Why i changed my mind about homeopathy

Gully, that he believes in everything. When Miss — was very ill, he had a clairvoyant girl to report on internal changes, a mesmerist to put her to sleep, an homeopathist, viz. Along with his skepticism in this letter, he also noted the case of a specific woman who had been cured by Dr Gully and his team. Darwin may have been very skeptical of homeopathy, but he had observed its results on his own health and in that of others, and he remained surprised and unconvinced.

Darwin occasionally experienced relapses of digestive and skin symptoms over the years, so he returned to Dr Gully's clinic for more treatments, staying 2—8 weeks. In fact, he asserted that his mind was alert and that his scientific writing was progressing well p. He lived for 33 more years, and it is surprising and confusing that the story of Darwin's successful experiences with hydrotherapy and homeopathy has not become an integral part of the history of science and medicine today.

After significant improvement in his persistent nausea and vomiting, frequent fainting spells, spots before his eyes, incapacitating stomach pains, severe fatigue, widespread boils, nerve-wrecking tremors and heart palpitations, he was considerably more able to do his seminal scientific work. In , the same year in which the Darwin family stayed at Dr Gully's spa for 3 months, Annie contracted scarlet fever at the age of 8 years.

There is no record of Dr Gully providing treatment for her at this time, but when she was 10, she became very ill. Dr Gully predicted that his treatment would lead to her recovery, but she died under his care. Although Darwin had experienced dramatically positive results from Gully's combination of treatments, Darwin felt less comfortable having his children receive some of such unorthodox care. There is no record of what treatments she did or did not receive, but in any case, Charles and his entire family were devastated by the loss of Annie.

Dr Gully was not the only homeopathic physician to provide clinical care to cultural elite of the 19th century. In fact, many of the leading politicians, clergy, literary greats, musical geniuses, royalty and wealthy classes were known patients and even advocates of homeopathy 10 , When his second cousin, William Darwin Fox, the man who introduced Darwin to entomology and to Dr Gully, had seen the doctor, Darwin expected him to have benefited from water cure and to be much stronger Some of Darwin's biographers never mention the homeopathic treatment he received.

Those biographers who mention his longtime health problems tend to emphasize the hydrotherapy that Dr Gully's spa provided and that Charles Darwin followed up on this treatment by regularly self-treating himself with cold baths and self-percussion of his body. A recent acclaimed biography of Darwin suggested the benefits he received were from a placebo effect, despite the inability to experience a similar placebo effect from the many other physicians he saw and the various treatments he attempted.

There is a long history of antagonism to homeopathic medicine from orthodoxy, and also a history of antagonism to water cure While homeopathy has persisted internationally as a minority school of medical thought and practice 17—19 , water cure as a medical treatment for chronic ailments has become marginalized or is hardly utilized today except by a minority of naturopathic physicians.

Darwin and many of his biographers have highlighted water cure in part because they simply could not believe that homeopathic medicines could provide any benefit. However, one must wonder if hydrotherapy alone could have provided these significant health benefits, especially in the first week of treatment that Darwin experienced. What is additionally intriguing about this story of Darwin is that it confirms an ultimately essential observation of truly effective healing methods: that they can and will be effective whether or not the person believes they will work.

Hardened skeptics insist that homeopathic treatment could not have helped Darwin or anyone and suggest that hydrotherapy must have been the method of therapeutic benefit. And yet, few orthodox physicians of that day or today would even consider using hydrotherapy for people with complex disease processes. Despite the wide respect that Dr Gully received from his many illustrious patients, he was disliked greatly by select orthodox physicians.

Sir Charles Hastings, a physician who later helped to found the British Medical Association, was Gully's most vitriolic antagonist. The additional drama to the lives of Gully and Hastings is that their sons were also antagonists to each other. Like his father, George Hastings was actively antagonistic to unconventional medical treatments.

Darwin's letters also expressed his thoughts about conventional medicine of his time. Not surprisingly, Ayerst was also a homeopathic physician. He served as assistant surgeon in the Royal Navy, was physician to Great Malvern, Worcestershire, ran a hydropathic establishment at Old Well House, Malvern Wells in conjunction with that of Dr Gully, and later, practiced homeopathy and hygienics in Torquay, Devon Darwin's wife Emma wrote to W.

XI, p. Darwin visited other hydrotherapy spas as well. And perhaps not by happenstance, Darwin's famed book On the Origin of Species was at the printing press, while he was at Ilkley Wells, a spa operated by Edmund Smith, MD, another homeopathic physician Vol.

It is also fascinating to note that Darwin himself conducted several experiments evaluating the effects of small doses on an insect-eating plant Drosera rotundifolia , commonly called sundew that is commonly used in homeopathic medicine.

He found that solutions of certain salts of ammonia stimulated the glands of the plant's tentacles and caused the plant to turn inward. He made this solution more and more dilute, but the plant still was able to detect the presence of the salt. On July 7, , he wrote to a well-known physiologist, Professor F.

