The Dangers of the Allopathic Approach

Iatrogenic (by medical intervention) causation is one of the leading contributors of illness and the maintainance of disease in the world today. Between vaccination, antibiotics, drugs and surgical intervention more people are being made ill than from any other cause. I recently came across an article "Death by Medicine" by a group of doctors (Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD, Martin Felman MD, Debora Rasio MD, and Dorothy Smith PhD) that explained quite well the effects of medicine on the individual. Unfortunately the findings are from between 2000 and 2003 and are not current being nearly a decade old now. But they are very telling of how dangerous the allopathic approach is. Here are a few of the findings.

• Most medical errors are not reported. All of the studies done are still skewed by the fact that most medical errors are not reported. Therefore, even with an astounding amount of data available, the numbers would be much higher if the errors involved in allopathic medicine were reported.
• During the groups research a study was done asking the public for suggestions on how this problem could be helped. Overwhelmingly (78%) of those responding felt that doctors needed to spend more time with their patients. Reporting of errors was also quite high (74%) and having mandatory reporting (71%) and encouraging hospitals to report to a  state agency (62%)
• A 2002 study reported that 20% of hospital medications for patients had dosage errors. Nearly 40% of these errors were potentially harmful to the patient. Estimated number of patients potentially harmed by dosage errors in 2003 were 417,908 (24%)
• Adverse drug reactions and side effects are contributing to many hospital admissions. 25% of all prescription drugs have observable side effects. In 2002 there were 3.34 billion prescription drugs filled. William Tierney who editorialized an article with the New England Journal of Medicine reported that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), non-steroidal anti-inflamatories (NSAIDs), and calcium channel blockers reported the worst side effects. 5% or nearly one million admissions per year are a result of drug side effects.
• Advertising of drugs on television is big business. Convincing the consumer the need for drugs has grown into more than 20% of drug companies budget, adding up to 3.5 billion dollars per year. Most people assume that because the advertisement was made that the drugs are safe. Pay attention to the list of potential side effects being reported while the happy person floats by on the screen. This is leading to more "television diagnosis". 51% of drugs approved have serious post approval risks including heart failure, anaphylaxis, respiratory arrest, seizures, kidney and liver failure, birth defects and blindness.
• Antibiotics - Antibiotics (Against-Life) are useful in killing only some strains of bacterial infection and useless in viral infection. They are over prescribed and are weakening the population overall, as bacterial strains become immune to their effects. The CDC warns that 90% of all upper respiratory infections are viral and not bacterial. This is very alarming. All URI diagnosis should be made with a culture and proper antibiotics prescribed to only bacterial infections. Yet nearly everyone receives antibiotics.
• Unnecessary surgical procedures - 50 of the most common surgical procedure comprise over 65 million procedures a year. According to the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations 17.6% were unnecessary. This is costing hundreds of billions of dollars per year.  
• There were 32,000 surgical related deaths reported in 2003. costing 9 billion dollars and accounting for 2.4 million extra hospital days in 2000.  
• Accumulated radiation exposure from X-rays is dangerous to your health. Mammograms for breast cancer diagnosis is one of the most prevalent diagnostic tools and one of the leading contributors of breast cancer along with hormonal manipulation in women. The combined effect can be devastating.

As you can see by some of the details of this report that money plays a huge part of the problem in allopathic medicine. The medical/health industry is a trillion-dollar business. Most money comes from the allocation of money through congress. This makes major decisions in health care very political and is not driven by the welfare of the patient. We must all be very diligent in our investigations of our personal health care. We can not depend on the allopathic system to take care of us. We must become more responsible for the direction of our treatments.

Homeopathy offers a safe and effective  form of medicine and can treat any form of illness. It is not dependent on diagnosis although diagnosis can be helpful. I regularly send clients for diagnosis because it is the responsible thing to do. It can sometimes offer valuable information but rarely contributes significantly to the successful treatment of the case. There is a great margin for error even in diagnosis.

I spend nearly half of my time with clients educating them about healing, drugs, the homeopathic approach versus the allopathic approach etc. Homeopathy is individualised medicine and most clients do not understand this at first. Once they have the correct understanding about what the approach is, they usually become committed to homeopathy.

Many clients are taking drugs and want to get off of them when they come for treatment. I never manage the drug removal. I always send them back to the doctor that prescribed them. It is not my specialty or my responsiblity. I would not want another doctor managing my prescriptions and I do not want to manage others. Ethically it is the right action. By empowering the client with information they  become more responsible for their own health.

Allopathic drugs, when they work, are suppressive. Most of the time they are not working well enough for the client so they are seeking alternative care. Homeopathy can work successfully even when a person is on a drug therapy. Sometimes it is difficult to know what is working. But staying diligent with the case and understanding the roots of the dis-ease homeopathy can still be very helpful. It is not the most ideal of situations to have as a homeopath, but I rarely recommend that they get off of their drugs initially. This change usually happens very subtly as the client becomes more informed of their healing process and is making changes to take more responsibility for their health. The process of being a homeopath in this modern world is delicate.

Remember the random study asking for ways to help fix the system above. The leading complaint was not spending enough time with the patient. Homeopathy naturally gives the client the time necessary to be heard. It is also a time to learn. Use this time wisely with your clients and help them understand what real healing is. Explain to them that homeopathy is safe medicine and how we learn about these medicines. Educate them so they can become responsible for their health care. This single change for a person will automatically bring them to a greater state of health.