Homoeo Info

Osteoporosis is a condition that results in loss of bone strength and density, causing bones to become more fragile and easily susceptible to fractures. It is often called a "silent disease" because bone loss occurs without any overt symptoms. Osteoporosis mostly affects women, as its victims are 80 percent female and 20 percent male. One quarter of all women above 60 years old are afflicted by the condition. In India, one out of two women over the age of 45 years is affected. It is caused by poor calcium and vitamin D intake and absorption, as well as being a side effect of hormone replacement therapy. The most serious health implication of osteoporosis is frequent fractures, which can be caused by even routine activities like bending to lift a bucket or even just coughing or sneezing. Repeated fractures can cause you to lose several inches in height as your posture becomes stooped.
Homeopathy is a safe and gentle way to tackle osteoporosis. It provides vital nutritional remedies that not only help to prevent the disease but also to minimise it. It works both to correct osteoporosis and prevent further nutritional deficiency of the bones, as well as enables the body to absorb natural vitamin D by synthesising the sun's rays. Choosing homeopathy for other ailments can also prevent you from developing osteoporosis as a side effect. A major clinical trial published in the journal of the American Medical Association showed that women on hormone replacement therapy for various ailments like menopause and PCOD were at a much higher risk for breast cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis than those using homeopathy.
Homeopathic remedies
* Calcarea Carb 30, five pills twice a day
* Calcarea Phos 6X, two tablets twice a day
Express Pharma, India - Feb 7, 2008

Labels: India

New Delhi: The government may take back its earlier plan to provide five-year data protection to traditional systems of medicine.
The change has been triggered by the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) taking the view that such a protection will lead to similar demands from the allopathic segment.
While the government has been supporting the move to introduce data protection for traditional medicines, it has been reluctant to offer similar protection to the pharmaceutical sector in general due to the concerns of the domestic drug industry.
Domestic manufacturers say 'data protection', which results in 'non-reliance' of data generated by the patent-holding company, will increase the cost of drug production and delay the entry of generic drugs into the domestic market.
Incidentally, it was the Department of AYUSH that initially proposed such a protection to encourage generation of data for scientific validation of traditional medicines.
The government's plans for data protection began after a high-level inter-ministerial committee, set up by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals in 2004, favoured such protection for traditional medicines and agro-chemicals.
Joe C Mathew/Business Standard, India - Feb 8, 2008

Labels: India

Mangalore: All-India Homeopathy Lecturers' Workshop, sponsored by the ministry of health and family welfare, was inaugurated at Fr Muller Homeopathic Medical College (FMHMC), Deralakatte here on Monday, February 4.
Dr P N Verma, renowned homeopathy surgeon and medical expert, speaking at the inaugural ceremony urged the lecturers to make optimum use of the workshop which will provide them with an opportunity to interact with experts and clarify doubts in order to teach effectively.
Fr Patrick Rodrigues, director of Fr Muller Charitable Institutions (FMCI) expressed that these workshops should be held frequently to keep abreast with the latest innovations in the field. He assured every assistance on the part of FMCI in this regard.
Daijiworld.com, India - Feb 6, 2008

Labels: India

Charting out expansion plans in domestic and overseas Markets, homoeopathic clinic chain Dr Batra’s on Monday said it will set up 50 clinics across the country in the next five years, besides opening its first international centre in London this year.
“We target to set up 10 clinics each year and it requires an investment of about Rs 50 lakh each. We will set up around 50 clinics in the next five years,” Dr Batra’s Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Batra told PTI.
On expanding overseas, he said the company has incorporated a subsidiary, Dr Batra’s International, in London and would open up the first clinic there in the next 3-6 months.
Dr Batra’s is also in the process of opening a chain of clinics in Oman, for which talk are going on.
“We are in discussion with a big company from Muscat and will open a chain of clinics in the country in two months. We are also thinking to start a centre in Dubai and other cities as well,” Batra said, but declined to divulge the name of the local partner.
The company is also exploring opportunities in 3-5 other countries, he said, but did not reveal any details.
Financial Express, India - Feb 4, 2008

Labels: India

Laconia: Laconia Adult Education will be offering a six-week course on Herbal Medicine and Homeopathy.
The class will start on Tuesday and meet from 7-8:30 p.m. at Laconia High School.
Many people are turning again to "new, alternative" remedies that grandmothers once grew in their gardens and knew as h4
This class will be taught by Dr. Kathryn Cranford.
In the homeopathic section of the class, students will learn what homeopathic remedies are, how they are made, how they work in the body and which remedies are safe to use at home for simple health issues.
Cranford is a licensed naturopathic doctor and midwife. Her practice focuses on family medicine with an emphasis on women's health and pediatrics. Years in an on-call midwifery and pediatrics practice have taught her what remedies are helpful for clients to have on hand at home for those 3AM phone calls.
Laconia Citizen, NH, USA - Feb 4, 2008

