[NPInfo] Homeopathy & other "delusions" (was: Iron DeficiencyAnemia)

[susanapr at aol.com]

Eric, this is beautifully written!



I am reminded of Alexander Graham Bell who once said, "This power, I know not what it is."



Its hard, if not impossible, to understand what one cannot yet conceive of.

I have no actual experience with homeopathy, but have come across some strong anecdotal evidence from over the years.

And yes, complimentary/integrative health is indeed a growing specialty itself.



Anyway, enjoyed your words...

susan











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>From: "ROBERT DOERFLER" <redoerfler at verizon.net>?


>Reply-To: NP Info <npinfo at nurse.net>?


>To: "'NP Info'" <npinfo at nurse.net>?


>Subject: [NPInfo] Homeopathy & other "delusions" (was: Iron 
>DeficiencyAnemia)?


>Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:13:01 -0400?


>?


>Stephanie is on the money. The problems with homeopathy:?


>1) The dilutions, which may exceed Avogadro's number (10 -23) ought to?


>contain no molecules of the original substance.?


>2) Moreover, there is no known physiological theory that would explain why?


>"like cures like" or anything about how remedies can influence an organism?


>to heal under their influence.?


>3) The paradigm of health and disease in homeopathy is completely?


>antithetical to "classical" notions of pathophysiology, and in fact tends 
>to?


>ignore them, or at least make them of secondary importance to understanding?


>the "essential imbalance" as it were.?


>?


>However, I would note that "curved spacetime" would have been gobbledgook 
>to?


>a scientist of the late 19th century, and yet in only 30 years Einstein?


>would shatter the mechanistic model of the universe with the relativity?


>theories. A short time later we would learn that matter can literally?


>"vanish" out of existance--only to reappear elsewhere later--as we?


>discovered quantum physics.?


>?


>So my point is: maybe yer right...but wait around a while. Maybe homeopathy?


>is a trace of things to come. Benchtop studies in immunochemistry,?


>immunology, and chemistry have provided at least a glimmer of support for?


>alternative hypotheses that would account for homeopathy, if not yet 
>explain?


>it. Clinical trials of varying quality have shown that homeopathy appears 
>to?


>work. Contrarily, some meta-analyses have suggested both that homeopathy's?


>effects exceed those of placebo, and that they do not! Moreover, there are?


>authors who have argued that "placebo" effects (what Kaptchuk prefers to?


>call "context effects") are indeed legitimate therapeutics that we should?


>employ deliberately.?


>?


>We're so caught up in "evidence basis" that we forget: we're all just?


>shamans, magicians, trying to walk with people to the other side of 
>whatever?


>suffering they're on. So what's the harm in a little ritual? A little?


>mystique? We persist in the belief that if we just take things "apart"?


>enough, we'll know everything, cure everything. We won't. Part of the human?


>condition is the searching, and it seems that whenever we "get it" Nature?


>throws one more thing at us to remind us that we actually don't.?


>?


>That said, I support a regulatory environment that would limit government?


>control on relatively harmless products while ensuring some manufacturing?


>standards. One that would distribute the authority to "prescribe" more 
>risky?


>products to those people who actually demonstrate a professional facility?


>with them (Chinese medicine practitioners, homeopaths, nurses,?


>chiropractors, etc.) as appropriate. Just because someone's a physician?


>doesn't mean he or she "knows" alternative medicine. It's like any other?


>specialty.?


>?


>?


>Peace?


>?


>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?


>?


>