Why patients choose Homeopathy over Allopathy?

Question

1. Wholistic Medicine

2. Gentler system of medicine with no side effects

3. Strengthens immune system

4. Tried and Tested Medicines

5. Long lasting to permanent cure

6. Often avoids Surgery

7. Cost effective

Answer 1

Actually it depends on the diseases , if you see attentively , you will find for some specific diseases , people are taking homeopath suggestion, and surprisingly in those diseases homeopath doctors have been able to be successful to give treatment.

Answer 2

Homeopathic remedies are very cheap, and medics and homeopaths alike agree that homeopathy is completely safe with not a single side-effect. Further, the patients believes the remedy will work for them, and can cure themselves, by the placebo effect.

No doubt there exists a mind-body connection to every disease, some claim that all diseases are caused by the mind or negative thinking, specifically the subconcious mind. A homeopathic remedy is the perfect placebo, and brings the patients back to health.

Homeopathy can be dangerous if used solely as Alternative medicine without utilising other AM therapies {Gerson Therapy, Rife Therapy, 714X ect} or even the deadly medical trinity, chemo-radiation-surgury.

http://www.consumerhealth.org/articles/d...

The Wholistic Approach is not exclusive to Alternative Medicine, nor is the Reductionist/Mechanistic Approach exclusive to Conventional Medicine.

Medical Doctors may treat say a patient with diabetes mellitus with insulin, but diabetics are a high risk group for suffering from comorbid conditions like depression, so prescribing an antidepressant would be a holistic approach, treating the mind and body.

Alternative Medicine practionioners may treat say a patient with Angina Pectoris with the herb Hawthorne Berry to dilate coronary arteries, yet this does not treat the cause, which is a lack of nitrogen oxide production by the cells lining the arteries, endothelial cells, and due to the steady decline of co-enzyme Q10 which begins to decline after 20yrs of age, this is needed to maintain cardiovascular health, correct metabolism, energy and retards ageing. Supplementing with Coenzyme Q10 200mg per day, Nitrogen Oxide, Cayenne pepper, Vitamin C 6g, 6g Proline, 6g Lysine with reverse angina pectoris, alternatively, begin Gerson Therapy.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

First...I don't know anybody who practices allopathy anymore.  That went out with Aristotle, purges, bleedings and balancing the humors, though leeches and maggots are actually making a comeback in plastic and microvascular surgery. (you see...no matter how weird it may sound, if it actually WORKS, we`ll use it)  

So, I`ll just refer to what I do as Medicine.  

So on to your misinformation

1.  It is an Altie myth that physicians don't treat the whole person or are just symptom oriented. (As an atheist, I treat the mind and body...but I don`t believe in the soul.  Modern doctors who happen to be religious may also claim to treat the soul.)

Homeopathy is COMPLETELY symptom geared...it is ALL you treat.  

As a Family doctor, I was taught to understand illness in the context of the person`s entire psych-social framework, to understand cultural differences in illness, and attitudes towards it.  As a family doc I deal with not just the medical issues, but psychiatric problems, marital problems, job and financial problems, child rearing problems,  insurance and disability, medico-legal issues etc etc.  We use a patient centered model where we are only advisers, the patient has the opportunity of informed consent, and can accept or reject treatment recommendations.  I won`t event mention my other role as an ER doc...because there it is self evident even to Alties that Medicine works best.

2. I'm not sure what you mean by "gentler". You are implying that medicine is violent?  Offer some proof of that.  If I suture somebody up they will have a little pain when I put in the anesthetic, but the gaping hole they came in with hurts a little as well.  Some surgical procedures like colonoscopy are invasive and uncomfortable (a small price to pay to find out if that blood in your stool is from cancer, I think)  

On the other hand, there can be side effects from placebo treatments....which is after all what homeopathy represents....these are called nocebos.  This comes up all the time in studies...people on the placebo arm report all kinds of nasty side effects from sugar pills, or sham treatments.  There are also the harmful side effects of ineffectual treatment of actual serious diseases.

