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Part
2: What can homeopathy do for your health?
Go to Part 1:
What is Homeopathy?
RICHARD HAKE: This is Richard Hake and welcome to
our Webcast. Have you browsed through a major chain drugstore and
noticed a section for alternative medicine? Homeopathy has become
a booming business across the country, especially on the West Coast, generating
some $250 million in drug sales and is expected to grow at a rate of 25
percent a year.
But what is the sometimes criticized homeopathy and does
it work? Joining us for this Webcast are two physicians who practice
homeopathy. Sitting next to me is Dr. Ronald Dushkin who's in private
practice in New York City specializing in children and in adults.
And by phone is Dr. Harold Ofgang, who practices and teaches this type
of medicine in Danbury, Connecticut. Thank you both for joining us.
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: Thank you.
HAROLD OFGANG, MD: Thank you.
RICHARD HAKE: Well, in this Webcast we will discuss
if homeopathy is good for you and how to go about and find the proper doctors
and treatments. But let's start with a brief explanation of what
is homeopathy. Dr. Dushkin, could we start with you for an explanation?
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: Sure, sure. Homeopathy
is using natural specially prepared medicines called homeopathic medicines
or remedies that are FDA regulated, manufactured in FDA regulated homeopathic
pharmacies, safe, nontoxic medicines that are used to activate someone's
own inner healing mechanism to bring about health from the inside out.
As opposed to just treating the symptom, the goal in homeopathy is to bring
about cure.
RICHARD HAKE: And Dr. Ofgang, let's turn to you.
How does one go about in finding a homeopath? Is this a doctor or
can anyone practice this?
HAROLD OFGANG, MD: Well, traditionally homeopathic
practitioners are physicians, though there are many homeopaths who are
lay practitioners throughout the world. I would say that the most
qualified tend to be either conventional or allopathic physicians, naturopathic
physicians, osteopathic physicians and so on.
But throughout the history of homeopathy, there have been
many other practitioners such as nurse practitioners and so on that use
homeopathy to help treat people.
The best way to find a homeopath would be to call up an
organization or write to an organization such as the National Center for
Homeopathy or Hanniman Health Foundation or the International Foundation
for Homeopathy or any number of other reputable homeopathic foundations.
So nowadays, it's getting less and less difficult to find a good classical
homeopath.
RICHARD HAKE: Dr. Dushkin, are most homeopaths also
conventional doctors? I mean, can I go into a specific office and
decide what kind of treatment I want from one specific doctor?
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: Actually, no. The people
tend to specialize -- you're either practicing conventional medicine, allopathic
medicine, or practicing homeopathy. The way of looking at a human
being and the way of treating them is so dramatically different that it
wouldn't benefit the doctor or the patient to go see someone who tries
to do both. You'd be standing with one foot on each side of the line
and end up with the worst of both types of care.
So you really want to look for someone who has made this
their specialty, who's decided this is the kind of medicine that I'm going
to practice and have dedicated their career and their study to becoming
an expert in it to provide the best care.
RICHARD HAKE: And Dr. Ofgang, you're a homeopath
and also a naturopath physician, what is the difference.
HAROLD OFGANG, MD: Correct. Well, it's a good
question and one that often confuses people. Homeopathy is a branch
of naturopathic medicine. The history of medicine in the United States
is such that there was a big split from where, I would say, maybe the 1930's
or '40s, and there were lots of M.D.'s who practiced what we call nature
cure, which included using natural substances such as water or air, psychotherapy,
physiotherapy, and so on and so forth, and also used such things as homeopathy
which was very gentle and natural, some botanical medicines and so on.
And they also used some more, let's say -- I was going
to say toxic drugs, but let's say more potent, more concentrated drugs.
When this split occurred and allopathic medicine really threw the gauntlet,
naturopathic physicians branched off and depending state per state, they're
licensed as physicians in different states, and some naturopathic physicians
will specialize in homeopathic medicine and some will specialize in obstetrics,
for example.
And I agree that even in -- with naturopathic physicians,
even though homeopathy is essentially a part of naturopathic medicine,
I agree that if you want to get the best homeopathic care, you really want
to find someone who practices classical homeopathy and more or less specializes
in that area and more or less has devoted their professional life to classical
homeopathy, because it's not an easy medical system to master.
And so for the best care, one should find someone who
is specializing in classical homeopathy, whether they be an allopathic
physician, osteopathic physician or a naturopathic physician.
RICHARD HAKE: And Dr. Dushkin, let's talk about
the practical treatment.
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: Sure.
