Too much of a good thing

Medication and antibiotics are super effective, but they take a toll on the human body. They may frequently cause other problems because of their effectiveness, killing good and bad bacteria alike, causing stomach problems, problems with tooth enamel, and a host of other terrible side effects, to the extent where sometimes the side effects are worse than the original problem they were meant to fix. In response to this, homeopathic medicine and a focus on “traditional medicine” has emerged among the middle classes of Europe and America.

Homeopathy and traditional medicine

But what do these terms mean, and how are they used? Traditional medicine is basically a catch all phrase created by hippies to talk of medicine that is not Western medicine; it is a hodgepodge of sometimes useful, sometimes totally backwards ways of dealing with pain and symptoms that does not involve giving money to “big pharma”, or of taking medications that may have harmful side effects. While the idea is common sense, the realities are so much more complicated, as we shall soon see.

Homeopathy on the other hand is a very specific kind of outlook on medicine, and can be easily defined. Homeopathy is the doctrine that claims that small doses of a virus or bacterium or other pathogens may trigger an immune response that destroys the initial problem that the homeopathic medicine was taken for. Small doses of streptococcus and other non lethal pathogens are sued. These medications have been shown to actually work to some degree; they boost the immune system, and help get immune responses that are really strong and can handle the problems that you may be going through.

Caveat emptor

The problem is not that homeopathy in itself "does not work" or that "traditional medicine" whatever the heck that means, is necessarily a bad thing, or is necessarily ineffective. The problem is that it is frequently unpredictable, and is less strong and less reliable than what we call Western medicine (in reality the medicine we use is not Eastern or Western, it is a reflection of global knowledge that comes from everywhere, and that aligns itself with the scientific method). Sometimes homeopathy is enough, and sometimes it can work in places that regular medicine cannot. And sometimes herbal remedies and essential oils will work just fine as well, but unless you have a deep, innate working knowledge of the oils and herbs you use, you should get the advice of a doctor for serious health ailments.

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