Homeopathic Medicines

Hi guys,
I heard this being brought up with a conversation with a friend and i heard some quite strong views. What exactly are homeopathic medicines and why are they bad/good?

Cheers

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Reply 1

Bobifier

Homeopathy is where you take some medicine that may or may not work, it doesn't really matter, then replace everything in the medicine with water. It's bad because... Well, how many diseases can you think of that are cured with water?

Reply 2

Exopaladin

Original post by The_Jatt_Joker

Hi guys,
I heard this being brought up with a conversation with a friend and i heard some quite strong views. What exactly are homeopathic medicines and why are they bad/good?

Cheers

Sugar pills that, at their strongest concentration, are supposedly covered in a solution that would iirc consist of approximately one molecule of active ingredient in the entire space of the observable universe. It's based on the random idea that water has a memory.

Good: Can't really do anything bad since it's water/sugar
Bad: Can't really do anything good apart from placebo effect (which is admittedly fairly powerful in some cases) since it's water/sugar.

Reply 3

LethalBizzle

Original post by Bobifier

Loads, ever heard of a placebo?

Reply 4

The_Jatt_Joker

so its basically diluted medicines??

Reply 5

Retrospect

There is pretty much no reliable scientific or empirical evidence supporting their effectiveness.

Reply 6

The Maestro

Original post by The_Jatt_Joker

so its basically diluted medicines??

incredibly diluted. in homeopathy, the more diluted the solution is, the more powerful it's said to be.

Reply 7

Exopaladin

Original post by The_Jatt_Joker

so its basically diluted medicines??

No, it's based off the principle that like cures like. So for example it'd be a MASSIVELY dilute (to the point where there's not actually any active ingredient left) solution of arsenic to cure the things that arsenic can cause like stomach issues. There's really no scientific base behind it.

Reply 8

Persephone9

It's good in the sense that if you don't think it will have any side effects, then it won't. It's basically the placebo effect, which is effective in treating some conditions in some people, especially pain.

Its bad in that not everyone responds to placebos, especially when you know it's a placebo, and you can't tell who will or won't respond before you take it, so you are could be wasting your money.

Reply 9

houseelf

Imagine the distance from Earth to the Sun. Now imagine that as the diameter of a sphere. Imagine that sphere filled with water.

At the "standard" dilution, a homeopathic remedy consists of one molecule of "active ingredient" per that much water.

Effectively it's just water tapped against a leather plate that apparently bestows its healing properties.

As mentioned previously, cultural expectations mean that it can have quite a strong placebo effect. In some cases this is enough to cure stomach ulcers. But that's not the pill, it's the power of your brain (or rather, your nervous system, which people seem to forget has a hand in everything).

In summary: don't waste your money, but they're not going to cause you any harm unless you're allergic to water.

Reply 10

The_Jatt_Joker

Original post by LethalBizzle

Loads, ever heard of a placebo?

what is a placebo?

Reply 11

Organ

It's a load of ****ing horse****.

Reply 12

The Maestro

Original post by The_Jatt_Joker

what is a placebo?

a medicine that isn't a medicine...get your head round that!

Reply 13

Louise_x

http://www.howdoeshomeopathywork.com/

Should clear some things up.

Reply 14

The_Jatt_Joker

Original post by Louise_x

http://www.howdoeshomeopathywork.com/

Should clear some things up.

Thank you and thanks to everyone who has answered.
It seems odd to me that its still quite popular despite any concrete evidence.

Reply 15

LethalBizzle

In medical research, placebos depend on the use of controlled and measured deception. Common placebos are inert tablets, sham surgery, and other procedures based on false information. In one common placebo procedure, a patient is given an inert pill, told that it may improve his/her condition, but not told that it is in fact inert. Such an intervention may cause the patient to believe the treatment will change his/her condition; and this belief may produce a subjective perception of a therapeutic effect, causing the patient to feel their condition has improved. This phenomenon is known as the placebo effect.

They are gash

Original post by houseelf

Have you read bad science :tongue:

Crap.

Original post by LethalBizzle

Oh ok like in blind testing right?

As far as i can understand Homeopathy uses a chemical which is diluted to about 10^20. The body will then heal itself??