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Emperor1956 -> RE: What is Homeopathic Medicine? (6/5/2008 11:07:47 AM)
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FR: whoooo boy. A couple of things, on a couple of misstatements. This may run long. If you really care about these issues however and aren't just verbally masturbating, you might read:
1. DOs vs. MDs. windchymes and Alumbrado are both correct on the D.O and M.D. equivalence. Both an MD and a DO are licensed medical doctors who are allowed to practice the full range of "medicine and surgery" (yes, they are different) in the United States. Osteopathy is a system of medical knowledge organized around the skeletal structure; allopathy (which is what MDs learn) is a system of medical knowledge organized around the functioning organ systems of the human body. So an osteopath might treat your headache first as a result of improper spine and neck support and an allopath might look first to high blood pressure or allergy as the cause of your throbbin' noggin; both are licensed to treat disease in all forms and to prescribe prescription drugs. That said, neither system is inherently more compassionate or caring than the other. If you think DOs are nicer than MDs, you just have met more nice DOs (or too many jerk MDs).
2. An "OD" is a Doctor of Optometry, a special area of medical practice focusing on the eyes. "ODs" are trained through a 4-5 year program at recognized, accredited schools and provide invaluable care. Historically ODs could not prescribe prescription medicine. Starting about 10 years ago, there has been a national movement to broaden the privileges of ODs to include prescribing drugs. In some states they may prescribe diagnostic drugs only (like the drugs that dilate your eye for examination), in other states they may prescribe both diagnostics and theraputics (like antibiotics) and in some states they may prescribe neither. ODs are not yet allowed to do surgery (including laser surgery) in any jurisdiction. While their privileges have been broadened, ODs are not, however, medical doctors, and most diseases of the eye must be treated by an MD (and one that has specialty training in a residency in eye disease is called an Ophthalmologist.)
3. How come no one has yet spouted off about chiropractic (DC)? Don't get me started....
4. Homeopathy is troubling. On the one hand, Alumbrado cites the traditional medical and scientific view that it is all hooey, and there is a lot of intellectual contentment in that view. After all, by its very definition, homeopathy believes that substances that act on an organism in clearly defined ways (such as poisons like nicotine and belladonna) have a beneficient effect when diluted to concentrations that are indetectible. The "essence" or "shadow" of the compound remains to work on the animal. This sounds like quackery and yet...
I have known homeopathic treatments to work on people when allopathic medicine didn't work. I have seen people use a blend of homeopathy and traditional medicine get better. Most interesting, I've seen people taking homeopathic preparations in double-blind studies get violently ill or have strong effects from what in all logic should just have been "sugar water" -- how do you explain a strong allergic reaction to a 4X (heavily diluted beyond even usual homeopathic preparation) solution when neither the experimenter or the experimented upon knew what solution they were giving? Something is going on there, but I don't know what it is (and neither do you, Mr. Jones.) So I'm not willing to cite "quackwatch" and beat the drum of traditional medicine and call all homeopathy fraud. On the other hand, I'll take my antibiotics, please.
5. If you think the "drug companies" are preventing the rise of homeopathy, you are an idiot. There is NOTHING more lucrative than the US "OTC" (that means non-prescription) drug market -- why do you think the big bad boys are struggling to get their drugs off prescription status? The entire push in the US (and most of the world) is to make drugs like Prevacid or Nexxium OFF prescription. A market in consumer purchased homeopathic drugs would be heaven -- as it is for drug companies in most of Eastern Europe and Germany. Organized medicine absolutely has been an adversary of homeopathy (you can ascribe their motives good or bad depending on your own paranoia and persuasions). But drug manufacturers, no.
E.
Caveats and such:
-a really good, light book on Homeopathy by a licensed MD and homeopath is Mirman's book which was entitled "WHAT THE HELL IS HOMEOPATHY?" Jacob has toned down the title, apparently, but still a good read.
-The above information is true for the USA. I don't claim any knowledge beyond those borders.
-I don't think there is anything inherent in the allopathic medical curriculum (which produces MDs) that requires one to be a horse's ass to be an MD, but I will agree that oft times, there are more horse's asses than horses found in medical schools.
-These are only my opinions. However they are formed based upon a professional career of over 25 years of dealing with all aspects of the creation and regulation of doctors, and I've coauthored one book and several articles on physician regulation (including alternative medicine issues). But hey, I'm sure YOU know better. YOU always do.
E
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