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Art's Spinal Stenosis Homeopathic Regimen

Dn (Fort Mill, Sc) on 08/03/2020

Hi Art,

Will the protocol for spinal stenosis you posted interfere with a diabetic glucose monitoring? Or someone on Glipizide or Metformin?

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Replied by Azuka from Michigan on 08/04/2020

I really like Earthclinic, but I am seriously disillusioned that any remedy involving homeopathic preparations is included here. If they work it is only because the user believes it will work. Any other benefit is coincidental.

How do I know this? It's because the amount of the original substance being used in the homeopathic preparation is diluted to an extreme so that the likelihood of even one atom of the original substance being in the dose is extremely unlikely.

So, what people are getting is sugar pills or just plain water.

To prove me wrong, just use the precise protocol for making a homeopathic preparation of whiskey or other similar strong liquor. The homeopathic mantra is that the more times it is diluted the stronger it becomes. Take it to the 30X level and then take a drink from your 30X homeopathic whiskey and see how strong you think THAT is!

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Replied by Brett from Hawaii on 08/04/2020

As a medical professional (RN), I can tell you that Homeopathic medications contain not ingredient that would interact with any medications. There is literally not possibility of chemical reaction or interaction as there is ZERO chemical contents in the Homeopathic blends. It is magnetic resonant energy as proven by Dr Benveniste.
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Replied by Art from California on 08/04/2020

Dn,

There is no data available to know this with any certainty that I am aware of. Homeopathic remedies in general don't have a tremendous amount of quality studies.

Based on how homeopathic remedies are made using very high dilution rates, it seems like it should be compatible with most drugs, but because it is your diabetes at stake, it will be safer to ask your doctor or better yet, ask Dr. Katchen because she has probably already dealt with this issue in her patients with spinal stenosis. Here is her number and address:

Phone: (309) 734-0100
Monmouth, IL 61462

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Replied by Art from California on 08/04/2020

Azuka,

Human cells are not affected by a placebo effect and the following study shows that the use of homeopathy definitely has positive effects on these human cells in the following new (June 2020) study abstract. If it was just a sugar pill as you stated, these effects would not have been seen. This particular homeopathic remedy is often used for arthritis and is purported to reduce inflammatory mediators exactly as this cell study shows it did with the reduction of Cox-2, TNF-a and NO. Here is a quote from the study:

....................

The molecular docking showed interaction of C. carbonica with the phenylalanine 367 residue present in active site of Cox-2.

....................

Here is a link to the abstract :

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32732109/

Without an active component in the homeopathic remedy tested, these results would not have been possible with a sugar pill. Simply put, homeopathic remedies are not a placebo.

Your example of diluting alcohol clearly shows you have no idea of how homeopathy works. In homeopathy it has been found that "like heals like" so in this case of your diluted alcohol, you could potentially help a hangover, not get drunk, but it would require that you mix it right in the first place. If you believe that homeopathy is merely a placebo, then I doubt you would know how to mix it in the first place.

Since you are opposed to homeopathy, what would you recommend to help my friend with the lumbar spinal stenosis since he has already had the surgery and is in more pain that pre-surgery and two other doctors have told him there is nothing they can do for him? He has tried every topical pain reliever recommended to him and does not want to get addicted to the powerful opioid pain relievers as they can do harm.

Art

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Replied by Lauhala from Haiku, Maui on 08/04/2020

LOVE homeopathic remedies! I wanted to also add that there is another remedy that comliments homeopathy wonderfully for stenosis, that literally cured me of severe chronic neck pain of 40 years. Dr. John Sarno's books on the mind/body connection. My physical therapist suggested I read The Mindbody Prescription, and immediately no more neck pain. Ive been pain free for 2 years now. Our mind is more powerful than we know. And im living proof! Total miracle ❤
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Replied by Jk from Ny Metro Area on 08/04/2020

I am a trained homeopath, and can assure you homeopathy does work. This article, however, is misleading. The so-called protocol of this doctor is not unique to homeopathy at all. She is including a cell salt with a proven homeopathic remedy. No startling discovery at all, but, yes, these particular remedies may work . But homeopathy is based on the individual, and there is not one remedy that will fit all. There are many remedies for the same thing with slight differences that must match the "individual." The complete case must be taken preferably by a homeopath or homeopathic MD or at least someone who studied homeopathy and knows what it's about. An individual prescribing this for themselves may possibly fail and blame homeopathy when there is a better remedy out there for them. It "is" commendable this homeopathic MD was assured of the correct remedy from the beginning.
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Replied by Azuka from Michigan on 08/11/2020

It's hard to know what to make of your friend's situation since there are a number of different procedures, surgeries, and treatments available for spinal stenosis. I don't know which one your friend had, who the surgeon was, and whether there was any surgical followup protocols, and whether those protocols were followed. I'm pretty interested in such treatments since spinal stenosis is significantly affecting my life by severely impacting my mobility, not to mention pain level.

