Plants and Fungi in Homeopathy

This is a fantastic area on the Natural History Museum website. There is some excellent information and pictures of hundreds of plants and fungi as well as lichens and algae used in homeopathic remedies.

This is the work of Vilma Bharatan who is a botanist at the NHM.

Plants and Fungi in Homeopathy pages

Gelsemium Sempervirens

The homeopathic remedy Gelsemium is
often used to treat the symptoms of flu

Science and Technology Evidence Check

The UK government has recently had their Science and Technology Committee look at evidence for homeopathy. There have been concerns that some of the people on the committee were known critics of homeopathy, or had strong connections with groups who were, and so a fair and balanced report is unlikely to be the outcome.

The Liberal Democrat Science spokesman, Dr Evan Harris is a known supporter of Sense About Science, an organisation which is publicly extremely critical of homeopathy. Dr Harris was recently filmed making a speech at an anti-homeopathy 'mass overdose' stunt. He made derogatory comments about Dr Peter Fisher who is director of the London Homeopathic Hospital, and also incidentally, homeopath to the Queen. Hardly an impartial and unbiased act for an MP on a committee listening to evidence on the subject. Dr Harris by criticising a fellow doctor is clearly in breach of Articles 46 and 47 of the General Medical Council?s Guidelines for Good Medical Practice.

Article 46. You must treat your colleagues fairly and with respect. You must not bully or harass them, or unfairly discriminate against them by allowing your personal views to affect adversely your professional relationship with them. You should challenge colleagues if their behaviour does not comply with this guidance.

Article 47. You must not make malicious and unfounded criticisms of colleagues that may undermine patients' trust in the care or treatment they receive, or in the judgement of those treating them.

Voice of (not so young) homeopathy blog for the video of Dr Harris addressing the crowd at the 'mass overdose'


The choice of people who gave oral evidence to the committee seems a bit odd. Dr Peter Fisher is the only doctor using homeopathy who was questioned. Dr David Reilly from the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital is regarded as a leading expert on this subject and should have been called. The Society of Homeopaths, the principal organisation representing non-medical homeopaths did not have the opportunity to speak. At least three people chosen to speak have affiliations or sympathies with Sense About Science, an organisation which has no advisors who are experts in the field of homeopathy.

Government policy should be informed by the performance of homeopathy in the real world with real patients, and it is seen to perform there extremely well - providing cost effective and successful treatment to tens of thousands of patients who have not been helped by conventional medicine. An audit by the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital looking at over 6500 patients and 23,000 appointments over a 6 year period showed 70% of patients reported their health improved after treatment. The reports from the homeopathic hospitals were never discussed as part of the Evidence Check.

The NHS budget for homeopathy comprises just 0.004% of the total NHS budget and the annual bill for homeopathic medicines is just £157,000. Compare this with the NHS drugs bill for pharmaceutical products of £11 billion. Incidentally, the NHS expects to pay out over £4.4 billion in compensation and negligence claims this year.

Observational study Bristol Homeopathic Hospital. Over 23,000 patient attendances in a 6-year period, 70% of patients reported improved health, 50% major improvement of wide range of conditions.

Spence DS, Thompson EA, Barron SJ (2005). Homeopathic treatment for chronic disease: a 6-year university-hospital outpatient observational study. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 11:793-798.

Homeopathy Evening Class

I am starting a regular evening class to talk in more depth about various aspects of homeopathy and related subjects. Classes will be on the last Monday evening of each month and held at the Gateway to Health clinic in Settle which can be found in the courtyard behind LloydsTSB.


The first class will be on Monday 22nd February 7 to 9pm. I will be there from 6pm and will provide some simple food so people can come straight from work. Each session costs £10 and will include handouts, drinks and, of course, food. The idea is that each class will be self contained so people can drop in rather than commit to a long course.


First session will be about the history of homeopathy and some of the colourful characters involved in its development. Second session on 29th March will show you how to make your own remedies and also to talk about the controversy of dilutions and the strange behaviour of water. Subsequent subjects will be up to the class to choose but could include topics such as treating family pets with homeopathy, hayfever, family first aid or colds and flu.


