Homeopathic Remedies

“To what extent does lack of education contributes to the increase in uses of

homeopathic remedies in people between the ages of 55-65?”

Name: Keresa Haughton

Subject: Communication Studies

Teacher: Mr. Ebanks

Center #:

Candidate#:
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 1

PREFACE 3

REFLECTIVE PIECE 4

ANALYSIS 7

CONCLUSION 9

APPENDIX 10

BIBLIOGRAPHY 17

THE APPENDIX SHOULD BE THE LAST THING IN THE PORTFOLIO

Introduction

This portfolio is based on the theme “Homeopathic Remedies” and the topic is “To what

extent does lack of education contributes to the increase use of homeopathic remedies in

people between the ages of 55-65?” Homeopathy is a medical system based on the belief that

the body can cure itself. Those who practice it use tiny amounts of natural substances, like

plants and minerals. (WHERE DIYOU GET THIS DEFINTION) They believe these

stimulate the healing process. A basic belief behind homeopathy is “like cures like.” In other

words, something that brings on symptoms in a healthy person can -- in a very small dose -- treat

an illness with similar symptoms.

This portfolio consists of three sections: a reflective piece, expository piece and language

analysis. The reflective piece comes in the form of a short story entitled “Stubborn Mother”

about a lady who believed that her home remedies is what is saving her life and that doctor

are ones that kill you faster. The analysis examine the communicative elements in the

reflective piece, detailed emphasis being placed on language registers, dialectal variations,

communicative behaviours and attitudes to language (should be about two ONLY). The

expository speech explores the reasons behind the use of homeopathic remedies and to weigh

the pros and cons of its use. The researcher also discussed the challenges faced in

investigating the issue at hand.

This portfolio serves to enlighten the readers on the reasons behind the use of

homeopathic remedies, the drawback and benefits. The researcher’s personal interest in the

theme “Homeopathic Remedies” came from growing up with her great grandmother who

preferred to just boil her green bush for any illness she experienced. . Academically, the

portfolio satisfies the criteria of the internal assessment of the Communication Studies

course. No work related interest mentioned.

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Preface

Many people are unaware that homeopathic remedies do have side effects. As such, the short

story entitled, “Stubborn Mother”, written for my reflective piece, is about an educated young

lady whose mother refused to go to the doctor no matter circumstances. It also outlines the

side effects of the homeopathic remedies. The story reaches climax when the young lady

found her mom in tears crying for her belly.

The researcher wrote the story with the motives of bringing across important points. The first

purpose was to educate the readers of the side effects of homeopathic remedies. The second

purpose is to show that highlight the fact that while homeopathic remedies may help you,

you should still go to the doctor for severe illnesses.

The narrative piece is aimed at preferable individuals ages fifty five and up, as well as their

children. This piece it will educate them as to why they should not always depend on

homeopathic remedies, as it may cause severe damage to internal organs and cause other

problems in the body. It targets the children as well, because they’re the ones who are looking

after their parents and/or monitoring what they are putting into their bodies.

You need to include the context/medium (news paper, published and printed in health

centres/pharmacies/social media and why you would chose that/those platform to

showcase the piece.

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Reflective Piece

“Stubborn Mother”

Dear Diary,

It’s been three days since mom’s surgery, and she is still not awake. The doctors said she’s in

a coma. Coma is such a funny word. Too bad it’s not a funny situation as well. As I tidied her

today, I took special care not to irritate the protruding scar sitting on top of her stomach. It

was still red and fresh-looking, but at least it showed signs of healing. Always a good thing.

Undergoing surgery had been necessary to remove the tumour that had been rapidly growing

there, feeding on the herbal remedies that she insisted on ingesting daily. Time after time we

would argue about these unfounded healing properties in plants that we could not even

properly name.

I knew most of these plants, because I grew up on them. But some of these plants

were not well known, and their potency was questionable. It wasn’t that they couldn’t provide

healing, but to what extent, in what dosage, and how much was too much?

My mom is almost sixty, and while brushing her hair, I reflected on the days before

the build-up, or rather, the break-down. I had walked into her room to check on how well she

was following her prescribed medication, having been formally diagnosed with benign cysts.

