Homeopathic medicine kills people.

[Individual]

Indi, does quantity equal qualiiy?

In scientific journals, yes, because the replicability of an experiment is the basis for its reliability. If a scientific study is reliable, it should generate the same results over and over again, regardless of who does the study and how well-controlled it is. So, an individual study in a scientific journal can be very[/] good and generates amazing results, but if 90% of all re-attempts at the same study, or similar studies, results in a different result, then reliability of the original study is brought into question. Sometimes, this can result in the author of the original study claiming that his work was improperly replicated, recommending methods of controlling the conditions more effectively and, with time, many studies confirm his results. Or, as in the case of homeopathy, study after study continues to undermine it and so, it's regarded as a dubious result.

Also: the overwhelming majority of doctors have to pay off expensive high tech machines, and so they have to make as much money as possible. This is only possible if you wave a new patient in every 10 minutes, or sooner, and write out a quick prescription for : antibiotic, antidepressant, cortison, betablocker, painkiller, hallu-killer,etc.

The reason doctors spend a little amount of time with the patient is because of the shortage of doctors, being a very small ratio to the number of patients. Because of the high cost (mental and financial) to go to medical school. So, he has nurses and others that assist doing the minor work for him. He doesn't spend hours investigating because he doesn't need to go: A diagnosis for a known disease is not the same thing as researching a new disease. If the disease or problem is a known one, it's simply a matter of examining the symptoms and looking it up in a book. This can be done in minutes, in many cases, unless there's need for additional tests, like radiology work, biopsies, endoscopy, etc..

"Patient gets skin irritations of all sorts only in winter,is completely free of it in summer."

That's a pretty ambiguous description! What's the cause? What type of rash? Where does the rash occur? "In winter," in cold weather or just in winter? What's the prognosis of not getting treatment?

My father had tuberculosis as a boy, but completely healed from it.

However, I had Tuberculosis symptoms often , without having the infection...

Is it possible that you could be creating a fictitious sense of illness, or misinterpreting common cold symptoms as "tuberculosis" symptoms?

Samul Hahnemann concluded,that people must somehow pass on toxins of past infections to their offsprings, children, and in thisway, certain tendencies run in a family. They get "inherited".

[/quote]
What is a "toxin," physically? Where is it and what does it look like? And what is its mechanism for transmission?

Again, all of this is just pseudoscience...

[Individual]

Homeopathy ... runs in the same tracks as acupuncture, Tibetan medicine and Ayurveda, albeit younger..

Do you want to dismiss those as witchcraft as well?

To a large degree, yes. Certain herbs and techniques in Tibetan medicine and Ayurveda may be reliable, but they're of no use until they're confirmed experimentally. With acupuncture, it works but not for the superstitious reasons described.

[Mawkish1983]

In the words of 'goldie lookin chain': "Guns don't kill people, rappers do"

[Annapurna]

Indi, does quantity equal qualiiy?

In scientific journals, yes, because the replicability of an experiment is the basis for its reliability. If a scientific study is reliable, it should generate the same results over and over again, regardless of who does the study and how well-controlled it is.

I see that point, Indi, and I am thankful that we have standardized remedies.

However, homeopathic remedies are just as standardized and produced by machines.

The problem with this line of thinking is also, that we forget that human beings are unique. We don't work like robots, and we can't be fixed like cars. Unfortunately......so even if we apply an allopathic remedy to ill persons with the same disease, each will show slightly different reactions, and some will get sick from the remedy, through severe side effects, and some will die from an anaphylactic (allergic) shock or other complications.

Homeopathy however is considered as one of the safest and softest therapies.

You pay the lowest insurance if you practice homeopathy.

There is also a famous study which proved that over 70% of all patients don't die from their disease, but from the sideffects of their allopathic remedies...

There is no such evidence for homeopathy.

[Jechbi]

That's why some people buy Windex.

In all fairness, I don't think we can say homeopathic medicine kills people. Some folks who believe in it and receive care from homeopathic health practitioners probably experience some benefit. We can say it's just a placebo effect, but the same could be said of conventional medicine in some cases. Just ask your doctor if you don't believe me.

If we want to say that homeopathic medicine kills people, then in all fairness we have to say that conventional medicine kills people, too.

[BubbaBuddhist]

Scientific studies have shown you can't rely on scientific studies. True. Look it up.