Labels: USA

Biostatistician R. Barker Bausell tried acupuncture once, for a chronic backache. The needle pricks and the warmth from the heat lamp aimed at his sore back felt good at the time, he recalls. They didn't do a thing for his underlying pain.
But when the acupuncturist asked if the treatment had helped, Bausell said yes. "What could I say? I worked with the guy all the time," says the scientist, who was then director of research at a center for complementary medicine at the University of Maryland.
Today, Bausell is saying plenty about his five years in the world of complementary and alternative medicine (also known as CAM). He has written a book called Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Oxford University Press).
In it, he uses a broad brush to paint doubt over therapies that include acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy, chiropractic treatment, hypnosis and energy healing, among others. An obvious criticism is that he lumps together very different approaches.
But he argues that the differences aren't as important as what they share: an ability to make people feel better — if patients believe they will. In short, Bausell writes: "CAM recipients feel better because of the placebo effect."
Can that be universally true? If it is, then the National Institutes of Health is spending $121 million a year to study the placebo effect at its National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. And many leading medical centers are offering alternative treatments too, thanks, in part, to that federal research money — and huge patient demand.
That demand is stoked by groaning shelves of books promoting CAM. Bausell offers a different perspective, one not shared by all scientists. But whether his broad condemnation is fair, his description of factors that might underlie and augment the placebo effect (the ability of sham treatments to relieve symptoms) is thought-provoking.
Kim Painter, USA Today Feb 04, 2008

Labels: USA

Britons spend £130 million a year on complementary therapists, and the figure is set to reach £200 million over the next four years, as we grow ever more dissatisfied with conventional medicine.
The cost of sessions depends on the type of therapy, your location and also the practitioner, but it can run into hundreds, or even thousands, of pounds for regular customers. The first session is usually the most expensive because it involves a consultation.
If you are lucky, you might find a therapist who is not in the industry purely to make money, but more because he or she wants to help people. These magnanimous souls can charge as little as £20 an hour, rarely impose cancellation fees and will even let you pay less if you are hard-up.
Whether you pay £25 or £125, you are entitled to expect treatment from a trained and qualified therapist. The problem is that not all are.
There are plans for a new voluntary code for complementary therapists, which will act as a quality guarantee for the public. Some alternative therapies, such as homoeopathy and osteopathy, are already regulated.
However, in the absence of full regulation, anyone considering a visit should always check that the therapist belongs to a governing association and is listed as a practising therapist with relevant qualifications.
Times Online, UK - Feb 1, 2008

Labels: UK

AS doctors urge suffers of the "winter vomiting virus" to stay away from surgeries and hospitals - homeopaths in Islington have seen an increase in calls for help.
An estimated 100,000 people a week across Britain are catching the norovirus and many Islington residents are turning to alternative medicine for a solution.
Islington homeopath, Alex Christie, is based at the Barnsbury Clinic in Belitha Villas, Islington.
She said: "The effects of the bug, which causes diarrhoea and vomiting, with some people also suffering from fever and flu-like pains, can be eased with homeopathic remedies and the process of recovery speeded up.
"In homeopathic medicine, the symptoms as they are experienced by the individual are taken into account to help find the best remedy. How the patient feels in themselves is also taken into account."
Because remedies are non-toxic, they are suitable for use by people of all ages, including babies and pregnant women.
Homeopathy is patient-centred and remedies are prescribed to suit the particular individual and their set of symptoms.
Islington Gazette, UK - Jan 30, 2008

Labels: UK

Over a fifth of NHS hospital trusts have cancelled or reduced funding of homeopathy in the past two years, after a campaign by leading scientists to remove the alternative therapy from the NHS.
In two open letters to primary healthcare trust managers in May last year, the scientists lambasted homeopathic remedies because they lack a robust scientific basis: "We must consider the cultural and social damage of maintaining as a matter of principle expenditure on practices which are unsupported by evidence."
Homeopathy remedies involve diluting active substances so that there is not a single molecule of the original chemical left. Practitioners refer to a "memory" left in the water. But the signatories - which included a Nobel prize winner and six fellows of the Royal Society - say there is no convincing evidence that homeopathy works any better than a placebo. A survey by Pulse magazine has found that 22% of PCTs have reduced or cancelled spending on homeopathy in the last two years. The Royal London Homeopathic hospital is facing difficulties after eight trusts cancelled contracts over the past year and a further six reduced referrals.
Michael Baum, emeritus professor of surgery at University College London, who signed one of last year's letters, described homeopathy as "cheap and nasty medicine" and a "cruel deception". James Randerson, science correspondent/Guardian Unlimited, UK , Jan 30, 2008