Her ultrasound had showed that while there were a few, her vitals were stable. Good news!

However, when I looked at each prescription, the items seemed untouched, and the quantities

were far too plentiful for containers that should be almost empty. Alongside those containers

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were unlabelled bottles of liquids, some with plants and bushes and seeds inside of them.

None that I was able to name. These bottles bore the look of constant use.

I became instantly alarmed and shouted out…. “mom!” No response.

I hurried through the small house, looking madly for her so I could confront her, but when I

saw her, my anger melted into fear. She was crying. I don’t recall having seen my mother’s

tears before, but here they were. “Mom,” I cried, now in an entirely different voice. “What’s

wrong?”

“Mi pickney,” she moaned, “mi belly…. Oooh, mi belly.”

“Do you want your medication mom?” I asked, but she just shook her head, her face

squeezed like a tight fist.

“No sah,” she wheezed out painfully. “Dem yah dacta yah no know whe dem a do. A ongle

herbs can cure people. Mi nuh need nuh school fi know dat. Bring di bokkle wid the pink

flowas come.”

“No!” I screamed. “No more of that! You are drinking yourself sick!”

I went to hold her and realized that she had had blood coming from her mouth.

“Oh mom,” I wailed, and started to cry, panic flooding through me like a tsunami. I quickly

called out to our neighbour, shouting that I needed help and that mom needed to go to the

hospital. He came in a blessed short time.

That was quite possibly the longest eighteen-minutes ride I have ever had, and I never wish to

repeat!

Upon arriving at the hospital and explaining her condition as best I could, the doctor ordered

a scan and relayed to me that she had a large tumor growing in her stomach. They could

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remove it now or leave it and risk an eruption. I chose the surgery, and she was rushed off to

the emergency operating theatre. I hadn’t even gotten to tell her that I loved her.

The surgery lasted a lifetime of three hours, but the doctors were sure that they had it all

removed; even some of the benign ones were taken out for good measure.

The recovery time on the other hand, was not as favourable. Apparently, whatever herbal

remedies she had been taking were eating away at her stomach and feeding the tumour, which

was rupturing and caused the bleeding coming from her mouth, so she was not in the best

general health to make a speedy recovery. Her age did not help matters either. They also

illuminated the fact that she must have been in pain or at the very least, major discomfort for

weeks prior, due to the size and location of the tumour.

And so, my dear stubborn mother could have died from her loyalty to her understudied bush

medicine, rather than stepping into the future with “doctors who are killing off people when

bush has never failed her yet”. It was failing her now.

She looked so peaceful, but I did not feel the peace she now exuded, and without any

indication that I was going to do so, I started to cry.

PLEASE READ OVER AND LOOK FOR THE GRAMMATICAL ERRORS,TYPOS AND

SPACING ERRORS> IVE CORRECTED MOST BUT PLEASE GO OVER.

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Analysis

The reflective piece “Stubborn Mother” delineates the severe repercussions of the

homeopathic remedies use by a mother. The author utilizes several elements of

communication. Nevertheless, only two will be examined specially: dialectal variation and

language registers.

The official language of Jamaica is Standard English. According to cape-

commstudoes.blogspot.com, dialectal variation refers to the changes in language due to

various influences. These include: social, geographic individual and group factors. Dialectal

variations showcase the varieties of language used and are divided into three main parts of

the dialectal spectrum. In the narrative piece, acrolect (Standard English) was used by the

daughter when talking to her mother, “No!” I screamed. “No more of that! You are drinking

yourself sick!” After which basilect (patois/creole) was used by the mother when talking to

her daughter. “No sah,” she wheezed out painfully. “Dem yah dacta yah no know whe dem a

do. A ongle herbs can cure people. Mi nuh need nuh school fi know dat. Bring di bokkle wid

the pink flowas come.” One feature of this form of patois is the substitution of ‘th’ with ‘d’.

Another feature is the word ‘dacta’, spoken in Standard English would be ‘doctor’. Most

Jamaicans use basilect in situations where they are comfortable like mothers talking to their

children. The use of the basilect variations by the mother shows a form of

informality/comfort between the mother and the daughter. (What about the use of the acrolect

you mentioned above? What does that use suggest about the speaker/situation/setting?)

