Discuss the rationale for the use of homeopathy in the health care.?

Question

critically evaluate whether it has any role in pharmaceutical or medical practice.

Answer 1

Homeopathy is baised on the "law of similars" meaning that like cures like.  For instance, if you have allergies, (runny nose, wattery eyes, etc.) then you would take very minute amounts of another substance that would cause those same symptoms, say for instance allium cepia (onion).  Then supposedly the symptoms would cancel each other out and your body would be able to heal itself.

Thats one of the main driving points behind homeopathy; that you want the body to cure itself.  This is why if you look at a book, or go to a homoepathic doctor that they are very interested in what your symptoms are, including lifestyle.  Instead of "I'm in pain," heres a drug for pain, they try to decipher why you're in pain, (overexertion, cramps, etc.)

As with any medicine, this method is either going to work for you or its not.  I've had several people who swear by the stuff, and some who didn't notice anything, but I don't think the rate is higher than any other supplement or drug.

As with any supplement, it should be used in conjunction with other treatments and therapies.  It can be a good alternative for people who are already on drugs as the incidence of a homeopathic interacting with a drug is slim to none.  Not to say that it cant happen, but I've never seen it, simply because the does that you're working with are so minute.

Answer 2

Of course it does and here's why:

Nearly all the benefit caused by the vast majority of traditional medicine appears to be placebo:

http://www.deep-trance.com/treatment/pla...

The difficulty of evaluating a treatment is based on how easy it is to isolate the effect from placebo, corporate bias etc.

Because homeopathic solutions are apparently indistinguishable from a water placebo, it makes them ideal for testing.  However, just because traditional and other alternative medicines are inherently more difficult to test, does not make them more or less valuable than homeopathy.  Not only is it *not* a level playing field, it is inherently bumpy...

By refusing to accept this fact, most areas in medicine are 20-30 years behind where they should be...

So unlike traditional medicine, homeopathy has been subjected to the most rigorous of scientific testing.

James Randi tested homeopathy in (what I thought was) a groundbreaking programme shown on BBC Horizon.

By simply making sure the diluter didn't know which solutions were pre-homeopathic (vs water), the effect disappeared.

This programme is still available as a torrent on BTJunkie (search "Randi Horizon") and I highly recommend it.

James Radin has since shown (not yet replicated) that blessing chocolate increases mood and energy beyond that of unblessed chocolate:

http://deanradin.blogspot.com/2007/10/in...

So homeopathy may even outperform placebo.

As such, homeopathy is a cheap & safe way of delivering this placebo+ effect.

Answer 3

Sounds like an exam question - 500 words or less?  a whole bluebook?

Using other drugs or medicines can antidote many homepathic remedies.