RICHARD HAKE: I mean, homeopathy, the belief is
that you're treating something by giving you some of that, more or less.
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: Right. There are a number
of beliefs in here that come into play that are very powerful. The
first one is the belief that a human being has the ability to generate
health from the inside out. When I practiced conventional medicine,
one of the reasons I walked away from it is that you would do something
to the patient and believe that your medicine was making them better.
So the patient was basically powerless. They're depending on the
doctor's medicine.
The whole belief in homeopathy is there is an inner intelligence.
Hanniman called it a vital force that is active and alive and can, in fact,
generate health when properly stimulated. So the homeopathic medicine
is given after looking at the whole person, finding out what is the best
medicine for this individual person and therefore the medicine is given
and the belief is that it interacts with the person's own vital force to
activate it to recreate health.
RICHARD HAKE: And Dr. Ofgang, let's talk a little
bit about the types of medicines and how they're produced. I mean,
is it penicillin, is it antibiotics, is it that type -- how would you describe
it?
HAROLD OFGANG, MD: Well, there are literally hundreds
and thousands of homeopathic medicines. They can really be produced
from almost anything. But they are -- they have to go through a very
rigorous process and they have to be recognized by the American Homeopathic
Pharmacopeia as homeopathic medicines.
But I would say the vast majority are -- come from plants
or minerals and then there are other types of remedies we call [INAUDIBLE]
but for the most part, the vast majority are plants or minerals that have
been diluted and secussed in such a fashion to extract the clinical efficacy
or benefit from those remedies, if you will, while suppressing and completely
eliminating, in most cases, any toxicity.
RICHARD HAKE: And Dr. Dushkin, what kind of ailments
are we talking about? I mean, what are the typical things that people
go into your office for?
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: The same things people go into
a regular doctor's office for, however, many of the patients that come
to me, and I'm sure this is true also for you, Dr. Ofgang, are people who
have gone the conventional route and haven't gotten better, and they're
frustrated.
But people come in with allergies, asthma, gastrointestinal
problems, arthritis, ADD, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, a whole spectrum
of things. And because homeopathy looks at the individual person,
not just their diagnostic label, there's an opportunity for great benefit
in there because we're looking at healing, we're not looking at symptomatic
cover up.
It's a very different approach, and having gone through
medical school and gone through that practice, even, and seeing that all
I was doing was trying to treat a symptom, I really wasn't involved in
activating healing. Homeopathy addresses a whole variety of complaints,
almost all human complaints, in a way that can often be gentle, nontoxic
and recreate health rather than just mask a symptom.
RICHARD HAKE: And what about -- does the FDA approve
many of these drugs?
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: There's two types of homeopathic
medicines. There are what are called single remedies which are produced
under FDA regulations at FDA regulated pharmacies, and these are what are
called single remedies.
And what a classical homeopath does is use single remedies.
You will find many, quote unquote, combination remedies in health food
stores. These aren't FDA regulated but when they're used for acute
conditions rather than a long?standing chronic problem, can often be efficacious
if someone either doesn't have access to a practitioner or just wants to
do some self care in the short term.
RICHARD HAKE: So the FDA regulated ones would need
a prescription from a --
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: Not necessarily, no.
RICHARD HAKE: Dr. Ofgang, what about combinations
of drugs? People who use conventional medical practices, those kind
of drugs, and the homeopathic. Is there danger there?
HAROLD OFGANG, MD: Well, there's no danger at all
from the homeopathic medicines. Another old friend of mine, Dr. Francisco
[INAUDIBLE], who is a very well known homeopathic teacher and doctor from
Argentina used to say when we lectured that the best way to treat people
is with the homeopathic medicine alone. The worst way to treat people,
from his point of view, was with allopathic medicines alone. And
a compromise would be to use the homeopathic and allopathic or conventional
medicines together.
There's absolutely no harm in adding the homeopathic medicines
to treatment with conventional medicine. However, in truth, the remedy
will not work as well, and in cases where the conventional medicine is
suppressive, for example, in a case of, let's say, eczema where someone
is using cortisone, for example, to suppress the skin rash, you can also
use a homeopathic remedy but it's going to make the cure much more difficult
because, as Dr. Dushkin pointed out, the homeopathic medicine is treating
the individual, it's actually helping the individual defense mechanism
or vital force cure the illness.
Whereas the allopathic medicine is there only by admission
to suppress the symptoms. And when the symptom is suppressed, it
is -- in effect, the individual is less healthy and homeopathy is trying
to stimulate the defense mechanism to help make the individual more healthy.
