Homeopathic nonsense: If it works, homeopathy defies the laws of physics
Do you believe in Homeopathy? The Nurse isn’t convinced. Why? Because to work, it’d have to defy the laws of physics.
Even if you wouldn’t know a law of physics if it punched you on the nose, you probably realise that it is 100% impossible to defy them.
Fact: the only way homeopathy could work is if it managed to defy those laws. It can’t. Nothing can. Conclusion: homeopathy is bollocks.
That’s not all. High quality clinical trials cannot find any scientific basis whatsoever for homeopathy working. Nobody ever has.
Invented in the 1700s, homeopathy is based on three so-called ‘laws’; the law of similars, the law of infinitesimals and the law of succussion. All three are too silly to merit any detail. And all were disproved a very long time ago.
But people still persist in believing that homeopathy works… to the tune of £40 million a year in the UK, £4 million of which is spent by the UK’s NHS.
The Nurse thinks she knows why. It’s the placebo and nocebo effects, both of which are much more powerful than you might realise.
There’s the true story of the man misdiagnosed with terminal cancer who was found, at post mortem, to have nothing wrong with him… classic nocebo effect. There are many reports of people dying because they believed they’d been cursed – more nocebos.
The placebo effect is well documented too, with countless cases of people given a placebo and recovering. And there’s even a recent study where people who thought they were watching HD TV reported experiencing a dramatically better picture when they were actually only looking at a regular TV.
The Nurse marvels at how easy it is to fool ourselves!
A fellow inmate argued the other day that it didn’t matter whether or not homeopathy worked because some people’s belief is so strong that it works for them. So what’s the harm.
Hm. The Nurse thinks that’s a thin excuse for perpetuating such a scandalous and expensive scam. Surely it’d be better to save a considerable amount of cash, spread the word about placebo / nocebo effects and make it clear to everyone that believing you’re healthy goes a surprisingly long way towards making it so.
In fact scientific experiments have proved that 30 minutes of meditation a day over eight weeks can significantly strengthen your immune system. Who needs quack medicine when you can DIY?
Until she’s perfected her meditation techniques, The Nurse vows to steer clear of homeopathy charlatans. No doubt they mean well but even they can’t defy the laws of physics.
Robert Johnson from computer repair Crowthorne wrote,
Those who do not fully understand the concepts of Homeopathy will always tell you everything is fine, even as a patient is gasping his last breath. They do not understand how incorrectly chosen or prescribed remedies can cause more harm than good, and simply dismiss such reactions, steaming ahead with yet more prescriptions.
If you are experiencing such long term problems from a remedy, which I have seen innumerable times when picking up the cases of other so-called ‘practitioners’, and you are quite certain this is the case, the remedy will need to be antidoted (which SHOULD happen as soon as it is realized a mistake has been made), and I’m sure we can all help you with this.
Link | May 13th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Scott from Seo Southampton wrote,
As for the disadvantages of homeopathy goes, it would depend largely upon the physician who is giving you the treatment. Perhaps one would notice the dearth of professional homeopathic doctors. There is also a shortage of institutions that conduct these professional courses. This would mean there are not many genuine homeopathic medicines being prescribed by authentic doctors. Also, one cannot rely on homeopathic medicines for emergency situations.
Link | May 19th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Ev from Membership Websites wrote,
“Amateur” Brain Surgery. Sounds great!
Link | May 27th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Angela from Freelance webdeveloper wrote,
Nice article and WOW: I had no idea such a thing as a nocebo actually existed! The imagination of some people must be a force to be reckoned with then.
I have to admit: I’m using some homeopathic stuff from time to time. I feel it helps me though. It’s mostly some vitamines and tryptophan to get me to sleep. Nothing more though.
Link | June 22nd, 2010 at 1:04 pm