http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/homeopathy-first-aid-kits/ Over the years, I've become a skeptic. I've always had an interest in science, and I can identify the roots of my skepticism in my religious experiences, and education and reading. But it wasn't until my mom, in a phone conversation told me about how some neighbors were recommending some kind of magnet mask for her to treat her allergies and headaches or whatever it was supposed to treat that my anger about this got to the breaking point, where I started reading skeptic magazines and websites to learn more about the frauds and scams and magical thinking and old wives tales and so on. Also, as a kid, I was the victim of a quack doctor (who we didn't actually recognize as a quack at first, except that his treatments weren't working, and it took a second doctor to point that out to us). I remember going into a Costco pharmacy to purchase medications and seeing a bunch of homeopathic medicines on the shelves, ones that I knew about and I knew that the company had been fined a lot of money for false advertising and deceptive labelling. I was riled up enough to talk to one of the pharmacists to ask him about it, and all he could say was that he didn't know why it was still on the shelves. I expressed my displeasure (maybe not coherently enough). This kind of stuff has become one of my buttons, that whenever I see something like this, my bloodpressure must surely rise several points. Anyway, I just wanted to share this. Quackery has become endemic even in some medical institutions -- a clinic I go to has nurses that are treained in Reiki and accupressure for example. Anyway, I just wanted to share this. If you suspect that something your doctor or nurse is telling you is BS, do your own research, especially check out the website above -- it's really good at identifying good vs. bad science and explaining why something works (or doesn't work), and how we know what we know (or don't know).
I remember how those who claim to believe in Homeopathy claim to notice effects if you claim to have given them something that you did not. Carry vials of water to sell to those people. Whatever they seek, it is in the water, right? (Just remember never to claim to sell even Homeopatically (Spelling?) derived substances that you cannot legally sell. In the USA, it is an equal crime to sell a "Simulated Controlled Substance" as the real thing.) I would not trust immeasurable amounts of chemicals to have equal effect to the real thing, and anyone who thinks otherwise can try diluting gasoline with water and see how far a tank of fuel gets them.
It's actually crazier than that -- their goal is to dilute the substance to the point where there isn't acually even a single molecule of it left -- that's right, not a single molecule. Furthermore, they select the substance to dilute based on their belief that something which creates a symptom of the ailment that you are trying to treat will cure that ailment. So if you want a homeopathic remedy to cure a headache, you find a substance that can cause headaches. But don't worry, because it's actually not in there anymore, once you dilute it enough. It's magical thinking, but most people don't even know what 'homeopathic' means. I've had one person tell me that they thought that it meant that it was natural. Well, it's as natural as sugar water. What's hysterical is that homeopaths advertise their medications as being safer than prescribed medicines and having no side effects (I guess, unless you are a diabetic, that's certainly true).
Homeopathics are insane. However, blindly trusting your doctor and pharmaceutical companies is even more insane. I like to find a nice middle ground between pharmaceuticals and natural remedies, and homeopathic is not it.
I would like some wacko to try selling Homeopathic Oxygen kits. (Oxygen kits containing zero oxygen. Instant suffocation for anyone stupid enough to try one.) Basically you sell a plastic bag to wrap around your head.
I was pissed off enough that I was going to contact Amazon about it, but the closest thing I could find to bitch at was a forum that they run -- I doubt that anyone from Amazon is going to see it, but at least I was able to vent. I got a few replies, including one person who insisted that Homeopathy is great and that he or she is using it to treat her MS. I felt badly for him or her, but instead of telling the person that they were wrong, I explained exactly what homeopathy was, and that she should not take my word for it, and verify that I'm telling the truth. Most people asked me if I had actually tried the product, and only one person seemed to know what homeopathy was, and apparently believes that anyone stupid enough to take a homeopathic drug deserves to be taken out of the genepool. I calmly explained that people who are susceptible to scams are that way not because they are stupid, but because they are good people and are far too trusting. You don't attack the victim of a crime.
