Homeopathy - Legitimate Medicine or Placebo?

Discussion in 'Health Care' started by Uncle Meat, Jul 27, 2011.

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What's your opinion on Homeopathy?

  1. Medicine - it works.

    5 vote(s)
    19.2%
  2. Placebo - it does nothing.

    21 vote(s)
    80.8%
  1. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    They compare the drugs vs. a placebo.
     
  2. Colonel K

    Colonel K Well-Known Member

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    Herbal medicine has existed for thousands of years. Scientists took the herbal medicines and worked out which parts of which ones worked, and they called that "Medicine". The rest, which didn't work, they called "soup" and "pot pourri".
     
    HonestJoe and (deleted member) like this.
  3. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    So you think that by adding more solvent to a solution the atoms disappear? Interesting theory.
     
  4. suede

    suede Banned

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    If Homeopathy doesn't work, then why is its popularity continuing to grow even after over 200 years in existence?

    If it was crap, wouldn't society have caught on by now?
     
  5. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    People still gamble at casinos/play the lottery in hopes of getting rich. They still haven't caught on. Desperate people will try anything. Occasionally, it will seem like there is a cure, but it's just randomness.
     
  6. Panzerkampfwagen

    Panzerkampfwagen New Member

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    I see you didn't actually comprehend what was said.

    They dilute the substance then take a drop and add it to 99 parts water, then take a drop of that and add that to 99 parts of water and so on. They do this something like 30 times. The chance at the end of having one molecule left of the "active" ingredient is practically 0.
     
  7. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    But the vital force is still present

    :rolleyes:
     
  8. Yukon

    Yukon Banned

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    Homeopathy is nothing short of voodo witchcraft - Homeopic crackpots operate under the assumption that a fool and his money are easily parted.
     
  9. Colonel K

    Colonel K Well-Known Member

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    People get better from the placebo effect. The homeopath has invested time and validation to the client and their ailment, and they believe in the "cure" The client now has an emotional as well as a financial investment in their improved health being due to the "treatment".

    Homeopathy cannot work in any conventional sense of the word. It's distilled water.
     
  10. axialturban

    axialturban Well-Known Member

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    Unless you believe in voodoo witchcraft. People can refer to people with beliefs without resorting to labelling them fools. Just because something cannot be proven to exist doesnt mean it doesn't exist. I think its more foolish as a rule to only believe in what is proven - its very limiting to creativity.

    Here is a 2003 article claiming to have evidence supporting homeopathic claims that water retains a memory of substances it has had contact with;

    http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3817-icy-claim-that-water-has-memory.html

    Here is a video on water memory;

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILSyt_Hhbjg&feature=player_embedded"]Water has Memory - YouTube[/ame]
     
  11. Panzerkampfwagen

    Panzerkampfwagen New Member

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    No, it's more foolish to believe in something that has no evidence.
     
  12. MisLed

    MisLed New Member

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    Doctors treat the symptom. That is not cure. That can even eventually kill. BUT it gives the patient immediate solution and they're happy.

    Homeopathy goes for the condition and treats it. Hence it can take as long as 3 to 6 months for the right vitamins/minerals/whatever to build up enough to effect relief or cure.

    If people want to use homeopathic why shouldn't they be able to do so.

    My dermatologist told me that 97% of anything that is 'wrong' with you will straighten itself out over time.
     
  13. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    I guess not. Why in the world would you suggest I've never heard of atoms? Are you trying to insult my intelligence?

    Which does not disprove a thing I said. You cannot remove a solute from a solution by diluting it. That was all I was trying to say.
     
  14. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    Then how did my cousin's physicians cure him of cancer?

    My cousin sure is happy. He doesn't have cancer anymore.

    Junk science and nothing more.

    Be my guest. When you have a cancerous growth on your lung, see how effective it is at curing you.

    Ask if him if that applies to skin cancer.
     
  15. axialturban

    axialturban Well-Known Member

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    I didnt use the word evidence. Are statistics evidence, do you need proof for something to be considered evidence?? Homeopathy wouldnt exist if people didnt have a sufficient chain of causality. What they do not have is proof of the evidence. If something seems to work but cannot be proven how it works does not mean it isnt working. It just means we do not know how it works or it might not be working.
     