Language registers is a variety of language used for a particular purpose or in a particular

social setting. It poses various levels of formality. The five levels identified have been given

specialized names by linguists: frozen, formal, consultative, casual, and intimate. Examples

of registers found in the reflective piece are: Consultative register; used when the daughter

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found her mom in pain then she asked “Do you want your medication mom?” Then there was

intimate register, this was seen in the daughter’s interaction with mother, for example when

she replied to her daughter’s question “Mi pickney,” she moaned, “mi belly…. Oooh, mi

belly.” Using the word ‘pickney’ instead of the word ‘child’ this showed a close relationship

or bond between the two and effectively portrayed the intimate registers.

You need a few sentences to tie up this piece. A short conclusion about the elements of

communication and how it enhanced the piece.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, I strongly believe that more information needs to be put out which targets

persons 55 and older. I sincerely hope that the information contained in this portfolio would

be of help to these persons. While lack of education is not the major reason why homeopathic

remedies are increasing, it is a factor. Hence why more information should be put out.

The conclusion should be a summation of the issues raised from you research and it should

also answer the research/topic question.

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Appendix

Expository piece
Good morning teachers my name is Keresa Haughton from class 6bs and today we will be

exploring “To what extent does lack of education contributes to the increase in the use

homeopathic remedies in people within the age group 55-65” under the theme Homeopathy

remedies.

According to homeopathyusa.org homeopathic medicine is the practice of medicine that

embraces a holistic, natural approach to the treatment of the sick.

Homeopathy is holistic because it treats the person, rather than focusing on a diseased part or

a labelled sickness. Homeopathy is natural because its remedies are produced according to

the U.S. FDA-recognized Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States from natural

sources, whether vegetable, mineral, or animal in nature.

The word Homeopathy, which comes from the Greek, through Latin into English, literally

means “like a disease”. This means that the medicine given is like the disease that the person

is expressing, in his totality, not like a specific disease category or medical diagnosis.

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To capture the full essence of this topic I got first-hand reports from three sources. The first

primary source was with Dr. Meade Leslie, who upon contact agreed to meet with me for an

interview. My second primary source was a questionnaire geared towards the patients of

Drug serve. My secondary source was an article from the researchgate.net entitled the

prevalence of herbal medicine home use and concomitant use with pharmaceutical medicine

in Jamaica.

As I had already conducted a preliminary background check, my questions skipped

biographic details. I had ten predefined questions, all of which were open-ended. Deciding if

there was indeed a link between lack of education and homeopathic remedies. The questions

were like this to ensure smooth communication and lower the risks of leaving out an

important aspect. However, as the interview progressed, other questions were thrown into the

mix, including a few close-ended questions.

A summarized version of the information gathered during the interview is (as follows). Dr.

Meade Leslie stated that he was not a believer in homeopathic medicine. He explained that

while with traditional medicine which have research done to give the adequate dosage to treat

your disease, homeopathic remedies don’t have any research done to give an adequate

dosage. Dr. Meade also stated they he thinks persons above the age of 60 are the ones who

use homeopathic remedies the most. He went along to say that health care was not always

readily available for them hence they had to use what was readily available. Dr. Meade Leslie

continued to say lack of education might be one of the reasons for using homeopathic

remedies but not the only reasons.

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Dr. Meade Leslie is a recognized Obstetrician and Gynaecologist. He was also the recipient

of the Order of Distinction for his outstanding work in the area of Obstetrics and

Gynaecology. His achievements and professional status make him a reliable source. During

the interview, the information provided was backed up by examples he gave from recent

newscasts on local stations TVJ and CVM, both of which have proved their reliability over

years of giving the news. All other statements were made in his professional expertise and so

are accurate in that sense. Given the time that the interview eventually took place, the amount

of time Dr. Leslie was able to spend with me was limited and because I couldn't record the

interview this may have affected how much information he imparted. However, this would

not have affected the credibility of the information received.

The questionnaire was geared towards patients at the drug serve. The questionnaire was

conducted face to face and consisted of 4 closed-ended and 2 open-ended questions, six in

total. The question targeted their views on homeopathic medicines.

