I haven't had much experience with homeopathic medicine but the little bit of experience that I've had has shown me that it is working on some level. I've had a whole lot of experience with prescription medicines and have had numerous reactions to most of them. Now, I take as few prescribed meds as possible and I feel great. I take a proactive approach to my health and try to avoid putting harsh medicines into my body. All I can say is if you feel that homeopathic medicines work for you then continue to take them. They certainly can't hurt you. You can't take this approach with prescription meds. The body has what is called a rebound effect which is the reaction that some get when they take harsh medicines. Same thing happens when you use too much Visine or nosespray. It works really well at first then gradually decreases to the point that you have to use it every day to get the same effect(sounds like what happens with addictions also). If you don't make your body work it gets lazy, naturally. Homeopathic medicine diluted in the water is like a memory. We react to our memories though it has been a while since the particular incident happened. We can also heal through our mind and memories. Having faith moves mountains.Plus, even if it really isn't working you can fall back on the placebo effect and that works also!

John Mayer

exactly what is a "real" doctor?

Does my 8 years of college count, or do I have to be "accepted" by hospitals, insurance companies and you?

Philosophy limits perception

Perceptions create limitations

Scientific principles are Universal

This is a message for Dr Rik. With all due respect Dr., you also make decisions based on your own perceptions and worldviews(philosophy),where you went to school, who taught and influenced you,the pressures of where you work, who funds your experiments and most importanly what you personally believe. No one knows "truth", not even you. Science is not truth. You can know facts but the questions and how they are answered are different based on the person doing the inquiry. Thats why its so important to know how experiments are done and how hypothesis are formulated so that you work to find the flaws,which are always there, and weigh those flaws with what you know. Only then can a person make good decisions for themselves and their families. Also to find out who funds the project will help to lead you to find out what the objectives are which in turn effects the results. I think everyone knows that you can lie with statistics. Even after all this it's never completely objective. I recommend that you ask the larger questions here. Everything is directed by individual perceptions and philosophies and most people will inadvertently follow the leader of the group. The leader being the one who has the power in the form of money or knowledge(a.k.a professionalism).The principles that I speak of are from social psycholgy. It's also important to understand philosophy which helps you to understand that absolutely everything can be questioned including what you know as the "truth". Thats why I encourage people to follow what they believe in using their own observations and critical thinking abilities. If you don't have them then cultivate them because these skills will help guide your reasoning abilty. People in power are making choices for you that are not in your best interest including with all due respect...Doctors. Perception is reality..reality is truth...truth is variable depending on the person

Thats why I like Dr. Mercola because he's a renegade in the field of medicin

Homeopathy is little understood and, like anything we don't understand, it is open to much second guessing.  I have seen it work with too many people, including myself, as well as animals to dismiss it - and yet I still wonder about it.

As far as feeling worse before feeling better, that is a commonplace reaction to cell die-off and repair as the body heals itself no matter what the source, particularly so in natural healing.  It is called the Herxheimer Reaction:

www.tbyil.com/Herxheimer.htm

I have to add that I agree with the poster who said that allopathic medicine cures nothing.

“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”

- Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease."

- Thomas Edison

"Nature alone can cure disease. Doctors cannot heal. They can only direct the sufferer back to the pathways of health. Nature alone can create, and healing is re-creation."

- Dr. William S. Sadler

Is that a fact though?  

That's like the supposed fact that mosquitoes can smell you a mile away.  It that was true, you'd be swarmed in moquitos to the point you wouldn't be able to see yourself.

Fauz,

If I remember correctly, mosquitoes don't 'smell', they sense heat. So the molecule theory would not apply in that particular case.

It is difficult, John , to do a study on homeopathy because every case is treated INDIVIDUALLY.  Allopathic medicine can be catagorized into number studies becasue it treats patients in massive groups exactly with the same medicine... The studies, by the way, also only show results showing that SYMPTOMS have gone away.  This does't mean the patients are healthy now. The study of homeopathy is done by experiencing it in yourself and others.

By the way, energy DOES exist. You must know this.  That is what a homeoopathic remedy is.  Energy. And yes, energy DOES exist.

The article you refer to states that the greater the dilution the greater the benefit.  This is the article FIRST misunderstanding of homeopathy.  It is not DILUTION that is crucial so much at potency.

The article "researchers" are looking for a molecule.  Homeopathy is an energy.

Kind of like looking for an orange on an apple tree, isn't it?

Also I certainly wouldn't consider homeopathy a profitable industry!!!!!

You said you worked in an ER....good lord, you MUST know what a sham the cost of our allopathic health care is!!!!!!

I must say,  that was a pretty lame *ss article to present!  

Mama Jan keeps an epi pen with her because a life death situation is something not to mess around with.  Allopathic medicine saves many lives everyday in EMERGENCY life or death situations.  But this is a whole SEPERATE medicine from the chronic diseases that homeopathy heals.

The article you refered us to is garbage.  If that is what you consider studying up on homeopathy then there is no point in having discussion with you.

You can't argue a point if you don't understand the topics!!!

Carole

john mayer--you may have read up on your mythology, but that does not make it true.  as for the Lancet article, it has been debunked many times for its bias and lack of accuracy.  your use of it only shows your need to maintain your bias.

my 20+ yrs of experience with homeopathy shows that it works incredibly well.  i have personal experience with infants and pets who have no preconceived notions or defences for or against.  i worked with an infant a few yrs ago who was under home care by physical and occupational therapists.  they told me point blank that they had no idea what i was doing, but that all the improvement with this baby had nothing to do with them.  i gave a remedy and the change was just about instant.  when i gave a remedy as an acute it was only paliative.  during this remedy use, it was immediately obvious that when given the remedy physical changes were immediate, but relapsed if the parents forgot to give the remedy.  the constitutional remedies i gave had long-term impact that was permanent.

i have had experiences on mental, emotional and physical levels with myself and others that i have worked with.  the fact that you cannot wrap your mind around a different paradigm is your weakness and loss, not the fault of homeopathy.