Does homeopathy work?

[xdisciplex]

Now, I'm confused.
I always thought that homeopathy doesn't work and that the guy who invented it believed in occult stuff. The claims which homeopathy makes and the ideas it is based on also sound pretty silly to me. Water doesn't have a memory. I saw a documentary about it. And what's even more funny is that a C12 potency, which isn't even the strongest dilution since it goes up until C30, already equals 1 drop in all oceans of the world! :laugh:
Imagine this. 1 drop in all the oceans of the world, how silly is this?
But what astounished me is that they said in this documentary that homeopathy works in animals and also babies and this means that it cannot simply be the placebo effect. They tested homeopathic medicine on people and their condition improved compared to those which were treated with normal medicine. How do we explain this?

And what I also ask myself if the claim is true that you can treat a certain symptom with a substance which causes the same symptom. I heard this claim that if you for example eat nightshade then you get particular symptoms. But if you have the very same symptoms without having eating nightshade then taking nightshade will cure you of these symptoms. Is this true? Somehow this doesn't sound logical to me. Let's say you take an overdose of cocaine and your heart stops beating then this would mean on the other hand that somebody whose heart stopped beating could be cured by taking cocaine.

 

[DQuixote]

Stop reading that stuff.

 

[Prodigal Daughter]

My chiropractor swears by it. And, it does work in some cases. Lamisil, the medication for toe nail fungus, works in much the same way. You could kill yourself if you took that dosage right out. However, by diluting it, and taking it over aperiod of time in smaller doses, your body will store it, and will become accustomed to it being there, and it will treat the problem once all of the medication is inside your body.

When I was a child, I had allergy problems. I remember being 8 when I had my first migraine. The doctor gave my mom a homeopathic rememdy for the problem. I didnt have a problem at all while I was on the medication.

My two cent

 

[amity]

It works well for some things, and other problems are not so amenable. It does work well for allergies, and in fact the de-sensitizing injections that are so popular now are very similar to a homeopathic approach, but a little different. Give them a very little of the bad stuff and then a little more, and eventually they build up a tolerance.

If you want to investigate "alternative medicine" find someone who uses a blended approach and can tailor the treatment to the condition. A little acupuncture for this, a little kinesiology for that, a little homeopathy where appropriate. I know a good chiropractor who once diagnosed me as having a hiatal hernia, and then fixed it himself using his activator and two fingers of one hand to pull my stomach down through my diaphragm! I did not have the problem again for years. Saved me a mess of expense and grief. I have had good results using other forms of alternative medicine, too. Yes, much of it does work.

Homeopathy would not be my first choice for very many things because it is a very gentle approach. I type for a complementary medicine practitioner who generally recommends homeopathy for his patients who are atopic, which means overly sensitive and allergic to many different things, which makes regular medicines difficult for them to take.

 

[DQuixote]

Perhaps you could recommend remedies for headache, stomach ache, colds and flu, for an alcoholic who hasn't had a drink in 11 years, but goes crazy on traditional prescription medication, even if it is non-alcoholic. I'm listening!

(It's not me, BTW).

 

[amity]

Perhaps you could recommend remedies for headache, stomach ache, colds and flu, for an alcoholic who hasn't had a drink in 11 years, but goes crazy on traditional prescription medication, even if it is non-alcoholic. I'm listening!

(It's not me, BTW).

All I know is that you need to find the causes, and then the definitive treatment becomes obvious. Instead of just taking Tylenol, a headache could be caused by stress, or by a hormonal imbalance. Treat that. A stomach ache could be H. pylori or gastroesophageal reflux disease. Colds and flu can be treated by vitamin C, but they say if you take more than 2000 mg daily on a regular basis you are bucking for organ damage. The alcoholism/medication thing I don't know about.

P.S. you know those potential causes I gave are really just a couple of examples out of many. So many causes for headache I can't begin to list them. And if you want to look into alternative medicine find someone with an advanced degree to help you. Some of the newest "cures" are just plain dangerous. Colloidal silver, for example, I would never take. I wouldn't take so-called "natural hormones" if the synthetic ones wouldn't be appropriate. Anyway, find someone credible or else do a lot of research into professional scientific journals before you start putting things into your body. Some of the most dangerous medicines available, like digitalis and morphine for example, are quite natural.

 

[DQuixote]

OK, thanks.

If anyone else has a suggestion I'll listen. I'd love to help the guy. He's been sober all these years and deserves a break from adverse reactions to just about any medication most people take routinely.

:saint:

 

[xdisciplex]

But I thought that homeopathy is occult because the guy who invented it believed in occult stuff. Then how can it actually work? Either it is occult or scientific but it doesn't seem scientific to me. It rather seems to be inseparatable from occult beliefs.

 

[Prodigal Daughter]

But I thought that homeopathy is occult because the guy who invented it believed in occult stuff. Then how can it actually work? Either it is occult or scientific but it doesn't seem scientific to me. It rather seems to be inseparatable from occult beliefs.

just because the guy who discovered it was into the occult, it does not mean the practice is. Its mainly herbal based, really. Instead of filling your body with antibiotics that can cause long term damage, this offers a safer alternative.

 

[fossilman]

It works only anecdotally -- the same as any palcebo.

There are no double-blind tests that show any positive results using homeopathy. I am not a proponant of industrial drug use, and I wholeheartedly agree that the overuse of antibiotics is dangerous. If you feel the need to stay away from industrial drugs, search out real herbal remedies, and stay far, far away from the pseudo-scientific snake oil of homeopathy.

My 0.02. :type:

 

[xdisciplex]

But in the documentary which I saw they treated a child with normal medicine for neurodermitis and it became worse and the same child improved significantly while being on homeopathy.
Maybe homeopathy really works and the fact that the guy who invented it was a nutcase doesn't play any role. But what about those dilutions which are so weak that the real active agent is not in the substance anymore? Then it's not really scientific anymore and you cannot explain why it works, if it works.

 

[Lagardo]

Double blind studies have had misxed results at best. However, some homeopathy works with some people. The reasoning of deluting a substance to release its spiritual potency is not accurate at all, but if the treatment works for you, then go for it.

Personally, I always resort to ocilicconocium (or however it's spelled) when I have symptoms of the flu, because it works for me.

There are more proven alternative remedies than most homeopathic suggestions.