Homeopathy - Popular with users, proven by studies!

More and more Germans appreciate the positive effect of homeopathy. Patients and homeopathic therapists or physicians experience daily how much they can contribute to the relief or even cure many ailments and diseases. Especially in chronic diseases, homeopathy successfully shows what it can do. And yet, homeopathy is repeatedly criticized for being ineffective. Especially in recent times, with almost conspicuous regularity in the media to read, homeopathy is nothing more than a placebo therapy. What is it about this statement??

Countless patients happy with homeopathy
If one asks the patients whether homeopathy works, then the answer is clear. According to a representative survey conducted by the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy in 2014, 60 percent of all Germans have used homeopathic medicines before. About half of the respondents were completely satisfied with the effect of the homeopathic remedies, another 39 percent reported that the homeopathic remedies had helped them at least in some cases. In other words, the vast majority of Germans have already had positive experiences with homeopathy!

Many Germans have already successfully used homeopathic remedies, but their effect is doubted by critics to this day. (Picture: Glaser / fotolia.com)

Health services research shows the effects and benefits of homeopathy
Positive results are also evident in the studies from health services research. Comparisons between homeopathically treated and conventionally treated patient groups show that the therapeutic effects of homeopathy are similar to those of conventional medicine - with significantly fewer side effects and lower antibiotic consumption. A prospective observational study conducted over a period of eight years with 3981 patients at the Berlin University Hospital Charité shows a clear reduction in clinical symptoms and a significant improvement in the quality of life. The authors of a Swiss study entitled "Homeopathy in Health Care - Effectiveness, Benefit, Safety and Efficiency" (from the series "Perspectives - Writings on Plurality in Medicine", ISBN: 978-3-88864-419-1) In 2006, we conclude that "In summary, there is sufficient evidence for the preclinical effect and clinical efficacy of homeopathy, and that it represents a safe and cost-effective intervention in absolute terms, especially compared to conventional therapies!"

Successful use of homeopathy in agriculture
Countless farmers are also convinced of the benefits of homeopathy. Meanwhile, many chambers of agriculture offer their members homeopathy seminars. The use of homeopathic remedies helps the livestock farmers to save up to 80 percent antibiotics, explains farm animal homeopath Birgit Gnadl in an interview with the Association of Classical Homeopaths in Germany e.V. (VKHD). This not only has a positive effect on the livestock and the purses of the livestock farmers, but also on the environment. Because the fewer antibiotics the animals excrete, the less land with manure on fields, meadows and groundwater.

Patient studies show efficacy
And that should all be due to the much-cited placebo effect? Not even close! There are now enough high-quality randomized trials comparing homoeopathic treatment with placebo treatment. The majority of these studies were positive, ie in favor of homeopathy. Five out of a total of six reviews evaluating the results of placebo-controlled studies on specific issues are also positive.

Only when an overview article ignores the majority of studies on homeopathy does the pendulum turn out negative. The Swedish researcher, anesthesiologist and intensive care physician Robert Hahn comes to this conclusion in a technical contribution to the topic. "In the case of homeopathy, it's the way to stick to what the evidence reveals. And this says that the effectiveness of homeopathy can only be undetectable if one removes 95-98% of all studies done in the field, "said Hahn.

Specific effects of potentized drugs proven
So how is it that, despite all the successes and evidence, homeopathy is still considered by critics to be ineffective? On the one hand, this may be due to the fact that it has not yet been possible to clarify how the homeopathic remedies develop their effect in the body. Even though it has long been clear that they have an effect. In any case, further research is needed to understand the operating principle.

On the other hand, the critics are bothered by the fact that homeopaths often work with very high potencies. That is, they use drugs that have been so diluted and processed that, theoretically, nothing of the parent substance can be contained in them. Critics like to express the problem with the following words: "Nothing in it, nothing to it". However, in the meantime, there are numerous studies on cells, plants and animals in basic research, which clearly show that these highly potentized drugs also have specific effects, as Stephan Baumgartner wrote in the article "State of Basic Research in Homeopathy" (in: WissHom , The Current State of Research in Homeopathy, 2016, p. 43ff).

Self-treatment has its limits
But critics are right in one point: not every cold or bruise needs to be treated with globules. For many minor illnesses and acute ailments, it is enough to give the body time to heal itself. Chronic diseases that do not go away by themselves, on the other hand, are a domain of homeopathy. However, they are hardly suitable for self-treatment. Unlike minor diseases, for which there are many proven remedies (e.g., Arnica in hematomas), homeopathic remedies in chronic cases are selected individually according to the patient's complaints. Homoeopathically trained naturopaths or physicians are able to make the right choice and accompany patients over a longer period of time. Qualified homeopaths can be found, for example, in the lists of therapists of the Foundation Homeopathy Certificate (SHZ), the Association of Classical Homeopaths (BKHD) or the German Central Association of Homeopathic Physicians (DZVhÄ). In regular consultations they track the effects of the prescribed remedies and the course of the cure. This also ensures that no complications or symptoms are overlooked that require additional therapeutic measures of conventional medicine. (Dr. Birgit Weyel, www.vkhd.de)

Annotation: This article is intended as a technical contribution to the ongoing debate around the topic of homeopathy, in which we give both critics and advocates room for a presentation of their positions. Further contributions to the topic can be found here:
Homeopathy: myths and facts about globuli