For more information or to book up please contact me

0800 298 0701 or 07932 159099
jo@jorhodeshomeopathy.co.uk
www.jorhodeshomeopathy.co.uk

Dilutions and Avagadro

The critics of homeopathy are always going on about Avogadro's number, which is 6.022 x 10 to the power 23. I wonder how many of them actually understand it.

So here is a very simple explanation of what it is all about. Armedeo Avagadro in 1811 hypothesised that 'Equal volumes of ideal or perfect gases, at the same temperature and pressure, contain the same number of particles, or molecules'. What he meant was that the same volume of a gas, whether it is hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen or anything else, will contain the same number of molecules if the temperatures and pressures are the same. This is Avogadro's Law.


Long after he died other scientists recognised what an important contribution he had made and the Avogadro Constant is named after him but the concept of the mole to which it refers was not known in his lifetime.

Now for a basic chemistry lesson, so pay attention.

One mole of a substance is the molecular weight in grams of that substance, so hydrogen has a molecular weight of 1, so 1 g is 1 mole of hydrogen, carbon has a molecular weight of 12 and so 12g of carbon is 1 mole.

One mole of a substance will always contain the same number of elemental particles (usually atoms or molecules) and that number will be 6.022 x 10 to the power 23, this can also be written as 602 200 000 000 000 000 000 000 particles, which is an awful lot of particles.

Are you still with me? The problem sceptics have is that homeopathic remedies are very diluted. A 12c homepathic remedy is technically a dilution of 1 x 10 to the power 24, and so larger than Avogadro's Constant so there should be none of the original particles still present. What the sceptics always seem to forget, or ignore, is that homeopathic remedies are not just diluted, they are also shaken vigorously between each dilution which is a process known as succussion.

There is a whole branch of science looking at the peculiar properties of ultra diluted solutions and there is absolutely no doubt that there are many scientific peer reviewed published papers which demonstrate that a substance which has been diluted and shaken is still measurable way beyond the point that it should be. There have been positive experiments using a whole host of different analytical techniques and the laws of physics and chemistry cannot currently explain why these ultra diluted and shaken substances can still be measured.

One of the key papers on this subject is by the physicist Dr Louis Rey, he used very diluted and shaken solutions of lithium chloride and sodium chloride and then analysed them using a technique called thermoluminescence. It showed conclusively that very dilute solutions were measurable when they were diluted beyond the point there should be any particles present.

http://www.vhan.nl/documents/Rey.thermoluminescence.pdf

and there is much more evidence in plant and biological systems too.

Homeopathy ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/homp) is the journal for the Faculty of Homeopathy which has recently published a two part special issue focusing on biological models of homeopathy. The special issue highlights experiments on homeopathic treatments in biological models, ranging from whole animals and plants to cell cultures and enzymes, showing a remarkable range of findings.

Editor-in-Chief Dr Peter Fisher commented: ?Throughout its 200 year history claims that homeopathy has ?real? (as opposed to placebo) effects have been hotly contested. Our special issue brings together a wide range of scientific work in biological systems, where there can be no placebo effect, showing that there are now several biological experiments which yield consistently positive results with homeopathic dilutions?.

Visit www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14754916 for full contents and abstracts

Sceptic stunt

The sceptics 'overdose' stunt is in the news.

This is a statement from the Society of Homeopaths, the largest organisation registering professional homeopaths in Europe, in response to the1023 stunt.

http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/

For a very good overview of the current research and evidence for homeopathy have a look at the website of the British Homeopathic Association which is the organisation for medically trained homeopaths working within the NHS.

http://www.britishhomeopathic.org/

Homeopathy is a system of medicine which is based on treating the individual with highly diluted substances given in mainly tablet form, which triggers the body?s natural system of healing. Based on their experience of their symptoms, a homeopath will match the most appropriate medicine to the patient.

Since homeopathy is person specific, the action of a remedy cannot be predicted without knowing the patient?s symptoms at the time they take it.

