Homeopathy: A Truly Dangerous Religion

[FLAprogressive]

http://religionvirus.blogspot.com/2008/12/homeopathy-truly-dangerous-religion.html

By Craig A. James

"Why do I call homeopathy a religion? Let's turn the question around and ask, "What is religion?" We'll will discover that homeopathy fits the definition of religion pretty well.

Based on faith. Advocates of homeopathic remedies turn to faith and anecdotes to justify their claims.

Magical forces. A religion claims there are "essences," magical beings (spirits or gods) or other magical forces that can't be measured by science. Homeopathic medicines are said to retain the "essence" of the curative compound, even though there is none of it left in the water.

Anti-science. When science shows that homeopathic remedies are useless, advocates dispute or belittle the scientific studies, or even claim that the scientific method itself is invalid. It's common to hear claims that science is incapable of measuring the spiritual forces that make homeopathy work.

Impossible claims. The fundamental claims of homeopathy violate fundamental rules of chemistry and physics.

Use Anecdotes. Although homeopath advocates deny evidence from large, double-blind scientific studies, they're not adverse to evidence, so long as it's not statistically significant. In other words, they rely on anecdotes (one datum), but reject meaningful statistical samples.

Appeal to desires, not logic. Going hand-in-hand with the anti-science attitudes, homeopathy appeals to what people want to believe, rather than reality. Homeopathy assures people that they can be cured without expensive visits to a doctor, without altering unhealthy lifestyle choices, without painful treatments, and without side effects. It also claims to be able to cure conditions that science-based medicine can't, such as allergies, cancers, arthritis, ageing, impotence, and many others. In fact, perusing a homeopathy web site, it appears that homeopathy can cure everything from broken bones to psychosis."

[Codeine]

1. Sales of homeopathic products should be illegal.

It's the most obvious sort of fraud.

[Liberty Belle]

5. Thety work. I've used several and I'm a nutrition editor, referred to many friends, worked for 100%.

Here are a couple of my favorites.

Arnica Gel works amazingly well on any sort of bruising or inflammation. I've had severe bruises gone in a day or two with this stuff and usually I heal slowly. My son had wisdom teeth out, tried this on one side, not the other, looked like a chipmunk on the side that didn't use it. I have many many similar stories. It also gets rid of dark circles under the eyes and a few other handy uses.
It also works on swelling and inflammation. The active ingredient is from poison ivy - on the principal that a small amount of something that causes inflammation will get rid of it, much the same principal as in vaccines.

Another is called Sting Eze or Sting Away. I first tried this one in Hawaii while on vacation.While hiking in a rain forest I got stung over 100 times on both legs and had an allergic type reaction, blisters on all those bites. Our innkeeper suggested this stuff. I used it on one leg as a test, but not the other. Next morning the bites were nearly gone, not inflamed at all, on that leg--but the other had ugly red, blistered, itchy painful welts. I've used it many times since and it is far more effective than calamime lotion or other conventional "remedies" that really don't do much.

I also use a homeeopathic sinus remedy that cures what no amount of sinus surgery or antibiotics could do. I suffered sinus problems for many years until I found this.

I went from being a big skeptic of homeopathy to a huge believer in it. Don't know what you don't know anything about or haven't tried. I'm not saying every remedy works; there may be some that don't. But there's clearly something to this.

[Codeine]

6. It's water. Plain water. It does nothing.

There's no "there" there.

[WhiteTara]

7. I don't think arnica is a homeopathic remedy

it would be considered an herbal remedy as arnica is a plant that has its' juices extracted...I believe the same is true of the sting eze.

http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/a/arnic058.html
here's info on the herb arnica, from whence comes arnica get. Poison ivy is not on the ingredient list of ANY arnica product I have ever used.

[Liberty Belle]

46. I have a box of arnica gel on my desk. It says "homeopathic" on it.

I am sure the Sting-Eze (or might've been "Sting Away") was also homeopathic as that was my first time using a homeopathic remedy; I was very skeptical but the result with 50 insect bites or so was so dramatic (compared to other leg untreated) that it made a believer out of me. But if people here would rather suffer than try this stuff, that's their right--just don't take away my right to use what works for me.

I've never heard of anyone being harmed by homeopathy, unless someone is stupid enough to forgo a medically necessary procedure. But the homeopathic remedies in and of themselves are at worst harmless, and at best very helpful.

By the logic used by the original poster here, we could also ban prayer since there's no scientific evidence it works, and some people choose to pray rather than get treated by doctors, causing harm to themselves. Of course nobody would pass a law like that, so homeoapthy should be no different.

[uppityperson]

8. Arnica is a natural remedy, not homeopathic.

If water retains a "memory" after being seriously diluted, then my well water should keep me safe and healthy all the time. After all, it rains, then gets filtered through the earth, down down down into my well and into me.

[customerserviceguy]

9. The 'something' is called the placebo effect.

It's absolutely nothing more than that.

[MineralMan]

15. Arnica has nothing whatever to do with poison ivy.

Used full strength, it has some of the effects you mention. It has been so used for centuries. Used at homeopathetic dilutions, it can have no effect at all. But, it has nothing to do with poison ivy.

