Homeopaths Conduct Groundbreaking NIH Fibromyalgia Study

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, April, 2001

With conventional fibromyalgic treatment losing ground and providing little benefit, a groundbreaking, two-year grant has been given to Arizona homeopaths to study treatment of the disease.

The Society for the Establishment of Research in Classical Homeopathy (SERCH) in Phoenix, Arizona will provide classical homeopathic treatment and data for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) fibromyalgia study. "This is important work because there is a strong need to do homeopathic research that conventional medicine will accept," states Dr. Todd Rowe, MD(H), director of SERCH and the Desert Institute School of Classical Homeopathy (DISCE) in Phoenix. SERCH and DISCH are part of a handful of flourishing, freestanding homeopathic entities in Arizona and the United States.

"Our research represents one of the few homeopathic-oriented grants NIH has funded," says Dr. Iris Bell, MD(H) of the over $250,000 the study will receive over two years.

Bell, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona's well-known Program in Integrative Medicine, is the study's principal investigator and received her homeopathic training at DISCH.

SERCH and Rowe's solid dedication to meeting high-quality research requirements, Bell states, was a critical element in determining who should conduct the bulk of the study. Additionally, Rowe is one of the few homeopathic physicians in the United States that is not only state-licensed with nationally recognized credentials but also has experience in classical homeopathic research and education. Bell adds that NTH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) wants to see more done in five designated frontier categories, one of which is Alternative Medical Systems. Homeopathy is an alternative medical system.

According to NCCAM's spokesperson, Anita Greene, this grant will be used, in part, "to determine if this area is feasible for more intensive study via a larger-scale research grant in the future."

Underlining the importance of homeopathy and other types of alternative care, NCCAM quotes a 1997 Journal of American Medicine Association report that states the importance Americans place on complementary care, with over 42% utilizing alternative medicine. In 1997, "Americans spent more out of pocket for complementary and alternative medicine than they paid out of pocket for all hospitalizations," states NCCAM in its just-released five-year strategic plan draft.

The fibromyalgia study will treat each subject for six months with homeopathy, taking psychophysiological recordings throughout the treatment. The research looks to determine, through sophisticated, individualized statistical data, what type of individual would respond best to homeopathy when caring for fibromyalgia patients. Additionally, the investigation will develop standardized homeopathic research tools, which currently do not exist, in order to provide consistent homeopathic research.

The study is still recruiting fibromyalgia subjects; the current phone number for study participants is 520-626-3512.

Contact Information

To request information, please contact Therese Flores of Flores Communications for the Desert Institute School of Classical Homeopathy at 480-682-9030 (phone/fax) or by e-mail at gtflores@ concentric.net.

About Todd Rowe

Founder of the Desert Institute Development Group, Inc. and DISCH, Dr. Todd Rowe earned his Doctorate of Medicine at Rush Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, and completed his psychiatric training at the University of Vermont.

He graduated from the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy in Albany, California, and is a licensed homeopathic physician in Arizona, as well as receiving CCH and DHt certification. He has been studying and practicing homeopathy for 16 years and has his own clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, called The Desert Institute of Classical Homeopathy.

Dr. Rowe teaches extensively and has written several books on classical homeopathy. He is the vice president of several organizations: the National Center for Homeopathy, the Council for Homeopathic Education, and the Council for Homeopathic Certification.

He is not only director of DISCH and a faculty member but he also teaches homeopathy at the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy in northern California, the San Diego School of Homeopathy, and at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona.

Dr. Rowe is often requested for special speaking engagements as an expert on homeopathy and homeopathy's future in the United States.

About DISCH

Because of alternative medicine's resurgence in the United States, high patient demand for homeopathy, and the need to successfully train homeopathic practitioners, the Arizona homeopathic community capitalized upon a long-held vision: that a quality learning center could be located in Phoenix. As a result, The Desert Institute Development Group (DIDG), a non-profit corporation (501C3) was incorporated in the state of Arizona in October 1999, including within it the Desert Institute School of Classical Homeopathy (DISCH).