Science based medicine

[Lambkin]

I have no relationship to this web site, but have been enjoying the "homeopathy roast" and skewering of similar quackery on the blog sciencebasedmedicine.org.

[wserra]

I've read Science-Based Medicine for years. It's a terrific site.

A couple of others: the venerable Quackwatch, still indispensable. And perhaps my favorite of all: British physician Ben Goldacre's Bad Science.

But Ben's last name always gives me flashbacks to law school's first-year property class.

[Gregg]

Another good site is James Randi's http://forums.randi.org/

I have read somewhere that a good part of the reason that homeopathy is even legal is that when they started passing food and drug laws that a congressman on the proper committee was a homeopathic practitioner who made sure the laws didn't apply to that particular brand of whack.

[Unidyne]

Ah, yes, homeopathy! Homeopathic medicine!

IT"S WATER, YOU FREAKS!

The usual comment is, "Yes, but you can't die from an overdose!"

Maybe not, but you sure can DROWN from it!

[Lambkin]

You can sure die from failing to treat a disease or injury with effective medication. Homeopathic remedies are sold to treat ear infections, dysentery, gall stones, etc. Imagine having one of those conditions and drinking some expensive water, delaying treatment for days. Yuck!

If you surf their catalogs some of the products are really hilarious.

http://www.rxhomeo.com/pharmacy/homeopa ... ment+Combo

http://www.rxhomeo.com/pharmacy/homeopa ... ment+Combo

[texino]

Yes, the reason that homeopathic treatment is allowed to continue is the adage that it can't hurt.
Another benefit of the practice is the placebo effect. The body working in concert with the mind is a powerful tool. Physicians love to joke "This medication will take care of your problem in seven days, otherwise it should clear up in about a week"

It is my opinion that over medication has caused diseases to fight back and become resistant. Much of this problem happens in the out reach clinical environment where homeless patients are treated with broad spectrum antibiotics, but often do not finish the RX cycle causing the disease to become harder to kill. Perhaps pharm-docs need to add codeine or benzo-diazopam to the capsule. That might encourage the patient to finish the script. (if they didn't sell it) It may take a reopening of the TB sanitariums closed during the Regan years in order to isolate med-resistant pt. Otherwise we may face a serious crisis to which we are ill prepared.

[Brandybuck]

Yes, the reason that homeopathic treatment is allowed to continue is the adage that it can't hurt.

Except that when the water replaces necessary medicine it can kill. There was a instance in Australia recently where a child died because the parents refused medicince and insisted on homeopathic remedies.

Homeopathy even sent my own mother to the hospital, when the homeopath told her to stop her regular medicines. So I don't have much sympathy for the quacks.

[Pottapaug1938]

The site www.ratbags.com is also well worth a look. Not only does it expose homeopathy for the lie that it is, it gives the same treatment to many other kinds of wackadoostery that people can find on the Internet.

Someone was once commenting on the assertions, of homeopaths, that the water that makes up all but -- at best -- a few atoms of the medicine involved has a "memory" that allows it to "remember" the medicinal molecule with which it once came into contact, and provide the same benefit to a patient that the medicine itself could provide -- only more safely. The person asked why the other things with which the water came into contact, such as animal effluent, don't also imprint the water with the memory of their chemical makeup.

Oooooooog -- the thought of that makes me want to stick to my favorite India Pale Ales.....

[texino]

Yes, the reason that homeopathic treatment is allowed to continue is the adage that it can't hurt.

Except that when the water replaces necessary medicine it can kill. There was a instance in Australia recently where a child died because the parents refused medicince and insisted on homeopathic remedies.

Homeopathy even sent my own mother to the hospital, when the homeopath told her to stop her regular medicines. So I don't have much sympathy for the quacks.

You are correct. My statement was meant to convey that homeopathy was considered harmless so long as standard medical protocols were employed. Personally I am amazed that with all the advances brought by Western Medicine, one does not have to walk very far to find a person who will deny the undeniable success we have achieved.

[Brandybuck]

Personally I am amazed that with all the advances brought by Western Medicine, one does not have to walk very far to find a person who will deny the undeniable success we have achieved.

Start talking with folks in the anti-vaccination crowd. Not just the bubble-headed ex-pornstars, but actual "physicians" who have joined the cult. I heard one talking about how disease was healthy, and preventing it keeps us all sick.

[Lambkin]

Um, did you folks know that it is possible to die from drinking too much water?

For sure, I have seen severe hyponatremia first-hand, which did not result in death but a seizure and four days in the ICU was plenty of excitement. But considering the price of homeopathic holy water, it would be hard to die from drinking too much of it.

[wserra]

I'm pretty sure I've posted this before: British duo Mitchell & Webb on homeopathy.

Beverages down.