June 11, 2010
Series of Homeopathy Flu Trials With Oscillococcinum
In this article, we are going to examine a series of flu trials with the Boiron homeopathic product Oscillococcinum.
Oscillococcinum is the homeopathic remedy Anas Barbariae 200C. This remedy basically consists of a combination of wild duck heart and duck liver. It is diluted in a session of 200 times. The remedy is so dilute that it pass Avagardo’s number. Critics claim there is no substance to this remedy because of the high level of dilution. Oscillococcinum remedies needs only one duck to produce enough of this homeopathic remedy to supply the entire world. This remedy is extremely popular which can be found in 52 countries around the world.
Oscillococcinum is marketed as a product that can prevent the flu if taken regularly. The medicine also says that once you get the flu, taking this remedy may shorten the time that you have the flu. Several trials have been done to examine these theories.
The first trials were done by Vickers and Smith. They examined whether Oscillococcinum can prevent flu and shorten the duration of the flu compared to a placebo. Theses trials had 3 preventions trials totalling 2265 people and 4 treatment trials of 1194 people. Only 2 of these 7 trials had good enough data to finish the trial. There is no evidence that Oscillococcinum can prevent the flu from the trials. The second trial with 700 participants showed that Oscillococcinum can shorten the duration of the flu by about .28 days. This amounts to be about 7 hours.
The Vickers flu trials are the largest trials in homeopathy to date. Some other trials also came to similar conclusions with this homeopathic remedy. These other trials also examined factors such as chills, fever, stiffness and nasal discharge.
Two trials by the researcher Cassonova tested Oscillococcinum at the onset of flu like symptoms. The first trial with 100 patients tested this remedy within 48 hours of catching the flu. The homeopathic medicine group showed a reduction of chills, stiffness, fever and reported a more successful outcome. The homeopathy group showed no improvement in nasal discharge as compared with the placebo group.
In the second Cassonova trial with 300 patients, Oscillococcinum was tested upon the onset of flu like symtoms without the 48 hour waiting time. In day two, the fever was lower for the homeopathy group compared to the placebo group. By day four of treatment, the Oscillococcinum group reported fewer chills and less aches and pains then the placebo group.
Researcher Ferley with 478 patients tested Oscillococcinum within 24 hours of flu like symptoms. The results from this trial was within 48 hours, 66% greater chance of full recovery from the homeopathy group compared to the placebo group. The homeopathy group also had a more favorable opinion of the medicine as compared to the placebo group.
The final research study that we will examine in this article is by researcher Papp with 372 patients. This is a followup study to the previous study. This study examined pretty much the same criteria as the Ferly study. Twenty four hours of catching the flu, the homeopathy group showed a shorter duration of the flu and less severe symptoms as compared to the placebo group with in 48 hours.
In conclusion, Oscillococcinum shows no evidence that it can prevent people from catching the flu. Studies have shown that Oscillococcinum seems to shorten the duration of the flu. Most of the researchers in these trials say that more research with larger groups are needed to confirm that this homeopathy remedy does shorten the duration of the flu. However, many of these trials do have a fairly large amount of partcipants as the researchers have noted.
Related posts
Filed under Diseases, Conditions and Treatments by Dr. Waqas Yousaf
December 5, 2008
10 Myths of Homeopathy That Most People Do Not Know
Homeopathy is the second most popular medicine in the world. However, most people really do not know too much about Homeopathy. This article will help clear up some misconceptions associated with homeopathic medicine. 1) Homeopathic medicines are nothing more than sugar pill that contain no measurable substance. Certain homeopathic medicines have no measurable substance. However, many remedies do have measurable substances. In medicine that is 24X or 12C has no measurable substance. However, some medicine potencies such as 6X, 6C, 12X will have a measurable substance. 2) Homeopathy has never been successful in large scale well designed trials. Trials have only worked when homeopaths were doing the trials or poorly designed trials with quite a bit of author’s bias. Trials in Homeopathy is a very mixed bag.
Sometimes people are looking at the wrong information source. Many skeptics will take successful trials and point out that when looking at larger trials in the study, homeopathy does not seem to work. Although, the conclusions of the authors were that homeopathy seems to works better than a placebo. However, some trials that were successful were fairly large. Oscillococcinum trials were quite large and well designed but still yielded a positive result in shortening the flu duration. Similar studies with Osccillococcinum were replicated as well. The idea that homeopathic remedies have never been successful in a large scale well designed trial is not true. 3) Homeopathy should not be used to treat life threatening diseases. Homeopathy can treat life threatening diseases with the help of a well trained homeopathic physician. Also, the general medical doctor and other specialists involved in treating the disease should be included on the treatment plan. Medical doctors should always be seen if you have a life threatening illness. Homeopathy can not cure all life threatening diseases. Many people with life threatening diseases have faired well with Homeopathy. Homeopathy malaria trials show that in trials that homeopathic medicine worked as well as conventional medicine in treating people with malaria. 4) Homeopathy and modern medicine can not work together Homeopathy can be quite complementary to modern medicine.Many patients under going chemotherapy have seen their side effects reduced when taking homeopathic remedies. Trials with reduction of cancer treatments provided encouraging results. 5) Homeopathy, Herbal, and Ayurvedic medicine are similar.
Homeopathy, Herbal and Ayurvedic are forms of alternative medicine but these forms of medicine are not similar in any other way. Homeopathy use diluted substances to treat patients. Every medicine has been diluted in water or alcohol. Herbal medicine is medicine based on the use of plants. Ayurvedic is an ancient system of medicine started in India that operates with the theory that all materials of vegetable, animal, and mineral origin have some medicinal value. Ayurvedic use these materials to treat patients. Ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines are used quite a bit in India so that creates some confusion in people thinking they are the same thing. 6) Homeopathy is slow to work Acute conditions such as flu, colds, motion sickness and pain relief can be treated quickly using homeopathic medicines. Chronic conditions are slow to work because they are complicated to treat. Chronic conditions would be acne, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome and other conditions will take longer to treat. 7) Homeopathy is only for human use. Actually, petmeds is one of the fastest growing use of homeopathic products. Homeopathy offers a safe and inexpensive way to treat your pet of acute conditions such as allergies, anxiety and joint stress relief. 
You can get a book on Homeopathy and treat yourself. This may be the case in acute conditions such as cold and flu.
You can get a book on Homeopathy and treat yourself. This may be the case in acute conditions such as cold and flu.However, more complicated and chronic cases will require you to see a homeopathic doctor. Chronic cases involve generally taking quite a few remedies in the course of a treatment. A book can not tell you which homeopathic remedies to take and how much to take when your condition starts to improve or worsen. 9) Homeopathic remedies are not widely available. This may have been true a few years ago. However, many remedies can be found pretty much all over the US. Walmart, CVS Pharmacy, Target and larger retailers carry combination homeopathic remedies for acute conditions such as cold and flu and insomnia. Single remedies which homeopaths claim to work the best are not as readily available.
These remedies can be found in health food stores, natural pharmacies or on the Internet. They are more specialized and generally most people taking simgle remedies have some homeopathic knowledge or a doctor has prescribed that medicine. 10) All homeopathic remedies work the same on all people. Homeopathy works different on different people. Classical homeopathy treats different individuals with different remedies according to their personality type. One person may use one remedy to treat a illness, while another person would use a different remedy to treat the same illness. Homeopathy assumes everyone is different so using the same remedy to treat everyone will not work according to Classical Homeopathy principals. Modern medicine generally gives everyone the same medicine for general conditions.
Related posts
Filed under Homeopathic Treatment, Homeopathy by Dr. Waqas Yousaf
