Alternative Treatment

[MsLil]

Has anyone ever tried homeopathy specifically Cell Salts for fibromyalgia?

[MsLil]

I realize there are serveral schools of theory/thought and research out there. I have been in healthcare for over 30 years myself. I am moving on in my life journey and homeopathy is something that interrests me especially since I found that it has helped my sciatica. I continue to work with both my traditional medical MD and the Naturopathic MD to improve my own situation. The information I have found on cell salts is that the "cell theory" was first identified in 1858. I'm not closing my eyes or mind to any school of thought at this point. I find the information interesting and if disease can be prevented prior to development what an approach. Prevention is a very interresting field and I beleive one that deserves further study. Thank you both for your information.

[M4Y0U]

I have some background in biology and i read the papers on the pine bark and I clearly understand how it is affecting one's body and trust me it's not a matter of trademark or researches paid by the company itself. At my local university they are researching natural product like this one and they get 0 money from the brand name. They study Proanthocyanidin, the pine bark and they don't care about the brand name. I think you are being a little bit paranoid on researches. You must know that there are still respectable researchers here and science is science, it's all about observations and in the case of Proanthocyanidin, well, we understand the mechanism which gives it a solid reputation along the 200 research papers.

[Paxiled]

By the way, I'm not disagreeing with M4 about the lack of scientific evidence behind homeopathy, it's true.  Just saying there's a lack of scientific evidence behind almost all medicine.  Pharmaceutical companies can make it sound scientific, but there's a difference between evidence and proof.  We have lots of evidence, but no practical proof.  We know a lot about what different nutrients and medications theoretically do, but very little of how they act when they're actually introduced into the body.  We're getting there, but it'll take a lot of time, centuries most likely.

[Paxiled]

Just keep in mind M4's opinions on homeopathy are his own, not anyone else's on this board.  I have used it successfully, and know many people who use it successfully.  My dentist is a homeopath and uses homeopathy exclusively for his own health, and virtually all homeopaths are MDs, meaning they are scientifically trained.  As for the studies M4 constantly cites about natural substances such as pycnogenol, yes, there are a ton of small studies, mostly done by the company that introduced it to the marketplace.  None of them are double blinded or large enough or long enough to prove anything other than pycnogenol has properties that theoretically make it a very potent antioxidant.  I happen to believe it to be a promising remedy, just as I do with homeopathy, but homeopathy has at least a two hundred year history while pycnogenol was only discovered in pine bark a few decades ago.  Just the name tells you the state of research on medicine in the world today -- Pycnogenol is a trade name.  The active substance, in large part, are called proanthacyandines, or something like that.  Pynogenol is a trademarked name given the substance.  That should tell you the conclusiveness of all those studies.  But in truth, this is also true for medication.  You'd be shocked at how few people are studied in drug studies, and how short the time period is -- generally just weeks.  So we all are left having to make up our own minds about these things.  Explore what attracts you, and see what happens.  The good thing about homeopathy is the worst that can happen is it doesn't work -- it has no active ingredients, so it won't harm you.  But I have no idea if it will work for fibromyalgia, you'd have to try it to find out.  By the way, pycnogenol is from pine bark; some prefer grape seed extract, another source of proanthcyanadines (and this isn't spelled right, I can guarantee that).  Taking a combination of the two is often preferred over only taking one or the other as they do have other component substances which differ.  The main benefit of grape skin and seeds as a source is it's a food for humans; pine bark isn't.

[MsLil]

Thanks for the information.

[M4Y0U]

There is a large debate ongoing now on homeopathy right now. I mean very recently homeopathy received a severe blow and they are thinking about removing all homeopathic remedies from the pharmacies because they failed to prove that it was working better than a placebo. That being said consider that the placebo effect is strong and it could help you but since i just told you homeopathy is not working and is not supported by science I jus induced a nocebo effect. Anyway I have something for you to try and it's called Pycnogenol. It is supported by science with over 200 research papers on PubMed and it works wonders for a lot of condition. You can buy it at your local health food store or even at cosco i heard... Google Pycnogenol immediately and see all the benefits. Even tho they don't say it is for fibromyalgia directly, I'm sure it will help you since it's good for the muscles, collagen, cardiovascular system, nerves, brain etc... Try it please.

M4