The positive effects attained by homeopathic medicines are often attributed by homeopathy’s detractors to the placebo effect. This phenomenon, while misunderstood by many as something that is not real, is nonetheless a very real part of the human experience. This is why drug studies are conducted as “placebo-controlled” trials - to allow for the fact that participants in the trial will manifest symptoms whether they are given the actual drug being tested or a sugar pill (the placebo.)

To discover whether or not people taking homeopathic medicines are subject to a greater placebo effect than pharmaceutical drugs, as the critics of homeopathy claim, German investigators conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. The study concluded that the placebo effect is no greater in homeopathy than with conventional drugs:

Homeopathy. 2010 Jan;99(1):76-82.

Placebo effect sizes in homeopathic compared to conventional drugs - a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

Nuhn T, Lüdtke R, Geraedts M.

Klinik Roderbirken, Roderbirken 1, 42799 Leichlingen, Germany.

Abstract:

PMID: 20129180 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

A new study has shown the efficacy of homeopathic medicines in the treatment of moderate to severe depression. The study, conducted at the outpatient clinic at Jundiaí Medical School (Faculdade de Medicina de Jundiaí, São Paulo, Brazil) is the first randomized controlled double-blind trial with a reasonable number of subjects to draw conclusions about the homeopathic treatment of depression. Homeopathy is recognized as a medical specialty in Brazil.

Published in eCAM (an online journal of the Oxford University Press) this study showed that individually selected homeopathic remedies were as effective and were safer than Fluorxetin (Prozac.) You can read the entire study at  http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/nep114v1

This is a very exciting study that will go a long way towards the furthering of quality homeopathic research. The study did use individually selected remedies for each participant which ultimately is the best way to treat any illness. For people who don’t have access to a homeopathic physician and are looking for a non-pharmaceutical  approach to dealing with depression, my biotherapy formula for depression has been shown to be a safe and effective way to help with this problem as well as the stress of everyday life.

]]> http://drgarbersblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=57 http://drgarbersblog.com/?p=56 http://drgarbersblog.com/?p=56#comments Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:26:49 +0000 admin http://drgarbersblog.com/?p=56 September is a perfect month for new beginnings. If you’ve been looking to overhaul your diet and get on a fitness program you - one that you can do from your home, I think you’d be interested in this community-based online cleanse that a friend of mine, Moira Nordholt, the Feel Good Guru, is running.

Feel Good Fast is a plant-powered cleanse that’s delivered by way of emails, a private blog, private cooking and fitness videos, an evening chat, weekly menu plans, shopping lists and recipes. You’ll learn how to eat super healthy with simple, delicious, autumn market harvest foods and you’ll learn some cool exercises you can toss into any routine.

It starts this coming Monday, September 14, 2009, so sign up by Friday if you’re in so you can get the set-up info to stock up your pantry over the weekend.

You can check it out at http://feelgoodguru.com/feelgoodfast

And if you want to join in, use the promo code: “drgarber” - I’ve arranged with Moira to give my readers $50.00 off!

If you have any questions about Feel Good Fast, you can reach Moira directly at moira@feelgoodguru.com.

Go for it. You’ll be glad that you did.

As of this writing there are no fewer than four major blazes around Southern California, creating some really bad air even here at the beach where I live. Don’t let those beautiful sunsets fool you - this can impact your health significantly. But there are actions you can take to protect yourself.

The American Lung Association recommends remaining indoors if you are in close proximity to the fire. In surrounding areas, if you can smell the smoke or your eyes or throat feel irritated, don’t exercise. Children need to be especially careful as their lungs are more susceptible to smoke. For those with existing respiratory conditions or heart disease, there are even more precautions to be taken. Details can be found on the American Lung Association’s Forest Fires and Respiratory Health Fact Sheet.

Another thing you will find very helpful in protecting your lungs from air turned acrid from fire, or just the pollution of every day air, is Dr. Garber’s Natural Solutions for Lungs. I will tell you that many of my patients with sensitive respiratory symptoms have found that taking this formula when the air is bad prevents the irritation that would otherwise trigger an asthma attack. The same goes for those whose reaction to bad air is sinus congestion or headache.

And don’t forget you pets. They are as susceptible to bad air as you are. Use the same precautions for them as you do for yourself. Keep an eye out for any signs of respiratory distress, especially in older animals, which may present as sneezing, coughing or wheezing. If you notice any of these, bring them inside if they have been out and give them some of my lung formula as well.

