14 January 2011

Homeopathy

I'm watching Marketplace and they're going on about how homeopathy is bullshit. So they're saying that it's a placebo, but how does that explain that my babies immediately stop crying from teething pain if I give them homeopathic meds, but not if I give them a little drink of juice or milk?

I dunno. Science is awesome, but our bodies are damn good and complex. To say it's flat out bullshit is pretty fucking arrogant, IMO. OTOH, it's an industry and I don't trust them any further than I can throw them.

So I'll continue to give homeopathics, but I'm not relying on them for serious shit.

6 comments:

dblbassbill said...

Seriously, you think that water that has a substance diluted to the point where it is unlikely that it is still there, some how gains magical powers to do something other than act as water. Remember one of the principles of homeopathy is that the more dilute the more powerful. Just cause science doesn't know every thing doesn't mean science knows nothing. Homeopathy is placebo. It is water(or sugar pill)

Unknown said...

Arrogant eh? Got to ask why are you treating your children with a know placebo? Is your understanding of science so flawed that you think sugar pills can help your children, when it is obvious to anyone that you don't understand the placebo effect.

Don't you understand your comforting your children and feeding them a nice sweetie is what is shutting them up.

Try giving them a sweet instead of a homeopathic remedy and I guarantee you will get the same effect.

Luna said...

It's for teething pain. You want that I should give them what? Tylenol? They have liver problems.

And no, it's not sweets. To them, juice is a sweet treat. I've tried juice. Even new ones that they don't know. I've also tried a tiny bit of sugar water. So your guarantee doesn't hold much water. Thanks for trying. :)

Luna said...

dblbassbill: I know, I know. It sounds like crap to me too. But in a 6 month old baby? Or in an child with autism who has no connection between pill and feeling better? How come it works on them?

Like I said, I'll use it for minor things, but I won't be relying on it for the serious things.

Art Hornbie said...

Fortunately, you have the choice between options. Some would reduce those options considerably. It is all very familiar.

dblbassbill said...

Well remember the reason personal testimony is the worst form of evidence is that every garbage treatment ever has had people attesting to its efficacy. Blowing smoke up my ass is a term we know because enough people believed in the efficacy of tobacco smoke enemas . Where smoke was litterally blown up there in an attempt to cure malladies.
I can't tell you why it did what you say it did. But you tell me do you think that you as a human have made a causal error determining what happened or that the known laws of physics, that we use for everything from how cell phones work to the function of dna, is wrong.

I have had people attest to me the magical abilities of magicians.magicians who claim no powers and admit to being tricksters. These people were not stupid, they just lacked humility. They would say yes it seems impossible but how could they fool me. Not realizing he, and not the magician was doing all the fooling.
I will never be able to tell you what's going on at your place but surely some of the well documented human foibles we all face make a better explaination then something that basicaly is magic.