Homeopathic remedies may not be the answer for colic

Pokay wrote:

<quoted text> Wait a minute. I guess I owe you an apology. It finally dawned on me that if I get a non-reaction on the first try then I will automatically assume the second bottle is the remedy. OK, I'm sorry. But! A 'non-reaction' to a placebo-control on the first try would be enough to convince me homeopathy was real nontheless. That actually makes the experiment easier.

It may convince you, but it's still a 50/50 chance.

At some level you are going to decide before taking anything that you think the first bottle or the 2nd bottle is the "right" bottle. You may not know consciously that you picked one, but you will.

So, if you "think" the first bottle is the medicine and react to it and it turns out to be fake - that tells us something.

But, if you think the first bottle is the medicine and react to it and it turns out to be the right one - that's still just 50/50 that you picked the first one to be the right one.

If I were to get a 'no-reaction' to placebo on the first try would it budge you to believing there might be more to homeopathy than just placebo? I mean considering I have never had a 'non-reaction' to the remedy. And if I were intentionally to overdose, I would certainly bnet I would never 'not react' to the rememdy.

Like I said, it's still 50/50.

Let's say subconsciously you think the first bottle is fake and you overdose on it and it is fake. That just tells us that subconsciously you happened to guess the right bottle.

The thing about science is this: Generally experiments are set up to disprove something not to prove something. It's very hard to "prove" something in an experiment.

That's why medicine uses studies and trials rather than experiments, you need lots of people and lots of attempts to get a statistically significant result.

Pokay wrote:

<quoted text>OK fair enough, I shouldn't have been assuming. The only problem I still have with this is when you say his brand of homeopathy is killing people I would like to know what specifically you mean.

Well, there are groups which he supports which advocate homeopathic treatments for HIV.

These treatments literally do nothing to stop the advancement of the virus in the subject.

But, what's worse, because the viral load is high in the subject AND because they think they are cured, they pass HIV onto others.

That's not just harming the patient, that's harming people the patient comes into contact with.

And keep in mind that plenty of people die from allopathic treatment, chemo kills more people than it helps I would have to guess. But again I don't know for sure, but from my own friends and family who have gone through chemo, thats the conclusion I draw.

Yes, people do die from taking medicine. some people mix medicines they aren't supposed to. Some people overdose. Others just have unforeseen allergic reactions.

However, chemo ABSOLUTELY saves lives. There's NO DOUBT in that.

It's the best treatment we have. It's brutal. It's horrible to go through. But it works.

Do people still die of cancer? Absolutely. Cars are safer, people are eating healthier, we're better at curing infections, etc.

People gotta die of something sometime, the more we knock down the other things, the more cancer climbs the charts.

Pokay wrote:

<quoted text>Well I'm thinking you're right. Hoping so anyway because I chose not to bother with that idea. And neither am I going to try accupuncture.

There have been some funny studies on acupuncture.

Basically they've shown that you don't need an expert or even needles.

Non-acupuncturists poking people with toothpicks have been just as effective as real acupuncturists and real needles.

Like hypnosis, it's a psychological effect.

If you do it and you like it and it relieves stress. Awesome.

Personal, I get massages.

Nuggin wrote:

<quoted text>
It may convince you, but it's still a 50/50 chance.
At some level you are going to decide before taking anything that you think the first bottle or the 2nd bottle is the "right" bottle. You may not know consciously that you picked one, but you will.
So, if you "think" the first bottle is the medicine and react to it and it turns out to be fake - that tells us something.
But, if you think the first bottle is the medicine and react to it and it turns out to be the right one - that's still just 50/50 that you picked the first one to be the right one.

I see your point. You *could* be right, but doesn't mean you *are* right. I understand we would need a larger group of people to be more confident.

I guess I just wait and see how I do over the next year or so. This winter will be the true test for my prostate. My psoriasis has disappeared already and my MCS is improved. That's enough to sway me already even though I'm actually starting to think there is a definate percentage of psychosomatic factor in MCS. Psoriasis however is hard to accept as psychosomatic and I don't think it's coincidence that it is gone right now. The prostate will be the deciding factor I think. If I don't get appreciably better then I will believe you're right that it is all psychosomatic/placebo.

Even if I end up deciding it is placebo, it's still worth it as far as my MCS goes...because for that it works.

Pokay wrote:

Even if I end up deciding it is placebo, it's still worth it as far as my MCS goes...because for that it works.

And that's totally fine.

I have no problem with homeopathy being sold. I just have a problem with them claiming that it works via magical mechanisms which only they can control and which violate not only physics but even their own mechanisms.

If they just came out and said: "Here's some water, pretend like it's medicine and it will work. That will be $100." I'd have a lot of respect for them.

One "homeopath" is actually selling homeopathic "patterns" you download through the internet and print out. Then you place a glass of water on top of the print out in the middle of the picture and it makes the water into homeopathic remedy.

"Homeopathy is about taking fanciful ingredients with a dubious connection to the symptoms in the first place, and then diluting them into oblivion, then placing a drop of the pure water that remains and placing it on a sugar pill. The resultant pill is then supposed to contain the magic vibrations of the original substance."

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php...