Click here to read the whole story from USA Today

Dr. Garber’s Comments:

The information in this article raises so many issues it’s hard to know where to even start. More and more people are being prescribed antidepressants, not necessarily for depression and not necessarily by psychiatrists. There are serious consequences to taking these drugs as I have discussed many times before. The whole concept of the “off-label” use of drugs and how the pharmaceutical companies promote it is finally coming under scrutiny, as recently witnessed by Pfizer’s $2.3 billion fine for it’s dangerous off-label promotion of several of it’s drugs. The fact that many people who would benefit from psychiatric care don’t get it because of inadequate or no insurance coverage for that type of care, and end up being prescribed potentially harmful drugs by by doctors who’s expertise lay elsewhere, is just one small piece of the current health care delivery mess we have now.

Click here to learn about Dr. Garber’s safe and effective homeopathic depression formula

Click here to read the whole story from Woman’s Day

Dr. Garber’s Comments:

Of the tips presented in this article, some are tried and true while some may surprise you. For instance, not trying to clear your mind. Trying to clear you mind of the persistent thoughts keeping you awake can backfire if you’re not able to do it. Along those same lines, looking at the clock only forces your mind to calculate how much, or rather how little, time you have left before you have to get up, further stimulating your mind awake. Something I stress to everyone is never watch the news on TV before going to sleep - it’s sure to adversely effect the quality of your sleep. One topic conspicuously absent from this article is that of beds and mattresses. Physical comfort and support is extremely important to a good night’s sleep. I will be discussing these and more in a tele-seminar on sleep later this year. Keep an eye out for details.

Click here to learn about Dr. Garber’s safe and effective homeopathic sleep formula

But even before the AMA’s Council on Science and Public Health announces it’s findings on the issue, doctors have begun to register their objections. A recent NY Times article quoted Dr. Richard Cohen, a clinical professor at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and an attending physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital as saying “The coat is part of what defines me, and I couldn’t function without it.” Is he kidding? This would be funny… if it were a joke! And Dr. Cohen is not alone in his thinking. He went on to say “When a patient shares intimacies with you and you examine them in a manner that no one else does, you’d better look like a physician - not a guy who works at Starbuck’s.”

Yes, Dr. Cohen, by all means. It’s so much more important to look the part than to actually take your patient’s best interest to heart. According to the Unites States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nosocomial infections, or infections contracted as a result of being in the hospital, are responsible, directly or indirectly, for more than 100,000 deaths annually! If a change of attire can prevent even a small percentage of those deaths, should there even be a discussion?

Over 150 years ago, doctors balked at Oliver Wendell Holmes’ suggestion that washing their hands could prevent a certain disease. That “no gentleman could have hands so dirty as to cause disease”  could be understood as ignorance then. But guess what? Hand washing by doctors, or rather lack thereof, is still an issue today. Perhaps what’s really needed is a change in attitude, not wardrobe!

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Lab Coat Is on the Hook in the Fight Against Germs (nytimes.com)

Far too much attention has been given to the deep abdominal muscles as the key to core strength. Concentrating on these muscles can actually destabilize the spine, putting it risk for injury. The way we perform many of the exercises that target these muscles puts a tremendous load on the spine, especially the intervertebral discs which can lead to a herniation.

Below is a short video in which professor of spine biomechanics Stuart McGill explains how to properly and safely do a few exercises that will strengthen you core in a balanced way:

From The New York Times Magazine, June 21, 2009

An article in the current New Yorker’s Annals of Medicine column [I know, I know - as a line from a play I once saw went, "Life's too short for the New Yorker." but, if you're at all interested in the topic, this article is a must read] discusses one the key issues surrounding the debate, the profit motive. Now, although I am a proponent of a single-payer system, there is nothing inherently wrong with delivering health care for profit. Some have even called this immoral. What is immoral is when health care decisions are made solely for profit, at the patient’s expense. This problem is pervasive within the health care delivery system, and while much of it may be unconscious, much is not.

There are, of course, many other factors that contribute. A disproportionate amount of our health care dollars are spent on treating preventable conditions. This is a well documented fact. Diet and lifestyle changes (see my previous blog posts on cholesterol) should be at the top of every doctor’s list. But even when they are, many patients, if not most, are simply unwilling to take responsibility for their own health and make the changes that will save their lives.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Voters To Congress: What’s Wrong With Single-Payer Health Care? (huffingtonpost.com)
• Single-Payer and the ‘Democracy Deficit’ (bradblog.com)