This is one reason why The Society recommends that prescriptions are taken under the guidance of an appropriately qualified and registered homeopath (see www.homeopathy-soh.org for more details).

Over-the-counter homeopathic medicines should only be used as directed on the labeling. Proving guidelines for determining which homeopathic medicines are suitable for which disease focus more on the repetition of a dose rather than a large single dose in isolation.

The Society would not therefore expect any reaction to the proposed ?overdose? by this group unless, by chance, an individual in that group already had symptoms that matched that remedy at the time of taking it.

Placebos getting more effective

This is a very interesting, but quite long, article about a mysterious phenomenon which is causing havoc in drug trials. The placebo (dummy) pills given to people seem to having a more powerful positive response than the drugs being tested.


http://www.wired.com/medtech/drugs/magazine/17-09/ff_placebo_effect?currentPage=1


an extract from the article


In a study last year, Harvard Medical School researcher Ted Kaptchuk devised a clever strategy for testing his volunteers' response to varying levels of therapeutic ritual. The study focused on irritable bowel syndrome, a painful disorder that costs more than $40 billion a year worldwide to treat. First the volunteers were placed randomly in one of three groups. One group was simply put on a waiting list; researchers know that some patients get better just because they sign up for a trial. Another group received placebo treatment from a clinician who declined to engage in small talk. Volunteers in the third group got the same sham treatment from a clinician who asked them questions about symptoms, outlined the causes of IBS, and displayed optimism about their condition.

Not surprisingly, the health of those in the third group improved most. In fact, just by participating in the trial, volunteers in this high-interaction group got as much relief as did people taking the two leading prescription drugs for IBS. And the benefits of their bogus treatment persisted for weeks afterward, contrary to the belief, widespread in the pharmaceutical industry, that the placebo response is short-lived.

Homeopathy Awareness Week 14th-21st June

This year the focus of Homeopathy Awareness Week is on hay fever and advice will be available for those looking for an alternative to conventional medication. During this time homeopaths around the country will be handing out information and answering questions about homeopathy in many pharmacies, health shops and other locations.

Many people suffer with hay fever all summer and either don?t want to take anti-histamines over such a long period, or struggle with side effects. There are a number of research trials into the use of homeopathic remedies which have shown significant improvement in hay fever symptoms.

Each year I work at one or two festivals for the Travelling Homeopaths Collective who provide homeopathic first aid clinics for festival goers. About 60% of the people who come to us have problems with hay fever so I have seen first hand how effective homeopathic treatment can be for this problem.

Listed below are some common remedies for hay fever. Homeopathy treats the individual so you need to consider whether any of these remedies sound relevant for you. They should be readily available in your local chemist or health food shop.

Euphrasia this is a fantastic remedy made from the plant Eyebright where eye symptoms are the most distressing. Itching, burning and puffy eyes with watery nasal discharge. Eyes feel much worse in sunlight and windy weather. Feels worse indoors.

Allium Cepa this is a remedy made from onion. In homeopathy like cures like so if you think about how you feel if you chop up a strong onion you can see how this could be useful for hay fever. There is a streaming, watery discharge from eyes and nose, the nasal discharge may be burning, may also be sneezing ? better in open air, much worse indoors.

Arsenicum burning, watery, discharge from eyes and nose, feels chilly, thirsty but may want hot water or frequent sips of cold water, often there is also some anxiety or restlessness.

Nux Vomica lots of sneezing, streaming eyes and nose, itching in ears, very grumpy and irritable, general over sensitivity to light, smells and noise.

If you would like to have a chat in person I will be in the Gateway to Health Clinic in Settle on Monday 15th and Friday 19th June. There will be free, home made cake!

I will also be in the shop at Growing with Grace in Clapham on Thursday 18th and Saturday 20th and will be around on Saturday 13th June at their Summer Open Day.

I have started to produce a quarterly newsletter with short articles on homeopathy and related topics. If you would like to receive a copy please call or email me.