Here's what arnica, the plant looks like:



And here's poison ivy:



You are providing incorrect information.

[Liberty Belle]

48. I stand corrected on the ingredient; my memory was wrong on that one.

Whatever the ingredients, however, it works amazingly well. In googling to check on the ingredient just now, I also learned that use of arnica predates homeopathy - and it's been found effective at various dosages for a variety of conditions.

You may also be interested to know that an oral surgeon here recommends arnica gel for all patients undergoing wisdom teeth surgery, because it is so effective at preventing inflammation and healing bruising.

It's extremely good for muscle aches and stiffness, too.

[BuddhaGirl]

21. Arnica is amazing

both topical and the pellets.

I also like coffea cruda for relaxation - really helps to quiet the mind. :-)

[Peregrine Took]

23. Cantharsis always helps my interstitial cystitis.

Soothes the urinary tract and takes away the burning with urinating. Works every time.

[FLAprogressive]

29. LOL

[Tumbulu]

27. Many of them work for me as well and it is so silly

that people get all worked up about them simply because they cannot understand how they could work. And thus call it a belief???

Can't people accept that we have more to figure out, more to learn? If these remedies work for many, and the current explanation makes no sense, they try to figure out how they could be working. Don't pretend that they do not work at all or belittle people for whom they do work.

[FLAprogressive]

28. No, I don't understand how diluting something millions of times makes it stronger.

Pardon my ignorance.

[Tumbulu]

44. I said in my post that if the explanation makes no sense-

which to me it does not, then one needs to figure out how it could be working. Why does it work for me and many of the posters here and a whole lot of the people who buy these remedies. To call it religious is silly. I don't believe they will work. I found some of them work for me- and was amazed and so I use those.

If something makes no sense, then perhaps it is worth investigating.

[Liberty Belle]

45. It's the same principal as in vaccines.

A small amount of a substance may stimulate the immune system, or other body responses, such as to inflammation. While a large amount of the same substance could be toxic or even deadly. Remember they used to give miniscule amounts of cow pox to vaccinate against chicken pox, and also the polio vaccine used to be a live vaccine.

[FLAprogressive]

49. Except with homeopathy, it's diluted so much that there are none of the original molecules of the

remedy left.

[G. Odoreida]

17. Illegal??

Homeopathy is 100% bullshit, but I'm not going to support putting people in jail just because they sell bullshit.

[varkam]

25. Illegal doesn't necessarily mean jail time.

Within this context, you'd primarily be dealing with fines and prohibitions on manufacture / sale / advertising of such products.

Welcome to DU, by the way! :hi:

[Codeine]

31. Jail?

Just make them stop selling the shit. Make it an unlawful enterprise punishable by a steep fine.

[BuddhaGirl]

20. so tell the FDA

:eyes:

[Codeine]

32. They have no jurisdiction over homeopathic sugar water. nt

[BuddhaGirl]

36. wrong

they are regulated by the FDA

[Codeine]

37. You know, you're right.

They just don't seem to bother -- no testing for efficacy or safety at all.

[BuddhaGirl]

38. yeah, like every other OTC remedy on the market

no efficacy in aspirin, cough medicine, ibuprofen, etc. :eyes:

[Codeine]

39. Of course those are efficacious.

I'm trying to follow your point, but it seems lost amidst rolly-eyes.

[BuddhaGirl]

40. not lost at all, actually

n/t

[Crunchy Frog]

41. Make sugar pills illegal? They can be very effective placebos for some people.

As long as people aren't taking them in place of legitimate treatments for serious medical problems, I don't see what's wrong with them.

[Codeine]

42. It's fraud. Pure and simple fraud.

Nobody should be allowed to make money selling false hope.

[Crunchy Frog]

43. So, regulate the labelling.

And there's a hell of alot of people out peddling false hope. Sugar pills represent the least of that.

[Tumbulu]

2. A Truly Ridiculous Fear

Why choose to be afraid of sugar water?

Honestly, what is the problem? Do people have nothing real to worry about?

If it works for people, fine, who does it harm?

If you do not care to try it out or buy the products, fine. No one will make you use them.

What is the problem?

Do you honestly think that anyone who uses homeopathic remedies cares if you are anyone else think it is a religion?

[FLAprogressive]

4. Read the article. It's certainly dangerous when people think it's an alternative to life-saving

treatments.

[Liberty Belle]

47. Same could be said of prayer. Should we ban that, too?

Just because a few fools or zealots choose not to see a doctor for serious conditions doesn't mean you can ban praying as "dangerous." Same should hold true of homeopathy or anything else. If the substance doesn't cause direct harm, and some people find it helpful, it should be legal.

have you ever even tried what you are slamming?

[BuddhaGirl]

22. "Do you honestly think that anyone who uses homeopathic remedies cares if you are anyone else think

Exactly!

