Homeopathy just doesn't work - It's a failure

[Nostradamus]

[Nostradamus]

[Nostradamus]

[NucleicAcid]

One time, I was looking for allergy medication, and I happened to be buying some vitamins at the time, so I picked up this All Natural stuff and decided to give it a shot. I essentially haven't even heard of homeopathy at the time (I was about 16 I wanna say). Gave it a shot, didn't seem to work at all. Never really took a look at it again. I do believe in hindsight though that it was a homeopathic remedy or something similar.

Just goes to show even the placebo effect doesn't even work all the time.

The only way I'd give homeopathy ANY credit is if it basically worked along the lines of ritual magick (which is bears some resemblance to). Because the proposed mechanism is rather implausible. So you're essentially selling a spell. But that would mean that the factories producing it would have to actually work magick on it, which I doubt. They're basically selling a magickal cure (which I don't want to get into the semantics and feasibility of here, suffice it that if psi works, magicks is just an extension of it), without doing any magick. Fail.

[Craig Browning]

I tend to get things a bit confused in my own head when it comes to this debate in that certain skeptics imply that any and all modes of alternative health care are homeopathy when that's not how I understand such. In other words, I can agree with the fact that those little "melts in your mouth, not in your hands" tablets don't do a thing... on the other hand, the theory behind homeopathy... taking small doses of the stuff that ails you... has a level of validity when it comes to things like seasonal allergies. But only when employed in conjunction with an actual "curative" such as tea made from locally grown herbs and locally harvested honey. It must be local product because it delivers a mild dose of the allergen and helps you acclimate, balancing your body's natural defenses and thus LESSENING the physical reaction you would typically enduring at the peek of allergy season.

Notice that I'm saying that such treatments curb the problems/symptoms, not cure. Most herbal type treatment does just that, it creates a comfort level for the patient until the body is better able to heal itself.

It's been years since I tinkered with this stuff, but I'm quite aware of how effective it can be as well as the logical aspect of working in conjunction with a qualified MD during whatever condition you are seeking recovery for. The biggest mistake most people make when it comes to alternative care is not having an educated medical professional who's not gullible when it comes to alternative treatment hype but at the same time, supportive of the patient when it comes to its application -- placebo or not, if it expedites physical and emotional healing, the goal is obtained!

[ProfWag]

Yes, there is a difference between homeopathic medicine and alternative medicine. Homeopathic medicine I'm totally against. Alternative medicine, well, I'm against if my conventional doctor tells me to be against it and for it if my conventional doctor recommends it.

[Craig Browning]

[londonskeptic]

Sorry, but just because your doctor tells you an alternative medicine works, that doesn't mean it does. I frequently argue with a family member of mine, who is a psychiatrist, because he prescribes CAM to his patients when he doesn't know what else to do for them. I frequently just send him to my favourite debunking pages! - .

Doctor's are capable of drinking the cool aid too. My advice is do your own research if you get prescribed anything off the radar - if it's alternative, then by definition it's either not been proven to work or proven not to work!

The argument from authority is no reason to start believing nonsense.

[craig weiler]

Well, this is an interesting argument. I'm surprised that no one has addressed the elephant in the room: Big Pharma. I don't have it in front of me, nor do I have the time to research this morning, but large pharma is absolutely influencing the debate with phony studies and propaganda. You have to be very careful about what you accept as evidence lest you simply be a puppet of skillful disinformation and manipulation. Billions of dollars are at stake.

As far as megadosing skeptics: That is pure nonsense. Homeopathy does not work like conventional medicine and makes no claim that megadosing is dangerous.

Furthermore, conventional pharmaceuticals often have very questionable trials fueled by a strong need for profit. They aren't all that they're made out to be and one should not necessarily put their faith in these chemical cocktails. In the U.S. alone, prescription medications are the cause of death in approximately 100,000 people a year.

Sobering isn't it?

[Arouet]

[craig weiler]

[Arouet]

[Arouet]

Oh, and there is a very real danger with homeopathy when it comes to more serious illnesses: some people believe that it works and take it in place of conventional medication. Sometimes to tragic consequence.

[craig weiler]

People are also not always responsive to conventional medicine. So this is a very weak argument. If you're going to compare death rates of pharma and homeopathy, it's no contest. Pharma kills about 100,000 people a year, (not including people who did not respond to medication.) This compares to zero for homeopathy. Probably about 5 people a year die from an illness treated with homeopathy that might have been treated conventionally. (Or maybe not.) All of life involves degrees of danger and homeopathy is much lower on that list than pharma.

[Arouet]

Craig: this is a bit of a red herring. Medications can kill directly because they actually do something in the body. Of course homeopathy is safe! It's water! It has no active ingredient. How could it not be safe? But also: how could it be effective?

Your focus on the safety of homeopathy is the wrong focus for this issue.

The danger lies in thinking you are treating something when you are not. If it is is homepathic cough medicine (like my wife was conned into getting), the risks are minimal. If it is for more serious illnesses the risk of not being properly treated is of course worse.

But we've got the cart before the horse here. The first thing to figure out is whether homeopathic remedies have any medicinal benefits at all on the body in treating certain conditions.