What is Homeopathy

[murdocha]

It's an interesting hypothesis, but doesn't stand up to testing....and here comes the cognitive dissonance, special pleading and countless other logical fallacies!

In 3....2....1....

[frank0067]

This is spiritualism and dangerous Stay awAy !!!!

[EnoRedGuy]

I can understand your logic of trying to force a patient's body into fighting against the disease itself and developing immunities, but please explain how diluting the substance to the degree that most homeopathic medicines do actually work, especially since diluting a substance to that degree would leave few, if any of the original molecules from the original solution in it.

[EnoRedGuy]

The only explanation I've seen involves the water memory or vibrations retaining the original substance and its effects, but such an idea runs counter to the laws of physics and chemistry. Are we going to have to completely rewrite those laws in order to satisfy this one alternative medicine?

[ProvocativeDoctor]

@EnoRedGuy Alas nobody knows exactly HOW this happens. HOWEVER in the early days of homeopathy, they used material doses of the medicines on the 'like treat like' basis. Then by accident the process of potentisation was discovered and clinical experience showed the medicines becoming more ciinically effective, the more potentisations (or dilutions if you like) they serially were put through.

[QuantumOverlord]

@ProvocativeDoctor Homeopathy doesnt work, Im sorry. Look at the evidence though, The High quality RCTs all show a null effect (beyond the placebo). Lower quality trials, including those with PubBias and selective publishing aswell as no double blinding methods sometimes show homeoapthy works, but this is due to the trial being poorly conducted (some of these low quality trials show negitive effects too). The bottom line is There is no decent evidence to suggest it works.

[ProvocativeDoctor]

@QuantumOverlord What you say about the RCTs is not incontravertible. Homeopathic doctors believe the trials show that homeopathy does work beyond placebo. It all depends on what meta analysis you look at

[QuantumOverlord]

@ProvocativeDoctor I am talking about higher Quality studies. By higher Quality I would expect them to: Be double blinded, Have a large sample size, Not be subject to confounding variables e.g Massive Media attention, Have a decent control (i.e to differenciate from the placebo effect). A Cambridge Test was devised to rate trials on these factors out of 5. A higher Quality trial would rate 4 or 5/5. Out of the couple of hundred RCTs conducted only a few dozen have a score of 4 or 5/5

[QuantumOverlord]

@ProvocativeDoctor A meta Anaylsis conducted of these Higher Quality Trials showed no effect of homeopaty (of statistical sig, beyond placebo). Whereas Meta analysis conducted of the wider range of RCTs showed Positive Or indeed Negitive effects of homeopathy. Consider though that these Anyalses would include studies with scores <4 on the Cambridge test. This would mean they could be not even blinded. It is widely understood that not blinding can affect the results due to the placebo effect.

[QuantumOverlord]

@ProvocativeDoctor Incidently and unrelated, thankyou for your very polite and reasonable reply.

[fncypntz]

Yes 'doctor', please explain to us how one can over-dose on homeopathy pills with absolutely no effects whatsoever, as this has been done repeatedly in protest of your particular brand of quackery.

[ProvocativeDoctor]

@fncypntz Sure.

1. I am a doctor so no need for quotes or to call what I do 'quackery'.

2. Homeopathic remedies do not have any effect if they are not carefully matched to the patient to whom they are given. Thus what happened to these 'protestors' was entirely predictable.

3. It's in protest 'against' not 'of'.

[alien8ted]

Homeopathy is water plus undiluted self-delusion.

[ProvocativeDoctor]

@alien8ted Yes, allen8ted, we all have our position to defend. Yours is one of undiluted scientism. Mine is that I can live with the 'not knowing'.

[alien8ted]

@ProvocativeDoctor I can live with you 'not knowing' either. It's just that when you make specific claims of the supposed 'benefits' of this patently ridiculous pseudoscience then you are claiming to 'know'. When I learned the three principles of homeopathy (like cures like, the less there is of something the more powerful its effects, water has a memory) I actually thought it was just a joke! I've watched someone OD on homeo sleeping pills with no effects at all.