A summary of the data collected from the questionnaire is as follows. Among the

participants, 70% were over the age of 55, 25% were between the ages 45-54 and the

remaining 5% were between 35-44. The entire sample recalled that in their childhood years

they used homeopathic remedies cause that’s what was readily available for them. They also

stated the majority of the times after feeling ill they used homeopathic remedies if it is the

case that they are not feeling better they would visit a hospital.

The questionnaire was aimed at the patients at drug serve in crossroads. These people could

be the ones who were using homeopathic remedies. The patients may not have known which

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ones work best with the body to treat the illness. The questionnaire was administered face to

face which allowed me to address any issue the participants had with any questions, but it

may have introduced some amount of bias as I would have been present while filling out the

paper.

The third and final source was an article entitled “The prevalence of herbal medicine home

use and concomitant use with pharmaceutical medicine in Jamaica”, by David Picking, Novie

Younger, Sylvia Mitchell & Rupika Delgoda. The article was to educate the public on the

history of homeopathic remedies, Jamaicans using pharmacological medicines and herbs. The

article goes on to give statistics from a study that was conducted in St Andrew, Kingston, and

St James. The article referred to The Beijing Declaration, published by the World Health

Organization, where they called for a partnership between modern and traditional herbal

medicine to help bridge the equity gap in public health and highlights the importance of

research to support the development of traditional herbal medicine in delivering appropriate,

safe and effective treatments.

The article was taken from research.net and was dated on November 28, 2017. This article

has not passed the five-year period hence it is valid. The information is credible because there

is proof from different sources and there was no sign of bias because the information had

statistics that could be used to support it hence this source. The authors of the article currently

work at the Natural Products Institute, The University of the West Indies at Mona. The

researches Jamaican medicinal plants, with a focus on traditional knowledge, medicinal plant

safety, healthcare integration, and access and benefit-sharing this makes this source a reliable

source

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Although this research was proven fun, I was faced with a lot of issues Finding information

relative to the specifics of my research proved most challenging. Attempts at garnering

statistical data from Gleaner and Observer proved futile as they had no data on my topic. I

also tried to locate a homeopathic doctor but was unable to do so. This brought me to

consider issuing a questionnaire to the patients at Drug Serve. Formulating questions for this

questionnaire was thought to provoke, as I had to write questions bearing in mind the varying

levels of formal education people in this profession may have had, and the amount of time

they may have to complete this interview as their job can be very demanding.

I have concluded base on the information acquired, that lack of education does play a role in

the use of homeopathic remedies but a major role. After analysing the information from my

two primary sources it was shown that the use of homeopathic remedies between the ages of

55 and 65 was because homeopathic remedies were what was readily available for them.

With that being said, thank you for listening.

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 Interview Questions

1. What is your opinion on homeopathic remedies?

2. Between traditional medicine and homeopathic remedies, which works best?

3. What age group would you say homeopathic remedies are mostly used in?

4. Why do you think it is most popular in that age group?

5. Would you say that the lack of education is a cause for its use?

6. Are homeopathic remedies effective?

7. If a person is using homeopathic medicine, is it possible for them to use conventional

drugs at the same time?

8. Is homeopathic medicine safe without side effects?

9. Why are Homeopaths looked down upon by medical doctors and their fraternity?

10. Does the Expense of conventional medicine have anything to do with individual
choice of choosing?

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 Questionnaire

1. What is your age?

35-44 45-54 55 and over

2. What is your gender?

Female Male

3. Have you ever used homeopathic remedies?

Yes No

4. After feeling sick what is your first choice?

Doctor Homeopathic remedies

5. How did you learn about homeopathic remedies?

____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

6. Do you prefer homeopathic medicine than traditional and why?

Yes No

Why?__________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

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This should come before the Appendix.

Reference

 Article- https://www.researchgate.net, November 28, 2017, David Picking, Novie O

M Younger, Sylvia Adjoa Mitchell, Rupika Delgoda.

 Definitions

https://homeopathyusa.org

http://cape-commstudies.blogspot.com/2011/01/language-dialectal-variaion.html

http://cape-commstudies.blogspot.com/2011/02/language-registers.html

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