Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine
Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine
Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine
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224 <strong>Alternative</strong> <strong>Cardiovascular</strong> <strong>Medicine</strong><br />
CVD management certainly does not lend itself to “cookbook” style<br />
treatments with one homeopathic remedy fitting all, which is common<br />
to allopathic medicine. The homeopathic experience and medical training<br />
of the homeopath becomes crucial in treating CVDs. This is a field<br />
in homeopathy needing controlled studies now.<br />
Conclusion<br />
Homeopathy is a two-century-old approach to health care that is still<br />
controversial. Use was based on provings and anecdotal experience until<br />
recently. In the last 20 yr, controlled studies have shown a trend to better<br />
the placebo effects and elucidated the use in some specific conditions.<br />
However, in general, the quality of the research is not high. Larger and<br />
more carefully controlled studies are needed to better evaluate how to<br />
use homeopathy, who should use it, and in what form/strength. Most of<br />
Europe (and some of its most important regulatory bodies) has recognized<br />
that homeopathy has a place in the health care field. However, in<br />
the United States, although historically, a few methodologically sound<br />
studies and the controlled method of provings are important for guidance,<br />
more will be needed to convince health care leaders to include<br />
homeopathy as one of the basic approaches in integrative health care.<br />
The jury is still out for specific treatments for specific conditions;<br />
however, homeopathy’s benefits and safety clearly outweigh its risks,<br />
particularly for non-life-threatening, self-limited conditions. Health care<br />
providers, educators, and regulators should carefully evaluate and not be<br />
dismissive of the potential value of homeopathy: an inexpensive treatment<br />
approach with a track record of (some) proven efficacy and safety.<br />
PART II. THE PRACTICE OF HOMEOPATHY<br />
FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE<br />
by Amy Rothenberg, ND, DHANP<br />
Homeopathy is a unique system of medicine that addresses the whole<br />
patient—physically, mentally, and emotionally. Symptoms are understood<br />
to occur, in large part, from the patient’s straining to respond to<br />
both internal and external stressors. Symptoms are seen as the person’s<br />
way of handling this dynamic. It is the gleaning and understanding of the<br />
details of and connections among these symptoms that lead the homeopath<br />
to prescribe a particular remedy (41).<br />
Homeopathy was first conceived by Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843),<br />
a German physician and chemist. Troubled by the harshness of medical<br />
protocols of his time as well as by personal family tragedies, he turned<br />
away from medical practice and devoted himself to the work of scientific