Homeopathy

Last year (...or was it the year before? The time I spent abroad is starting to jumble together as far as chronology goes...) My friends Terry and Angie and I went to Belgium. It was great fun, we drove to the Channel Tunnel embarkation point, boarded the train, and then drove on to Oostende.

I have been thinking about the trip of late because of one of the conversations we had on the journey. One of the many topics that helped while-away the miles was a discussion of Homeopathy. Exactly what started the conversation is lost in the scar tissue of my memory. (I think that we either passed someone with a bumper sticker advertising for it, or one of them knew someone who was seeing a Homeopath.) The point of it, though, was our agreement that the underlying theory was, at best, shaky.

It should be mentioned here that Terry is a scientist with the water company that provides the water for the area of London I used to live in and knows quite a bit about the levels of impurities in the water. (It really is pretty interesting discussing this sort of thing with him.) It was his professional opinion that diluting a drug to the point that it was just barely detectable was not a way to efficaciously treat someone.

What brings this to mind is all the stories in the news recently of the fact that scientists over here are starting to notice prescription drugs (at very low levels, granted) in the public water supply. The main culprits appear to be people who take more than they need and thus excrete the excess and people who improperly dispose of unused drugs.

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I remember all the public service announcements when I was younger informing consumers about the dangers of taking old medications. We were encouraged to get rid of them. Pouring the expired medications out was advocated. Now, we're learning this was a bad idea.

But the levels that are in the water are less than those used in homeopathic treatment... does this lend credence to homeopathy? Hmmm... if this is the case, then my suggestion is to dump medications to combat all the horrible diseases and that should, through long term homeopathic treatment, keep everyone healthy. Right? Well, maybe not. I guess I will have to relearn what is good and what is bad.

Wherever you are today, I hope you're well!

Don Bergquist - October 17, 2008 - Lakewood, Colorado, USA