"Homeopathy"

[gwendally]

What does "Homeopathy" mean to you? Do you use it in a sentence? What sentence? When you see it, what do you think it means?

I am pretty confused by the way I see this word being used and I suspect it has a changing meaning.

Comments

[pondhopper]

homeopathy
ˌhəʊmɪˈɒpəθi,hɒm-/
noun
noun: homeopathy; plural noun: homeopathies; noun: homoeopathy; plural noun: homoeopathies

a system of complementary medicine in which ailments are treated by minute doses of natural substances that in larger amounts would produce symptoms of the ailment.

OK...there is a lot of trashing of this concept and perhaps some placebo effect happening in some cases. HOWEVER, a first cousin of my husband is an MD (yes, a REAL doctor) and has dedicated his working life to the concept of alternative medicines. He is an accredited acupuncturist and homeopathic doctor. We know him very well and have gone to him on the occasions where traditional medicine has failed us as in the case of my daughter who is desperate with a year old case of extreme rosacea and NONE of the accepted treatments have worked for her. They aren't witch doctors by any means and if they are MD's (and they should be) they keep ahead of what traditionalists are doing and also admit that they CANNOT treat or cure everything. I only have my own experience to go by so I won't bore anybody and neither will I argue with anyone. You are free to accept it or not.

I only know that Europe is far more open-minded about such things. Let's put it this way...I avoided a knee operation by having acupuncture (which is not homeopathic medicine but is alternative).

Oh...and my other daughter's migraines were greatly alleviated by homeopathic means when the traditional meds were turning her into a vegetable on days she had the migraines.

There is nothing spiritual about it!

[gwendally]

So you *do* mean the small pills made up of highly-diluted substances.

I have heard it to mean "folk medicine" as well, I wasn't sure if that's what you meant.

We've got a big push on for what we call "evidence-based medicine" and I think that Europe might not be part of that dialogue, but here in the United States we pay for our own care and efficacy is a conversation that happens occasionally.

I know several people who are proponents of homeopathic medicine, though, and I'm quite intrigued by the disconnect.

[andrewducker]

"We've got a big push on for what we call "evidence-based medicine" and I think that Europe might not be part of that dialogue"

Certainly in the UK we have NICE, whose job it is to make sure that we pay only for medicine that is proven to work.

Except for those few places where stupid government ministers have decided that they believe in spending money on water. Thankfully, this is few and far between.

[pondhopper]

Now that's the big misconception. Health care is not free in Europe...we pay a lot in taxes for good care and while acupuncture is covered in some cases, homeopathy is not .