Can We Drop Homeopathy?

So many hucksters and suckers.

“…the assessment of the evidence from research in humans does not show that homeopathy is effective for treating the range of health conditions considered”

http://theconversation.com/2014-a-bad-y ... athy-35788

Maybe it is simply an instrument of natural selection.
Those too foolish to contribute will not survive.
Sadly, the unscrupulous, soulless charlatans will continue to thrive.
But they can be brought to justice in a civil court.
Of course, that means OTHER soulless buzzards (intentionally misspelled) will profit.
But the lawyers always win, don't they?

I have nothing against the placebo effect. If you think it works for you and you want to spend your own hard-earned money, go for it.

Just don't take your child to one.

If it works for some people, great. The track record of most Western medicines is not that great - look at how many people die each year in the US because of prescription drug adverse effects or overdoses. It is tough to find any item, whether Western or alternative medicine, that will "cure" 100% of the people 100% of the time. Some things do need Western medicine from a bottle, but there alternative medicine does have its place.

Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.

SleepyToo2 wrote:If it works for some people, great. The track record of most Western medicines is not that great - look at how many people die each year in the US because of prescription drug adverse effects or overdoses. It is tough to find any item, whether Western or alternative medicine, that will "cure" 100% of the people 100% of the time. Some things do need Western medicine from a bottle, but there alternative medicine does have its place.

The track record of "western" medicine is enormous and overwhelming. Life spans are longer than ever. Smallpox alone killed hundreds of millions of people in the 20th century, but due to western medicine, the last case of smallpox was in 1975. People die from bacterial infection much more rarely than they used to.

We say "Western" medicine like it's some sort of insult. It's not "Western" medicine, it's "medicine." Anything that actually works is "Western" medicine. The rest is quackery, fraud, ineffective, or as yet unproven medicine.

People whine about western medicine, but that's because we've gotten so used to miracles that we whine and complain when we reach the end of the current crop of miracles.

Yes, there problems with our healthcare system. The answer is NOT quackery and fraud. Alternative medicine is much worse than real medicine in 99% of the cases.

Actually, the issue shouldn't be western vs. alternative medicine. It should be what is the most effective remedy with the least amount of side effects supported by the evidence.

Obviously, if you need surgery, you don't want to be going to a chiropractor. But in other cases like with sinus issues and inflammation, using something like Bromelein may be the best option.

http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/su ... /bromelain

To a large extent, "homeopathy" is just a marketing buzz word now. Yes, there is actual homeopathic medicine, based on Hahnemann's discredited theory that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people will, if highly diluted, cure similar symptoms in sick people. But you often see the label slapped opportunistically on all kinds of products now in the same way words like natural, herbal, and organic are. What in the world is homeopathic cat food and what does it have to do with the tradition of homeopathic medicine? The term homeopathic means whatever the seller wants it to mean, and it is mostly useful as a signal that helps us avoid quack remedies.

I think it should be a criminal offense to subject animals to our craziness! There are already cats (physiologically born to be carnivores - unlike dogs) who are forced to eat vegetarian because of people who raise them believing that being carnivorious is wrong (why get a cat in the first place!).

PST wrote:To a large extent, "homeopathy" is just a marketing buzz word now. Yes, there is actual homeopathic medicine, based on Hahnemann's discredited theory that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people will, if highly diluted, cure similar symptoms in sick people. But you often see the label slapped opportunistically on all kinds of products now in the same way words like natural, herbal, and organic are. What in the world is homeopathic cat food and what does it have to do with the tradition of homeopathic medicine? The term homeopathic means whatever the seller wants it to mean, and it is mostly useful as a signal that helps us avoid quack remedies.

Great post as always PST.

That reminds me when I was suffering horrific insomnia several years ago from psych med withdrawal and went to a naturopath who was a joke. She prescribed what she called a diluted SSRI and said it would help insomnia. I was so desperate and my brain was so fried, it never occurred to me that what she was doing was quack medicine at its best. I mean, if I had been in my right mind, I would have walked out immediately because even mainstream psychiatrists will tell you that SSRIs can cause insomnia and prescribe a sleep medicine to counteract that. So of course, she was spouting total BS.

LOL at the term homeopathic cat food.

49er

Another thing to watch out for is fake homeopathy. There have been quite a few so called homeopathic preparations that turned out to actually have non-homeopathic quantities of traditional medicines or chemicals. Some turned out to be dangerous because they had enough of the chemicals to have real side effects.

What really ticks me off is that the quack homeopathic medicines are sold right next to the real medicines in US pharmacies and big box stores, with no warnings that it's quackery.

Janknitz wrote:I have nothing against the placebo effect. If you think it works for you and you want to spend your own hard-earned money, go for it.

yes this. Placebo works better the more you pay for it.
Healthwise it works best as an adjunct to standard medicine. For many people chronic issues are not well dealt with in standard medicine and this gives them a sense of control over their issues. The placebo effect is very useful for dealing with chronic pain, even if you know it is a placebo effect.

The theory behind homoeopathy? Well, all water has gone through the natural cycle for millions of years so does it have the memory of all the times it got peed out of animals and humans and the diseases they had?

BlackSpinner wrote:The theory behind homoeopathy? Well, all water has gone through the natural cycle for millions of years so does it have the memory of all the times it got peed out of animals and humans and the diseases they had?

ooooh, there you go, trying to apply logic to fantasy belief. tsk tsk tsk.

palerider wrote:

BlackSpinner wrote:The theory behind homoeopathy? Well, all water has gone through the natural cycle for millions of years so does it have the memory of all the times it got peed out of animals and humans and the diseases they had?

ooooh, there you go, trying to apply logic to fantasy belief. tsk tsk tsk.

Yes well not that is means anything. Logic and fantasy don't combine well unless you want it too. The brain is a wonderful tool. It can reduce your pain by firmly believing in the sugar pill - even if you know it is sugar. Clap if you believe in fairies, friends.

I for one, would not want to drop homeopathy! It is complementary medicine, and what is meant by that is that it can complement other treatments, such as Western, allopathic medicine. There are some conditions for which Western medicine works great. And there are some for which it cannot offer much. Case in point: eczema. My husband began having eczema perhaps 15 years ago. His doctor could only give him steroids and steroidal cream, and the vague suggestion that he might need to move to a less dry climate in the future. He consulted a homeopath and on either the 2nd or 3rd remedy she tried, bam! It cleared up and has not plagued him since. My daughter and I have both seen good results using homeopathy for conditions which had not previously been effectively helped by Western medicine.

The term "homeopathic cat food?" Crazy. Unless it contains homeopathic medicine, but I doubt that is the case.

And there is no need to get so crazy in making generalizations. I have been a vegetarian most of my life, and try to eat a mostly vegan diet. But I feed my dogs and cats a good brand of food that is made for them and their dietary needs.

I guess my point here is that homeopathy, like all treatments, has its limits. But that does not make it quackery.