Spoiler But they *ARE* stupid too... The victim of a crime can perpetrate the same crime if they remain unaware that it is a crime. I cannot speak for the rest of the world, but here in America, you must be a "Medical" Doctor to give medical advice. Telling someone that you can cure a medical problem with a substance that can be proven to be water is not only criminal in a technical sense, it is fucking insulting to the patient. How they remain out of the criminal justice system is simply that most people are shocked anyone believes that nonsense. And the few that see the light hesitate to shout for the Police to arrest the person practicing a dangerous procedure on people who usually have no idea what it is or are so desperate for hope that they cling to what they probably know is a lie.
Some of the companies that market homeopathic remedies have been fined, or forced to change the labeling of their products. Unfortunately, the FDA does not have any jurisdiction over homeopathic remedies because they are not classified as drugs, so they are in a legal loophole. I read about a company just recently (Heel, inc.). Basically, the Justice department ordered that they give refunds (if asked for) and asked to add disclaimers to their advertising: http://doubtfulnews.com/2013/08/heel-inc-homeopathic-manufacturer-must-dial-down-health-claims/ Usually if someone goes to jail (at least one guy did, but I forget his name) it's because of other kinds of fraud, not for marketing water as a cure for illness. And his drugs are still being sold in pharmacies (it's the head of the company that makes "Head-On" and a few other fake remedies). As far as natural remedies are concerned -- if you are talking herbal remedies, you have to be very careful with them. Most people don't understand that they can interact badly with actual medications (doctors don't learn about them in medical school, and most practitioners are not MDs or experts on pharmacology). Bad allergic reactions are another problem, but that can be the case with any medication. And patients will rarely tell their doctor the herbals that they are taking, just the 'prescription medication'. That's not a good thing. A small handful of herbal remedies have been shown to be helpful for very specific symptoms, but they are far too often prescribed for all sorts of things that they are not helpful for, plus the vast majority of them are not only useless, but in some cases dangerous. So keep that in mind if you decide to use herbal or 'natural' remedies. Some really do work. But most don't. And anything that acts like a drug, carries risk -- it doesn't matter how natural it is.
Naturopathy: http://www.whatstheharm.net/naturopathy.html Herbal remedies: http://www.whatstheharm.net/herbalremedies.html
I have used Kratom for years. It is not a narcotic, but if abused it would be quite capable of killing a person in a few agonizing hours. (This is because a common side effect is slowing of the metabolism. It will give you bad stomach cramps when you go past a minor dose, so it is not likely to cause problems for anyone smart enough to start small.) But if used properly it is effective in ways some "Medical" treatments are not. I use it for back pain from seizures. It works better than Naproxen Sodium, and the side effect of slowing my metabolism is actually beneficial for me. But I will not link to sites selling Kratom, and I *STRONGLY* advise caution for anyone thinking this might be enjoyable. It is not a recreational drug of any sort, and if you are an idiot who messes with extracts of it you could be lucky to wake up in the ER a few days later. I use the plant itself, no processing is done. And I have a healthy respect for Nature. That said, my Medical Doctor knows about my use of this and although he knows little more than the name, he has not objected to me using it. As per what Haldurson is saying, remember that Hemlock is "Natural" too. So are the absolute most potent poisons in the world. Nature is not out to get you in general, but have respect for it or you will be lucky to learn to. /Lecture off
I have to stand up and disagree on this statement here. With a tiny bit of research and in proper dosages, natural and herbal remedies can be extremely useful for a huge range of issues. How do you think humanity survived before chemical drugs were invented? On the other hand, drugs that were pushed rapidly through the FDA process because of large amounts of money changing hands have killed a whole *%&$uva lot of people and caused so many birth defects and other problems that it's not even funny. Doctors who don't know better are prescribing drugs that are not only unsafe but in some cases deadly. Anybody remember fen-phen? Studies in Europe showed serious side affects and the FDA not only ignored them they pushed fen-phen out even faster. And that's not the only one out there. So what we really need to do is warn people that there are charlatans and scammers on both sides of the coin. Because not every prescription drug can help every problem, and because not every natural herbal remedy can help every problem. An intelligent and reasoned look at Western and Eastern medicine and a little bit of biology can go a long way in helping people. /Lecture off This is, of course, a very heated issue for a lot of people who have been burned on both sides of the coin. I'm simply weighing in with my opinion and experiences
