Homeopathy

The history of homeopathy
Homeopathy is derived from the two Greek words –hómoios which means similar and páthos that signifies suffering. The term homeopathy was used by the German physician Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann and first appeared in print in 1807, although he had began outlining his axiom of medical similars in a series of articles and monographs from 1796.

This method of treatment is widely popular in India and Europe; in the United States, it is not mcuh used as such therapies have been subject to very strict ordinances; very recently, even in Europe very strict and tight rules and regulations have been implemented by the EDQM.

The Theory of Homeopathy
The principle of homeopathy believes in treating the sick and unhealthy with exceptionally diluted agents that in concentrated form produce similar symptoms in the healthy or the normal. The homeopathic doctors believe that the chances of recovery are much higher if the serial dilution of the medication is increased laong with succussion or violent shaking. Unlike the established school of medicine, homeopathy believes that any disease is nothing but just a “morbid derangement of the organism”. This theory also asserts that every instance of an ailment differs from one person to another and an ailing person has a ‘dynamic disturbance in a hypothetical vital force’; hence, the conventional method of diagnosis and medication is not acceptable.

Since this alternative medical therapy believes in the principle of diluting the drugs to make them more effective, Homeopathy has faced tremendous amount of criticism from various sections of medical science; professionals have debated its authenticity and even termed it as “quackery” or “pseudo science”. Unfortunately placebo controlled clinical trials have only given mixed results and better quality trials are more likely to produce negative results. To make matters worse quite a few cases of critical conditions have proved to fatal from attempts made to treat serious diseases solely with homeopathy drugs.

Use of homeopathy for the treatment of Cancer
At the beginning of 2006, the European Journal of Cancer conducted a research and published the results of six trails of homeopathic treatments for the treatment of Cancer which included chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Amongst these six, three were were randomised double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials. The authors of this publication were the Department of Complementary Medicine at the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth. According to their investigation, there were not enough evidence to suppport the homeopathic use for the cancer therapy; however, the results were pretty encouraging and requires further investigation.

Popularity of homeopathy
As discussed earlier, homeopathy is much popular in India and Europe than in USA. Research has indicated that the growth of homeopathy in the British market is almost 20 percent every year; the growth rates are far high in Germany and Portugal. However, it is interesting to note that while this alternative form of medical treatment is usually considered to be complementary to its conventional counterpart, in India almost 10 percent of the population use homeopathy exclusively for their medical requirements.

Some interesting data
• More than 30 percent French doctors and 20 percent German medicos advise homeopathy to their patients.
• Almost 40 percent of British doctors recommend patients to seek homeopathy treatment.
• Nearly 45 percent of Dutch medicos firmly believe that homeopathic medicines are very effective.