Astonished by his observation, Darwin likened it to a dog that perceives the odor of an animal a quarter of a mile distant. Darwin said about this spectacular phenomenon:.

The reader will best realize this degree of dilution by remembering that 5, ounces would more than fill a thirty-one gallon cask [barrel]; and that to this large body of water one grain of the salt was added; only half a drachm, or thirty minims, of the solution being poured over a leaf.

Yet this amount sufficed to cause the inflection of almost every tentacle, and often the blade of the leaf. Two of my sons, who were as incredulous as myself, compared several lots of leaves simultaneously immersed in the weaker solutions and in water, and declared that there could be no doubt about the difference in their appearance. Darwin also discovered that Drosera is not simply sensitive to every substance.

He tested various alkaloids and other substances that act powerfully on humans and animals who have a nervous system but produced no effect on Drosera. Darwin confirmed an important homeopathic observation that living systems are hypersensitive to only certain substances. The doses in which Darwin tested above are not as dilute as most other homeopathic medicines, some of which are so dilute that, in all probability, they may not have any remaining molecules of the original medicine in the solution.

Furthermore, Darwin noted the remarkable effects that his extremely small doses had on a plant that did not have a nervous system, thereby suggesting that human beings and other animals may be sensitive to even smaller doses of certain substances.

However, there is no known record of Darwin testing even smaller doses on plants, let alone on humans. The archive of letters from Darwin includes one other interesting reference to homeopathy in which its significance is obvious but its meaning not perfectly clear.

This was in an August 20, , letter to Asa Gray, a professor of botany of which the first part, shown below in brackets, was probably written by Francis Darwin, his son and assistant, who collated his father's letters :. Explains the origin of plants and animals on the principles of homoeopathy or by the law of spirality. Book fell dead in Germany. Therefore would I translate it and publish it in England p. Personal Communication, March 29—30, Koch was a conventionally trained physician, graduated from the University of Tubingen, Germany in He began to study and practice homeopathy within a couple of years, and at the invitation of some influential families in Stuttgart, he moved there and developed a successful homeopathic practice.

A whole chapter is devoted to the evolution of crystals, plants, and animals. A year after Dr Koch published this book he moved to Philadelphia, though before leaving Europe, he was made an honorary member of the Homeopathic Institute of Paris.

He even served on the board of trustees of Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia A close friend and colleague of America's preeminent teacher of homeopathy, Dr Constantine Hering — , Dr Koch was one of his pallbearers.

Although Koch lived in the USA and could speak and write in English, he probably still sought Darwin or someone else whose mother tongue was English in order to have the most accurate translation. Before you disclaim Homeopathic check the statistics on how many people die from big Pharma drugs as well as from chemo and surgeries. Check how many people have died from Homeopathic treatment. So get your facts. Are you in the money pockets of the big Pharma.

I have been in chronic back pain.. He started me on a few formulas…day 2 I was almost pain free. I had stopped the meds the regular dr gave me. I am almost painfree now. Knowlwedge is power and without it, its sheer nonsense. Resource yourself positively and rewrite this article in 2 years from now. Homeopathy works even on people who does not believe in it. I have seen a prove of it. Why someone who disagree with homeopathy would write an article about it?

Only if someone have interest to shut down competitor. Known tactic! Homeopathy much ahead of its time, the world is changing. I went home and tried to look up the word in a few dictionaries. Could NOT find the word. This seems a rather aggressive and heated commentary. I believe we could also debunk mainstream meds if the average person understood number to treat. And, in closing, if s placebo affect makes someone feel better… is that not better than using a drug with side effects?

You are so far off base, there are many homeopathic products that work. One example is arnica. It is a topical cream for bruises, sore muscles etc…. Recently after a sports injury I applied this and it has amazing results. One of the problems with Homeopathy is it is not being used correctly, it needs to added to water to work more effectively and in certain doses.

I would say there is a far greater deception going on with science than there is with homeopathy. I am perfectly healthy and free of any drug addictions because I choose to live a life with preventative care, using homeopathy.

It is all bogus. Keep your science to yourself and let me trust my homeopath, you crook you!!! Do Canadian consumers understand what homeopathy is? And the remedies contain mystical spiritual energies that bring about healing. I could go on. Individual homeopaths and manufacturers of homeopathic medicines rarely mention the mystical aspects of homeopathy. They mislead the public as a result.

You must be taking some kind of prescription drug to come to this kind of conclusion you sicko scientist. Drugs and science are only money making schemes, but seldom give good health results. Ironically Timothy Caulfield was a second author of the review about of bias against homeopathy. While you are at it, ban all chemicals we are convinced to inject into our bodies. Chlorine, flouride… bla bla bla. Thanks for your unsupported assertion. Care to provide evidence for it, or at least some kind of hypothesis that might convince the many millions who think that they were cured by mainstream medicine that they are, in fact, still sick, injured or actually dead?