Homeopathy Research Day

On Thursday 4^th June I had a trip to London for a research networking day. Rachel Roberts is the Research Consultant for the Society of Homeopaths and she did a great job getting a large group of us together. There are many homeopaths working on small, local research projects in a variety of areas as well as a geat deal of research taking place in universities and hospitals.

This was a chance to meet face to face and make connections with others with similar interests. The recent criticism of homeopathy in the press seems to have been a catalyst for bringing lots of different groups together. There were people at the meeting from the Homeopathic Medical Association and Society of Homeopaths as well as academics involved in homeopathic teaching.

It was encouraging to see how much positive work is going on, and also to make some useful contacts in the north of England.

A Rational Choice

Mo Morrish was one of my lecturers at the British School of Homoeopathy and I was also fortunate to have him as my supervisor for student clinical cases. His lectures on the principles and philosophy of homoeopathy were always inspiring and often included literary or scientific quotes, music, art or poetry from very diverse sources which he used to illustrate his points very clearly.

His book ?Homoeopathy, A Rational Choice in Medicine? is aimed at readers who want to know more about the effectiveness, safety, history or principles of this form of treatment. There have been a lot of negative comments about what we do in the media recently and I feel this is a valuable tool to counter many of those criticisms. Sadly, I doubt many of those critics will take the time to read it.

This is a very short and eloquent book which gives a simple overview of homoeopathic medicine. At only 66 pages it can be easily read in one sitting but contains many thought provoking passages and references should you want to explore further. You may be a complete sceptic, a satisfied patient, a student or an experienced practitioner. I think this book has a lot to offer us all.

It is available from Alternative Training http://www.alternative-training.com as well as some online bookstores. I have spare copies which I lend out to patients. If you are in the area and want to borrow one then let me know.

British Homeopathic Association

The British Homeopathic Association have revamped their website and it has a huge amount of interesting information, research and other articles for you to browse through.

http://www.britishhomeopathic.org/

Some very clear info about homeopathy and what to expect from treatment, as well as articles on specific topics, case studies from patients and an A-Z (well it goes from ADHD to urinary infections so technically A-U!). All the articles have been published in their magazine 'Health and Homeopathy' which is well worth a read whatever your level of knowledge of homeopathy.

On a very different subject I was shocked to see this article in the news. The NHS could have to pay out as much as £12bn in compensation to patients for clinical negligence. That amount of money is the equivalent of around ten percent of the whole NHS budget. This estimated figure comes from the NHS Litigation Agency which pays out patient claims.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/health/3202619/NHS-compensation-bill-could-be-12-billion.html

Like cures like

One of the core principles of homeopathy is let like cure like. In practical terms that means we use remedies made from substances, which in larger amounts, would cause similar symptoms. Just think what happens to you when you chop up a strong onion and you can see why a homeopathic remedy made from onion might be useful for hayfever. Another example is that a remedy made from coffee might be appropriate for helping someone with insomnia.

This principal of like cures like is also used in conventional medicine but not as frequently as in homeopathy. In patients who are in a persistent vegetative state there have been some successes when they have been given sleeping pills.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5008744.stm

A very recent example is of children in the USA with extreme peanut allergies who have been given small amounts of peanut protein in liquid or powder form. Initially they are given the equivalent of one thousandth of a peanut and this amount is slowly increased over time. Four children who have completed years of the treatment are now able to tolerate 13 to 15 peanuts without showing even mild symptoms.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Allergy/story?id=6097888&page=1

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME IF YOU HAVE A CHILD WITH A NUT ALLERGY

Another case of like cures like, and one with a strong homeopathic connection, is the use of radiation to treat tumours. Dr Emil Grubbe developed blistering and tumours on his hands and neck while he was experimenting with X Rays as a student at the Hahnemann Homeopathic Hospital in Chicago in the 1895. As the radiation was very clearly the cause of the tumours one of the professors suggested it might be a useful therapeutic tool in treating cancers. Dr Grubbe was the first person to use radiation therapy on Mrs Rose Lee for breast cancer in 1896 and she benefited from this treatment. For reasons which remain unclear, he is often referred to as a radiologist, physicist or doctor but his homeopathic connections and credentials rarely get a mention!

