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Biomedical subjects

H Walach

Publications and source records attributed to H Walach.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

The effects of homeopathic belladonna 30CH in healthy volunteers -- a randomized, double-blind experiment.

OBJECTIVES: The practice of homeopathy rests on symptoms, which have been produced by medicinal substances in healthy volunteers, often applied at ultramolecular dilutions. It is unknown whether these symptom patterns are due to specific effects or chance fluctuation. METHODS: We tested the hypothesis that a homeopathic substance can bring about symptoms different from observation and placebo in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design with baseline observation. RESULTS: 87 out of 118 healthy volunteers took both placebo and homeopathic belladonna 30CH in random sequence, after a 2-week observation period, and finished the 8-week trial. Apart from an insignificant tendency for subjects to report more symptoms with belladonna (mean number: 27.34), as compared to observation (24.26) or placebo (24.17), there was no indication that subjects reacted differently to homeopathy than to placebo or during baseline. CONCLUSION: There is no indication that belladonna 30CH produces symptoms different from placebo or from no intervention. Symptoms of a homeopathic pathogenetic trial (HPT) are most likely chance fluctuations.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Sferics and headache: a prospective study.

Sferics are low frequency, low intensity electromagnetic pulses radiating from distant meteorological events and other yet unknown sources. It has been hypothesized that sferics are part of the purported sensitivity to weather changes reported by headache sufferers. We tested this proposal. Patients (migraine and/or tension headache) enrolled in a randomized clinical trial gave daily headache data (intensity, frequency, duration of headache) for at least 18 weeks. Concurrently, a sferics measurement station in the vicinity of the patients recorded frequency and intensity of sferics. Usable headache data from 21 patients and the corresponding sferics series were subjected to time series analysis applying ARIMA models and then cross-correlated. We found significant and consistent cross-correlations of moderate size at lag 0 in one patient between ARIMA-filtered headache intensity and frequency (r = 0.18) and amplitude of sferics (r = 0.20). We conclude that in an unselected sample of headache patients some may indeed be susceptible to the low intensity type of electromagnetic radiation exemplified by sferics pulses. This phenomenon warrants further scrutiny.

Confidence Intervals↗
PubMed2001

The long-term effects of homeopathic treatment of chronic headaches: one year follow-up and single case time series analysis.

Little is known about long-term effects of homeopathic treatment. Following a double-blind, placebo controlled trial of classical homeopathy in chronic headaches, we conducted a 1-year observational study of 18 patients following the double-blind phase, and a complete follow-up study of all trial participants. Eighteen patients received free treatment for daily diary data (frequency, intensity, duration of headaches) over the course of 1 y. All patients enrolled in the double-blind study were sent a 6-week headache diary, a follow-up questionnaire, a personality inventory and a complaint list. Eighty-seven, of the original 98 patients enrolled returned questionnaires, 81 returned diaries. There was no additional change from the end of the trial to the one-year follow-up. The improvement seen at the end of the 12-week trial was stable after 1 y. No differential effects according to treatment after the trial could be seen. Patients with no treatment following the trial had the most improvement after 1 y. Five of 18 patients can be counted responders according to ARIMA analysis of single-case time-series. Patients with double diagnoses and longer treatment duration tended to have clearer improvements than the rest of the patients. Approximately 30% of patients in homeopathic treatment will benefit after 1 y of treatment. There is no indication of a specific, or of a delayed effect of homeopathy.

Double-Blind Method↗
PubMed2001

Chronically ill patients treated by spiritual healing improve in quality of life: results of a randomized waiting-list controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the effects of distant healing in chronically ill patients, the population most likely to see a healer in practice. This study investigated whether distant healing as found in normal practice with patients representative of those seeking treatment from healers changes patients' quality of life substantially. METHOD: Randomized, waiting-list controlled study of distant healing (anonymous, amulet, and allowing for personal contact) in chronically ill patients. OUTCOME MEASURE: Patient-reported quality of life as expressed by the sum of all MOS SF-36 health survey items. RESULTS: Sixty patients were treated by various methods of distant healing over 5 months; 59 patients were put on a waiting list (control). Quality of life improved significantly (p < 0.0005) in the treated group (10 points), while it remained stable in the control group. Positive expectation was significantly correlated with outcome. CONCLUSION: Chronically ill patients who want to be treated by distant healing and know that they are treated improve in quality of life.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

The long-term effects of homeopathic treatment of chronic headaches: 1 year follow up.

