Could You Pass Surch A Test? HEAD ON
Tuesday, july 11,2006
by Marilyn Freedman
“Jury Still Out On Hyped Migraine Pain Reliever” is the byline for a story reported on WCBS-TV New York, wcbstv.com and the Headline reads, “Can A Roll-On Provide Migraine Pain Relief? Doctor: HeadOn’s Main Ingredient May Be Dangerous”. I read the article, searched the product on the internet, and read a lot more about it, including one reported in February of this year by Fox KDVR-Denver, Fox 31 Undercover News. The reports, and testimonials, run extreme: from bad to great. Why my interest? HeadOn is about a pharmaceutically prepared product rendered in a homeopathic fashion, made in South Florida and marketed for headache relief.
There are a number of issues that are raised in the “Jury Still Out” article. Dr. Larry Newman, Director Of The Roosevelt Headache Institute in Manhattan, says that “the product may be dangerous”, and that “the FDA does not know what is in the product”. He also states that “there’s no scientific evidence to support HeadOn’s claims”. The National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau requires Miralus Healthcare, the makers of HeadOn, provide them with “reliable clinical testing to support it’s product claims”. Lastly, “Under the suggestion of the Better Business Bureau, Miralus Healthcare recently changed their advertising, eliminating overt health claims.”
To help put this controversy into perspective allow me to tell you a little joke: An old woman goes into a full service butcher shop . She points to a whole chicken in the display cabinet that she wants to buy and asks to inspect it. The butcher reaches in, pulls it out and hands it to her. She starts to poke the chicken, looks at the skin, and examines the whole thing very carefully. She finally grabs the chicken by the wings and smells under each wing, and then grabs the chicken by the legs, spreads them apart, sticks her nose in and smells. She rejects the chicken and asks for another, repeating the same process, before rejecting this one, too. When she asks for a third chicken, the frustrated butcher looks at her, and says, “Hey, lady. Could you pass such a test?
Herein lies the heart of the controversy: an old woman applies a system of testing that to the butcher does not seem reasonable. The butcher is the allopath who dismisses the old woman’s method of testing because it doesn’t fit into his paradigm of what testing should be, and therefore, her test is invalid, in his view. Whereas the old woman’s standards are fail-safe for her in buying a chicken. How does this apply? Allopathic medicine (western medicine), just like the butcher, wants to apply their standards universally to all other older systems of medicine, including acupuncture, ayurveda, and homeopathy.etc.
From my personal perspective, the danger is such: It is very cynical that allopathic medicine demand that ayrurvedic medicine, acupuncture, homeopathic medicine, or any other of the many older, or indigenous medical systems throughout the world, prove their systems work by the standards, and the criteria, imposed by allopathic medicine. This can be considered as simply an elimination of competing medical sciences. Just because allopathic medicine doesn’t fully understand how something works doesn’t mean it doesn’t work, or is not valid medicine.
In this particular article Dr. Larry Newman is an allopathic doctor, and the Roosevelt Headache Institute is an allopathic medical facility. What does he know about homeopathic pharmaceuticals? Nothing, he says so, in the article. The Better Business Bureau expects Miralus to provide them with ‘reliable clinical testing to support it’s product claims’ by allopathic standards. In fact, homeopathic clinical testing, called ‘provings’ in this system of medicine, have been well documented, available, and referred to daily as prescriptive for patients throughout the world for over the period of 250 years.
HeadOn has been prepared pharmaceutically in a homeopathic fashion. This means that there are no toxic qualities remaining. In simple terms, HeadOn will either help, or do nothing, but certainly, there will be no side effects. Although HeadOn is not what a classical homeopath would ever prescribe because it is a compounded medicine, without any curative properties, I would prefer to see someone spend the relatively small amount of money on it to try it, rather than an expensive prescription, which may, or may not work either. It will not cure a headache or migraine, but it may, or may not be, as effective as other medicines.
Links to Articles:
http://wcbstv.com/business/local_story_191225122.html
http://www.fox31news.com/_ezpost/data/36271.shtml