I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say, “He’s a male nurse.” As though the word “he” isn’t explicit enough. As though someone might be confused as what gender “he” belongs to. That he isn’t just an ordinary nurse, but a male nurse.

Unless of course, he is confused about his gender, and isn’t certain whether he is a male or female nurse. Or maybe he is in the middle of a sex change, and he’s about halfway through–so he’s half boy half girl. Then you might say that she is a male nurse, or he is a female nurse.

Why is it so difficult for people to comprehend that a man can be a nurse? That it is such a struggle to simply say, “Oh, sure, I know Bob. He’s a nurse.”

There are many attitudes about nursing and one of them is the view of men who venture into the profession. I’m doing an article right now about men in nursing, so I just happened to think about this. The discrimination that exists is somewhat mind-boggling, despite the assertion that men are “needed” in the profession. There’s a reason why the rate of men has stayed about 6%, despite the so-called efforts to make it attractive.

Anyway, I’ve got some work to finish, but maybe I’ll write more about this later this week.

By the way, did you also know that “she is a female doctor?”

This story sort of got side swiped, as I was about to write on it when hurricane Katrina came crashing into Gulf and the rest was history. But once again, the so-called experts are trying to validate methods of alternative therapy by using rigid randomized testing, which are not appropriate for these types of therapies. Been there, done that, yet they persist.

And now, homeopathy. Swiss researchers “compared”studies with conventional medicines, and say it’s no better than placebo. The study appeared in the Lancet, which is a very well respected medical journal, but some dweeb even had the audacity to write an editorial entitled “The End of Homeopathy.”

Uh, I don’t think so. I hardly think that the millions of people who homeopathic medicine because it works, are going to cease and desist because of this nonsense. The fact that homeopathy has survived and thrived, especially in the US where the FDA and others have done their best to get rid of it, should tell you something.

There is weak evidence for a specific effect of homeopathic remedies and strong evidence for specific effects of conventional medicine, said Swiss researchers, who matched 110 homeopathy studies with 110 conventional-medicine trials.

So what kind of nonsense is this? They matched homeopathy studies with conventional medicine trials and decided that homeopathy doesn’t work. How cute. Without reading the study, I have no idea which studies they used, but researchers always use this tactic to try to disqualify alternative medicine.

For one thing, you really can’t test these products by conventional studies. In the standard randomized study, which is considered to be the gold standard and the definitive word (next to God’s), all patients receive the same drug at the same dose. So say if you are testing a headache remedy, all patients get drug x at 300mg every six hours. But homeopathy is geared to the individual. A homeopathic physician will not only look at the headache, but will also check if the patient is under stress, has a fever, cold symptoms, body aches and pains, their sleeping habits, if the symptoms are worse during specific times of the day, and so on. Depending on the full picture, two patients with headache will get very different medications. So to push homeopathy into a randomized one-size-fits-all type of test is setting it up for failure.

“Now doctors need to be bold and honest with their patients about homeopathy’s lack of benefit, and with themselves about the failings of modern medicine to address patients’ needs for personalized care,” The Lancet said on its cover and in an editorial titled “The end of homeopathy.” The researchers matched 110 placebo-controlled trials for type of disorder and of outcome with the same number of studies of conventional medicines. Lead researcher Aijing Shang of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicines at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and colleagues consulted 19 databases through January 2003.

I have personally used homeopathic medicine, and have often found the results nothing short of miraculous. There is a preparation that I’ve taken at the first sign of a cold, and 9 times out of 10, the cold never develops. I suppose that is all in my head. The placebo effect. I also went to a homeopathic physician when I woke up one morning with severe vertigo and nausea. She diagnosed a middle ear infection and gave me a homeopathic preparation. The vertigo disappeared within a few hours, after one does of the therapy. I still felt tired, but the major symptoms were gone. Even a regular medical doctor that I told about it was astounded that my symptoms would be gone so quickly, and without any antibiotics. But all in the head, I suppose.

“What one would have expected is that large studies of high quality would have shown an effect, which wasn’t the case for homeopathy,” researcher Matthias Egger, a professor of medicine at the University of Bern, said in an interview. “This means that clinical effects of homeopathy are placebo effects.”

So here’s a question for you, Dr. Egger. And this same question also stumped a naysayer who was trying to discredit homeopathy at a conference I attended, saying that it was all a placebo effect. That homeopathy had no therapeutic value of its own, other than just the mental ability of the mind to cure itself. And actually, the same could be said about a number of drugs on the market, in which studies have shown almost identical rates of cure between patients who received the active drug and those who got a placebo.

Anyway, I suppose you may say that an adult such as myself may have “convinced” myself that the drug would work. So then, how is it that homeopathy is so effective in infants and pets? Did my cats study mind-body medicine before they were very sucessfully treated with homeopathic medicines? One of my cats had feline infectious peritonitis, which is supposed to be 100% fatal. Well she recovered with homeopathy and some TLC. I guess it was the placebo.

Ditto for infants. I’ve seen infants screaming with colic fall into a sound and peaceful sleep after taking a homeopathic medication. Mind-body connection again, I suppose. Or I guess it is just a “coincidence” that infants recover from colic, colds, respiratory infections, diaper rash and indigestion after using homeopathy.

Nelsonbach, Europe’s oldest and the U.K.’s largest maker of homeopathic medicines, has been making the therapies since 1860 and Boiron sa, founded in 1911, is the largest in France. Biologische Heilmittel Heel Gmbh is Germany’s biggest.

“There are many other studies, both clinical and non-clinical, that demonstrate homeopathy’s efficacy and safety in many disease areas,” said Robert Wilson, chairman of Nelsonbach, in an e-mailed response. “Homeopathy has thrived and survived for over 250 years because of its excellent record of successful use and safety, which will ensure its continued use.”

Yes, Mr. Wilson, the reason that homeopathy is still in use is because it works. So I hate to disappoint these wonderful Swiss scientists who now believe that the world will cease and desist their use of homeopathy just because of their dubious little study. Sorry guys, but I will continue to utilize what works for me. And I would really love for you to explain how the placebo effect relates to infants and pets.

For more informatiion about homeopathy

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