This thread is a continuation of a discussion between @Trailblazer and me in another thread. The last post over there:
The only studies out there that show that homeopathy has any effect beyond placebo are poor quality studies. There are countless high quality studies showing that homeopathy is not effective at treating any medical condition.
- they often lead to delay of real treatment, since many homeopathy fans will try homeopathy for a while before seeing a real doctor. Over that time, the person’s condition can worsen. People have died because of this.
- because homeopathic “remedies” aren’t subject to the normal government oversight and regulation that real medications have, they often have poor quality control, resulting in things like bacterial contamination, dangerously high levels of toxic ingredients, and undeclared active ingredients:
Massive recall of homeopathic kids’ products spotlights dubious health claims
Food agency warns of belladonna danger in US homeopathy product
Homeopathic Nasal Zinc Linked to Loss of Smell
homeopathic medicinal products: Topics by Science.gov
If someone does need psychotropic medication, telling them to switch to homeopathy instead is effectively telling them to go off their mess altogether. This is unethical, especially when it’s done by someone who purports to being a medical professional.
And you say that the drug industry has suppressed positive studies about homeopathy... so you do agree that the scientific literature does say that homeopathy doesn’t work (even if you think this is because of a conspiracy)?
That wasn’t actually one study; it was a meta-review of many studies of homeopathy.One study does not prove anything. I am sure there are studies that prove the efficacy of homeopathy, but I do not have time to go looking for them now.
The only studies out there that show that homeopathy has any effect beyond placebo are poor quality studies. There are countless high quality studies showing that homeopathy is not effective at treating any medical condition.
Makes sense that treating his asthma with water didn’t work.Conventional medicine is useful and necessary for a variety of medical conditions and I am not suggesting people should put off conventional medicine in favor of homeopathy. My husband has severe asthma and his homeopathic doctors prescribed conventional drugs for his condition since it was not curable by homeopathy.
They can do considerable harm, actually:My doctors also prescribed thyroid medication for me.Most homeopaths are not fanatics. Homeopaths with no medical training should not be treating physical conditions, but they can treat psychological conditions, because homeopathic remedies can do no harm.
- they often lead to delay of real treatment, since many homeopathy fans will try homeopathy for a while before seeing a real doctor. Over that time, the person’s condition can worsen. People have died because of this.
- because homeopathic “remedies” aren’t subject to the normal government oversight and regulation that real medications have, they often have poor quality control, resulting in things like bacterial contamination, dangerously high levels of toxic ingredients, and undeclared active ingredients:
Massive recall of homeopathic kids’ products spotlights dubious health claims
Food agency warns of belladonna danger in US homeopathy product
Homeopathic Nasal Zinc Linked to Loss of Smell
homeopathic medicinal products: Topics by Science.gov
Hopefully. In the worst cases, the homeopathic preparation causes real harm, or the person’s condition gets worse because of lack of real treatment and is much harder to treat once they get seen by real doctors.They either work or not. If they do not work then another remedy is used until one is found that works. If nothing works then they can always use conventional medicine.
Psychiatric drugs are serious business that need care when prescribing them, but they’re only prescribed when they’re better than the alternatives.Conventional medicine falls flat on its face when it comes to treating psychological disorders. All the psychotropic drugs do is mask the symptoms driving the disease deeper. Some of these drugs are extremely dangerous to one’s overall health and have long-term consequences, not to mention the immediate side effects.
If someone does need psychotropic medication, telling them to switch to homeopathy instead is effectively telling them to go off their mess altogether. This is unethical, especially when it’s done by someone who purports to being a medical professional.
Of course homeopathic preparations have no side effects; they have no active ingredients (if you don’t count the quality control issues I mentioned earlier). They also have no treatment effect.But most importantly, psychotropic drugs do not “cure” any psychological disorders. If they did, people would be able to take an antidepressant for a short period of time and then get off of it. But what happens is as soon as they go off of I the drug, the depression returns, sometimes worse than it was before. This is proof positive that the drug was “masking” the symptoms. Moreover, these drugs are dangerous when used for many years, not only physically but also psychologically, because they prevent people from inner healing since they do not cure the issues that caused the depression in the first place. By contrast, homeopathic remedies can permanently cure depression and other psychological disorders with no side effects whatsoever and they help people resolve the psychological issues that caused the disorders, just as counseling would do.
You don’t think that homeopathic companies make big money as well?Frankly, there is big money in the drug industry so the medical establishment has a good reason to repress any studies that could prove that homeopathy is efficacious.
And you say that the drug industry has suppressed positive studies about homeopathy... so you do agree that the scientific literature does say that homeopathy doesn’t work (even if you think this is because of a conspiracy)?
Except for a few things, such as homeopathy, everything that’s sold for human consumption is inspected and confirmed to be safe, whether it’s the medicine you take or the food you eat. Homeopathic “remedy” producers generally don’t even have to go through the checks that, say, bottled water would have to go through to confirm that it’s being produced in a way that contaminants or undeclared ingredients won’t make it into the product.There is nothing to check because there is nothing dangerous about any homeopathic medicines. It either works or it does not.
And you don’t know anyone who ends up taking homeopathic preparations long term?I know that most people do not know the difference. Homeopathy is much more efficacious than any naturopathic treatments. Naturopathic treatments operate on the same principle as conventional medicine. They act on the physical body. The only difference is that they are “natural.” By contrast, homeopathy acts on the vital force of the person and stimulates the body to heal itself. Masking symptoms with drugs might keep people alive, but it does not cure anything. It it did, they would only need the drugs for a limited time, but that is not the case. Most people stay on prescription drugs indefinitely.