[kestrel91316]

3. Homeopathy = magical thinking at its most harmful. I lost a feline patient years ago

to CURABLE hyperthyroidism which the owner refused all treatment for except homeopathic remedies from some charlatan. Poor kitty eventually succumbed to starvation and heart failure (big surprise there).

[varkam]

26. Wrong!

The owner just wasn't using the correct dilution ratio in their mixtures, obviously!

:sarcasm:

[Iwasthere]

10. Sit in front of a pharmacy for awhile

Watch the people that visit that pharmacy, examine their health. Now go sit in front of a health food store and examine the people that go in and out. It will be blatantly obvious who is healthy and who is not, a WORLD of difference. We take meds for everything, many of them they claim are made from natural products, so they know that the natural product are what we all want. Why not just use the natural products in the raw form. They ruin most of the healing properties in the lab. So many commercials, I am sick of all the pressure from big pharma. They control the doctors, most doctors have blinders on now, they have to to keep their practice(s). Just tell any doctor when you go in for your chemo that you would like to have a chemo sensitivity test. He will say, we don't do that, we know hoe much to give. All bodies are different.. I have switched from traditional doctors to homeopathic and I have NEVER been healthier, I am 54 years old and fell MUCH younger now. I look younger too. All I am doing is eating more natural and following my ne doctors intruction regarding sleep, eating etc... I no longer need my CPAP machine, or my blood pressure meds, or my depressents, I am happy and my family is thrilled!

[whoneedstickets]

11. Check your logic.

You do realize that your logic is complete nonsense. People entering a pharmacy look sicker than those entering a health food store? The real shock here is that you think the causal arrow is reversed and that all those pharma visits are what's making them sick.

I'm all for eating healthy food (low processing, organic, yadda yadda). But really, if organic & natural food were all it took to keep us healthy then the average lifespan of 'cavemen' --heck all pre-industrial people--would have exceeded our own. It did not. This BS is the liberal equivalent of climate change denial or creationism -- a rejection of science. The modern science you reject has added roughly 4 decades to your the average human life over the last 2000 years.

[FLAprogressive]

30. "This BS is the liberal equivalent of climate change denial or creationism" Thank you!!!!

Someone had to say it.

[LeftishBrit]

12. The reason is...

that people usually go to a pharmacy when they are ill and need medicine. In many cases, they had to be sufficiently ill to get a prescription from a doctor.

People go to health food shops in the hope of *staying* healthy, not when they are ill.

Eating healthily is a very good idea and can often prevent or ameliorate illness; but it's not always *all* that's needed.

The idea that 'because the ill go to the pharmacy, medicine must be making them ill; they should stop taking medicine!' reminds me of the RW idea that 'because the poor get welfare benefits, welfare must be making them poor; they should stop getting benefits!'

[Teaser]

13. "I no longer need my CPAP machine, or my blood pressure meds"

this will not end well.

[Celebration]

14. even traditional MDs

know that diet and exercise, and sleep habits affect weight and blood pressure, and weight affects sleep apnea.

[Teaser]

16. respond to the topic

or don't post.

I was replying to someone who is talking about homeopathic "medicine". Which is drinking water and imagining it has magic healing powers.

You are talking about diet and exercise and sleep habits.

Figure out who was talking about those subjects, and reply to them, not me.

[Celebration]

18. uh, YOU respond to the POST

Did you miss this?

"All I am doing is eating more natural and following my ne doctors intruction regarding sleep, eating etc..."

It sounds like a homeopath offering some good diet and sleep advice.

[G. Odoreida]

19. Try paying for your homeopathic meds

with a vial of water derived from chopping up a $50 bill, then diluting it 200 times to a 1:100 ratio.

Let us know how well that works out for you.

[Peregrine Took]

24. My very highly rated Traditional Chinese Medicine MD prescribes it

and I have had very good success with it as has my friend who is, also, his patient.

[Codeine]

33. I love it!!

"At this dilution that money is so powerful it probably exceeds the national debt!" :rofl:

[Codeine]

34. When I go to my health food store I always look healthier

than when I go to the pharmacy, because I go to the pharmacy when I'm ill and do my health food shopping when I feel well. And - like many - my visits to the health food store do not involve supplements or herbal/homeo/traditional products, just nice bulk grains and beans along with some vegan cheese/yogurt products. I've never bought a single bit of the woowoo BS that fills half my local health food place.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

35. Wow, just wow...

Normally I just ignore these posts, but your logic is so twisted I had to respond.

1. By your logic, I should NEVER go to the hospital - after all, there are a LOT of sick people there.
2. Because pharmaceutical companies have high pressure advertisements (that I disagree VEHEMENTLY with) doesn't mean that their medicines don't work.
3. "Homeopathic" simply means that you're taking water pills. They don't do ANYTHING beyond a placebo effect.
4. The fact that you stopped taking your meds at the direction of a homeopath makes me wonder who has blinders on. It is situations like this that make the OP's article direly important.

It sounds to me like you decreased the amount of stress in your life and are healthier - good on ya. But if you end up with cancer or tuberculosis or HIV, don't expect your homeopathic remedies to work. Instead, see your doctor. ASAP.