  16. axialturban

    axialturban Well-Known Member

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    Maybe your thinking of Naturopathy? I thought Homeopathy was specific to the diluted preperations intended to activate/program your body to respond to disease using its own defence mechanisms. I thought Naturopathy was the holistic approach using natural balancing and corrections to stabilize the body to its natural healthy state. I have personally experience and known of a person who was healed of chronic dibilitating disease which medicine can not cure by removing certain foods from the diet. Naturopathy is proven to be capable of working and its mechanisms are well understood, wheras Homeopathy hasnt been able to fully be proved beyond things like the links I posted above where they postulate water does have a complex capacity to store information.
     
  17. Makedde

    Makedde New Member Past Donor

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    Can someone tell me what is the point of taking a drug for pain, when the drug has side effects?

    Why take a drug for a headache when that drug might cause stomach pains? You get rid of one pain and exchange it for another!

    Besides, drug don't cure the pain, they simply mask it. It is still there, you just can't feel it. So what is the point of taking them?
     
  18. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    Well, the side effects do not always manifest themselves, and sometimes the pain is worse than the side effects.

    Ask a cancer patient why they take pain killers.
     
  19. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    It is a very powerful placebo effect engendered by a sympathetic and empathetic consultation process - and that in and of itself can be worthwhile. IF you get pain relief by thinking yourself free of pain due to the process of suggestion is that any less valid than becoming addicted to opiates??
     
  20. HonestJoe

    HonestJoe Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    When the positive effects of the treatment outweighs any negative side effects (obviously, I would have thought).

    Not necessarily. It depends on the condition and the drug being taken for it. Some treatments deal with symptoms, some deal with causes, some do both.

    This is equally true regardless of whether you're talking about "conventional" medicine or alternative therapies.
     
  21. Panzerkampfwagen

    Panzerkampfwagen New Member

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    I wish I could have the pain masked when the headache phase of a migraine kicks in.
     
  22. Yukon

    Yukon Banned

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    Liveuninhibted,

    Homeopathy is as dangerous as any other unproven form of medicine. Snake oil, Chinese herbs, Herbs, Voodo, laying on of hands, Prayer, etc. etc. are all dangerous if people are truly sick for believing that this type of witchcraft will cure you will ultimately kill you.
     
  23. MisLed

    MisLed New Member

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    perhaps the skin cancer is in the 3%, I didn't say that everything shouldn't be treated. Ask your cousins doctor. The treatment selected for your cousin might not have worked. Your cousin is simply lucky that it did. Great damage is done to the body with radiation or chemotherapy. It is poisonous to the body. It will also God willing be considered barbarous in the years to come. I have known several doctors in our area who developed cancer and would not submit to chemo/radiation. What does that tell you.

    Your cousin in not cancer free. He/she is only not at risk of dying from it at this time. We all have cancer cells. Whether they can take hold or not is dependent on our overall health and other factors.

    that's good for your cousin. I'm glad. God is Good.
     
  24. Yukon

    Yukon Banned

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    I had cancer (Melanoma) in 1994. The cancer was excised from my back and I went through and extensive battery of tests to determine if the cancer had metastasized and those tests were inconclusive which is rare.

    The melanoma was classified as a Stage 4 Melanoma and I was put on oral chemotherapy for 3 years (Levamisol, 4 pills, two days per week). The chemo mad me quite sick for about 4 days and just as I would begin to feel better I had to take the chemo again - in short I was sick for 3 years with flu like symptoms due to the chemo.

    I took the drugs religiously for 3 years and never missed a pill (1248 pills in total). Why ? Simple. The Doctors gave me a 30% chance of survival for a year without the drugs and my survival with the drug was increased to 40 % the first year, 75 % the second year and 90% the third year. Melanoma can return for up to 11 years after first diagnosis unlike other cancers.

    Thanks to great medical treatment and a supportive family I survived. In the subsequent years I have been diagnosed with basil cell skin cancers 8 times and it is simply removed.

    Unfortunately I fall into a high risk category for Melanoma - fair skin, redish hair, blue eyes and Irish ancestory.

    Would I trust prayer or homeopathy, or any other homemade remedy to cure the cancer? NO WAY !
     
  25. axialturban

    axialturban Well-Known Member

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    Its not quite relevant because I dont think cancer is cured, it is removed.

    I imagine it would be really difficult if not impossible for an oral treatment of any sort to be able to have the same effect as surgery, chemo and radiation.
     

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