Aids HIV FAQ

Scalp Treatments

Question:

>   The good news for people with chronic skin problems is that >homeopaths have observed that people who suffer from such conditions >tend to be healthier and live longer than those who do not. Homeopaths >believe that these people are strong enough to push their internal >ailments onto the skin. Despite the fact that these people may not look >healthy, they often are healthier that the rest of us.

My derm said that p sufferers tend to be a little healthier, otherwise, than average. The report elsewhere that some AIDS sufferers develop p would contradict this, maybe, or maybe not — early AIDS apparently has the immune system in overdrive, until it just gets overwhelmed. J.

Response:

> just some comments about your   effective <—> non-homeopathic > comparison.  most drugs are derived from a natural source, ie aspirin is > from the bark of a certain tree,

Willow bark.  Many of the older drugs are copies of natural products or modifications thereof.  Some newer drugs are not. > so I dont think that saying a drug is effective because > it is non homeopathic is a fair (or even true) statement.

The point about homeopathy is not whether it uses natural substances or not but *how* it uses them.  The original idea was that if the body reacts in certain ways to infection then *some* of those reactions *may* be helping to fight it off.  This theory turns out to be wrong in most cases – the majority of symptoms are the disease’s way of trying to make itself more infectious – coughs, sneezes, eruptions.  Syphilis, for many years, will make make sufferers randy.  Even the mental changes caused by rabies are honed very finely to make the host more likely to pass on the infection. So most of homeopathy falls over on that point alone.  Aphrodisiacs won’t cure syphilis; inhaling pepper won’t get rid of a cold; hallucinogenics won’t get rid of rabies even though they all cause similar symptoms to the diseases.  However, there is one symptom of infection that is part of the process of fighting off infection and that is raised body temperature – not cooling people with a fever is a good idea – unless the fever is so high that it will kill them. But back in the early days of homeopathy they didn’t know this so they tried giving people treatments that would increase rather than decrease the symptoms.  After a few unfortunate deaths, most sensible people gave up on the idea.  But a few snake-oil merchants came up with the idea of dilution.  Instead of giving people enough of whatever it was to cause major symptoms similar to those of the infection you only had to give them a tiny amount.  In fact, the smaller the better.  The more you dilute it the more powerful it is.  What a marvellous idea.  Not only is there no longer a risk of death but you charge high prices for what is essentially water. Anyone with a knowledge of chemistry will point out that homoepathy has taken the idea of dilution so far that there is virtually no chance of the original substance being present.  It’s been diluted so many times that there’s little chance of there being even one molecule of it present. The charlatans who are confronted with this fact invent gibberish about the water `memorizing’ the substance.  At this level we’re talking about magic rather than science, and like all magic it doesn’t work. BTW, if they were right and the more dilute the more powerful then flushing your unused pills down the toilet would turn sea-water into the most incredibly powerful homeopathic medicine imaginable.  Confronted with this one they say that it’s not just the dilution but the shaking – the water doesn’t `memorize’ the original substance unless it’s shaken the right way. Sorry to disillusion people, but this homeopathy stuff is all insane gibberish and the only possible benefits of it are through the placebo effect.  Unless you’ve just read this post, at which point you won’t even have that. –Paul

Response:

Hi Aase, Temovate or the generic Clobetasol Proprionate can be obtained in an oil or alcohol base.  I prefer the alcohol base for 2 reasons:  Less mess (of course) and the alcohol seems to kill the itch. Sincerely, Janet Horton – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> in reply to Jess, > It could be CLOBETASOL (generic"TEMOVATE") > Hi, Steve! > But, is Temovate for scalp use in the US oily??? Not the one we get > here, that is steroids in an alcohol solution… > — > Best regards,                Visit my home page at: > Med vennlig hilsen,          http://home.newmedia.no/flaker/ > *****TO E-MAIL ME, PLEASE REMOVE ‘NOJUNK’ IN THE HEADER*****

Response:

<snip> > I was recently puzzled by an enormous outbreak of p, but 2 days later woke up > with a full-blown sinus infection. With a few effective (i.e., non-homeopathic) > drugs under my belt I quickly recovered. I find the idea that my p might be an > early-warning indicator for other problems to be very interesting, but don’t > want to generalize too much– my p doesn’t go crazy with a flu, for

example. <snip> just some comments about your   effective <—> non-homeopathic comparison. most drugs are derived from a natural source, ie aspirin is from the bark of a certain tree, so I dont think that saying a drug is effective because it is non homeopathic is a fair (or even true) statement. I am not trying to justify all of the pills, potions, etc that people try to sell, but just because a treatment is from a natural source does not mean it will not be effective. As an example, the only cold or flu treatment that I have had that actually shortened the time I was sick (as opposed to masking the symptoms) is eccinacea (sp?).  The flu has gone from 103+ temp, and out of work for a week, to no temp and only miss 1 or 2 days. Sam

Response:

in reply to Jess, It could be CLOBETASOL (generic"TEMOVATE") Steve – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> HI. This is my first time posting to a newsgroup. I’ve had Psoriasis for > about > eight years and when I first started treatments my doctor put me on some > kind of  oily medicine for my scalp which really seemed to help but I > can’t remember the name and my new doctor doesn’t have the name either

Response:

Hi, Craig! This was "fun" reading…. I don`t exactly believe in Homeopathy as P. treatment. A former collegue, who was an educated homeopath, didn`t think that it would be useful either. The only thing I do know, is that there has to be some power in it. A P. friend of mine went to a homeopath because of his PA. He was told that he would get worse before he got better. He got a lot worse, and ended up in hospital… His knee got permanent damage from that flare up. Well, nobody will ever be able to tell for sure that the tiny pills caused it, but he surely trashed them in a hurry and never went back to the homeopath… For the record, I haven`t had a real flu since 1982. I

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