"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

[allyphoe]

Homoeopathy is a pseudoscience, like astrology or phrenology, the primary purpose of which is to produce convincing placebos. Sometimes you'll see a product that actually has a chance of containing an active ingredient (calendula ointment is an example of this, IIRC), but I believe that falls into the category of naturopathy rather than homoeopathy.

Since I occasionally would like to be able to purchase a convincing placebo (because placebo does surprisingly well for some stuff), and pharmacists apparently have some ethical prohibition on selling such things as safe and effective, I'm not necessarily opposed to the legality of it.

[gwendally]

We used to do a treatment for wounds called "the wet cotton puff". I'd wet a cotton puff and they would hold it on the wound.

It covered up any blood. It felt cool. It was me doing something.

I would not be at all surprised if my children continue to treat wounds with wet cotton puffs well into adulthood.

[coercedbynutmeg]

I give mine a syringe full of sweet n sour mix and call it "happy medicine" when one is sick and the other is jealous of the medicine.

We used homeopathic teething tablets for C but they didn't seem to do anything, then there was a this massive recall because they contained too much nightshade or something.

I find myself confusing the terms "homeopathic" and "holistic" a lot.

[allyphoe]

Teething tablets was one I used, on the grounds that if sugar was anesthetic enough for circumcision, it was likely to work for anything more minor! It didn't particularly work, probably because the scientific consensus at the moment is that teething isn't a thing - babies are grumpy and drooly and slightly feverish from time to time, but it's for no identifiable reason and nothing in particular fixes it.

[elenbarathi]

That's a perfectly sound treatment. Cold blocks pain because the sensory input of cold travels faster up the nerves than pain does, and pressure stops bleeding.

A cold wet teabag stops bleeding almost instantly because of the astringency - this works especially well for cut lips and bleeding tooth-sockets.

[unix_jedi]

Quite often, "Homeopathic" also has "non-active" ingredients that are actually effective.

Fer instance... http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/colic-calm-homeopathic-gripe-water-oral-suspension/ID=prod6085093-product

(The ingredient list is a little different there than one I saw in the store).

"Inactive Ingredients

Benzoic Acid , Citric Acid , Glycerin , Potassium Citrate , Purified Water , Sorbic Acid , Xylitol"

So, 2 acids which won't hurt, and might help. Glycerine, hey, that's a ... laxative. Water, more acids, gee... And.. Xylitol. Which is... a laxative.

There's a "homeopathic" boil ointment that's similar - the "inactive ingredients" has the petroleum base with ichthammol.