Editorial

From the desk of the editor

Welcome to the May 2012 homepage edition of i2P-Information to Pharmacists. Rollo Manning has been having some time out having staples removed from the site of his open heart surgery.He is now at home recuperating in Darwin, having arrived home last Friday, beating a cold and hasty retreat from Canberra.We all wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully, he will be fit enough to contribute by next month.
This month, Pharmedia discusses the toll that is taken when someone complains about you to an authority without good cause. Well, the good news is that you can now take action to protect yourself if such a complaint is made, and that may even include action for defamation. Read about a recent case involving two doctors, with Mark Coleman drawing on personal experience to illustrate.

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Pharmacies - Selling Flower Power?

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	Loretta Marron BSc articles by this author...
From a Skeptics Perspective: Loretta Marron, a science graduate with a business background, was Australian Skeptic of the Year for 2007 and in 2011. She edits the website www.healthinformation.com.au.

Do you suffer from anxiety or depression? Are your personal relationships a bit on the rocky side? Maybe you can’t sleep or are putting on weight? Are your bills unpaid or has your cat gone missing? Have no fear!! There’s a natural remedy to help you! Just look on the prescription counter at your local pharmacy and the answer to all your emotional problems could be just a spray away! Could this be true? This month I’ll talk about Rescue Remedies.

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There is an epidemic of small bottles multiplying and mutating, as they hide in pockets and crevices in the darkness and depths of many unsuspecting handbags. ‘Rescue Remedy’, now considered a ‘must-have’ item for every modern woman, is a magical spray that promises to help them cope with the stresses and strains of every-day living.

There’s essence of Impatiens flowers for frustrations with the slow pace of people – great for those long trips with the family. Then there is Honeysuckle if you tend to live in the past and Rock Rose for terror and panic, and there’s “Clematis for inattentiveness, Star of Bethlehem for shock and Cherry Plum for irrational thoughts.” Claiming to work by treating the individual rather than the disease or its symptoms, you may have to try a few different combinations before you find the ‘gentle remedy’ that suits your complaint. According to the advertising, in times of emotional distress, a quick spray under the tongue and all will be well; birds will sing as music fills the air, problems evaporate and once again, world peace with rule. All this for less than $20!

The history of Rescue Remedies goes back to the1920’s when “a noted homeopath called Dr Edward Bach discovered a system of flower remedies that can help us rediscover the positive side of ourselves”. He also believed, and there is some truth in this, that the “attitude of mind plays a vital role in maintaining health and recovering from illness” . -which works for me provided I take my medication. With no understanding of physics, physiology, botany or chemistry, the optimistic Dr Bach, before he died in 1936, had created 38 flower essences to treat psychological disorders and mental ailments. Today these remedies even claim to work for that mysterious and undefinable new condition that needs to be constantly improved, called “well-being”.

Dr Bach was obviously a bit of a nature-loving gardening type. Every morning he would see the glistening rays of light bursting from the moisture-filled wildflowers. As the sun bathed his garden in light and warmth he reasoned that this process was transferring the ‘life force’ of the plant into this accumulated dew. Flowers, he reasoned, contained some of the medicinal properties of the plant and this healing power was obviously more potent from flowers grown in the sun. With this enlightenment, he started to collect the liquid from the individual flowers of particular plants. Finding this method slow-going, he then picked the petals and placed them gently into a bowl of water which he left in the sun. On cloudy days, he boiled the mixture on his kitchen stove top. These processes produced what he called the ‘mother tincture’. He mixed this elixir with additional brandy and water and, a few bottles later, coupled with a bit of brilliant marketing and the occasional anecdote from his optimistic and gullible patients, Bach’s Flower Remedies were born.

Nearly a century later, this bio-energy based remedy continues to grow in popularity. Sold in over 60 countries, you can still buy what they call ‘Yoga in a bottle’ with the ‘Bach Original Flower Remedy’. These days the product line has grown and there are all sorts of combinations of the 38 flowers for single and multiple problems. In the 21st century, Rescue Remedies are available as a cream or gel, with an eye dropper or an inbuilt stray or packaged as tasty pastilles. There is also an alcohol free range for kids and Fido even gets a look in with a new range for pets.

The science, however, doesn’t support Dr Bach’s claims. A recent database review of randomized trials concluded “The hypothesis that flower remedies are associated with effects beyond a placebo response is not supported by data from rigorous clinical trials.” Pharmacists who stock this product are selling hope without proof to people who may have serious health issues, including depression, which may be delaying tried and tested treatment while wasting valuable time and money.

A NSW Pharmacy Guild conference was recently addressed by one of Australia’s largest Sponsors of complementary medicine. He suggested that pharmacists should “capitalize on consumer sentiment” and recommended that they expand their ‘alternative’ shelf space.

As the cash registers fill up, thanks to the growing range of placebo products, I just hope Pharmacists leave a bit of room for the real medicine they are supposed to be selling.

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