Minutus

Until now.

Medical researchers recently investigated homeopathic practices in Germany and Switzerland to understand the effect of homeopathic care on older patients. Their conclusions: “The severity of disease showed marked and sustained improvements under homeopathic treatment. . . . Our findings might indicate that homeopathic medical therapy may play a beneficial role in the long-term care of older adults with chronic diseases and studies on comparative effectiveness are needed to evaluate this hypothesis."

Source: Teut, M., et al., Homeopathic treatment of elderly patients—a prospective observational study with follow-up over a two year period. BMC Geriatr. 2010; 10:10.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2841176/
Conclusion

The severity of disease showed marked and sustained improvements under homeopathic treatment, but this did not lead to an improvement of quality of life. Our findings might indicate that homeopathic medical therapy may play a beneficial role in the long-term care of older adults with chronic diseases and studies on comparative effectiveness are needed to evaluate this hypothesis.
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Insane…. how could “The severity of disease showed marked and sustained improvements under homeopathic treatment” and not lead to improvement in the quality of life?

Deep breath….

Vicki

Yes, a weird conclusion.

BTW

Dr. Taylor will be talking about care of the elderly on Wed next week US time. The link is at the bottom of his URL. http://courses.homstudies.com//index.php?id=6

Ellen Madono

I can offer one *possible* explanation for the comment “Did not improve quality of life”...
When I gave my 75-year old father a homeopathic remedy (in Geneva, Switzerland), he improved significantly, BUT... he complained that he didn’t feel as good and energetic as when he was 40 years old !!!
“Yes,” he would say, “I certainly feel better than last month, and I’m taking fewer pills, but I still get terribly tired when splitting wood.”
Therefore I suggest that if the study used self-reported satisfaction ratings, they could be biased like that!
All the best,
Kristy
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They have to express a certain reserve in order not to set off the more skeptical / adverse.

Hi Kristy: What a guy… splitting wood at 75!! Yes, that does make sense. I was thinking it was another one of those hijacked studies! But you may be correct.
Thanks for the thought.

Vicki

Thinking more about this, it would be very interesting to know more about what the patients' situations (and illnesses etc.) were, and just what sort of prescribing was done. They talk about reducing the severity of disease -- but considering the difference between acute prescribing and chronic prescribing, we know -- clearly! -- that "named diseases" are not the only sorts of impacts on quality of life.

Once you get past the "named diseases", that's where chronic prescribing ought to pick up, and that's where quality of life improvement would be substantial.

This also could be an area where different methods homeopathic prescribing could give different quality-of-life results. For instance, during my 30-ish years with homeopathy, I've spent time under the care of homeopaths who approached the same situations in different ways, and have gotten to compare the effects of (a) a straight, acute-care solution to an illness or injury, *after* which chronic work was resumed (healed nicely, and delivered right back to where I had been prior to illness or injury, and ready to resume chronic prescribing), vs. (b) treating the illness or injury as part of the larger case, with a remedy that covers *both* the acute and the chronic case.

In the case of (b), one comes out of the illness or injury feeling *better* than one had at the start, and that would I assume be taken as an improvement in quality-of-life. But if these diseases are being prescribed for in a more disease-focused way…?

Nice story!
"I feel better, and I'm taking fewer pills" -- hm, I would think that would count as improved quality of life…?
But good point Vicki, would be useful if we knew what the basis of the measurement was.

But if it was self-assessment it appears that the “older people” in the study don’t know what quality of life is/was! How could that not be deemed by researchers/scientists as improved quality of life….. either that or they don’t want to admit that homeopathy works, even with old people with chronic disease.

And with the thought of quality of life in mind: Did you all see the afternoon news from NATURAL NEWS today? I’m certainly glad that I won’t be here in 2030 to experience the calamity! Mike Adams is a Texan with a liberaterian streak, but he seems to “get” most of it. Go to his site and read… if what he says is true, the planet and the people who live here will be living in a world unknown to mankind.

Well… cheers to us. I hope you raise your children well.

Vicki