page source:   www.wicklowhomeopathy.com
     
         
   

Research Evidence

   
   
    Contrary to what some people believe, there is a wealth of research providing solid evidence on various aspects of homeopathy. There is research showing that it works, research showing comparisons against conventional treatments and there is some interesting research described in a recently released book which documents who has been promoting or using homeopathy. You might be surprised to know that amongst others, 9 Popes have either used or promoted homeopathy, Charles Darwin reluctantly admitted it worked after it relieved him of a 2 year illness that was preventing him from working, and a range of UK monarchy, prime ministers and US presidents use homeopathy including Bill Clinton.


When looking into the research literature, you may have come across the idea of the 'double blind placebo controlled trial' which is held to be the gold standard of scientific research. It is worth pointing out however that this type of approach is not the ideal measure for homeopathic outcomes as it removes the ability to treat people according to their individual symptoms. This individuality is of course the root of homeopathy, so for instance if you and I had a headache our symptoms would most likely differ and therefore we would each require a different remedy. It is hoped that in time it will be recognised within the scientific community that the double blind controlled trial is not actually the gold standard for research within homeopathy but that other methods need to be applied in showing effectiveness.

Delving into clinical research can get pretty complex but for those that are interested in reading further on the subject, you will find links below which will hopefully satisfy your interest.


    
      http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/whats-new/researchwn.aspx

This is the site of the British Society of Homeopathy. On the site you will find a download of various statistics about homeopathy (with references to the research that produced the statistics) e.g. a report in August 2005 showing a 65% rise in demand for information on homeopathy on a UK magazine website. Over thirty million people in Europe use homeopathic medicine and 50% of the French population are regular users. And in a national survey conducted by The UK Society of Homeopaths 87% of patients who complained of mental and emotional problems reported positive change over a six-month period.

For those interested in it, there is a downloadable document examining what constitutes evidence and the search for evidence in homeopathy.

And there is also a list of some scientific trials looking at various aspects of homeopathy with children as well as a report from the European Network of Homeopathic Researchers outlining the trials that have produced positive evidence in treatments of things like:
     
  * Diarrhoea in children
* Respiratory tract complaints
* Musculo-skeletal problems
* Hay fever, asthma and perennial rhinitis
* Pre menstrual syndrome (PMS)
* Menopausal complaints
* Homeopathy after oestrogen withdrawal
* Infertility
* Pregnancy-related problems
* ADHD
* ME/CFS
* Surgery
     
   
             
    http://www.trusthomeopathy.org/case/res_toc.html

This is the website of the British Homeopathic Association and Faculty of Homeopathy. The faculty and association are organisations in the UK of doctors that practice homeopathy. In a posted response to a negative TV programme they stated that ‘Far from being “enemies of reason”, homeopathic doctors are highly trained physicians who choose to integrate homeopathic treatment when appropriate for their patients, often when other treatments have not been helpful or have produced side effects. They use homeopathy because it is effective, safe and encourages patients’ responsibility for their own health. This is what most patients hope for from their health service’

This page directs you to research evidence, discussion of issues and controversies in research, research on homeopathy in veterinary practice and discussion of other aspects like the mechanism of its action. On their research section you will find some well cross-referenced papers on clinical research in homeopathy with positive findings. Following the link to ‘table 2’ on the page you will be guided to positive results in ailments like Anxiety, ADHD, Chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS, Migraine, Osteoarthritis, PMS, Asthma, Glue ear, Muscle soreness, Pain (miscellaneous), Radiotherapy side-effects, Sprains, Upper respiratory tract infections.
    
             
    http://www.hpathy.com/research

On this site you will find collected papers that may be of interest to the casual reader such as
- Homeopathic Treatment of Diarrhoea in Cows
- Validating Controlled Research Part II: Accounting for Complex Process
- Homeopathy: The Scientific Proofs of Efficacy

But there are also articles that may be of interest to the more experienced on topics related to practice and principles in homeopathy such as
- Homeopathic Potencies Identified By a New Magnetic Resonance Method
- Homeopathy & Biophotonics (II): The Vital Force
- Scientific Research in Homeopathy: To Prove or To Improve?
- The Monster with 1000 Heads		    
     
     
   
     
     
   
http://www.galwayhomeopathy.com/index.php/introduction_to_homeopathy/research_in_homeopathy

This is the website of the Galway College of Homeopathy. It describes how study of homeopathic research is integrated into the course prospectus. It also points to their LINKS page where you will find a long list of websites that cover research in homeopathy.		    
             
   
http://www.lyghtforce.com/King_bio/research.htm

For those looking to do studies of homeopathy, this site gives some pointers on its history, ailments that research has investigated and some interesting snippets on dignitaries and others that have used or commented on homeopathy. It doesn’t give a great deal of information but gives the references of where you can find more.		    
             
   
http://ccrhindia.org

The Central Council for Research in Homeopathy is the site of the organisation set up to co-ordinate research within India. It has contacts for many centres in India undertaking research today and also details of research undertaken. Again this is likely to be more of a reference to the reader who is interested in doing research rather than those reading about it. 		   
   
   
   
http://abchomeopathy.com/scientific.htm

This site has a simple one page introduction to the debate about evidence for or against homeopathy and points to a couple of papers attacking the opinion that homeopathy is not scientific. Be aware though, as the site itself admits: “As this site makes profit by selling homeopathic remedies, we can not claim to be impartial and any evidence we present could only be viewed with a healthy amount of skepticism. We would be an example of what's known as 'editorial bias'. Editorial bias cuts both ways; some are as biased against homeopathy as we are for it!"		    
     
     
   
     
     
   


http://www.homeopathic.org/research.htm

The website of the National Centre for Homeopathy in the US - has a few more bits and bobs on homeopathic research articles.

  
             
      http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov

This is the US National Institutes of Health PubMed website in which there is free access to research articles. One of the very interesting ones in relation to homeopathy is a long term study of homeopathy effectiveness:
How healthy are chronically ill patients after eight years of homeopathic treatment? – Results from a long term observational study by Claudia M Witt, Rainer Lüdtke, Nils Mengler and Stefan N Willich		      
             
             
     

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