Labels: UK

NHS-funded homeopathic services are on the decline in the UK, it was reported today.
They have been hit hard by the government’s plans to increase the cost-effectiveness of NHS resources and many trusts are cutting their funding.
Only 37 per cent of 132 primary care trusts now have contracts for homeopathic services, an investigation by the journal Pulse found.
Homeopathy remains popular in general practice, being the second most used complementary treatment after acupuncture in a survey last year.
Nevertheless, the controversial treatment has been stopped or reduced in more than a quarter of trusts in the past two years.
Homeopathy suffered a blow in May 2006 when a group of experts told directors of commissioning that the treatment caused "cultural and social damage" and was "unsupported by evidence".
But there is also a danger that patients denied homeopathic treatments on the NHS might take risks by consulting non-medical homeopathic practitioners, warns Dr Tim Robinson, a GP who provides a local homeopathic service in Dorset.
The deputy editor of Pulse, Richard Hoey, commented: "Homeopathy is a highly controversial treatment with all sorts of doubts over its evidence base, but it is popular with patients and has traditionally always had a place in general practice.
StaffNurse.com, UK - Jan 30, 2008

Labels: UK

There is definitely a place for homeopathy in general practice. Not only that, but I hope in future there will be increased opportunity for its provision.
I have been offering homeopathy at my own GP practice for 12 years, with great effect.
I audited my homeopathic consultations over a 12-month period and scored and analysed the outcomes. My study showed a wide variety of conditions were treated homeopathically and three-quarters of patients had a positive clinical response.
In order to defend homeopathy I want to start by sharing just three of the many cases I have treated successfully using it.
In one case, a nine-year-old girl presented with a three-year history of nightmares, causing her to wake four out of seven nights each week.
Three doses of one homeopathic medicine brought relief lasting about three weeks. After a further three doses she was almost completely free of nightmares – as she was when reviewed three months later.
My second case involves a 41-year-old man with a two-year history of alopecia since his mother’s death.
I treated him with two homeopathic medicines and reviewed him two months later. His alopecia was clearing – one patch had disappeared and the other was shrinking significantly.
In the third case, a 33-year-old woman came to the surgery with a four-year history of persistent diarrhoea, rectal bleeding and IBS, following Giardia infection.
She had been extensively investigated by a gastroenterologist, diagnosed with post-infectious IBS and prescribed antispasmodics that were ineffective.
I prescribed a series of homeopathic medicines and reviewed her three times. She was delighted to find that her bleeding settled and her bowels returned to normal.
Dr Tim Tobinson, a GP in Beaminster, Dorset, and lecturer at Bristol Homeopathic Hospital/Pulse, UK - Jan 29, 2008

Labels: UK

Nothing is too good for my golden retriever, Brandy, who gets premium kibble, at least three walks a day and her own spot on the couch. So when she started having seizures and my regular vet suggested she might have to start taking a heavy-duty drug to control them, I wanted a second opinion.
Dr. Susan Krakauer, who calls herself "The Roving Vet," brought it right to my door. Krakauer -- who will be part of the Wellness Show this weekend at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre -- specializes in homeopathic veterinary care, and she visits four-legged patients in their own homes.
Krakauer says she became interested in homeopathy even before she attended veterinary school. After graduation, she worked at the Vancouver Animal Emergency Clinic, "where you see conventional medicine at its best, treating trauma and shock," she says.
But she also saw dogs and cats with chronic illnesses who would be brought to the clinic when their symptoms worsened. Conventional drug treatment sometimes stabilized them, she says, but they would often end up coming back when the disease flared up again.
"With conventional medicine, there are so many dead ends," Krakauer says. "You often find you are kind of managing symptoms, but you are never really making the animal better. So I just felt intuitively that there must be other forms of medicine that actually get to the root of these problems."
Homeopathy, which dates back to the 1700s, focuses on treating the whole person or animal rather than a specific ailment. It's based on the theory that small doses of natural substances can stimulate the body's ability to heal itself.
Joanne Blain, Vancouver Sun/Vancouver Sun, Canada - Jan 28, 2008