The flu shot has been proven as ineffective as placebo several times already, yet quacks still offer it up, year after year. False, tipically the OTC homeopathic drugs are based on low dilutions below the Avogadro number. As example, the low decimal potencies as 1X, 3X or 6X may contain the original substante in minimal quantities:. In the case of super avogadro dilutions, some physicochemical evidence reveals alteration in structure or water-ethanol homeopathic dilutions, under controled conditions.

I am not intending to bash the conventional medical system, or promote homeopathy, but like any existing healing knowledge; each has its moments of brilliance and moments of limitation.

Homeopathic remedies have been part of our global historical legacy for over two hundred years; botanical remedies for hundreds of years. If you are Aboriginal, Asian, or use Traditional Chinese Medicine, then you have a proven legacy of thousands of years of study and use. The real truth about healing is that our body is designed to heal itself. With that in mind, when shopping for any product or service, I claim the right to choose what works best for me. Yes, I agree. Occam Razor: What do you have to say regarding the false memory syndrome foundation being closed in ?

Point well made. Does anyone wonder why some remedies has lasted through the decades and beyond? Sometimes a remedy has many natural properties that are actually good for the body and creates no side effect. Nelda, Such a great post. You are so right!!

Of course, someone would argue if science was not there to validate the claims of the remedies used for hundreds of years, it must be mystical. We must fight for our right to choose and not let the scientist deceive us with their addictive bad drugs.

Argument from antiquity. Deliberately confusing homeopathy with herbal medicines. The only thing centuries of use prove is centuries of use.

All your sentence means is that there is proof debatable, at best that some undefined traditions have had study not defined and use not defined over periods spanning thousands of years. Most people are not like me I check how many time something has been researched, what was the sample size, who did it consist of and if the results were consistent and reproduced by other researchers. Nice pursuit of the false equivalence there. Keep up the sowing of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Just kidding. Spare us.

In the case of Lyme, a vaccine that was supposedly researched and tested in advance was offered to the general population in the early 90s and very quickly removed because it caused more harm than good and one of the main researchers who set the guidelines for treating Lyme disease had then joined forces with a company who developed a test for lyme and was about to launch.

Coincidence, I think not! In the end, getting well, whether prescribed, drugs or naturopathic remedies is all a crap shoot. That was pretty much proven for me, two weeks ago, when my brother in law, was brought into hospital and diagnosed with an aggressive lymphoma. My brother in law died 8 days later…so much for the experts and their research. In the end, I am not tied to homeopathic remedies any more than I am for medical remedies.

Like I said, its a crap shoot so I find, for me, and what I encourage the general public to do, is do their own research, do their homework and pick what they believe is best for them whether it be a medical solution or homeopathic.

The end result may turn out to be good, bad or indifferent, but, at least, they wont be following blindly like sheep, those who really are only in it for the money. I totally agree. You can make just about any study show what you want. Just be careful who you trust on either end of the spectrum. Shonda, I agree with you. This is scary as they are, as you say, only interested in money. Ah, conspiracy theory and fear mongering targeting the big bad corporation again.

Your usual substitute for more than years of no evidence for homeopathy. He lied in a British Medical Journal review. When he came in the homeopathic circles, was a loudly member of the James Randi Foundation part of prodeophilia False Memory Syndrome Foundation lobby group.

Homeopathy is wholistic medicine. It agrees with the fact that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. My son never once cried from teething and I gave him no medical pain killers, only Boiron homeopathy ampoules.

I tried it. It worked. Likewise with their flu remedies. Pharmaceuticals harm lots of people. Homeopathy does not. What is your motive? That took me 8 seconds of googling. Additionally, many insurance plans cover homeopathy, despite no evidence that it works. Thanks for this excellent post about homeopathy, and for your support for evidence based practice! I agree that there is compelling evidence that homeopathy does not work any better than a placebo. I am leaving my biases aside and presenting a fair point.

Because if you test homeopathy, it failes everytime. It also implied that a good lemon tea, a hot bath and rest would work as well as the placebo. There is no need for people to give away their money for an illusion of care. Both of the studies you listed are naturopathic remedies. They are completely different from homeopathy which always fails testing.

I suggest familiarizing yourself with the differences. People thinking homeopathic medicine is the same as natural medicine is actually very damaging to natural medicine. Who funded this article? Which lobby group made this happen?

Could it possibly be one or many of the big pharma companies? Like drug companies claiming a drug works, only to find out later, the drugs side effects have worsened an individuals health, some people in homeopathy make false claims too.

That was a joke. This next part is serious: you should be more worried about homeopaths trying to profit off your worry than pharma companies. The pharma companies at least have to be able to prove their products work before they sell it.

Plants can be medicine, yes, but homepathy is not. The key step is testing; homeopathic remedies are NOT remedies, because they consistently fail the testing phase. Share on reddit Reddit. Notify of. Inline Feedbacks. Load More Comments.

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