381 Comments
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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Do you know what they call homeopathic medicine that actually WORKS?

𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗘.

Why this crap is being tolerated within the medical community is beyond me. Indeed, why aren't there double-blind studies to test things like St. John's Wort or echinacea for efficacy against depression or the common cold? Probably because if they did, the proverbial cat would be out of the bag. The homeopathy industry (and it IS an industry, have no doubt) can't have that.

And they resist every effort to actually demonstrate their claims. 😝

Stephen Brady's avatar

You can say that for the whole supplement industry. They spent a whole lot of money getting Congress to etch into law that they don't have to prove their claims.

nmgirl's avatar

Years ago, someone said that Americans have the most expensive p!ss in the world.

Christina Schmidt's avatar

And the problems are, number 1, people take those herbals without realizing they aren't controlled and without knowing side effectts and they especially don't realize about drug interactions, especially with St. John's wort. Or essential oils.

Dianne Marie Leonard's avatar

My cousins (in France) use homeopathic remedies. I remember calling one of them on the bullshit (she was a pharmaceutical researcher at a university before she retired) and was met with, "they work! My mother and my sisters all use them too!" Then she had to get a hip replacement. Which she got done at a real hospital. By real doctors. I don't think the homeopathic shit hit the disposal bin after that, but it should have.

Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

J'ai mal à mon pays 🤦

Fisher's avatar

studies have been done on homeopathy. it doesn't work. studies were done on chelation too. it doesn't work, at least not for anything other than heavy metals. guafenisin, used to treat fibromyalgia for years, also doesn't work. then again, we still have ssri's treating serotonin levels, a theory abandoned decades ago...well they must work for some other reason, we are told....i'm not against psychiatric meds....take a klonopin, and in ten minutes you will know it....it doesn't take a 'month ' to kick in....imagine a blood pressure medicine that took a month to work...it would never be approved.

Sallyfemina's avatar

SSRI's work for me, so I don't care much why. I have felt the change with every increase in dose.

Guaifenisin helps a few people with fibro, but only if they take massive, massive doses of expen$ive time-release versions. I personally use it for its intended purpose because it helps with the fact that my sinuses are a snot factory.

But homeopathy is an expensive placebo scam. If you need more sugar or cornstarch in your diet, there are much better ways to get it.

Matri's avatar

For about at least half a second, my brain thought it saw that as “homoerotic”…

Lewis Dalven's avatar

Herbal remedies are traditional folklore and can have actual pharmacological effects that modern medicine has discovered, verified, purified and made into many widely used medicines. Very different from homeopathy.

Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

“future pharmacists to a category of products that is growing in popularity.”

At one time, mercury was used as a remedy for prolonging life. In 19th century, some mineral waters were touted for their arsenic level. Pharmacy schools should trach that too.

Boiron

This shit is sold here, their ads and commercials can be seen about everywhere 🙄

Troublesh00ter's avatar

A century ago, heroin was also considered a pharmaceutical, as I recall. Wonder how THAT worked out in the long haul!

Christina Schmidt's avatar

Coca cola got it's name from it's original ingredient, cocaine. I'm sure that woke people that coffee!

poloniousmonk's avatar

I've made original formula coke. It's pretty fun.

Matri's avatar

In the OG Sherlock Holmes stories, Holmes does the occasional cocaine shot into his veins.

Troublesh00ter's avatar

Which, I suspect, was the basis for the movie, "The Seven-Percent Solution."

Kay-El's avatar

Yep. It was a novel too

Christina Schmidt's avatar

Yeah, his fondness for opium was pretty open.

Bensnewlogin's avatar

It was supposed to be better for you than morphine and preventing addiction

Troublesh00ter's avatar

Oh, BER-ROTHER! 🤦‍♂️

justifiable's avatar

The 1924 Heroin Act, for a start. Oops.

It actually made a dandy chronic cough suppressant for people with TB, asthma and bronchitis so they could sleep through the night because it depresses the respiratory system - until the patient started to need more and more of it. It was actually considered to be effective in combating morphine and codeine addiction, which just shows how wrong chemists can be.