I'm pursuing a minimally invasive procedure called 'Vertiflex.' This involves the insertion of a device between two vertebrae which alleviates impingement on the nerve passing through that juncture. If one receives some benefit from epidural shots to the lower back, then it is likely they would receive equal or better results from a vertiflex implant, with the added benefit of it being permanent. Recipients of this procedure six months post-procedure have a 90% satisfaction rate, much much higher than traditional surgical approaches. In some cases, the insertion of two such devices is warranted, which is what my pain doctor is recommending.

Unfortunately, these plans have been put on hold since I need to be off of blood thinners for a short period of time before and after the procedure. I need to remain on blood thinners for another six months or a year before my cardiologist will agree to take me off of this medicine. One may take a look on Youtube at numerous videos demonstrating exactly how this works.... but a common result is a patient who must be taken in via wheelchair for the procedure, who can then go out dancing a week or so later.

As far as that abstract that you were kind enough to provide a link to, I do not profess to understand all of the technical jargon, but I am troubled by a few things....

1 - Sample size - I can not tell how many people were involved in this study. Was it just one? Was it more than one?

2 - Lack of a control - As far as I can tell, there was no control. I think the results could be more meaningful if they conducted cell survival rate studies in a person who merely stopped taking the NSAIDs so that there would be something to compare the questionable use of the homeopathic preparation with.

3 - Conclusion - Two problems. The study fails to show that the homeopathic preparation was the reason for the anti-inflammatory response because (as stated in 2) there was no control. AND attributing the cause as 'probably' mediated via interaction of C. carbonica with phenylalanine 367 residue. What this tells me is that either they are just guessing at the manner in which this supposedly works OR that they already 'knew' the answer before they began the study, which would be a confounding factor.

To be considered as a legit treatment, a different group of researchers would need to develop a parallel study to see if the desirable results can be duplicated, actually many such trials. It sounds like one person only was the subject of the study, but as written it's impossible for me to tell.

I have two further issues:

1 - Your statement that cells are not affected by the placebo effect.

You state this as though it is fact, but it sounds like it is merely your opinion. The placebo effect is extremely well known. I don't know what studies have been done on the placebo effect as it relates to changes at the cellular level. Are you aware of any such studies? If not, then on what do you base your statement that this is not possible? I'm not convinced either way, myself.

2 - You are rather presumptive that I have no understanding of homeopathy. Just because I believe homeopathy to be a fraud does not mean I do not understand the basic premise or how the preparation process goes. I do understand that it is not merely diluting the substance over and over again to achieve a preparation. Using traditional homeopathic preparation methods ALWAYS dilutes the amount of substance at each level of preparation.

I made my own (apparently faulty) assumption when writing my original comment. And that assumption was that the readers of earthclinic, at least those who are interested in homeopathic preparations, already understood the basic principles of homeopathy and of course know that this results in diluting the original material. I did not want to bore people by restating what everyone already knew.

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Replied by Art from California on 08/12/2020

Azuka,

First, I would like to say I understand your disbelief of homeopathy as I have been exactly there. Years ago, I felt the same way, that anything that is diluted so much can not have any medicinal or healing value. With time and testing, I am now a firm believer, but I essentially had to prove it to myself before I could believe it. Now I use it regularly for different health issues.

Regarding my friend and his options, his original surgeon and two other doctors told him there was nothing they could do for him to improve his pain situation other than strong pain killers. One of the two doctors told him that the pins and screws used in the original surgery complicates things and occasionally the body can reject them and that he was lucky to have avoided that complication so far. A fourth doctor told him that he might be able to do a surgically implanted type of electrical spinal stim, but that is a fairly invasive surgery that is somewhat similar to the DBS surgery used for Parkinson's patients where they install electrodes to the brain and implant a battery pack that needs to be replaced at regular intervals and you use a handheld remote control to control the internal device. In his case, the electrodes would be attached to the spine. This procedure comes with the risk of infection from the devices being installed. He was seriously considering it so I suggested trying the homeopathy first and that has worked out very well for him and still is. At this point he will not consider any other procedures because he is better now than he has been in over a decade!

Regarding that abstract of a study, the whole point of the study is that it was a laboratory study on human cells that they treated with the homeopathic Calcarea Carbonica to see if they could elicit a response in the cells with the application of the CC. This study was not done on humans, but rather on human cells which takes the placebo effect out of the equation. The cells were stimulated to produce an inflammatory response using lipopolysaccharide and then the CC was used and this application produced the antiinflammatory response reported in the abstract, thus showing that homeopathy is not a placebo effect.

In the following human study using placebo and active groups, the homeopathic remedy Arnica Montana (AM) for the purpose of reducing bleeding and fluid buildup under the skin (seromas) after surgery for unilateral total mastectomy in women. This study shows that AM statically significantly did what it was supposed to do, reduce blood loss and fluid buildup post surgery, again showing that homeopathy is not a placebo.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5289077/

It is your right to believe what you want, but it is not in line with current science regarding the effectiveness of homeopathy.

Art

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