Homeopathic medication

[Mapp]

I remember the day I walked into a homeopathic and natural pharmacy. When I saw the pamphlets warning parents not to immunize their parents I realized these people were not only full of shit, but actually evil for arguing against proven science. It is because of witch doctors like this that Polio has made such a comeback in some areas of the world.

 

[Frore]

I saw this bumper sticker the other day. It said, "Homeopathy cures harmlessly."

I felt like leaving the website url, "Whatstheharm.net" on their window, but thought it in bad taste.

Homeopathy does not work. The whole principle of it (as others have stated) is diluting an active ingredient so much that there isn't any active ingredient left. Before shelling out money for a homeopathic remedy, go drink a glass of water. It's the same thing.

Remember that Head-on stuff? It was a homeopathic head ache medicine that came in a tube, and you would "apply [it] directly to your forehead!" and it would supposedly work. There are a couple things wrong with that. One, there was no active ingredient in it. Two, applying it "directly to the forehead!" wouldn't work, because the medicine still has to go all the way through your system. It doesn't magically seep through your skin, under the bone, and into your brain.

Alternative medicine has never been shown to work. Actual medicine has.

 

[Aught3]

News story of a couple in NSW who didn't get their baby proper treatment and instead relied on homeopathy. The baby died. They are now standing trial for gross criminal negligence, I think they will probably be found guilty as they ignored the advice of medical professionals.

 

[Master_Ghost_Knight]

This should give people at least some heads up (but unfortunatly to many it wont).
Really sad to see how people are so deluted to those extremes.

 

[DarwinsOtherTheory]

Yesterday a friend told me that homeopathy cured her asthma, I started telling that homeopathy is a bunch of shit but she seemed very convinced, I started wondering if she ever had asthma in the first place or maybe it was something else that cured it.

 

[Ozymandyus]

meh, asthma just gets better as you get older - probably she just had the exercise induced asthma most people get and took homeopathic remedies for it over the same years where it goes away/sees a lessening of symptoms on its own.

 

[Master_Ghost_Knight]

Then I got the most powerfull remedy in the world. I got allot better from Asthma by doing... nothing (I guess doing nothing really does work).

Seiously, asthma isn't a a continuated illment but ponctual ocurence. Altough you don't get asthma cured, with proper enviorment control (keap your house clean and well ventilated for instance) you can reduce almost to zero any type of element that can trigger asthma (depending of your alergies) and with exercise (stronger lungs) the severity of an asthma episode is significatively reduced. With your organism less capable of responding any potential asthma episode can completly pass unoticed.

There are indeed vacines in the market that renders you "imune" (well the alergic sympthoms don't manifest) for a period of time even if you get expoused to regular asthma triggers (depends of your alergies).

If for some reason she thinks that she got better from any sort of asthma episodes it is not from the homeopathic medice doing the trick. But because she rendered one of the above or the fact that she believes that the medicine should do something makes her disrigard (dismiss it as something secondary or not so seriouse) when she has asthma episodes, or simply she hasn't been sucessfully expoused to triggers.

 

[Aught3]

Homeopathy A&E

 

[Giliell]

If there was any proof of homeopathy and that water COULD remember what it's been in contact with, I'd only drink beer...

What's bothering me is that at least here in Germany, a lot of natural remedies are labelled as "homeopathic", although they are not. You can tell when you read the list of, how to translate that now, "mediacally active substances".
If you have a real homeopathic "remedy" it tells you something like 14,2g of this bullshit contain 14,2g of bullshit, while something "real" says something like 1ml contains 214 mg of A, 369 mg of B, 89 mg of C and so on.
And since they actually work, they give homeopathy a good, undeserved reputation.

 

[Jackcreed]

Homeopathy, like many other forms of "new age" or naturopathic healing it makes actual functional alternative methods look bad. I work in a health food store and yes we do sell homeopathic remedies because were we not to we'd go out of business. But it pains me because the blatant fraudulence of these products can tend to leech over into other areas. Many herbs do serve a very real purpose and they have peer reviewed scientific studies to back them up. However because of this new age crap they are automatically linked to "alternative medicine" and therefor dismissed off hand. The industry is actually cutting it's own throat, it has a place and a good one we just need more research oriented people behind the counter and less new age hippies.

 

[TonyBtheEG]

Tim Minchin questions this topic as well.


Enjoy the fantastic musicianship.

 

[Mantis atheosa]

:lol:

 

[Mantis atheosa]

Here's another

 

[Giliell]

Here's another

Wait, that's not fair
Please, don't mix herbal remedies who can have an effect (although I haven't heard of any that can help with cancer apart from canabis helping with side effects of chemo therapy) with homeopathy.
A lot of stuff "grandma knows" is now proven to have a real working medical background.
There has been a centuries long prejudice against traditional remedies mixed up by old ladies because the doctors couldn't figure out how they work.
Now we know so much more and we can find out that some things were pure superstition and some thing are not.
A lot of normal GPs and MDs will tell you to listen to your gran if it's about treating stuff like the common cold, a sore throat, or a mosquito bite.

