Q: I told my doctor that I was taking a homeopathic remedy for my fibromyalgia. He said he didn't believe in fibromyalgia and that homeopathic medicines were only placebos. I had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia by a sports medicine doctor two years ago, and I think the homeopathic pills have actually been helping. What do you think?

A: I think your doctor needs to do a bit more reading. But you bring up some great issues about homeopathy, fibromyalgia and prejudice in medicine. Let me share some thoughts with you about each of these.

      Fibromyalgia is a condition where people have tender, painful muscles all over their bodies. They often have trouble exercising and sleeping, and feel pain while being physically active. It's not a dangerous or life-threatening condition, but it can range from darned aggravating to partially disabling.
      Though it is true that doctors have to make sure you don't have a more serious illness with the same symptoms, most rheumatologists (doctors who specialize in arthritis and inflammatory conditions) believe that it does exist. The American College of Rheumatology has created criteria that we can use to diagnose this condition, so I think your doctor needs to take a look at this material.
      As for homeopathy, there is some evidence that a particular homeopathic remedy can help with fibromyalgia. The remedy is called Rhus tox, and I bet that's what you're taking. There is at least one good research article indicating that people with fibromyalgia feel better when taking Rhus tox. It certainly isn't a cure-all, but it does seem to help some folks with this condition.
      So what about the placebo comment? Well, we do know that placebos (pills or other treatments that have no active ingredients or effects, but make you believe you're getting something that works) can cause real health improvements. We have a lot of scientific research to confirm this and even the New York Times Magazine did a cover story on the power of placebos on Jan. 9.
      But are homeopathics really just placebo? This remains a bit controversial. But in a landmark study published September 1997 in The Lancet (one of the oldest and most respected medical journals), German researcher Klaus Linde and colleagues showed pretty convincingly that a number of studies of homeopathic remedies, considered as a group, had yielded results that could not be explained by what we know about placebos. These findings tend to send the scientific community into a real tailspin.
      Here's the problem: Most of these homeopathic remedies have no measurable active ingredient in them. The active ingredients are diluted down to extremely low levels according to homeopathic principles. When conventional doctors and scientists consider this fact, everything in their background and training tells them that it is impossible for any medicine like this to work. Now, the studies don't endorse every use of every homeopathic remedy. But carefully designed studies seem to show that some of them do work. How is this possible?
      The leading theory is that the active ingredient makes an imprint on the water during the dilution process. The great Scottish homeopathic educator Dr. David Reilly likes to remind us that each snowflake has its own unique and highly complex geometry, and yet each one is chemically just H2O. Though this is a nice way to try to understand it, we have no way to actually measure or detect such an imprinting of water, so most doctors and scientists will simply say that it doesn't work because it can't possibly work.
      Throughout our history of medicine and health practices, we have discovered things that would be unimaginable in earlier times. If you were to tell a 19th-century physician or scientist that we could make pictures of the inside of the body with magnetic fields and radio waves, he would think that you were psychotic. And yet today we have MRI scanners in medical facilities on almost every other city block. We are constantly being astounded by what is possible, by what is real. It is illogical to think that we will not continue to be astounded by what we discover. So why is it so difficult for us to even consider that there could be some mechanism here that we do not yet understand?
      We are all creatures of preference and prejudice from our childhood and basic education. It's very hard to change those things. Remember that a little over half a millennium ago people with IQs just as high as anyone today stood on the coast in Portugal, looked out at the sea and declared that the earth was flat -- obviously flat. The entire history of medicine is loaded with this kind of thinking. It has been well documented that throughout their careers, doctors practice pretty much exactly the way they were trained in medical school and residency. Their practice styles do not change through a lifetime. Things that sounded ridiculous during residency training will probably always sound ridiculous for most doctors. But each of us should keep an open mind.
      There is every likelihood that we will discover mechanisms and principles in biology and medicine that no one could have imagined today. This does not mean that we have to buy into every cockamamie notion that comes down the pike. We have scientific methodology to rely upon, handed down to us from Sir Francis Bacon and Sir Isaac Newton. We will understand more in time.
      I'm glad you're feeling better with your achy muscles. Homeopathic remedies are extremely safe, but remember that homeopathy is pretty complex and the recommendations of an experienced homeopathic practitioner are warranted.
      Take your homeopathic remedy if you feel it helps, and be sure to keep your sleep, diet and exercise habits excellent. And go easy on your doctor. He has a tough job to do, and like the rest of us, he's only human.

Ask Dr. James Dillard a Question


This information is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. Do not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem. Please consult your health care provider if you suspect you are ill, or have questions about your condition.


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