[Buddha-l] Medicine, Efficient Cause and Philosophy

[Dante Rosati]

On 9/3/07, Erik Hoogcarspel <jehms at xs4all.nl> wrote:
>
> Alex Wilding schreef:
> > Katherine Masis
> >
> >> successful clinical trials should be sufficient to
> >> afford homeopathy the respectability it deserves.
> >>
> > Is there a consensus that rigorous clinical trials have actually found
> an
> > "above placebo" benefit from hopeopathy? I didn't know that.
> >
> No. It's also necessary to distinguish phytotherapy (healing by means of
> herbs), antroposophical medicine ( with huge dilutions op to 1 on 10^16)
> and homeopathy (healing by evoking the bodyresistance through diluted
> poison). Phytotherapy is accepted, some plants can heal even though
> nobody knows exactly how. Despite many experiments however no valid
> proof has been found that homeopathy or antroposophical medicine works.
> Most homeopathy in India has been introduced by the theosophists and has
> nothing to do with ayurveda, despite the claims. Since there's hardly
> any control of any healthservice in India there are a lot of doubtfull
> healing methods.
>



any substance, animal, vegetable or mineral, can be made into a homeopathic
remedy, all that is needed is a proving to elicit its effects, followed by
recording clincial experience to develop the remedy picture. Many remedies
are not poisons at all: Natrum Muriaticum, one of the most important
polychrests (medicines of many uses) is salt. Here the preparation of the
remedy, rather than diluting a material poison, develops the medicinal
property of the salt. Eating raw salt will not have curative properties,
although often people who need this remedy smother their food with salt in a
subconscious attempt to medicate themselves. I once tried to help an
acquaintance suffering from Chrone's Disease. After taking his case, it
appeared that Aloe was the remedy he needed. He then recounted that, as a
child, he had been given an aloe plant, and he became obsssed with it,
gazing at it for hours. This is another example of how the body's
intelligence knows what medicine it needs. (I was not able to follow his
case, I do not know if he took the remedy or stuck with the massive doses of
material Sulfer that is the usual treatment for Chrone's). All who practice
homeopathy have reams of stories like this.

The problem with trying to "prove" homeopathy with clinical trials that
follow a protocol developed for allopathic medicine is that you cannot
simply give a group of people with "asthma" (for example) the same remedy
and expect any kind of result. 20 people with symptoms that would be
described as "asthma" by allopathic medicine may need 20 different
homeopathic remedies, each person's symptoms being slightly different as
well as their overall constitution being different. This is why the
so-called clinical trials produce confusing or no results. Everyone who
practices homeopathy does a clinical trial everytime they give a remedy, and
therefore knows very well the results based on their experience.

Even more astonishing in their action are the Bach Flower Remedies. These
have the most direct effect on mental states I have ever seen of any
modality, without any of the crippling toxicity of psychiatric medicines.
The remedy made from mustard flowers alone could probably get a large
percentage of people taking anti-depressants off those drugs (oh but wait,
then the pharmaceutical corporations would lose money..... sorry, I forgot)
;-)

Dante