Alternative medicine in a sample of 655 community-dwelling elderly.

OBJECTIVE: Use and satisfaction with herbal/homeopathic remedies, acupuncture and relaxation techniques were examined in an Italian elderly population. METHODS: Data were collected as part of a survey on an elderly population, conducted in 1996--1997 in the urban centre of Padua, Italy. A total of 1362 elderly received a letter inviting them to participate and to accept the visit of an interviewer at home. Of these, 212 were unable to do so for insurmountable reasons and 666 gave consent to take part in the study with a response rate of 65%. Eleven participants were excluded from the study because cognitively impaired. RESULTS: Among the 655 respondents, overall use of at least one alternative medicine was 29.5%. Herbs/phytotherapeutics (47%) and acupuncture (34%) were the most frequently cited therapies. The use of alternative medical practices seems rather widespread among the elderly population in Padua, especially among females with depressive symptoms, pain and discomfort, but not suffering from chronic somatic disease. A percentage of 3.7% of the sample used exclusively alternative medicines; those subjects seemed to be younger, less likely to be physically ill and to report functional disorders and chronic somatic disease. CONCLUSION: Alternative medicines seem to have a complementary role for the elderly with self-perceived psychological symptomatology or disorders, particularly of depressive nature. They may constitute an attempt at self-treatment, probably concealing the difficulties encountered by the elderly subjects in seeking specialist advice for these problems.

When conventional treatment is not enough: a case of migraine without aura responding to homeopathy.

A case of migraine without aura is reported, unresponsive to five years of treatment with very well indicated conventional therapies, which are listed in detail. Consultation with a homeopathic physician, who also has extensive experience in diagnosis and treatment of headache disorders, leads to the prescription of a single homeopathic remedy which was absolutely effective for the condition. This case is offered as an open, admittedly retrospective study, comparing the best of conventional migraine therapy with appropriate homeopathic therapy in the same patient.

Homeopathic treatment of acute childhood diarrhea: results from a clinical trial in Nepal.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the finding in a previous study that homeopathic medicines decrease the duration of acute diarrhea in children could be replicated in a different study population. DESIGN: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. SETTING: Private, charitable health clinic in Kathmandu, Nepal. SUBJECTS: A consecutive sample of 126 children, 6 months to 5 years of age, who presented during April through June, 1994, with more than three unformed stools in the previous 24 hours. INTERVENTION: Children received either an individualized homeopathic medicine or placebo, to be taken one dose after each unformed stool for 5 days. Parents recorded daily stools on diary cards, and health workers made home visits daily to monitor children. OUTCOME MEASURES: Predefined measures were based on the previous study: (1) duration of diarrhea, defined as the time until there were fewer than three unformed stools per day, for two consecutive days, and (2) Average number of stools per day for each group. RESULTS: Of the 126 children initially enrolled, 116 completed treatment. The mean number of stools per day over the entire 5-day treatment period was 3.2 for the treatment group and 4.5 for the placebo group (P = 0.023). A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of the duration of diarrhea, which included data from all patient visits, showed an 18.4% greater probability that a child would be free of diarrhea by day 5 under homeopathic treatment (P = 0.036). CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with the finding from the previous study that individualized homeopathic treatment decreases the duration of diarrhea and number of stools in children with acute childhood diarrhea.

Hydroalcoholic extract of Centella Asiatica: anorexiant or placebo?

No presente trabalho foram estudados os efeitos da administraçäo aguda e crônica do extrato hidroalcoólico de Centella asiatica sobre o peso corpóreo e o consumo de raçäo em ratos. A administraçäo aguda de CAE (150 mg/kg, p.o., dose única) näo reduziu o consumo de raçäo em ratos treinados em esquema de alimentaçäo de 4 horas por dia. A administraçäo crônica de CAE (150 mg/kg, p.o., 30 dias consecutivos) näo mostrou nenhuma alteraçäo no peso corpóreo e no consumo de raçäo. Estes dados tomados em conjunto sugerem que o CAE é ineficaz como agente anorexígeno e pode contribuir para novas investigaçöes com a finalidade de avaliar melhor o uso clínico da Centella asiatica.

Tratamiento homeopático del temor y del desmayo en la silla dental / Homeopatic treatment of fear and swoon in the dental chair

Se indica el tratamiento para el temor y para el desmayo en la silla dental, de acuerdo al Manual de homeopatía para el odontólogo. Se busca cuál es el medicamento cuyos síntomas son más semejantes a los que presenta el paciente. Para el temor: aconitum, Gelsmium, Ignatia o Moschus, y para el desmayo: Asafoetida, Carbovegetabilis, Moschus o Sepia. La dinamización usada es a la 30 centesimal

As plantas medicinais e a enfermagem: a arte de assistir, de curar, de cuidar e de transformar os saberes / The medical plants and the nursing: the art of attend, heal, take care and transform the knowledge

Nesta tese desenvolvi o objeto de estudo, as estruturas cognitiva dos saberes e práticas populares associadas ao uso das plantas medicinais pelas mulheres-mãe no cuidado às crianças menores de cino anos, orientado pelas questões norteadoras - que saberes e práticas subsidiam o uso das plantas medicinais nas condições de saúde e doença; como as mulheres-mãe empregam essas plantas no cuidado destas crianças; quais elementos do senso comum e do universo científico, constituem as estruturas cognitivas associadas ao uso das plantas medicinais; e como se articula a rede de saberes e práticas do senso comum com a do universo científico na constituição da rede de estruturação desses saberes. Tive por objetivos de descrever o uso das plantas medicinais nas sistuações de saúde e doença das crianças menores de cinco anos de idade;analisar os saberes e práticas do senso comum e do universo científico subsidiário ao seu emprego; e discutir a rede de estruturação de saberes e práticas que fundamentam a cosntituiçao da aliança de saberes no seu uso.(AU)