I have a patient who I once treated for recurrent urinary tract infections. Before treatment, her pain was so bad that she had to take a few days off from work every month. After her initial consultation, she had an excellent response to a simple homeopathic protocol. Delighted by her results, she referred a co-worker who experienced anxiety for which therapy and medications had provided no relief. But this coworker had never heard of homeopathy before and she didn’t know what to make of the suggestion. Was homeopathy safe? Does it really work? How could it help anxiety when medications and therapy couldn’t even help?
Another patient came to see me for chronic migraines. After responding swiftly to homeopathy, she referred her brother who was challenged by ongoing sleeplessness. He too was a bit hesitant about using an unconventional approach that no doctor had ever mentioned. Like the woman above, he contacted me and after I told him about my practice (fees, frequency of visits, what the sessions entailed) the very next thing he asked was, “ Is there any research on homeopathy? Are there studies that demonstrate its effectiveness?”
Over the many years that I have been in practice, scores of men and women have called but held back on setting up an initial consultation because they (or their partners) were skeptical and needed more information about homeopathy’s effectiveness before they could be open to using homeopathy to clear troubling complaints. One parent of children with anxiety, depression, digestive issues and more can be eager to help their youngsters with homeopathy, but too frequently their spouse or partner is hesitant to try homeopathy because he or she fears there is no evidence backing it up. This is especially true when there are allergies involved and parents are concerned about side effects or an adverse reaction.
Certainly, those who have experienced the relief of a chronic issue with homeopathy and those who have witnessed a drastic improvement of a sudden complaint with only one dose of a homeopathic remedy do not need supportive research. But for many, reading through a few studies can provide great support. Here are some for you to share.
In 2020, German health insurance analysts compared patient outcomes after six months of homeopathic vs conventional care. Upon completion of the review, they found that primary health effectiveness outcomes were statistically significant in favor of homeopathy over conventional care for: migraine or headache, asthma, dermatitis, and depression. Read Here
Also in 2020, the Swiss health insurer SECURVITA released data comparing 15,700 adult and pediatric patients treated homeopathically with a similarly sized group of adults and children receiving conventional care. They found that both adults and children receiving homeopathic care did significantly better and needed fewer conventional medications than those who did not receive homeopathic care.
In 2011, the Swiss Government performed a similar comprehensive review of homeopathy, finding that “it can be said that there is sufficient evidence for the preclinical effectiveness and the clinical efficacy of homeopathy and for its safety and economy compared to conventional treatment.” (Matthiessen, B., “Homeopathy in Healthcare. Effectiveness, Appropriateness, Safety, Costs”. Springer. 2011.)
Robert Hahn MD, Ph.D., (a medical researcher not connected to homeopathy) sought to examine all the available evidence on homeopathy and found that, “To conclude that homeopathy lacks clinical effect (as some special interests claim), more than 90% of the available clinical trials would have to be disregarded.” Read Here
Dana Ullman, MPH, serves as the President of the Foundation for Homeopathic Education and Research. When speaking of relevant research, he highlights the following government-funded report. According to Ullman, this analysis “contains the most comprehensive review of research on homeopathic medicine which shows that basic science AND clinical research support the biological activity and the clinical efficacy of homeopathic medicine. This article also shows that other reviews of research that claim no benefits from homeopathy were “junk science” reviews that had very significant flaws (and one review had potentially questionable ethical violations)”. Read Here
And for those who want to know how homeopathy’s low dose medicines work, the journal, Dose Response, published an article by Ullman that provides compelling explanations. “Drawing from the newest developments in the fields of material sciences and the physics of water, there are now viable explanations for how homeopathic nanodoses persist in water solutions and how they can have an influence on biological systems and in creating relevant clinical benefits.” Read Here
You may be someone who has experienced the benefits of homeopathy. You may have seen your anxiety, depression or grief lessen so that you feel like you have your life back. You may have witnessed a reduction of your digestive issues, joint pain, migraines, or low back troubles to such an extent that they seem like a thing of the past. And it makes perfect sense that you’d want to share your enthusiasm for homeopathy with those you love. Just remember that homeopathy can be very new to some.
Trust that the parent of a troubled child might need a bit more assurance before trying something that to you seems like such an obvious next step. If you really care, the best path forward is to be respectful. I truly believe that we all need to trust the small voice inside us. Your friends and relatives should try homeopathy only when they feel it is the best option for them. Hopefully, the above research will be of assistance in helping them make that decision. Then, you will be able to celebrate when your co-worker, mother, brother or friend calls and says, “ I was hesitant to try homeopathy at first, but I appreciate the research you sent my way. After reading those articles, homeopathy made sense to me and gave me the confidence to go forward with treatment. Now I want to thank you for your suggestion. After one homeopathic remedy, my headaches are gone and so is my anxiety. I sleep through the night for the first time in ages. Now that’s a real dream come true. Thanks for supporting me and giving me the time I needed to make that choice. I’m so very glad I did.”