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Essay:Another Homeopathic Convert
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This essay is an original work by Joan A. It does not necessarily reflect the views expressed in RationalWiki's Mission Statement, but we welcome discussion of a broad range of ideas. Unless otherwise stated, this is original content, released under CC-BY-SA 3.0 or any later version. See RationalWiki:Copyrights. Feel free to make comments on the talk page, which will probably be far more interesting, and might reflect a broader range of RationalWiki editors' thoughts. |
Joan Adam
I suggest that those who are anti-alternative medicine try to be open and not limit themselves to narrow principles.
I'm speaking on this topic, not as a scientist nor as a health practitioner, but rather a beneficiary of homeopathic medicine. Yes, my story is anecdotal, but what difference does that make? I am healed. My particular situation was that I had an arm rash that twenty years of western medicine was unable to help. Scratching caused constant bleeding, resulting in my wearing long-sleeved blouses throughout the year and being particular about washing my blouses so the blood wouldn't stain them. With no relief from western medicine, I selected my own homeopathic medicine and after a mere two weeks the rash was gone. It hasn't returned these 15 years later.
Some people may retort that it was a one-time situation, that it's not repeatable, it was a placebo, etc. Repeatable? I chose my remedy based on symptoms listed in the Materia Medica. For the remedy to be listed for my symptoms, the remedy must have been effective for others. Placebo? I had complete "faith" when I went to various dermatologists, who recommended cortisone cream, daily sitting under light boxes, pills, etc. Those could have worked as placebos, too, but didn't.
Some people are adamant that homeopathy cannot be "proven" to work. I remind people that science can only work with its current available "measurement" tools. We'll look back one day realizing how rudimentary today's tools are. Just as centuries ago, people believed the earth was flat, tools were later able to show that the Earth is round.
Remember, too, that each person is very much an individual, which is apparent by the fact that western medicines do not help 100% of the people. In fact there are many medicines that help only a few percentage of people with a particular ailment. People are not machines built from a single, simple template. Nor are people only bodies. Thoughts and emotions play a role. It's beyond obvious to say, for example, that emotional stress affects health.
For difficult medical and psychological issues, it takes a very skilled practitioner to diagnose and help a person heal. I was lucky I figured out the right remedy by myself. (Not bad for a financial product development person.)
It's best not to constrain oneself with limited thinking.