Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Clarence Dember on June 4, 2011 at 5:09pm

The term homeopathy has to do with taking a small amount of the thing that causes a condition to mitigate the actual affliction.

Home remedies may in some cases operate on this principal but such strategies are passed down from familial elders rather than by formal instructions for money.

Permalink Reply by Grace Fitzpatrick on June 4, 2011 at 5:14pm

So if it costs a lot of money and claims to actually cure something, it's homeopathy.  If it's inexpensive and your grandma told you about it (or someone else's grandma in the case of the internet), it is a home remedy.

Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on June 4, 2011 at 7:48pm

I'm thinking that a lot of things labeled "homeopathic" actually aren't. Maybe they'd be naturopathic or some other label. Cold-eeze says that it is homeopathic, but I don't think it fits the classical definition, and it's worked for me.

Permalink Reply by Michael Brodie on June 4, 2011 at 5:40pm

Homeopathy was invented in the late 1700s.  The major concept of homeopathy is, "Like cures like."  This means that whatever symptoms are caused by a substance, at full strength, will be cured by the same substance when greatly diluted in water and shaken appropriately.  The dilution factor is such that some of the doses may not contain any active ingredient.  At the time homeopathy was invented, there was no scientific medicine - - "surgeons" were still bleeding people as a treatment for a variety of ills.  Homeopathy has made NO progress or improvement since then.  

 

Home remedies, herbs, and other folk medicine may have real, active ingredients.  As long as your home remedies do not require you to ingest a known toxin, I say, Go for it.

 

Permalink Reply by A3Kr0n on June 4, 2011 at 6:40pm

Homeopathic remedies are 100% bunk.

Here's James Randi to explain it.

Permalink Reply by Sail R's - Roz and Russ Worrall on June 4, 2011 at 6:59pm

Hi Grace,

 

Here are some excellent links regarding homeopathy http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/homeo.html and What's the Harm of certain "benign" practices http://whatstheharm.net

Roz

Permalink Reply by Will Faithless Sophia on June 4, 2011 at 7:09pm

Homeopathy is similar to Riki, the idea that smaller or father away can have a bigger effect. It's insane, normal logic dictates that higher doses, and closer interaction has greater effect. Home remedies are things you make at home, that you feel have an effect, they have nothing to do with the quack magic of homeopathy.

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on June 4, 2011 at 10:30pm

The history behind "the idea that smaller or father away can have a bigger effect" interests me. Today we realize that "It's insane, normal logic dictates that higher doses, and closer interaction has greater effect." Long before print literacy transformed thinking, in the Middle Ages, people made sense of reality very differently. Variables weren't separated as today. People didn't distinguish between physical, chemical, or atomic changes. Even subjective and objective weren't clear. Everything effected everything else with all of their properties, magically. So an object with strong juju could effect another with weaker juju, even if it was very far away, like a planet changing the course of a baby's life (astrology). Or a doll could be invested with juju and used to change a person it resembled (voodo doll). To their world view it actually made sense. Things that resembled one another one way exchanged other magic too. A stone shaped like a frog could turn into a frog if other frogs spent time nearby (spontaneous generation). Since nothing could be pinned down, predicted, or controlled people felt very powerless. Every tree or rock had its own magic. When lust made a guy weak in the knees he literally believed the woman was casting a spell on him. I like rational thought much better.  Reason arose from the habit of print literacy (I'm a McLuhan fan), and you know what's happening to literacy. We may be descending into a new age of unreason.

Permalink Reply by Jim DePaulo on June 5, 2011 at 8:46am

"We may be descending into a new age of unreason."

 

That sentiment, or ones like it, always makes me think of one of my favorite SF short stories, The Marching Morons [PDF] by Cyril Kornbluth.

Permalink Reply by S.F. Zeigler on June 4, 2011 at 7:53pm

Homeopathy is bullshit. Home Remedies might actually work. Both may share a placebo effect. aloha -Z

Permalink Reply by Kerry Logan on June 6, 2011 at 3:23pm

Homeopathy has helped me and my family where modern medicine has not. From flus to asthma, to nervousness and nausea, and ear aches- I've seen it do wonders. I feel confident in their abilities and in the safety of using them. I highly recommend them to my friends and families. I also employ my share of home remedies but recommend them far more cautiously.

Permalink Reply by A3Kr0n on June 6, 2011 at 5:44pm

Kerry, You must have missed my first comment with the link. There's no way to explain it other than homeopathic medicines are pure, 100% bunk. False. Nothing. A complete waste of money. They can also be very dangerous in a subtle way in that a person could be using them, or worse, giving them to a child when they should really be seeking medical attention from a doctor. Please click on this link. It's informative and entertaining. Then do some research for yourself. Here's James Randi to explain it.

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