kimberly's references), cooling/fluid replacement  
> (as in
> Phos. Or Veratrum), and so on--or maybe we don't know in certain  
> specific
> cases. But it provides a fascinating alternate way to view patient
> complaints.
>
> Eric
>
> R. Eric Doerfler, CRNP, PhD(c), CCH
> Instructor Of Nursing
> RN-BS Program Coordinator
> Penn State University, Capital Campus
> 777 W. Middletown Pike, Middletown PA 17057
> 717-948-6513 red1012 at psu.edu
>
> Certified in Adult Primary Care & Classical Homeopathy
> 1521 Cedar Cliff Drive, Suite 203
> Camp Hill PA 17011
> 717-761-6902
> http://www.altmedresearch.us
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: npinfo-bounces at nurse.net [mailto:npinfo-bounces at nurse.net] On  
> Behalf
> Of Kimberly Coleman
> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 4:52 PM
> To: NP Info
> Subject: Re: [NPInfo] Iron Deficiency Anemia
>
> Thanks Priscilla.  I had also googled it and really couldn't come  
> up with
> a
> conclusive "why".  I appreciate the links.
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Priscilla Merrill
>   To: 'NP Info'
>   Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 5:28 AM
>   Subject: RE: [NPInfo] Iron Deficiency Anemia
>
>
>   You got my curiosity up so I googled it and here are some links.
>   Made me wonder if Vanilla Ice was anemic since he's so darn pale!
>   Bottom line, no one knows, just theories.  I thoguth it might be the
> iron
> in
>   the pipes but then water shoud also be a craving.  The best  
> answer I saw
> was
>   that it has oxygen in it from the freezing process.  Here are some
> ideas.
>
>   http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chewing-ice/AN01278
>
>   http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2004/11/i-eat-lot-of-ice.html
>
>   http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060616173903AAE8Jhc
>
>   Priscilla Merrill FNP
>
>
>
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: npinfo-bounces at nurse.net [mailto:npinfo-bounces at nurse.net] On
> Behalf
>   Of Kimberly Coleman
>   Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 9:56 PM
>   To: NP Info
>   Subject: [NPInfo] Iron Deficiency Anemia
>
>   I was curious if anyone could tell me WHY? patients with iron  
> deficiency
>   anemia crave ice.  I know it's a form of PICA and can only find  
> general
>   information.  A pt. with low H&H (10, 30), low B12 (207), low  
> ferritin
> (7),
>   norm. TSH.  The MD didn't want to do a TIBC (it wasn't needed right
> now).
>   There is no hx. of abn. bleeding, had TAH >10yrs. C/O "eating a  
> lot of
> ice",
>   extreme fatigue/weakness and "a lot of joint pain and feels like  
> muscles
> are
>   drawing and stumbling".  Going to be scheduling upper/lower  
> scopes.  Any
>   suggestions on the joint pain and stumbling, and what does ice  
> have to
> do
>   with it?  As I said, I have heard of it, know it exists, but  
> don't know
>   exactly why.  Thanks.  KC
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