Dr Emil Grubbe (1875-1960)

Food for the Brain

As well as being a homeopath I am very interested in how diet and lifestyle can affect health and mental health in particular. I recently went to London to attend a conference organised by Food for the Brain - they are a charity whose aim is to raise awareness of the link between learning, behaviour, mental health and nutrition. Food for the Brain have done some excellent work, particularly in schools and young offenders institutions. These studies have shown great improvement in learning ability, attention and behaviour by using supplements of vitamins, fish oils and/or improving diet.

The speakers at the conference were leaders in their field and had come from all parts of the world to present their current research. The conference covered nutrition and child development, Alzheimers and memory loss, addiction and psychiatric disorders.

The majority of the conference delegates were nutritionists but it was interesting to see that there were also many nurses, psychiatrists, GPs and teachers who wanted to know more about current developments in these areas.

A recent government report said

A diet lacking essential nutrients or containing ingredients that are detrimental, is likely to have adverse consequences for brain function, mental health and behaviour. Evidence of the links between nutritional status and childhood disorders, depression, aggressive and anti-social behaviour merits further publicly funded research. Because of the major potential benefit for the fields of education, crime, health and well-being of vulnerable sections of society, we believe more research is urgently needed in this area and we recommend that more Government resources are devoted to this.

The Associate Parliamentary Food and Health Forum, 2008

For more information have a look at the Food for the Brain website

http://www.foodforthebrain.org

Dr Kaplan

Dr Brian Kaplan is a homeopath and a medical doctor based in London. His book, The Homeopathic Conversation, is one of the most inspiring books I read while I was studying homeopathy.

He has an excellent blog which deals with the negative press homeopathy seem to be getting at the moment. We are continually criticised by members of the medical profession for being dangerous and/or ineffective but the report he mentions in his most recent post shows how few of their own treatments are safe and effective. This is very graphically illustrated in the pie chart which shows only 13% of modern medical treatments are proven to be effective.

http://drkaplanarticles.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html

http://drkaplan.co.uk/

Homeopathy worked for me

This is a great website which has been set up by H:MC21, Homeopathy: Medicine for the 21st Century. They are a group of homeopaths who have created the site to counter the criticisms levelled at homeopathy and alternative medicine by some sections of the media.

If you have been helped by homeopathy then you can sign the declaration on the website to show your support.

http://www.homeopathyworkedforme.org

Homeopathy dilutions

The most controversial aspect for critics is that the remedies are made using extremely high dilutions of homeopathic substances. Conventional science indicates that most homeopathic remedies are so dilute that none of the original substance can possibly be present. However, remedies are made by a process of dilution and vigorous shaking (known as succession) and this combination seems to change the properties of the diluted liquid.

Research over the last few years has led scientists to acknowledge that the structure of water is not as simple as once believed and that vigorously shaken, ultra high dilutions have physical and chemical properties very different from pure water. Researchers like Rustum Roy and Iris Bell have carried out important research in this area.

This site gives a good overview of one aspect of this debate

http://www.livescience.com/environment/041201_water_bonds.html

A good starting point for those interested in learning more on this topic is:

http://www.vhan.nl/documents/ScientificReportECHNov04.pdf

The effect of high dilutions

In an experimental study of ultra-high dilutions of litihum chloride and sodium chloride which had been vigorously stirred between dilutions, researchers found emission of light even in dilutions beyond Avogadro?s number (10^-30 g cm^-3). The solutions were irradiated by x- and gamma-rays at 77 K, then progressively rewarmed to room temperature. Thermoluminescence was studied during the process.

Rey L. Thermoluminescence of ultra-high dilutions of lithium chloride and sodium chloride. Physica A 323 (2003) 67?74.

Full article available at

http://www.vhan.nl/documents/Rey.thermoluminescence.pdf

In another study of extremely diluted and succussed solutions (<>-5 mol kg^-1, chemically identical to distilled water) researchers found that the diluted and succussed solution resulted in exothermic excess of heat (heat resulting from chemical reactions), higher electrical conductivity and pH compared to an untreated substance. The authors conclude that they show that successive dilutions and succussions can permanently alter the physico-chemical properties of the water solvent. The authors are unable to explain the phenomena.

