Parvaneh A. Farid

Thank you dear Azadeh

I personally do as you said, always have both conventional diagnosis, check all the lab test and read my other colleagues diagnosis and suggestions. And in consultation with the patient we get to an agreement on treatments.

I wish you a very healthy life free of all medications.

Why don't you follow your won advice Azadeh?

You advise that it's better to read both pro and con literature about the subject and then provide four references in support of Homeopathy. You accuse big bad pharma of being against the Homeopathy and forget that that there are charlatan companies who sell these mambo jumbo in the name of medicine. The doctor that I have quoted is a respected columnist of the Guardian newspaper and has equally challenged the big pharma and specially its vitamin and supplement industry. Here is his website for reference.

//www.badscience.net/

It is good that you have decided to believe in the miracle of water and miraculous healing properties of water diluted in water. I visited the sources that you provided and still can believe more in black magic. Let me provide some quotes from them.

These people (medical doctors) have repeatedly spread negativity about any form of medicine that is not conventional, and it is time those of us who practice alternative medicine pointed a finger at them. (From your third reference)

Yes that is what I call scientific language and it filled me with confidence that the author is a huge medical authority.

It is worth noting that at least homeopathy has never been proven worse than placebo, unlike conventional medicines, such as Seroxat - the anti-depressant that lead to suicides. (From your second reference)

So, Homeopathic medicine is not worse than empty pills. Yes, of course, it is only water and sugar. And can you see the flaw in the argument? Failure of one conventional medicine is a proof of validity of homeopathy.

Homeopathy is successful in treating a wide range of conditions, often after conventional medicine has failed. (From your first reference)

Yes, exactly, that is where opportunists profit from the insecurities of a hopeless patient.

Now to balance the references in this blog I also add one against Homeopathy in addition to the link to the resourceful website of Bad Science given above. At the end just remind you and everyone else in this forum that there is no clinical proof for Homeopathy and is based on the absurd theory of like cures like.

//www.ukskeptics.com/homeopathy.php

Your article is appreciated, Dr. Farid

Pharmaceuticals often fund educational institutions which educate doctors and respective hospitals. The unfortunate thing here is that doctors, despite being honest and well-meaning, may only prescribe based on the paradigm rooted in their corporate-funded education. The Big Pharma has people who write books against homeopathy and popular media brands natural systems with the connotation of quackery.

I think reading both pro and con literature on homeopathy would be the wisest approach.

Personally, if I come down with an illness, I would consult both  traditional and homeopathic doctors and make a decision.

//www.hmcc.ca/

//www.abchomeopathy.com/scientific.htm 

//ezinearticles.com/?Homeopathy-vs-Conventional-Medicine---Where-Are-the-Real-Doctors?&id=1385982

//answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101221053106AAArgIe

Cheers,

Azadeh

Please don't hush me with your qualification

Please don't try to silence me with your qualifications. The fact that you are a medical doctor does not entitle you to sell voodoo to people when there is no cure for their sickness. Homeopathy does not seem to be very different to that.

Without wishing any insult, it is now clear that it is not only the religious preacher who profit from the boundary of the human knowledge and the man's fears and misfortune but also professionals who sell them water and sugar in the name of medicine.

I admit that I do not have much knowledge about Homeopathy and I forward my argument very respectfully that if what I read is correct then it just seems to have no logical base.

Let's take the example of what you have advertised for killing pain Arnica C30. Am I correct to assume that it has been diluted 30 times and every time 1 part in 100? If so please let me quote a short paragraph from the book which I incidentally found hilarious.

"Society of Homeopaths in the UK will tell you that 30C contains less than one part per million of the original substance. That I would say is something of an understatement. A 30C homeopathic preparation is a dilution of 1 in 100 raised to the power of 30, or 10 raised to the power of 60, or one followed by sixty zeroes. To avoid any misunderstandings this is dilution of 1 in 1,000,000, 000,000, 000, 000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000,000, 000,000, 000,000, 000,000, 000,000, 000,000, 000,000,000,000, 000,000, 000,000, 000,000, 000, 000,000,000,000, 000,000. This is definitely less than one part per million of the original substance.

For perspective there are only around 100,000,000 ,000, 000 ,000, 000 ,000,000 ,000,000 molecules of water in an Olympic sized swimming pool. Imagine a sphere of water with a diameter of 150 million kilometres (the distance from the earth to the sun). It takes light eight minutes to travel that distance. Picture a sphere of water that size, with one molecule of a substance in it. That's a 30C dilution."

You surely know far more than anyone else in this forum about Homeopathy and I would be grateful if you could shed some light on the above.

do not suffice to one book

Dear Sir/Madam

 If you are a medical doctor like myself then surely you know that the science of conventional medicine can only treat a small fraction of diseases if we are talking about healing a disease propperly and not suppressing it.

If you are not a medical doctor I humbly suggest you do not make any treatment be it paracetamol or anything else, and not to make any judgment based on one book, no matter how good you have found it.

wish you a very healthy life free of all kinds of medication.

You can't be serious about Homeopathy

One of the best books that I read in the last 12 months and highly recommend it to everyone to read is "Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre. Reading the book you will see how baseless is Homeopathy, Placebo, unnecessary vitamin and mineral supplements and some other techniques and products that are claimed to compete with the clinical medicine. In the case of headache I suggest a Paracetamol.