A Case from Rolfe who needs help?

NH,

Its the contraceptive pill thats doing this job. Ask her the name of the drug and let her read out aloud the side affects. usually not all side affects are listed down in the medicinal printout and for that we usually need help of the net.

I would really not think of anyother thing until I rule it out.

Hi, H'pathy, this is Rolfe.  Really, this time.

Naturalhealth kindly posted my challenge case for me, without telling you the catch, or providing the link where you might have read about the catch for yourselves.  So here's the explanation.

The bulleted list of presenting signs was taken directly from a medical education page on the Internet describing Addison's disease.  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000378.htm

Further on in the page the seriousness of the condition is elaborated on: "Adrenal crisis is an extreme manifestation of symptoms of adrenal insufficiency precipiated by physical stress. Intravenous or intramuscular injection of hydrocortisone must be given immediately to sustain life. .... Never skip doses of medication for this condition, as life-threatening reactions may occur."  Nevertheless, "With adequate replacement therapy, most people with Addison's disease are able to lead normal lives."

Congratulations, Syed and Snoopy, your patient suddenly collapsed and died the day after you told her just to come off the pill and not to do anything else.  And the eight-year-old daughter is left without a mother.  I hope you're proud of yourselves.

The point of the case, obviously, was to see if homoeopaths were really capable of recognising a life-threatening presentation which urgently needed real medicine, and send the patient immediately to someone who is qualified to prescribe that real medicine.  You lived right down to my lowest expectations.

And by the way, have you thought at all about "Naturalhealth", who used to have a sig with a couple of lay-person homoeopathic diplomas listed, but has more recently started claiming to be a real qualified doctor, with a diploma only available to qualified doctors?  I think accepting that she's lying is more charitable than imagining that a real doctor could so totally miss the significance of a list of classic symptoms of a life-threatening disease copied straight from a text-book.  Do you approve of people on your site claiming qualifications they don't have, in their sig lines no less?

Oh, I just noticed your rule 5.  "We would also appreciate, if all members can add their qualification/Occupation and/or real name to their signatures. This is not compulsory but will help to create a more professional atmosphere in the long run."  What do you think about someone adding a qualification she doesn't actually have?

Love and kisses,

Rolfe.

PS.  Don't worry about deleting this thread, it's already copied to my hard drive.

Edited for spelling.  What is it with you guys?  Why am I not banned already?  It's been close on two hours!

Even so, I should still point out, that it's possible to stop the immediate suffering with homeopathy while still insisting that the person needs to get a diagnosis.  For example, it's possible to give a remedy for diarrhea or vomiting, thereby enabling the person to recover sufficiently to get to the doctor or emergency room and do what is necessary.

Snoopy

I see we were posting at the same time.  I didn't see your post or Georgie's.  Look Rolfie, you set a trap and we fell into it.  As I said, in real life, people come to us with a diagnosis.  Now, if your question is, can homeopathy treat Addison's disease, the answer is yes.

Snoopy

To give Rolfe his due, I think this is a good example to everyone of what can happen if we fail to get a proper diagnosis and begin treating on symptoms alone--a big mistake, as shown here.

Snoopy

OK, Snoopy, that's very sensible.

Now, isn't it just a pity that this flatly contradicts the very first page or so of the Organon?

The idea that patients can be optimally managed by real medicine, but then you can just come in and provide some sort of little "complementary" extra on top is certainly a relatively safe way of practising your "art".  However, how does that square with the many homoeopaths who declare absolutely that allopathic medicine simply prevents homoeopathy from achieving a cure, and (from some people) is nothing but poison?

Even you, in that article I linked to above, stated, "By the time they get here, they've already been poisoned, mutilated, and relieved of their life savings. Nonetheless, they believe they've taken the right steps in seeing the "real" doctors first. If only they knew that the modern medical paradigm is built on a faulty premise!"

Somehow, that doesn't entirely square with the line you're coming out with now.  (Please forgive me, Snoopy, If I'm mistaken about you being Elaine Lewis.  Nevertheless, the quoted text is still featured on this forum.)

It's a simple medical fact that a patient with Addison's disease will die without proper treatment.  Death can often occur suddenly without anyone being really aware of how serious the problem is.

If homoeopathy can prevent this without use of real medicine, I really think there are a few interesting papers missing from the literature.  On the other hand, if the real medicine saves the patient and the homoeopathy just claims to add a little unspecified something on top, whose being most profligate with the life savings?

Rolfe.

Edited to add quote, because simultaneous posting was spoiling the sense of this.

Wow, you THINK homeopathy can cure Addison's disease. Of course, you don't know for sure, since you have no knowledge of cases where that really happened (this is because they don't exist). You are quite convinced Dr Bhatia has cases of people being cured of Addison's without help from conventional medicine (I'm quite convinced he doesn't), and somehow you all get really upset if we call homeopathy a belief system (which you clearly show it to be). Objective evidence and good science are clearly wasted on you Snoopy, you will believe it works because it must according to your belief system, even if it kills your patients. And yes, Addison's WILL kill your patients if you give them nothing but shaken water, although some are going to last a little longer than others.

Edited to add: I see Rolfe already explained to you that patients WILL die without proper medical care.