The problem is that the FDA does not regulate Herbals as they do drugs, and as it turns out, that has caused some serious problems: A lot of them contain none or very little of the substance that is on the label, and are often tainted with toxic substances (yes, even the stuff on the store shelves). Chinese herbals in particular have frequently been found tainted with pesticides. It's the wild west and anything goes. The truth is that most herbals have not ever been tested for efficacy, all you have is anecdotal evidence, the same evidence that has caused some species to be hunted nearly to extinction. The only thing difference between Rhinoceros horn and herbals is that people are upset over Rhinos getting killed but don't give a damn about flowers being harvested. Explain to me why anecdotal evidence is worthless in one case and worthwhile in the other? It's emotions pure and simple. All anecdotal evidence is equally untrustworthy. I'm not in any way claiming that all herbals are bad, I'm just saying that the way we know that something works, is that there are numerous studies, usually double-blinded, at least some independent, with replicated results. You can't trust the herbal industry to test their own product for the same exact reason that you can't trust the pharmaceutical companies to test their products. Believe it or not, neither one is trustworthy enough to do their own testing, and both are out to make a buck. At least with the drug industry, if there is a mistake, it's only after going through numerous safeguards. Those safeguards don't even exist in the herbal industry.
You are absolutely right on all counts, including this one. However, there are several herbal companies that have existed for many, many years that have an extremely sterling reputation among doctors who broaden their horizons a little bit. I don't want to post about them right now because that might be considered a commercial thing, which it isn't. Again, it's all about research. I've had so many bad experiences in both the herbal realm and the medical realm that I don't take a single thing at face value any more.
Modern medicine is founded on herbal (with a H, goddamn it) experiments. As it was mentioned above, before we had the mass-produced medicines we know today, a lot of medicines we used were herbal or otherwise based in nature. Some worked, some didn't. But even now we still harness nature in our medical treatments quite a lot - Penicillin, one of the most widely-used medicines we have, was found via 'natural' means (and a complete accident too, if my memory's okay). But those medicines that worked survived (mostly), although some quackery persisted, and those that worked were developed and refined over the centuries or replaced with the chemical-based products. Homeopathy is complete bunkum because there's no scientific method to it, and there's no... 'fact', yet people still go for it. Heck, I walk past some sort of spiritual-healing place on my way home from work (boooooollllllllllllloooooocccccccckkkkkksssssssss) and it seems to be doing well. That said, placebos work even if you know they're placebos... But it's like in the UK, our health minister (i.e. some utter berk with no medical background) wants people with MS to try hypnosis to help with it or something. And he believes in homeopathy. So yeah. Up shit creek without a paddle, we are.
Best advice: If there's no evidence that it works, it doesn't work. If there's evidence it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. If there's no evidence at all, and its not new, then it doesn't work. If you're using a non-medical herbal supplement, then it probably doesn't work. Because its either been proven to work (and is medicine) or... doesn't work. There's a /big/ distinction between manufactured drugs and natural drugs - one of these makes money for the pharmaceutical companies, and the other makes money for the pharmaceutical companies.
"Some really do work. But most don't" Who said that? I do not see the quoted text from anyone here. Was the post it came from edited or deleted?
I believe that I said that. I just can't find it either. Maybe it got edited into something else (I don't recall), but I'll take the blame/credit for it lol. I do tend to edit and re-edit a lot (I type faster than I think, and unfortunately that leads to me having to fix lots of mistakes, to correct language, to retranslate my thoughts into words, and so on. What probably happened is that that came from one of my earlier drafts. But I do recall saying something like that, so I'll trust that it's a direct quote.
At least I know where it came from. Thanks. I actually had nothing to say that others have not already said. But I would have to call shenanigans if that never existed. (I saw the /lecture off part and thought it may be implying I said it.)
