dir (03/16/83)
I've recently been going to a doctor who specializes in homeopathy because I've finally realized that conventional medicine cannot cure my chronic health problem. One of the tenants of homeopathy is that the body will heal itself if given half a chance. That chance is provided if we are "detoxified" from all the accumulated crap (refined food, polluted environment, etc.) we are exposed to over time. The homeopathic philosophy of treating the whole person instead of providing only symptomatic relief makes a lot of sense to me, especially in cases of sub-acute chronic disease. One "medicine" that homeopaths provide are "chelated salts," of which I know very little. I'd appreciate any information anyone might have about how and why these salts might work. I believe it has something to do with the idea that "like cures like" in the sense that cowpox can "cure" smallpox, but I'm not sure.
jwb (03/16/83)
Homeopathic medicine is like Chiropractic medicine only more so. Believe
in it if you will, but don't look too much for hard scientific evidence regard-
ing their methods, because there isn't any. The reasons, in my opinion, that
these practicioners use unfamiliar "medicines" is that they are prohibited by
state and federal laws from prescribing the others. There is a branch of
conventianal medicine (trained in medical schools) which has a similar
philosophy and is called "holistic" medicine. I am sure I will be branded as
part of "establishment" medicine which wants to keep true cures from patients.
Look at the level and sophistication of training required and make your own
decision.
Jack Buchanan (MD)
UNC-Chapel Hill
mcnc!jwbtrb (03/16/83)
I'm not going to claim that we know all there is to know about healing ailments in human bodies. I will claim that this ignorance is not evidence that homeopathy/(w)holism is valid. There is a proponent of such highways to health here in New Jersey named Dr. Carolyn Thorburn (sp?). She is a professor at Upsala College in East Orange, NJ, and she has a radio show every two weeks on WFMU 91.1. What follows is my personal opinion. I find this woman quite repulsive. She espouses the virtues of wholism and usually has guests who practice one form of voodoo or another. She doesn't seem to have a very firm grip on science (she is a professor of Spanish, I think that's what her doctorate is in). She uses the most ridiculous logical arguments to support her theories. She often talks about the benefits of certain dietary practises, about organic foods and such drivel. She says she's a personal friend of Dick Gregory. This past week she had an expert on homeopathy on her show, and she talked about how the active parts of homeopathic medicines were administered in such small quantities that there was actually no material evidence of the active parts in the medicine, just an essence of the material. Really hard to swallow, I say. I listen to her because I always listen to WFMU (for its variety) and she's only on for an hour every two weeks. Sometimes her guests are interesting, but once, two winters ago, there was a nasty snowstorm going on and I was stuck in traffic for many hours while Dr. Thorburn was extolling the virtues of coffee enemas. I was going nuts trying to keep myself from getting killed, I switched stations until her show was over. Thorburn is on every second Monday evening from 5 to 6 (or is that 6 to 7) on WFMU 91.1 in East Orange, NJ. You might want to give a listen. I'm not saying that the non-mainstream medical sciences are invalid, I have derived benefit from chiropractic, and I am not about to say that something is wrong just because I don't understand it. I will say that many practitioners of wholistic medicine don't seem to know very much about real life. Andy Tannenbaum Bell Labs Whippany, NJ (201) 386-6491