But Big Pharma's warpath against natural medicine goes even deeper than most of us may at first realize. Obviously, by growing our own herbs for medicine and taking charge of our own health, we are threatening the pharmaceutical companies' multi-billion dollar profit margins every year. In fact, the average person in 2014 in the US had about thirteen prescriptions written each year - that's a new prescription every single month. When these numbers begin to dwindle, so will Big Pharma's massive income.
There is one critical component of homeopathy that even the most die-hard naturalists often overlook: the astonishing power of belief. The drug industry hasn't overlooked it, though. By doing all they can to discredit herbal remedies, companies like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson also diminish the power of belief and hold on to their $16 billion profits.
Health is a State of Mind
Have you ever noticed how a day that starts badly usually tends to end badly? Or how, when you get in a fight with someone, you end up feeling more tired than if you had run a mile? How weight gain and depression have an almost direct correlation? This is because, contrary to what modern physicians would have us believe, our physical health and mental health are intricately connected.
The human body is made of various systems which must work together for the body to run at optimal performance. The respiratory system, the circulatory system, the reproductive system, and even the endocannibinoid system, for example, are all intricately connected to one another. Likewise, the brain works through a series of chemical pathways, where neurons and hormones must all be balanced with one another for stable mental health. It certainly makes sense, then, that the systems of the body and those of the mind must be connected to each other.
Emotions almost always create a physical response in the body. Anger raises blood pressure, increases heart rate, diverts blood flow away from the stomach while increasing stomach acid, and causes a chain of physical reactions that lead to fat build-up in the heart and arteries. Anxiety causes a similar physical response. On the other hand, emotions such as happiness and contentment are vital to maintaining healthy blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and even weight.
Undermining the Placebo Response
You've probably heard of the placebo response before, where in a clinical trial the "control" group, or the patients in the trial who are given a placebo, respond to the treatment as well as - if not better than - the group on the drug being tested. This phenomonon is far more common than we are lead to believe. The placebo response has been observed in trials related to dozens of medical conditions, including physical conditions such as asthma, ulcers, migraines, and menstrual cramps, as well as mental disorders like anxiety, depression, and even substance abuse addiction. In fact, a Harvard Medical School program that is dedicated to studying the placebo response notes, "Even when we take pills with active ingredients, part of their effect is likely due to the placebo effect."
Such an important part of health and wellness should not be overlooked or undermined. By simply believing that a remedy will work, patients can increase the efficacy of a treatment, possibly by a lot.
Instead of quoting a bunch of studies on the subject, I can give you a personal example of the power of belief in healing a physical ailment. When my third son was born, he came home from the hospital with a staph infection. Foolishly, I opted to treat it with the prescription medication that his pediatrician prescribed, thinking that because he was so little I didn't want to take any chances with his health. I used the cream he had been prescribed, and within a few days the infection went away.
After only a couple of days, however, the staph came back, and this time it was different. His first infection looked like little white bubbles, just a rash; but his second staph infection started beneath the skin and felt more like the staph infections that caused a MRSA scare a few years ago. The original infection had morphed into something stronger, and scarier.
As I should have done in the first place, I now treated this new infection with a homemade salve of turmeric, ginger, and goldenseal root. In about four days it was gone, but not before it was passed to me. I dutifully began treating my own infection with my salve, but it took about a week and half to go away.
When my husband found a staph bump on his leg (this was the last one to plague my family), I got him to start treatment with the salve right away. He is, admittedly, very skeptical when it comes to homeopathic medicine - his father is a nurse - and I had to nag him daily to use the salve. For weeks, he doubtfully applied the funny-smelling yellow stuff and constantly vowed that he would have to see a doctor "if this shit doesn't go away soon." It finally did, but it took nearly a month of treatment.
Big Pharma and the FDA in Cahoots
It isn't really a secret anymore that some of the country's largest pharmaceutical companies regularly pay the FDA to get and keep their products legal. Of course it doesn't look that way on the books, but many of the "experts" hired to help the FDA determine the safety of medications receive money in some way from Big Pharma.
But the FDA is also working to undermine the efficacy of herbal remedies, namely by doing nothing. With no regulation at all on some strong and even potentially dangerous herbal remedies, the FDA is effectively saying, "Herbal remedies are so ineffective that they aren't worth our time." What a subtle yet extremely powerful way to put doubt into the minds of modern Americans.
The Power of Belief
Like a child who is determined to have a bad time at a party, we often set ourselves up for poor health with a bad attitude. But the best way to make any medicine work, whether natural or conventional, is to believe that it will. While few studies have been conducted on the placebo effect, many naturopathic doctors believe that this effect can improve the efficacy and duration of almost any particular treatment. Similarly, placing a strong emphasis on the power of faith - whatever your religion - can make a treatment more effective. The end result of prayer may be "little more" than a placebo response, but that doesn't make the healing that is gained from it any less real.
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