Homeopathic Medicine: My 'I Have a Dream' Speech

In honor of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King...

Just prior to her death, Coretta Scott King went to Mexico to a hospital that specialized in alternative medicine. Her family told the media that she was specifically interested in homeopathic treatment. It is rarely surprising when "cultural heroes" seek homeopathic treatment at some point in their lives.

In fact, there is a significant body of literature that shows that 11 U.S. Presidents and various world leaders, six popes and various leading clergy and spiritual leaders, Nobel Prize Laureates and other leading scientists and physicians, literary greats, sports superstars, musical geniuses, world-class artists, women's rights leaders, philanthropists and corporate leaders, and monarchs from all over the world have used and/or advocated for homeopathy.

Further, history has confirmed and dozens of modern surveys have verified that people who seek homeopathic treatment tend to be more educated than those who do not.

I have a dream that Hippocrates's wisdom of "First, do no harm" will be operationalized by the inclusion of natural and homeopathic medicines in primary care.

I have a dream that augmenting the body-mind's own immune and defense system will be a primary goal of medical treatment.

I have a dream that health care professionals will strive for "integrative health care," that is, the use of various natural therapies and conventional medicines, in efforts to create safer and more effective health care results.

I have a dream that people will understand that no disease is "local" or isolated from the whole person and that all disease is part of a syndrome that can and must be understood in this more complex context.

I have a dream that people will really respect the wisdom of the body-mind and realize that our symptoms are our organism's best effort to respond to stress or infection.

I have a dream that people will become aware of the real problems that result from using conventional drugs that suppress symptoms, thereby disrupting the body's defensive efforts and pushing the disease deeper into the organism.

I have a dream that people will appreciate the multi-factorial nature to most disease processes and that people will no longer be fooled by oversimplified single-causational factors to disease.

I have a dream that a diverse body of scientists and health care professionals will develop guidelines that will help assess "overall quality of life" improvements -- not just symptomatic differences, as a means to determine if treatments really work.

I have a dream that a diverse body of scientists and health care professionals will soon explore the dimensions of and potential for ancient and futuristic concepts of "energy medicine", not only for medical applications but for varied technologies that will help create a healthier, sustainable planet.

I have a dream that biggest critics of natural medicine will apologize for continuing a history of antagonism that should never have started in the first place.

I have a dream that homeopathy and natural medicine's history of success in treating many infectious epidemic diseases will help us reduce antibiotic use and provide a safer tool for treating people with infections.

I have a dream that the homeopathic principle of similars, which has long been utilized in vaccination and allergy treatments, will be appreciated for its power in augmenting immuno-competence.

Let health and freedom ring from the home to the clinic to the hospital.

Let health and freedom ring from the pharmacy to the health food store.

Let health and freedom ring from doctors, from patients, and from insurance companies.

Let health and freedom ring from drug companies, drug regulators, and health policy experts.

Let health and freedom ring from the media and from the internet.

I have a dream today.

Any other dreamers out there?

 

 

 

Follow Dana Ullman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HomeopathicDana

Comments

[Nalini Chilkov]

12:11 PM on 02/26/2011

Beautifully articulated Dana! I also like the word/idea of "Collaborative" Medicine in which clinicians from different paradigms, but shared values find ways to work together for the benefit of the patient. When service to the patient's needs, healing in the largest sense and outcomes is more important than idealogies, there is a spacious arena for possibility, learning, growth and healing and wholeness...the Promised Land!

[greg s ca]

09:45 PM on 02/23/2011

I have a dream that someday people will have enough education and wisdom to realize that "Power Balance" bracelets are nonsense without having to wait for the class action suit to prove this in court; to open their eyes and realize there are in fact pieces of Chinese pottery found in Hunan which are twice as old as creationists believe the Earth to be; and to understand that homeopathic "remedies" indeed have no side effects at all, because there is nothing in them to have any effect.

See also Steven Newton's excellent article on Monday's Huffpo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-newton/evolution-creationism-and_1_b_825432.html

[tamarque]

06:46 AM on 01/24/2011

Love this article. Only concern is the reference to vaccines as being based on a homeopathic principle without any clarification. This concept of vaccines being homeopathic is used by some to justify the safety of vaccines--which they are not. I think there are other examples that are more coherent. For example, I love the way Native Americans would use the tips of new shoots of poison ivy in the early spring to build immunity to that summer scourge. Homeopathy uses this herb to make a remedy that, in its energetic form, works more deeply and safely than the raw herb.

[greg s ca]

10:50 AM on 02/26/2011

I've never heard of anyone making such an absurd justification. Vaccines do sometimes have side-effects, which is an unavoidable consequence of having an effect in the first place. On the other hand, the purported (and extremely disingenuous) similarity between vaccines and homeopathy *is* often used to support the notion that homeopathy can actually protect you against disease. It can't, and this is a dangerous delusion. It is one thing to take some sugar pills with magic energy, and believe that they make you feel more rested or confident, or energetic. It's another thing entirely to believe it will protect you against malaria when you head off to Africa. Malaria parasites don't know or care what you believe about 'frequencies', they will mess up your blood cells either way. Dana's dream is just a delusion - the reality of widespread 'alternative' treatment with homeopathy would be resurgences of pertussis, polio, measles, rubella, diptheria, and other diseases which have been nearly eliminated in developed nations - this progress now is at real risk due to anti-vaccine misinformation stemming from the Wakefield fraud.
And before I get called a 'BigPharma shill' - I don't believe in taking medicine except for a specific purpose. By and large, the body heals itself of minor ailments and injuries. We all know that, but many are prepared to give homeopathy the credit. And I don't make money selling medicine to anyone. How many of the commenters are, like Ullman, making money selling placebos?

http://whatstheharm.net/homeopathy.html

[Kaviraj]

04:36 AM on 01/24/2011

Dana, as always, you put it so well. Thanks for having this dream. It no longer feels I am alone.