Elia V, Niccoli M. New physico-chemical properties of extremely diluted aqueous solutions. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, Vol. 75 (2004) 815?836.

Abstract available at

http://grande.nal.usda.gov/ibids/index.php?mode2=detail&origin=ibids_references&therow=752081

Not really anything about research but a lovely example of homeopathy in action in a crisis.

http://pearlofhealth.blogspot.com/2007/06/dishwashing-liquid-youre-soaking-in-it.html

Just a placebo

Placebo

The idea that homeopathy is ?just a placebo? is a common criticism, however there are several studies which look at treatment of children or animals who could not have been influenced by any kind of placebo effect. These are just two examples of papers which address the issue of placebo.

There are three well-known studies where children given homeopathic remedies showed a highly significant result in the duration of childhood diarrhoea. It should be noted that the World Health Organisation consider childhood

diarrhoea to be the number one public health problem today because of the millions of children who die every year from dehydration from diarrhoea.

Jacobs J, Jonas WB, Jiménez-Pérez M, Crothers D

Homeopathy for childhood diarrhoea: combined results and meta-analysis from three randomized, controlled clinical trials. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2003 Mar;22(3):229-34

Article abstract available at

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_

uids=12634583&dopt=AbstractPlus

Researchers at the University of Glasgow have conducted several studies into the effect of serially agitated high dilutions of an allergen (30C, which contains no molecules of the original substance) on patients with allergic rhinitis. These were not trials of treatment but they were designed to address the placebo hypothesis, using allergy as a model. In 2000 they performed a meta-analysis, reviewing all the data from four studies on allergic conditions, which totalled 202 subjects. The results of this meta-analysis were so substantial (P=0.0004) that the authors concluded that either homeopathic medicines work or controlled clinical trials do not. Because modern science is based on controlled clinical trials, it is a more likely conclusion that homeopathic medicines are effective.

Taylor, M., Reilly, D., Llewellyn-Jones, R., McSharry, C., Aitchison, T. Randomised controlled trial of homeopathy versus placebo in perennial allergic rhinitis with overview of four trial series. British Medical Journal 2000; 321: 471-6.

Full article available at

http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/106/01/BMJTaylor2000.pdf

Bristol Homeopathic Hospital study

Bristol Homeopathic Hospital study
One of the most comprehensive surveys of homeopathic treatment is an analysis of over 23,000 outpatient consultations at the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital from November 1997 to October 2003. This represented over 6,500 individual patients whose overall outcome was recorded at follow-up. More than 70% of these follow-up patients reported clinical improvement following homeopathic treatment. Many of the patients in the analysis had previously received mainstream medical treatment and had either failed to respond satisfactorily or had been unable to tolerate the conventional medication they had been prescribed.

Dr D S Spence, Dr E A Thompson and S J Barron. J. Altern. Homeopathic Treatment for Chronic Disease: A 6-Year, University-Hospital Outpatient Observational Study. Complement. Med. 2005; 11#5: 793-798

Full article available at

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Pharmacology/dc-bits/spence-jacm-05.pdf

See also the news article on BBC website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4454856.stm

Homeopathy Research Institute

I am a member of the Homeopathy Research Institute which has recently been set up with a view to doing quality research and trials which will be published in medical peer-reviewed journals.

http://www.homeopathyresearchinstitute.org/

The nature of homeopathic treatment is very different to conventional medicine and so double blind, placebo controlled trials do not represent how a homeopath would normally treat a patient. There is work going on in British universities to look at this problem and develop ways of designing trials which will take into account the personal nature of the consultation and choice of remedies.

In spite of this, there is a huge amount of good quality, published research which shows that homeopathy is an effective treatment for a variety of conditions. This paper is a review of positive research and surveys which was compiled by the European Network of Homeopathic Researchers. It contains brief summaries of the research articles, together with full references.

http://www.worldhomeopathy.org/PositiveHomeopathy.pdf