Karl Robinson MD

PEOPLE GO TO DOCTORS TO BE CURED.

SO WHAT IS A CURE?

CAN HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE CURE?

You have visited this website to find a homeopathic M.D. or learn a little something about homeopathy. Perhaps both.

Presumably you want to know more about homeopathy because conventional medicine is not helping you (or someone you know and care about).

People go to their doctor, because they want relief. Something is bothering them and they want it to stop.

Now there are three attitudes you can have.

You want quick relief at almost any price.

You want more than quick relief—you want the problem to go away and not worry about it.

You want a cure.

Let’s look at each of the above.

An example of #1—let’s say you are suffering from a screamingly painful migraine. You need relief. You get a powerful pain medicine—a narcotic—and the pain subsides and eventually that particular headache ends. The price? The narcotic makes you stupid and sleepy and unfit to drive or work. But no matter, it was worth it. The hellish pain has gone—until the next migraine hits.

In #2 say you have high blood pressure. You know it could lead to a heart problem, perhaps a stroke. You don’t want either. Your doctor puts you on one or two anti-hypertensive drugs and your blood pressure becomes normal. The price? You have to keep taking the drugs forever in order to control the blood pressure. The problem is “out of sight out of mind” but only as long as you take the drugs. Stop them and your blood pressure often goes up.

In #3 you want a cure. You want to be done with the problem and not have to take medicines. Now here you have some interesting choices. Let’s say you have mild diabetes and high blood pressure. You decide on a lifestyle change. You lose weight, start exercising, and perhaps meditate. Between the three the blood pressure returns to normal but the blood sugar is still a bit high. You change your diet further, cutting way back on all carbohydrates except vegetables and your blood sugar falls into the normal range.

Now, as long as you maintain this healthy lifestyle (and I certainly hope you will) both the blood pressure and the diabetes will remain normal. So, you have cured yourself. Congratulations! But not so fast. What if you enter a patch of high stress, the weight goes up, the good diet gives way to the old not so good one and, indeed, both the blood pressure and the blood sugar start going up. Your ‘cure’ has pretty well evaporated.

So what, then, is a ‘cure’? I would define a cure as a course of action be it pharmaceutical, surgical, herbal, chiropractic, spiritual intervention, homeopathy, etc., that once it is finished you remain healthy and hearty.

Yes, conventional medicine can cure. The right antibiotic will cure a bacterial pneumonia, a streptococcal sore throat, an infected middle ear, an infected wound, etc., and after the course of antibiotic you are well and stay well. Unfortunately, there is an important exception to this scenario: childhood otitis media (middle ear infection). Often the child gets one ear infection after another and each time it is ‘cured’ with an antibiotic only to have another follow in short order. This certainly does not constitute a cure and in chronic otitis media antibiotics do little more than suppress the infection temporarily.

Surgery can cure. Acute appendicitis can be cured by removing the appendix—end of story. Same for gallstones, subdural hematomas, a torn medial meniscus, the list goes on and on. Sometimes surgery does fail, but if you need surgery, it can be a lifesaver and we are fortunate that there are so many skilled surgeons.

Some people can take herbs for their problem and after stopping them, they stay well. That qualifies in my book as a cure. If they have to keep taking them, then it does not.

A course of skilled chiropractic intervention can cure and the patient not have to return for weekly adjustments. When they do have to return, it’s something less than a cure.

Prayer can cure. There are numerous examples of grave illnesses being cured by prayer and/or some sort of divine intervention. If the cure lasts it is a true cure. If the patient relapses, it is not.

The same goes for homeopathy. If you go to your homeopath year in, year out for one problem and another and each time you receive a homeopathic medicine and get temporary relief that does not constitute a cure. As I mentioned above, a cure occurs after a therapy has been completed and the problem does not recur. A cure can occur with homeopathy but only if you have been treated ‘constitutionally’ meaning you have received a homeopathic medicine that corresponds not only with the symptoms of your physical problem but also corresponds with your mental and emotional state. Only a skillful homeopath with considerable experience can hope to find your constitutional medicine. When he does, you’re in luck for it will repair your physical problem, improve your energy and restore your zest for living.

Caveat—skilled homeopaths are not so easy to find and even a skilled homeopath does not always find your constitutional medicine right away. Homeopathy is not easy to do but when the correct medicine is found it can have profoundly beneficial effects.