[stevescrutton]

04:15 AM on 01/24/2011

Great stuff, Dana

[maribelles]

06:13 PM on 01/12/2011

Herbal Medicine, (western traditional and global) traditional naturopathy (as opposed to "naturopathic" allopathy), acupunture, bodywork therapies, hydrotherapy - all of these in addition to homeopathy DO HAVE a following, and ARE represented by educated, non medical model health care professionals all around the country. Each of these areas is nuanced, developed, multidimensional, documented, successful, researched, and often preferred by a growing many.,

I have a dream that it continues to grow, but it IS here, and it is here to stay.

I have a dream that the medical industry ceases to be the "known" dominant form of "health care" in this country, and that more people are assisted in waking up to other choices, and have the freedom to pursue them.

[DebbyBruck]

07:37 PM on 01/11/2011

We're all with you, Dana. The most appropriate time is NOW to move from dreaming into action, turning it into a reality. All the best, Debby

[ChristyRed]

05:06 PM on 01/11/2011

Not only are there hundreds of thousands of dreamers out here but there are also hundreds of thousands of people whose work and experience with homeopathy will make our dreams a reality.

[mark whitehouse]

03:50 PM on 01/11/2011

Lets help realize it

[HolisticDoc]

02:43 PM on 01/11/2011

Great stuff, Dana.

Homeopathy is a system of medicine with incredible potential.

I consider it the most sophisticated system of medicine there is. It is the most powerful of all holistic modalities, with the potential to effect deeper and more profound cures than any other holistic therapy. Also, more scientifically developed. Compared to allopathic medicine, it is far more safe, comprehensive and curative in its actions.

People who have experienced being treated homeopathically understand this.

That doesn't mean it is perfect. It still has a long way to go in refining itself to become more reliable. There are failures of treatment - likely due to the failure of the practitioner and our understanding, not the medicine itself. But on the whole it is the safest and most powerfully curative medicine there is, period.

[greg s ca]

11:41 PM on 02/23/2011

Wow, it sounds like it's as effective as 'prayer healing'.

[docmalerba]

02:29 PM on 01/11/2011

I have a dream that access to, and the freedom to opt for, the medical therapy of your choice will become guiding principles of the American health care system and will also come to be recognized as basic human rights that are part of our civil liberties as Americans.

[Amy Cavanaugh]

01:53 AM on 01/12/2011

I have a dream that paitents are treated out of care and compassion and not fear of litigation.
I have a dream that no matter how sick you are there is a way to get a patient outside
I have a dream that the medical marijuana movement stop looking like they just left a Grateful Dead concert
I have a dream that oxycotin is outlawed
I have a dream that a patient is empowered to participate in their healing
I have a dream that doctors stop looking at death as failure
I have a dream that hospitals take a closer look at the nutritional value of the food they serve
I have a dream of more primary care physicians and less specialists
I have a dream that hospitals stop using medication as a way of keeping patients quiet and motionless
I have a dream that a doctor says "I don't know"
I have a dream where a patient can cease treatment without fear of reprisal
I have a dream of a world where doctors make house calls
I have a dream where in order to graduate medical school you have to spend 2 months in the hospital
I have a dream that doctors must experience the side effects of any medication they prescribe

[Romz]

11:05 AM on 01/15/2011

"I have a dream that doctors must experience the side effects of medication they prescribe"
Of course that would be much easier for homeopaths as their 'cures' have no side effects,or indeed effects. Faith based medicine kills.

[DrNancyMalik]

12:48 PM on 01/11/2011

Suppression is the stopping of any physiological activity or the stopping of visible signs of illness. Dr. Hahnemann was of the view that suppressing symptoms disables the organism’s innate healing mechanism and drives the disease deeper and so the patient develops a more chronic disease at a later stage. Therefore, the body should be stimulated to encourage its natural healing process.

[DrNancyMalik]

12:43 PM on 01/11/2011

The medical maxim of Hippocrates is being followed in homeopathy. Hippocrates said, "First Do No Harm". Since homeopathy is a nano-medicine and acts a dynamic level, smallest possible dose of medicine is administered which is sufficient to stimulate the vitality and evoke a healing response to bring about the necessary curative change in a patient. This ensures there is no overdosing and no addiction

[andrewmk2000]

02:09 PM on 01/11/2011

What is a "nano-medicine"?

[greg s ca]

09:52 PM on 02/23/2011

A medicine with no actual active ingredient in it. There is therefore no overdosing, no addiction, no side-effects, no actual effect at all. Any healing response is due to other factors, including patient's state of mind from having been 'treated', or e.g. thinking "I spent all this $ on the treatment, I'd better get some rest so it can work", and getting the rest they need to heal.