Question:
I've had allergies for 17 yrs and am 30 now. I've been seeing an allergist
for a number of yrs. now and have taken sublingual antigen drops for over a
yr. The drops have only helped a bit and now my exercise induced asthma is
garden variety asthma. I've tried allergy shots but have had a reaction to
them. Now I'm thinking of trying homeopathic remedies. Has anyone gone the
homeopathic route and have you had any success?
I've been approached by a number of former allergy sufferers who've told me
that homeopathy was the answer for them. I don't see, however, how
homeopathy will be any different than allergy shots/drops because both forms
of treatment are based on the theory of like cures like. Does anyone know
what the difference is between the two?
Answer:
Check out: www.quackwatch.com
www.hcrc.org
I haven't tried homeopathic remidies specifically. Tried a couple of
other alternative approaches but without success - not relevant to the
immediate question though. Immunotherapy is ultimately successful in up to 90% of patients with
seasonal allergic rhinitis and in 70 to 80% with perennial allergic
rhinitis. (National Allergy Board )
Time for a little math. Pollen counts are considered high at 50 to 90
grains per cubic meter - depending upon species. That means anyone
with even minimal reaction will be experiencing symptoms. Given a
typical respiratory tidal volume of 0.5 liter with a resting rate of
15 liter/minute. That means you are taking in 7 to 15 grains per
minute. How much lower can you reliably get with homeopathic
treatment? A grain means an individual spore not the "grain" people
talk about for bee pollen. That will have several thousand grains
incorporated - a megadose - possibly an overdose for someone with
severe sensitivity.
From my understanding, the homeopathic treatment will have a different
delivery mechanism which will influence reactions and I have doubts
about dose control.
Apply some math to the dilution factors they are using. Many of the
dilution factors produce a result over Avogadro's (sp?) number -
meaning that there will be zero molecules of active ingredient. In effect all you are getting is very expensive distilled water
(assuming that they can maintain purity, which I doubt). I'm not an expert, but here's my understanding of it: Homeopathics work on energy theories rather than chemical theories.
Whereas a standard allergy treatment might use a diluted or denatured
version of the allergen, the homeopathic remedy seeks to alter the way
the body reacts to the allergen by altering the body's energy fields.
So even though the distillate may have no remaining molecules of the
substance, it retains some sort of "energy imprint" that still acts on
the body.
As a trained scientist, I think this runs counter to accepted theories
of biochemistry. Also, having personally tried many homeopathic
remedies with no level of success beyond that which might also be
attributable to the normal flux of symptoms, I cannot find any reason
to support homeophathics. Nonetheless, there are things in the world
science cannot explain. Accupuncture is generally accepted these days
as being effective for some things, yet Western medicine cannot explain
it. So I haven't totally closed the door on homeopathics, but I sure
would like to see some large-sample double-blind studies done.