Just don't listen to people who tell you they can cure cancer with no side effects at all.

 

[Pharmatheist]

I study pharmaceutical sciences, and thus have a bit insight into this

Even though many remedies and herbs can have and effect against minor infektions or pain, they are rarely (=never) the wonder-drugs many of the people selling them claim. In many cases, if they actually did what is claimed, they would be considered medical drugs, and thus be subject to the same regulations, which means most of them would be prescription only, not to mention the enourmous work in getting these drugs approved (we're talking many millions of dollers worth of toxicological studies, doubly-blinded trials and so on). As a rule of thumb, most of these things don't work, and if they have an effect, it is very minor - otherwise it would be a drug.

As for homeopathy I find it completely idiotic, and an insult to scientist who are genuinely trying make drugs that work.

 

[Giliell]

I study pharmaceutical sciences, and thus have a bit insight into this

Even though many remedies and herbs can have and effect against minor infektions or pain, they are rarely (=never) the wonder-drugs many of the people selling them claim. In many cases, if they actually did what is claimed, they would be considered medical drugs, and thus be subject to the same regulations, which means most of them would be prescription only, not to mention the enourmous work in getting these drugs approved (we're talking many millions of dollers worth of toxicological studies, doubly-blinded trials and so on). As a rule of thumb, most of these things don't work, and if they have an effect, it is very minor - otherwise it would be a drug.

As for homeopathy I find it completely idiotic, and an insult to scientist who are genuinely trying make drugs that work.

Well, there are drugs out there that are based on "natural remedies" and have been approved by the same standards as "normal" drugs and that (in Germany) are only avaible at pharmacies.

As is said, those "grandma-remedies" are usually good for minor stuff where you might not want to break butterflies on a wheel and just want an edge over the symptoms.
Nothing is a "wonder-drug", neither herbal remedies nor pharmaceutical remedies. There are no wonder-drugs. Everybody who claims that they have "the ultimate solution/remedy/life-style advice" has already proven himself to be a quack.

 

[Pharmatheist]

Well, there are drugs out there that are based on "natural remedies" and have been approved by the same standards as "normal" drugs and that (in Germany) are only avaible at pharmacies.

As is said, those "grandma-remedies" are usually good for minor stuff where you might not want to break butterflies on a wheel and just want an edge over the symptoms.
Nothing is a "wonder-drug", neither herbal remedies nor pharmaceutical remedies. There are no wonder-drugs. Everybody who claims that they have "the ultimate solution/remedy/life-style advice" has already proven himself to be a quack.

Yes, and these drugs have been through trials that prove they work. There are also drugs we get from plants, that aren't considered natural drugs. An example is atropine, which can be used as an antidote for nerve-gas. It is too expensive to synthesize, so it is extracted and purified from plants. Indeed many drugs that are discovered, are inspired by substances found in plants, so naturally occuring molecules are still a great inspiration when it comes to making new drugs. However, I find the rationale behind "natural" drugs quite silly. Since the active substance is the same (= the same molecule) as in the synthetic counterpart, they work the same. However, the substance in the natural drug isn't as pure, meaning that there are other things from the plant in there, and some people thinks that this is somehow more healthy, since it isn't synthetic. I personally think, that the more pure, the better, since this lowers the risk for adverse effects, and gives a more accurate dosage.

 

[Giliell]

However, I find the rationale behind "natural" drugs quite silly. Since the active substance is the same (= the same molecule) as in the synthetic counterpart, they work the same. However, the substance in the natural drug isn't as pure, meaning that there are other things from the plant in there, and some people thinks that this is somehow more healthy, since it isn't synthetic. I personally think, that the more pure, the better, since this lowers the risk for adverse effects, and gives a more accurate dosage.

That's true, but getting a whole glas of black cherries to eat all for yourself (there's a small amount of something that lowers fever) and the wonderful pine-syrup my gran made in some hot tea is much tastier :lol:

 

[Photolysis]

However, I find the rationale behind "natural" drugs quite silly.

The whole naturalistic fallacy is silly when you look at it rationally. People also don't tend to complain about modern medicine or technology being unnatural. Such people also tend to claim "it's not the same" when this is pointed out.

It is particularly funny when people take a drug whilst criticising it in another form however.

 

[Josan]

The whole naturalistic fallacy is silly when you look at it rationally. People also don't tend to complain about modern medicine or technology being unnatural. Such people also tend to claim "it's not the same" when this is pointed out.

It is particularly funny when people take a drug whilst criticising it in another form however.

Indeed. "But it isn't natural" is used as a pointless argument far to often. I have actually heard several people say stuff like "Well I don't see why new medical research is so important - some diseases aren't meant to be cured." Well say that to the children who have cancer, moron.