3. "strengthens the immune system" is rhetorical nonsense.  It means nothing.  Do you even understand what the immune system is or how it works   Do you know what T lymphocytes or macrophages are? Do you know what immunoglobulins and Complement do?  Can you show me a single study published anywhere in the world that demonstrates an immune response of any kind following a homeopathic treatment?  (there are actually studies done on mice that show a placebo can suppress an immune response, so theoretically it may be possible to boost one.  I`m not closed minded about this...show me the study, and then show that Homeopathy did BETTER than placebo)

4. ``Tried and tested actually refers to modern medicines such as antibiotics, immunizations, chemotherapy agents, surgical techniques and medical devices which go through years of rigorous and expensive testing to prove efficacy and safety., then licensing procedures.  Tried and tested`` refers to clinical studies, animal models, phase 4 trials.  Tried and tested`` has no meaning in homeopathy as the entire philosophy of "like cures like" has never been shown to be true.  The anecdotal provings are therefore utterly meaningless.

5. Nothing has ever been "cured" by homeopathy that wasn't going to get better anyway, or was of a psychosomatic nature.  Physicians aren't arrogant enough to take credit for "curing" people of self limited illnesses...we recognize it is nothing serious, and that your body will deal with it.  Only homeopaths have the hubris to claim creidit for nonexistent cures

6. Medicine often avoids surgery too.  In some cases, the only cure is surgery.  If your appendix is infected and about to burst and spill pus and f***s into your abdomenal cavity...you want surgery, not medicine.   And certainly not homeopathy (non medicine)

7. AltMed in general is not cheap!!!.  There's a huge profit margin in selling useless products and services too.  And as patients are usually paying out of their own pockets, it can be more of a direct financial hardship.  Homeopathy is one of the more expensive modalities of Alt Med,  I've never met a patient who didn't come away from their tediously long visit with a bill for a large consultation fee, and some very expensive sugar pills...all of which gets paid directly to the homeopath.  I spend more time explaining to patients that they don't need a prescription, but if I decide that it is indicated, I don't get a cent from that decision.

Answer 4

I checked your website so know you are also a homeopath. The reasons you list are why people continue with homeopathy. The main reason people consult a homeopath in the first place is that, throughout the years, "nothing else worked." They exhausted the resources of both conventional and alternative medicine. A common (well-placed) phrase is, "You are my last hope." A reason they turn exclusively to homeopathy is the uneducated judgment of their primary care physician - "if you see a homeopath, do not return to me" - not unlike the original allopathic / homeopathic split in the U.S., paralleled today by the conservative / liberal opposing states of mind.

Answer 5

Just to clear things up. The term allopathy is only used by homeopath quacks to refer to modern medicine. Allopathy is NOT the old-style bleeding and leeches treatment, that was what helped homeopathy appear so advanced. 'Heroic medicine' was the descriptive term applied to the bleeding and leeches type medicine.

Modern medicine uses similar applications of like-cures-like in some drug applications, sometimes it is opposites against. The difference is, modern drugs actually contain something, homeopathic solutions are merely water.

The reasons for acceptance is anyone's guess: lies. hearsay, delusion, misinterpretation, desperation. You choose.

Answer 6

All of the above and then more

Answer 7

The second reason you give.  With regular Rx I am always back at the Doc's trying to cure the side effects.....lol

Answer 8

I'm about as open minded as you can get with alt medicine but I can't say I've ever seen it do anything with myself or family.

I know people who swear it has worked wonders though, and I do often see the negative effects of standard medicine, and the twisted logic behind many medical prescriptions - a lot of the Drs. thinking goes along the lines of "how can I keep this person from suing me" rather than what is really best for them.  (Or more sinisterly - How can I make the most money off of them).

Answer 9

they're fools?

Why do people choose homeopathy?

1.  They don't know what it is (really is).  Multiple dilutions of water and active ingredients which produce a symptom you're trying to cure.  The more dilute the substance, the stronger is it said to be.  Obviously it magically doesn't follow any physics or chemistry through voodoo..

2.  Homeopathic medicine has no side effects because it is 100% water (unless you're allergic to water :\ then you're screwed).

3.  Boosting immune system means nothing in reality.

4.  Homeopathic "medicine" shows that it is no better than placebo in studies.

5.  The placebo effect is temporary.

6.  If someone has a real illness, they are more likely to get hurt even more because they fail to treat it when they should have.

7.  Buyer beware.  People might skip for the magic medicine because of the cost.  I hope that the symptom they're trying to cure is one which will go away naturally, and not something like malaria.....

@andyg77, we're not talking about Rx side effects, who cares.  homeopathic medicines have side effects because there is often 0 molecules of the active ingredient in the final dilution, thus nothing to cause side effects.