Bensnewlogin's avatar

Mercury was really good for curing syphilis. Take enough of it, and you didn’t have to worry about it anymore.

Christina Schmidt's avatar

Mercury was the only treatment for, I think polio. And if it it came back, it would be the same.

Sallyfemina's avatar

Strychnine was popular, as was radioactive water.

Christina Schmidt's avatar

Mercury was the only treatment for, I think polio, but I'm not positive. But it worked.

NOGODZ20's avatar

University of the Pacific. Stockton, CA. A private Methodist-affiliated university. Figures.

nmgirl's avatar

United Methodist or Bigot Methodist?

NOGODZ20's avatar

Bullshit Regular or Bullshit Extra Strength? ;)

Janet Amaral's avatar

Honestly, I am surprised by this story. Once upon a time UOP was considered a very good pharmacy school. Heck, I know people who went there. How tragic the mighty dollar once again triumphs in our culture.

oraxx's avatar

Keeping with the homeopathy mind-set, two grains of black powder are equal to a thousand pound bomb. There is no idea so stupid there will not be people who believe it, and there is no leader so incompetent there will not be people who willingly follow. Ignore religion at your leisure. Ignore science at your peril.

larry parker's avatar

Water downed education.

regmeyer's avatar

As the old Olympia slogan, It's the Water.

RegularJoe's avatar

Or Hamm's, 𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒌𝒚-𝑩𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓.

Sallyfemina's avatar

I drove past the brewery once and said "It's the Artesians".

Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

The only thing this homeopathy class does is dilute knowledge.

NOGODZ20's avatar

Praise science, technology an modern medicine that the VA neither provides nor covers homeopathics treatments/remedies as part of the standard medical benefits package for veterans.

XJC's avatar

Up until the 1990s, however, all VA hospitals unabashedly sold cigarettes in the discounted canteen,. It was the veterans who protested their removal.

Die Anyway's avatar

Look up how many people die in fires because they are smoking while on oxygen.

"Tell St. Peter at the golden gate

that you hate to make him wait

but you just have to have that one last cigarette."

jmax's avatar

We used to steal the cigarettes out of the Army-issued C-ration boxes my father would bring home.

David V. Miller's avatar

Coming soon:

Pharmaceutical courses in Demon Exorcism, Astrological Pharmaceuticals, Spiritual Healing, Pharmacy Prayers Fee Schedules, etc.

When Religiou$ Fanatics control things, lunacy ensues.

regmeyer's avatar

All to be future courses at U of Oklahoma.

Sallyfemina's avatar

Probably already courses at Oral Roberts U.

Kukaan Ei Missään's avatar

I have little time for the UK House of Lords, but several years ago they did a research paper on homeopathy. They interviewed somebody from the Homeopathy Research Institute (shades of the "Discovery Institute"), who was asked how could they tell the difference between the different "remedies". The response was "Only by the packaging".

XJC's avatar

'What would parliament be without a douchebag?''

https://youtu.be/C6XF4RxU7xQ?si=jPxYnJzlbiB1G6Ht

Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Isn't your king a promoter of homeopathy ?

Kukaan Ei Missään's avatar

"Isn't your king a promoter of homeopathy ? "

Supposedly, though somehow I doubt whether he is using it to treat his cancer...

Besides the House of Lords, the monarchy is something else I would get rid of. Charles is infamous for writing the Black Spider Memos - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_spider_memos

Protection of the privilege is one of the hallmarks of the monarchy, and the influence they have over legislation.

Whitney's avatar

Since it's just us chickens here, so to speak, let's be brutally honest with ourselves, shall we?

Homeopathic 'medicine' sells well under specific circumstances. Sure, a good chunk of it is bad advice from professionals, but I would also call out another problem: when folks cannot get worthwhile medical advice. When people cannot see a doctor, they often try to find a do-it-yourself treatment for whatever their problem might be and wind up throwing money at something that won't do a thing for them. Homeopathy is just one of those many products that desperately want to claim to be medicine for the sake of taking money from people who probably don't have it to spare, which is what really bothers me about it.

