Which is modern medicine: Allopathy or Homeopathy?

Question

Homeopathy treats the root cause of the disease. You have along lasting to permanent cure. Homeopathy often avoids surgery. Homeopathic medicines strengthen the immune system. Homeopathy is based on the philosophy that the body, mind and emotions are not separate and distinct, but are integrated

Answer 1

Both are forms of medicine and both are used in the modern age, along with Chiropractic and Acupuncture.

Try them and see for yourself which is best.

Answer 2

Homeopathy does nothing except cost you money.  If you have a serious condition you will die if you only use homeopathic remedies..

Answer 3

Technically neither.  Allopathy is older than homeopathy though both ideas have been around for 100's of years.

Hahnemaan invented and coined the term homeopathy.  He was comparing it in contrast to what he called allopathy, although versions of that term had been around for hundreds of years.   Allopathy was a holdover from Greek times, preserved through Arabic writings.  It was all about balancing the 4 humors with purges, bleedings and other useless nastiness.  Paracelsus also expressed some thoughts of 'like curing like'

This was in prescientific times, and many patients died from the treatment of illnesses they would have otherwise recovered from.  So actually, at the time, homeopathy (do nothing) was actually more beneficial.  Fortunately modern medicine now recognizes when it is appropriate to do nothing, and just let nature run its course.  

Modern medicine is called just that, or science based, or evidence based or western or conventional.   As a modern evidence based physician, I consider being called an allopath as a pejorative term.

EDIT:  Homeopathy ONLY "treats" symptoms.  The potions are completely symptom driven. You have a fever..give this. You have itchy lips...give a little of that..you are nauseated another 30c of something else.  The claim that they only treat the causes (ignoring the fact they treat nothing at all for a moment) is the most laughable and ironic thing about homeopathy.  It is the MOST symptom driven treatment of any.

Answer 4

Homeopathy was thought up over 200 years ago by Hahnemann  and has not changed much since then. Despite discoveries in Chemistry and Physics that make his ideas scientifically impossible, and clinical trials that show no difference between homeopathy and placebos, homeopaths cling to their antique concepts and practices.

Allopathy (their term for what we call modern medicine), on the other hand, has discovered bacteria, vitamins, hormones, viruses, vaccines, X-rays, anaesthetics, antibiotics.

Answer 5

I'll speak on behalf of homeopathy as a certified homeopath who also works with medical doctors who have experience with and thus embrace alternative healing modalities.

The term modern does not really apply to either conventional medicine or homeopathy. Mainstream medicine's treatment by symptom suppression, and homeopathy's principles of supporting the organism's attempts to heal (i.e., symptoms), both date back to Hippocrates. Homeopathy's principles, from which Dr. Hahnemann later developed homeopathy, go back even further, to Paracelsus. You probably know that Dr. Hahnemann coined both terms. The doctors of his day either shifted to practicing "homeopathy," or continued with "old school" medicine - i.e., "allopathy" (or, "other medicine"). Today, mainstream medicine is usually referred to as conventional or traditional medicine. Or, allopathy, if one has even a trivial understanding of homeopathy.

It's interesting that you asked for debate about the homeopathy and conventional medicine, rather than include other "alternative" healing modalities. Homeopathy is the flip side of medicine's coin.

SkepDoc is incorrect about his explanation of how homeopathy works. You probably already knew that.

It's interesting that our respective answers are but microcosms of the macrocosm. SkepDoc's inaccuracy and personal opinion would aim to suppress homeopathy. As a trained, certified, experienced homeopath, I allow that there is room for both to peaceably co-exist.

Answer 6

Allopathy.

Answer 7

Homeopathic thoughts begins where allopathic thoughts ends.  Homeopathic thoughts have been there and treatments of like cures like "Ushnam Ushnena Shamana" (Heat cures Heat), was there right from the Shushrutha's times i.e. B.Cand was a branch of Ayurveda.    Herodotus probably carried it to Greece.  Homeopathy is holistic and sees body and mind as one whole and a microcosm( a universe in itself).  It works at the energy level and is much more faster and safer.  It needs a more  transcendental and spiritual mind  to understand homeopathy where as a materialistic mind can easily grasp allopathy because its healaing system basically hovers around the body and the organs and its dissection, anatomy and physiology.   It does not take the mind, the thoughts, the emotions, its consciousness, its dreams, its waking, sleeping, semiconscious, unconscious and Thuria States into consideration while treating the body.  The body is all they see, the body is all they treat, and the body is all they cut into pieces ultimately and once nothing is left behind for surgery,  look upto homeopathy to heal.

Answer 8

"allopathy", though the term is silly, is much closer to "modern" medicine (aka evidence based).  You make a lot of claims of what homeopathy can do, but I see no proper studies to back it up.

Another question I've always wondered is, if homeopathy is based (at more dilute solutions) on water having a memory of what it's had contact with, how can I know I'm not drinking pee and whatever else was in the river that the water originally came from?  I'm sure if I test the water, I'll find no urine, but as long as it was once in a river or lake with fish urine or f***s, why wouldn't it "remember" that as well?