Labels: Canada

Jammu: Minister for Health & Medical Education, Ladakh Affairs Mangat Ram Sharma while replying the resolution moved by Nassrullah regarding recognition of Electro-Homeopathy as 5th Medical Science in the state said “there are scores of local traditions of medicines and streams of alternative medicines in the country but most of these have not yet acquired the status of system of medicine even though these are practicing in different parts of the country for treatment and cure of human illness and diseases. The government of India recognizes only six of these systems of medicines viz Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Sidha and Homeopathy, which at Central level are known as AYUSH.
It is reported that some private institutions in some states are conducting degree courses in Electropathy and Electro-Homeopathy. Their qualifications under the name of Bachelor of Electropathic Medicine and Surgery (BEMS) are neither recognized by the Centre nor by the state government. Youths of various states including from J&K have been undergoing these courses at various institutions. One such institute under the name of PN Medical Institute of Electropathy Jammu and Pathankote was operating near Jammu which no longer exists in Jammu. It is reported that it has been shifted to Punjab.
These degree holders had been agitating at national and state level for recognition of their degrees and system of medicines for last 10 to 15 years. They had filed writ petitions in different courts. The High Court of Delhi in CWP No. 4015/96 and O.M./ No. 8468/97 dated November 18, 1998 had directed inter-alia central and state government to consider legislation to grant of license to existing and new institutes to control and regulating various un-recognized streams of alternative medicines.
The feasibility of making legislation, the committee considered all new streams of medicines but did not recommend any other alternative medicines except already recognized systems of medicines viz Ayurveda, Sidha, Unani, Homeopathy, Yoga and Naturopathy, which alone were found to fulfill the norms for recognition as system of medicines.
However, the state government initiated process to explore possibilities of absorbing BEMS & BHEMS degree holders health department based on their recognized qualification of 10+2, as we cannot take cognizance of their qualification, which is not recognized.
The government is fully conscious of the fact that these youths are suffering as they have no avenues to earn their livelihood on the basis of their unrecognized degrees. In order to channelize their potential, the state government is considering their case sympathetically and formulating a proposal after seeking approval of Chief Minister to offer to them job of para-medical staff.
GreaterKashmir.com , India - Jan 24, 2008

Labels: India

Diabetes in the initial stages, can be treated by Homoeopathy. If the condition has existed for long, the role of Homoeopathy becomes supportive in preventing further deterioration and minimising the complications of the disease.
In Homoeopathy, the symptoms of an illness are viewed as a direct result of the body's attempt to heal itself. In doing so, Homoeopathy attempts to stimulate the body's own natural healing capacity with medicines acting as a trigger for the body's own healing forces. In this manner there has been a good response in treating diabetes in the initial stages. If the condition has existed for long, the role of Homoeopathy becomes supportive in preventing further deterioration and minimising the complications of diabetes. Constitutional medicines after a detailed evaluation and understanding the case are given. Secale Cor is used in wounds and ulcers, or sores in diabetics, enabling to dry rapidly, and heal. Uranium nitrate is another remedy, which gives universally good results. It lessens the sugar and quantity of the urine. The other medicines, which have given good results, are Arsenicum album, Natrum Muraticum, Acid Phos, Phosphorus. These Homeopathic remedies address the problem in a complete way. From nature the plants like Syzigium Jambulanum, Cephalandra Indica, Gymnema Sylvestra prepared in a Homoeopathic way helps in preventing as well as maintaining the blood sugar levels. A patient suffering from diabetes goes through treatment like other diseases and much depends on how far tissue change has taken place at the beginning of treatment. Advanced cases may never cease treatment altogether but may live as long as other people.
Homoeopathy, used for chronic illness from an early life, very rarely develops any complications. It’s power in prevention is marvellous.
Dr Sudha/Deccan Herald, India - Jan 18, 2008

Labels: India

Berkeley Springs: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will declare that cough and cold medicine is too risky for babies and toddlers on Thursday according to recent reports on CNN.com. FDA is issuing a public health advisory to warn parents of the serious and
potentially life threatening side effects of cold and cough medicine when
used to treat children under 6.
"We still have a concern," said Dr. Charles Ganley, FDA's nonprescription drugs chief, "It falls out of people's consciousness. We're still in the middle of cold season."
In 2007, the centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 1500 babies and toddlers were taken to emergency rooms for treatment of cold medicine side effects over a two-year period.
There is good news -- homeopathic medicine offers concerned parents a safe alternative free of side effects, allergic reactions, drug interactions, and unintentional overdose for less than the average co-pay for a doctor's visit.
Homeopathy is the second most widely used medicinal system in the world and it has been used safely and effectively for over 200 years. Unlike allopathic medicines, which suppress symptoms rather than curing, homeopathy supports the natural curative mechanisms within the body.
PR Newswire (press release), NY, US - Jan 17, 2008

Labels: USA