So in some ways, the conventional medicine can interfere
to some degree with the homeopathic medicine, but it's still always better,
in my opinion, to use homeopathy even if the individual is going to continue
using conventional medicine, it's really better than not adding any homeopathic
medicine at all.
RICHARD HAKE: And Dr. Dushkin, what -- have you
come across any kinds of ailments or symptoms or disorders that homeopathy
just does not work?
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: Well, I'll tell you, from my
own experience, there's two categories of people that I have chosen not
to treat. People with cancer and people who have psychotic mental
illnesses because both of those can be extremely difficult to treat, you
run into some potentially political and legal problems.
So if someone calls -- and I know there are some homeopathic
practitioners who will treat people with that, but in my personal experience,
I've chosen to not take under my care those people. Most other categories,
I have seen a lot of success.
RICHARD HAKE: And Dr. Ofgang, can you hear us?
Okay, I'll pose the question to you, Dr. Dushkin.
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: Okay, I won't speak for him,
I'll just speak for myself.
RICHARD HAKE: [LAUGHS] What's your ideal type of
patient? I mean, what is the type -- you're dealing with the whole
body, you're not just dealing with a specific symptom, you're dealing with
this whole person, so what would your ideal patient be like?
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: Someone who wants to get well.
Someone who wants to get well. Someone who is motivated.
[EXTRANEOUS MATERIAL -- PHONE OPERATOR]
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: So the ideal patient is someone
who wants to get well, who is on minimal amount of allopathic medicine,
and as Dr. Ofgang was saying --
[EXTRANEOUS MATERIAL -- RECONNECTING WITH OFGANG]
[SIDE B]
RICHARD HAKE: And what about homeopathy treatment
for children?
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: That's one of the most satisfying
aspects of my practice, because children -- their illness hasn't been there
ingrained in their system for years and years and years as it has for many
adults. They're less likely to be on lots of medication. So
treating children is often the most satisfying part of the practice.
Having a child who has ADD who's all over the place, who won't sit still,
won't follow directions, and have their mother come back and say I've got
my child back.
Or to have a child who's had ear infection for 11 consecutive
months, antibiotic after antibiotic, get treated with homeopathy and go
for 18 months without an ear infection. Or have a child who's playing
in after school sports to not need an inhaler for their asthma is incredibly
satisfying.
RICHARD HAKE: Do some parents who follow homeopathy
very strictly maybe not get their children immunized? I mean, could
that be a big problem?
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: That's a whole other discussion,
that's something I'd rather not get into and that's a whole other discussion,
immunizations. But one of the things -- when someone comes to see
me, I encourage them to stay in touch with their pediatrician. We're
not making into an either/or. Or if someone's on medication, I don't
say just stop your medication.
Because we have to find the right balance here, which
is one of the reasons it's important to have a -- be treated by a licensed
professional who practices homeopathy so they're aware of medications or
could have interaction with the other doctors involved.
RICHARD HAKE: As a follower of homeopathy, when
you see a patient, you're treating the whole patient, the whole person.
What is an exam like if a patient goes to see someone who practices homeopathy?
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: Well, if someone has physical
symptoms, I'm a doctor so I examine them. You know, if we need to
get tests, blood tests or other tests, we get them. Frequently people
come to see me have already had their medical evaluation, so I review their
exam, I review their tests, you know, I'm qualified to do that.
It's mostly collecting a lot of information about someone.
Very briefly, talk about headaches. Well, a headache is a headache
is a headache. Not true. In homeopathy, I want to know, is
it left sided or right sided? Is it better in the morning, is it
better in the afternoon. What kinds of things affect the headache.
Giving you one small example.
RICHARD HAKE: And how would you prescribe a drug
for that? For a specific symptom if you have to look at the whole
body as well?
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: Well, I spend over an hour
with each patient. So my goal is to find out as much as I can about
their particular symptom as well as as much as I can about the particular
person in much more detail.
RICHARD HAKE: And what's on the way for homeopathy?
Are more doctors accepting the practice now?
RICHARD DUSHKIN, MD: More and more people are beginning
to look at it. There's a number of pediatricians that I know who
don't practice homeopathy but when they're stuck with their patients, don't
know what else to do, will refer them to me or other homeopathic doctors.
So there's definitely an opening that's happening.
RICHARD HAKE: Dr. Ronald Dushkin is in private practice
in New York City and joining us earlier by phone was Dr. Harold Ofgang,
who practices and teaches homeopathy in Danbury, Connecticut. And
thank you for joining us for our Webcast. I'm Richard Hake.
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