Like Kay, I was a true disbeliever in homeopathy when I started. In fact, I decided that I would end all doubt of the hocus pocus and downed an entire blue bottle of pellets. Mmmm. crunchy and sweet. Three days later, I still had an occipital headache so bad I couldn\'t think straight. I looked up the remedy, and the doggone thing had occipital headache as a keynote. Since then I\'ve seen croup clear up in an hour, mastitis disappear overnight, and sciatic pain clear up the next day, never to recur. Obviously, the placebo effect. Except if you check your cochrane database from medline, the placebo effect, as defined by an effect from a sugar pill, does not exist. (Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2003;(1):CD003974) But we can all agree that a \"placebo effect,\" caused by an excellent doctor/patient relationship, exists. But will that actually prevent something like say, acute lethal diarrhea? How about comatose patients, and infants. In my experience, even though I continue to have excellent patient relations, if I give the wrong remedy nothing happens. Right remedy, good things happen. How does it work? No idea. Lots of hand waving. While we\'re at it, 80% of standard medicine has no reseach basis. We don\'t really know how aspirin works. Not my job. My job is getting people better. I\'ve also got 39 pages of research on magnets. Write me.

Chris Maloney, Naturopathic Doctor Portland Maine www.maloneymedical.com

J Altern Complement Med 2000 Apr;6(2):131-9 Related Articles, Links

Homeopathic treatment of acute childhood diarrhea: results from a clinical trial in Nepal.

Jacobs J, Jimenez LM, Malthouse S, Chapman E, Crothers D, Masuk M, Jonas WB.

Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. jjacobs@igc.org

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the finding in a previous study that homeopathic medicines decrease the duration of acute diarrhea in children could be replicated in a different study population. DESIGN: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. SETTING: Private, charitable health clinic in Kathmandu, Nepal. SUBJECTS: A consecutive sample of 126 children, 6 months to 5 years of age, who presented during April through June, 1994, with more than three unformed stools in the previous 24 hours. INTERVENTION: Children received either an individualized homeopathic medicine or placebo, to be taken one dose after each unformed stool for 5 days. Parents recorded daily stools on diary cards, and health workers made home visits daily to monitor children. OUTCOME MEASURES: Predefined measures were based on the previous study: (1) duration of diarrhea, defined as the time until there were fewer than three unformed stools per day, for two consecutive days, and (2) Average number of stools per day for each group. RESULTS: Of the 126 children initially enrolled, 116 completed treatment. The mean number of stools per day over the entire 5-day treatment period was 3.2 for the treatment group and 4.5 for the placebo group (P = 0.023). A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of the duration of diarrhea, which included data from all patient visits, showed an 18.4% greater probability that a child would be free of diarrhea by day 5 under homeopathic treatment (P = 0.036). CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with the finding from the previous study that individualized homeopathic treatment decreases the duration of diarrhea and number of stools in children with acute childhood diarrhea.

Publication Types: Clinical Trial Randomized Controlled Trial

PMID: 10784270 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Pediatrics 1994 May;93(5):719-25 Related Articles, Links

Comment in: Pediatrics. 1994 Dec;94(6 Pt 1):963-4; discussion 965. Pediatrics. 1994 Dec;94(6 Pt 1):963; discussion 965. Pediatrics. 1994 Dec;94(6 Pt 1):963; discussion 965. Pediatrics. 1994 Dec;94(6 Pt 1):964-5; discussion 965. Pediatrics. 1994 Dec;94(6 Pt 1):964; discussion 965. Pediatrics. 1995 Jan;95(1):159; discussion 160. Pediatrics. 1995 Jan;95(1):160; discussion 160-1. Pediatrics. 1996 May;97(5):776; discussion 777-8. Pediatrics. 1996 May;97(5):777; discussion 777-8. Pediatrics. 1996 May;97(5):779.

Treatment of acute childhood diarrhea with homeopathic medicine: a randomized clinical trial in Nicaragua.

Jacobs J, Jimenez LM, Gloyd SS, Gale JL, Crothers D.

Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle.

OBJECTIVE. Acute diarrhea is the leading cause of pediatric morbidity and mortality worldwide. Oral rehydration treatment can prevent death from dehydration, but does not reduce the duration of individual episodes. Homeopathic treatment for acute diarrhea is used in many parts of the world. This study was performed to determine whether homeopathy is useful in the treatment of acute childhood diarrhea. METHODOLOGY. A randomized double-blind clinical trial comparing homeopathic medicine with placebo in the treatment of acute childhood diarrhea was conducted in Leon, Nicaragua, in July 1991. Eighty-one children aged 6 months to 5 years of age were included in the study. An individualized homeopathic medicine was prescribed for each child and daily follow-up was performed for 5 days. Standard treatment with oral rehydration treatment was also given. RESULTS. The treatment group had a statistically significant (P < .05) decrease in duration of diarrhea, defined as the number of days until there were less than three unformed stools daily for 2 consecutive days. There was also a significant difference (P < .05) in the number of stools per day between the two groups after 72 hours of treatment. CONCLUSIONS. The statistically significant decrease in the duration of diarrhea in the treatment group suggests that homeopathic treatment might be useful in acute childhood diarrhea. Further study of this treatment deserves consideration.

Publication Types: Clinical Trial Randomized Controlled Trial

PMID: 8165068 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]