When they Say That, You Say This

Mama Bears, Papa Bears, and everyone in between

A recent article by Loretta Butehorn, Ph.D., CCH, RSHom(NA) in Homeopathy Today, Why Words Matter, addresses the negative connotations, the negative words associated with homeopathy. These words readily used among the skeptics, the naysayers, and the opponents of homeopathy. She referenced words such as “placebo, nothing in it, we don’t know how it works”. But the highlighted phrase is “There is no research”.
Knowledge is power. This article empowers you to defend homeopathy using quotable research, understanding research and acknowledging that change and growth take time.

What do Mamma and Papa bears do to counteract the negative attacks? What should your response be? I am so glad you asked. The article gives comeback info to the negativity surrounding homeopathy. This is my recap of Dr. Butehorn’s article in bear sized bites and using this motto, “When they say that, you say this”.

Volunteers for the National Center for Homeopathy (NCH) are developing Quotable Research, bite-sized facts about homeopathic research. Yay for the volunteers. It is easier for the consumers, the moms, and dads to have a prepared script to answer the cynics. When they say that there is no research, you say this… “According to the European research study from 2012, researchers found that Oscillococcinum worked effectively for the flu”.

That is a great response to the research. Now add to your knowledge base what research is and how it is conducted.

3 Things to know about research

1. Research does not prove or disprove something is true, it says that something is statistically possible.
2. Research begins, in the health and healing arena, when a positive outcome is observed repeatedly, prompting someone to study the results.
They do this through:

• a. Clinical experience – one case study about a condition is studied and published
• b. Case Studies – multiple case studies about the same condition with comparable results are studied and published
• c. Animal Studies – case studies revealing how animals positively respond to certain protocols E.g. Studies utilizing Nux Vomica for alcohol use and Gelsenium for anti-anxiety, using rats
• d. Randomized controlled studies – comparison of the group using the protocol and the group not using the protocol
• e. Basic science – studying how the action of a protocol works at the unseen molecular level Just because you cannot see how it works does not mean it is not a viable medical mode. Nanoparticles are a recently observed entity. But before they could be detected they were still present whether they were recognized or not. When they say, “We don’t know how homeopathy works”, you say this… “21st-century medicine is just catching up to homeopathy”.

3. Each piece of research should be reviewed to use the valid results obtained and not discounted because of standards set about the design of the study and the number of participants studied.

Though the change in the conception of homeopathy is needed, change takes time and history has proved this.

In the 15th century Egypt, it was written to wash your hands after handling the sick. In the 19th century Vienna, a doctor observed that handwashing lowered deaths during childbirth. He was ridiculed and eventually fired for his beliefs. In the mid-19th century France, Pasteur established that disease was caused by germs. And a century later, in 1970, the Centers for Disease Control stated, “Handwashing is the single most effective means of preventing infection”. As the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day.

Whew, my summary is complete, and now you are armed with rebuttals to homeopathy doubters. Hopefully, I made this topic easier for you to digest with bite-sized chews. Who knew that my microbiology degree would come in handy for such a time as this.

Want more of these Quotable Research bites, go to the NCH website, newsletter, Facebook postings, and subscribe to their magazine, “Homeopathy Today”.

If you would like to volunteer for Americans for Homeopathy Choice, please visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/157306231559717/ and request to be added to the group. *Please remember to answer both questions before you click the request button to join the group. You will not be admitted without answering both questions. Thanks! *

Always with the power to choose,
Harriet Noel Jones

About Harriet Noel Jones: Harriet is a speaker, writer, and published author. Connect with her at her at https://alwaysafirstlady.com where she transforms lives with Faith and Wisdom Principles for Wholistic Living. At home in Tennessee, you can find her always with a healthy living concoction brewing.