Critics of homeopathy have an axe to grind. They are really closet supporters of conventional medicine, so called 'scientific' medicine, whose evidence base is supported mainly by 'randomised controlled testing', or RCT's. Anything else, they say, is 'anecdotal'.
But what is wrong with ‘anecdotes'? Especially when these are no more than ‘stories’ about successful medical treatment. They all take this general form.
Yet this is exactly what most patients want when they are sick. They don’t want to be ill! They want to be well again! They are not too concerned about ‘how’ or by what means!
So conventional medicine attacks homeopathy because of these ‘anecdotes’. These people get better just by chance. It’s just placebo. The patient would have got better anyway. Or sometimes the patient is said to be mistaken, or even lying.
I first discovered homeopathy because I went through this ‘anecdotal’ process - with one important added feature.
It is that every drug and vaccine used by conventional medicine has been proven to be effective and safe by medical science, using randomised controlled trials.
And it is true that all pharmaceutical drugs have been scientifically tested, and found to be both safe and effective. The problem is that most of these drugs that have been used during the last 70 years have either been withdrawn or banned (because they have eventually been found to be neither safe or effective).
And even the pharmaceutical drugs that remain are known to have serious, harmful side effects. Doctors are told to prescribe them in the most restricted circumstances. In other words, these drugs will also be banned - in the fullness of time!
So is this what patients want when they are sick? Do they want to take drugs that doctors say are safe and effective, only later to be told they are neither?
So anecdotal evidence is important. Anecdotes should not be dismissed out of hand. Indeed, it is anecdotes that make the world go around! If I find that someone who has suffered from illness has tried something to treat it, and it worked, I listen to what they have to say, intently, and try it myself when I become ill. It is common sense!
Certainly I no longer listen to, or trust conventional medicine when they tell me (as they regularly do) that their drugs and vaccines are ‘scientifically’ tested, so are safe and effective. Far too many pharmaceutical drugs have been withdrawn and banned in recent decades.
So we should never dismiss anecdotes. We should find out what is happening in the real world. And we should certainly see that homeopathy is now the second most used medical system in the world. And this is largely to do with the passing on, from friend to friend, of 'anecdotal' evidence during the last 220 years.
There is now so much more than anecdotal evidence to support the effectiveness of homeopathy, including many scientific studies, many of them RCT's.
But we should never dismiss anecdotal evidence! It is far more important than anything that medical science can offer. It means that sick people have got well again.
But what is wrong with ‘anecdotes'? Especially when these are no more than ‘stories’ about successful medical treatment. They all take this general form.
- A patient is sick
- The patient is treated with homeopathy
- The patient gets better
Yet this is exactly what most patients want when they are sick. They don’t want to be ill! They want to be well again! They are not too concerned about ‘how’ or by what means!
So conventional medicine attacks homeopathy because of these ‘anecdotes’. These people get better just by chance. It’s just placebo. The patient would have got better anyway. Or sometimes the patient is said to be mistaken, or even lying.
I first discovered homeopathy because I went through this ‘anecdotal’ process - with one important added feature.
- I had extremely painful gastric ulcers
- I used conventional medicine - and it did not work
- I was persuaded to try homeopathy (which I thought at the time was nonsense)
- I got better
It is that every drug and vaccine used by conventional medicine has been proven to be effective and safe by medical science, using randomised controlled trials.
And it is true that all pharmaceutical drugs have been scientifically tested, and found to be both safe and effective. The problem is that most of these drugs that have been used during the last 70 years have either been withdrawn or banned (because they have eventually been found to be neither safe or effective).
And even the pharmaceutical drugs that remain are known to have serious, harmful side effects. Doctors are told to prescribe them in the most restricted circumstances. In other words, these drugs will also be banned - in the fullness of time!
So is this what patients want when they are sick? Do they want to take drugs that doctors say are safe and effective, only later to be told they are neither?
So anecdotal evidence is important. Anecdotes should not be dismissed out of hand. Indeed, it is anecdotes that make the world go around! If I find that someone who has suffered from illness has tried something to treat it, and it worked, I listen to what they have to say, intently, and try it myself when I become ill. It is common sense!
Certainly I no longer listen to, or trust conventional medicine when they tell me (as they regularly do) that their drugs and vaccines are ‘scientifically’ tested, so are safe and effective. Far too many pharmaceutical drugs have been withdrawn and banned in recent decades.
So we should never dismiss anecdotes. We should find out what is happening in the real world. And we should certainly see that homeopathy is now the second most used medical system in the world. And this is largely to do with the passing on, from friend to friend, of 'anecdotal' evidence during the last 220 years.
There is now so much more than anecdotal evidence to support the effectiveness of homeopathy, including many scientific studies, many of them RCT's.
But we should never dismiss anecdotal evidence! It is far more important than anything that medical science can offer. It means that sick people have got well again.
