"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

[bill_sheehan]

Homeopathy is a long-discredited pseudo-medical practice of rectifying the humors by the principle of "like cures like." It has been proven absolutely ineffective in all cases.

When I see it, I see only "Bullshit." Someone is trying to deceive me, and I resent it. I am pissed off that CVS stocks homeopathic "remedies" on their shelves.

You might enjoy this TED talk in which James Randi takes an overdose of homeopathic sleeping pills. https://www.ted.com/talks/james_randi?language=en

[akilika]

Actually, I think I've seen it a few ways. (And if I have it totally off, well... that's part of the reason for the question, right?)

1) Weird concept I never understood wherein you take something poisonous and dilute the heck out of it in order that its energies cure you of whatever the large amount was supposed to do wrong. Or something? It never made sense.

2) A way to market supplements that you might not be able to market otherwise--diluting it just enough that it could theoretically qualify as homeopathic, and get around whatever requirements were on the previous classification. (I got this off of a forum, so I don't know if it actually works like that--I thought supplements were basically unregulated anyway, so it wouldn't make a lot of sense--but it's something I've heard, so I'm repeating it.)

3) A way to tell your prospective audience that you're natural and spiritual and stuff. (That's the main way I see it used in conversation, I think.)

[pondhopper]

homeopathy

[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 .

[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.

[ford_prefect42]

I would describe homeopathy as a discredited branch of alternative medicine that is still widely applied despite. A complete lack of evidence of efficacy.

Homeopathy is a major black mark on a branch of medicine that shows promise.