It's not just bunk science. It's not just the attempts to pretend that it'll fix people's problems. It's the willful, intentional, deliberate abuse of the needs of humanity for the sake of a few buck's profit. University of the Pacific deserves every bit of criticism coming their way for paving the path for these charlatans.

Bensnewlogin's avatar

I am not awake yet. This is really not fair. And I have to deal with Social Security, which for some reason decided that I do not exist. And it’s the day before Christmas. And they tell you that you can call at eight in the morning but they’re not open till nine.

There is only one gawd, and that bitch’s name is Bureaucracy. With Bureaucracy, all things are possible, but only according to chapter 3, subparagraph one, between 7:59 and 8:01 am on alternate Tuesdays. But which Tuesday are you on, this one or the alternate one? To find the answer to that, call the number you just called. But, for better service, go online and chat with Dexter, your AI serial killer. Erm, assistant.

Anyway, there was a time when homeopathy was the dominant form of medicine in this country, according to something I read years ago. That changed when healthcare decided that actual science ought to be in charge, around two turns of the century ago. I even tried it myself to deal with something that wasn’t going away by traditional SCIENTIFIC methods. But it failed. I was willing to give it a try, even though it made absolutely no sense to me.

But then, we have this: “…said Marry Ann Danial ’26, a PharmD student who took the course last year. “It pushed me to look beyond traditional treatment options and really think about how we, as pharmacists, approach patient care holistically.’ I guess DANIAL really isn’t just a river in Egypt. This has nothing to do with approaching patient care holistically. In fact, the job of most pharmacist is to do what the doctor tells them to do. they’re not actually caring for patients, they are putting pills in bottles and occasionally offering medical advice about the pills that they’re putting into bottles.

Homeopathy works in a vague general sort of way in exactly the same way that vaccines work—apart from actually working. They stimulate a response, at least in homeopathic theory. But that response doesn’t necessarily pan out in reality. That needs to be demonstrated first. And even if they do, a microscopic amount of something may not be enough to actually do any good. I can take some Willowbark derivative in sufficient quantities, and get pain relief from it. 325 mg of aspirin is a good start. But 1 mg of aspirin will do absolutely nothing.

So it appears that one more time, with this school of homeopathy, what we are getting is wishful and magical thinking substituting for reality. It’s the same mentality that says ivermectin, aquarium cleaner or vitamin supplements will work against Covid. Or that just a little bit of God will insulate you from the imachinations* of the devil.

Unless it doesn’t.

* that’s a little joke.

larry parker's avatar

Make sure your coffee is full strength.

Bensnewlogin's avatar

Thanks you. It is beginning to kick in.

Boreal's avatar

At one of my childhood friend's xmas party last night, I complained about the homeopathic martini he made me-not enough vodka. Lol.

Stephen Brady's avatar

This dreck persists because certain amoral people make money off of it and our population is mostly made up of people mostly illiterate in basic science. Also, the powers that be don't want them to become literate or to have any training in critical thinking.

Kay-El's avatar

My pharmacist father would be more than a little peeved that this is passing for education in pharmacy school*. He cared about his customers and actually caught doctors’ mistakes when a medicine would interfere with one they were taking. And no, he wasn’t beholden to Big Pharma, he hated those smarmy reps.

*He went to USC, a school not beholden to religion nor woo.

ETA: I deleted my other comment because I didn’t think I’d posted it. 😆

DustiWales's avatar

I feel like this should be illegal. Shit, every damn time I have to take an annual training in ethics at work (I’m a hospital RN), there’s a section about kickbacks and taking dirty money to influence health decisions, and how we nurses have to report it when we see our coworkers doing it. How can it be illegal at work but not at the institutions that TRAIN those I work with????

Tinker's avatar

Of course homeopathy is gaining in popularity. We are in a time where a large portion of our population can't afford health care. In addition, argument from popularity is the only argument that persuades a huge portion of our population. Without it Christianity would die.

poloniousmonk's avatar

I just wanted to say you are my person. You clearly think like me, and I respect that tremendously.

wreck's avatar

"The irrational thought behind this is that the more you dilute something, the more powerful it becomes."

So you're drinking some animals' shit.

Troublesh00ter's avatar

More like you're drinking EVERYTHING's shit!