Little is known about the long-term effects of homeopathic treatment. Following a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of classical homeopathy in chronic headaches, we conducted a complete follow-up study of all trial participants. All patients enrolled in the double-blind study were sent a 6-week headache diary, a follow-up questionnaire. Eighty-seven of the original 98 patients enrolled returned questionnaires, 81 returned diaries. There was no additional change from the end of the trial to the 1-year follow up. The improvement seen at the end of the 12-week trial was stable after 1 year. No differential effects according to treatment after the trial could be seen. Patients with no treatment following the trial had the most improvement after 1 year. Approximately 30% of patients in homeopathic treatment will benefit after 1 year of treatment. There is no indication of a specific, or of a delayed effect of homeopathy.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed2000

Effects of acupuncture and homeopathy: prospective documentation. Interim results.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the overall effectiveness in general practice of homeopathy and acupuncture, and to estimate costs. METHOD: Prospective documentation of all patients insured with an insurance company who are provided with free treatment of acupuncture and homeopathy. 4000 patients treated by acupuncture and 1000 patients by homeopathy will be enrolled. All patients will be followed up from the beginning of treatment for another 4 years. Doctors will provide data on each visit (diagnosis, treatment, change of symptoms, etc.), patients will fill in questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of treatment, as well as each year after the end of treatment (complaints, current treatment, general health status as measured by the MOS-SF 36). Insurance data on workdays lost will be provided by the insurance company. RESULTS: Data acquisition and entry is continuing. Up to now data from the first questionnaire of 1453 patients have been entered and 951 patients have returned the follow-up questionnaire. Doctors' ratings of the change of the main diagnosis shows improvement of around 80% with only 2% deteriorated. This impression is vindicated by the patients' follow-up questionnaire. 36% patients rated the therapy as efficacious, 47% as partially efficacious. Quality of life as measured by the SF 36 questionnaire improved significantly in all dimensions. Data on workdays off will be presented. CONCLUSION: Homeopathy and acupuncture are clinically effective in a variety of medical problems.

Acupuncture Therapy↗
PubMed2000

Magic of signs: a non-local interpretation of homeopathy.

Among homeopaths the common idea about a working hypothesis for homeopathic effects seems to be that, during the potentization process, 'information' or 'energy' is being preserved or even enhanced in homeopathic remedies. The organism is said to be able to pick up this information, which in turn will stimulate the organism into a self-healing response. According to this view the decisive element of homeopathic therapy is the remedy which locally contains and conveys this information. I question this view for empirical and theoretical reasons. Empirical research has shown a repetitive pattern, in fundamental and clinical research alike: there are many anomalies in high-dilution research and clinical homeopathic trials which will set any observing researcher thinking. But no single paradigm has proved stable enough in order to produce repeatable results independent of the researcher. I conclude that the database is too weak and contradictory to substantiate a local interpretation of homeopathy, in which the remedy is endowed with causal-informational content irrespective of the circumstances. I propose a non-local interpretation to understand the anomalies along the lines of Jung's notion of synchronicity and make some predictions following this analysis.

Causality↗
PubMed1998

Mind machines: a controlled study on the effects of electromagnetic and optic-acoustic stimulation on general well-being, electrodermal activity, and exceptional psychological experiences.

Mind machines are said to induce relaxation and an altered state of consciousness. The influence of optical-acoustic (OAS) and electrical stimulation (ES) mind machines on general well-being, electrodermal activity, and altered states of consciousness was investigated and compared with pure rest and a placebo. Thirty participants underwent 4 conditions in random sequence: rest, placebo stimulation, OAS, and ES. Statistical evaluations before and after the experimental stimulations showed differences in general well-being and electrodermal activity measures but no between-conditions effect. ES and OAS produced significantly more visionary experiences and fear of ego dissolution than rest and placebo. Differences in mystical experiences were found between ES and OAS. Mind machines do not have a specific effect on general well-being and physiological relaxation, although they may produce unusual psychological experiences; people with psychiatric illnesses should not use such devices.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1998

[Not Available].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMed1996

[Homeopathy in headaches. A review].

Homeopathy as an alternative to conventional therapy is becoming increasingly popular. Although interest is rising, little is known about the real effectiveness of homeopathic therapy in headaches. Three studies addressing this question are discussed: an Italian migraine study, the London migraine study and our own, the Munich headache trial. While the first one reported very high effects, the best ones known in the literature, the results of the other two trials do not endorse this first finding. The London trial did not show any effect other than placebo, although a different time trend was reported. The Munich study failed to show any difference between homeopathy and placebo whatsoever. The merits and shortcomings of these studies are discussed. At present, we do not have any evidence that homeopathic therapy has any effect other than a placebo effect. However, this can be very impressive sometimes. We do not know which variables are correlated with placebo effectiveness, and we do not have any data on real-type homeopathy outside a trial setting, as there are no data available.

English Abstract↗
PubMed1996

[Homeopathy: principles, status of research, research design; comment].

This paper gives an overview of homoeopathy: 1. scientific foundations-2. problems and importance of research in homoeopathy-3. of research findings in basic and clinical research-4. future strategies of evaluation. Homeopathy is a medical discipline in its own right which is quite different from orthodox medicine in its basic tenets, its research paradigms and its practical approach to therapy, even though both methods are empirically founded and share the aim of healing the sick. When homoeopathy is pressed into a framework of research paradigms alien to its own approach, this is bound to engender difficulties because of the partial incompatibility. In spite of that, some studies with rigorous design have shown that homoeopathic remedies are effective. The important research findings are discussed and future strategies for evaluation are proposed.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