J

[Mawkish1983]

Scientific studies have shown you can't rely on scientific studies.

Might as well give up my PhD now then, huh? <rolls eyes>

[Cittasanto]

Scientific studies have shown you can't rely on scientific studies. True. Look it up.

J

Actually that is false.

Studies have shown that the studies are selective, 1 study won't encompas the whole subject area but a narrow view according to the researchers criteria and preference.

this isn't saying all studies are reliable, or not but it is not correct to say that all are unreliable, and certain studies such as with medicine continue for years after they are allowed to be prescribed and put to general use.

[sparrowhawk]

Some people seem to have short memory when it is of their convenience...

FDA analysts estimated that Vioxx caused between 88,000 and 139,000 heart attacks, 30 to 40 percent of which were probably fatal, in the five years the drug was on the market.

We must be skeptic, not only of homeopathy, but of conventional medicine itself.
Caveat emptor, always.

[BubbaBuddhist]

Was going to make a comment about developing a sense of humor; but decided such would be futile because everyone is having such a good time taking themselves so seriously. <insert smiley of your choice>

J

[Mawkish1983]

Was going to make a comment about developing a sense of humor

A kid is dead.

[Jechbi]

Not to defend homeopathy, but straight from the ever-reliable (wink) Wikipedia:

As homeopathic remedies usually contain only water and/or alcohol, they are thought to be generally safe.

The kid is dead because her parents made a horrible mistake.

Another issue (at least in the U.S.) may be access to affordable health-care. Faced with lack of insurance, some folks might just buy the stuff because they don't have a doctor to give them appropriate care, and they don't know any better. So we could say ignorance kills people. Or we could say poverty kills people. And so on.

[Annapurna]

That's why some people buy Windex.

In all fairness, I don't think we can say homeopathic medicine kills people. Some folks who believe in it and receive care from homeopathic health practitioners probably experience some benefit. We can say it's just a placebo effect, but the same could be said of conventional medicine in some cases. Just ask your doctor if you don't believe me.

If we want to say that homeopathic medicine kills people, then in all fairness we have to say that conventional medicine kills people, too.

Hi Jechbi, good post, all in all.

The Placebo effect is of course something that arises in our thoughts, especially when we are not familiar with a method.

The Placebo effect has 2 typical characteristics:

1. It wears off after ~6 weeks,
2. It is impossible for animals to develop it.

However, healings with homeopathy often last lifelong, and animals heal just as well as humans.

I'm a born sceptic, and only use methods that I have tested for months or years.

I am staying with homeopathy because of lasting healings, and effects on animals, seen it myself.


I've discarded other methods that seem to be "New Age imagination bogus" to me.

But perhaps I am only biased, because I don't comprehend or can't feel their subtlety, yet.

I'm not an accomplished Yogi.

[Fede]

I have been using homoeopathic treatments for the past thirty years and will continue to do so because I know they are effective.
If the British National Health System recognises homoeopathy as a legitimate form of treatment, I don't see why we shouldn't be a bit more open-minded about it....

http://www.trusthomeopathy.org/getting_ ... n_the_nhs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

To dismiss is as magic, hocus-pocus and something purely utilised as a placebo, shows a marked degree of arrogance and ignorance.
It also at a single stroke serves to undervalue and ridicule the thousands of people who have made it their business to work in homoeopathy, and it presupposes those who have used remedies to be at best, deluded and at worst, liars.
Which is not the way I would expect people here to respond....

If I may say so.

What a good thing we do not approach other 'truths' in such a stonewalling manner.....

[Jechbi]

But there are solid reasons for skeptical doubt about some of the ideas behind mainstream homeopathy. For example, how can water have "memory"?

I think the concept of treating likes with likes has some basis. Isn't that how allergy shots work, by slowly helping the body to get used to the allergens? But in homeopathy, the dosages are so minute (even non-existent) that it's not clear to me how they could have any effect on the body, short of magic.

Also, if a person is healed, it doesn't make sense to say the placebo effect "wears off." Where did the six-week figure come from?

And I agree we should be open minded, but really, I don't think dismissing homeopathy is a case of arrogance or closed-mindedness. Saying that homeopathy skeptics are closed-minded and arrogant does nothing at all to support the argument in favor of homoepathy.