How does homeopathy work?

Discussion in 'Health Care' started by perdidochas, Oct 4, 2011.

  1. Uncle Meat

    Uncle Meat Banned

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    Sure does sound like a tall claim.

    I would have thought:

    1. Ischaemic heart diseases
    2. Strokes
    3. Dementia and Alzheimer disease
    4. Trachea and lung cancer
    5. Chronic lower respiratory diseases
    6. Diabetes
    7. Colon and rectum cancer
    8. Blood and lymph cancer
    9. Diseases of the kidney and urinary system
    10. Heart failure
    11. Prostate cancer
    12. Breast cancer
    13. etc.
     
  2. Panzerkampfwagen

    Panzerkampfwagen New Member

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    Nuts........ I mean people who practice homeopathy.
     
  3. Panzerkampfwagen

    Panzerkampfwagen New Member

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    Oh wait, let me guess, if only these patients had used water....... I mean homeopathic remedies, instead of quack modern medicine they'd still be alive!
     
  4. Uncle Meat

    Uncle Meat Banned

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    I'm still waiting to see where the "top 5" comes from.

    Waiting ...
     
  5. Uncle Meat

    Uncle Meat Banned

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    I thought this was interesting:

    Medibank Private:

    "Australia’s largest private health insurer, incorporating the Medibank Private and ahm health funds"

    Services Covered:

    "Natural therapies

    Consultations for naturopathy, acupuncture & remedial massage

    Consultations for myotherapy, reflexology, kinesiology, Chinese & Western herbalism, exercise physiology, shiatsu, aromatherapy, homeopathy, Bowen therapy & Alexander technique"
     
  6. suede

    suede Banned

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    Sorry, I meant of accidental deaths, the subject of the article you posted.

    And drug deaths now lead the pack:

     
  7. Makedde

    Makedde New Member Past Donor

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    I assume you have a source to back this up? I also assume you have tested every homeopathic remedy to ensure that all of them are, as you say, just water?

    No? Didn't think so.
     
  8. Makedde

    Makedde New Member Past Donor

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    Ding ding ding, we have a winner!! :trophy:

    I await your evidence that it is 'just' water.
     
  9. Panzerkampfwagen

    Panzerkampfwagen New Member

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    Three logarithmic potency scales are in regular use in homeopathy. Hahnemann created the centesimal or C scale, diluting a substance by a factor of 100 at each stage. The centesimal scale was favored by Hahnemann for most of his life. A 2C dilution requires a substance to be diluted to one part in one hundred, and then some of that diluted solution diluted by a further factor of one hundred. This works out to one part of the original substance in 10,000 parts of the solution.[59] A 6C dilution repeats this process six times, ending up with the original material diluted by a factor of 100−6=10−12 (one part in one trillion or 1/1,000,000,000,000). Higher dilutions follow the same pattern. In homeopathy, a solution that is more dilute is described as having a higher potency, and more dilute substances are considered by homeopaths to be stronger and deeper-acting remedies.[60] The end product is often so diluted that it is indistinguishable from the dilutant (pure water, sugar or alcohol).[10][61][62]

    Hahnemann advocated 30C dilutions for most purposes (that is, dilution by a factor of 1060).[63] In Hahnemann's time it was reasonable to assume that remedies could be diluted indefinitely, as the concept of the atom or molecule as the smallest possible unit of a chemical substance was just beginning to be recognized. The greatest dilution that is reasonably likely to contain even one molecule of the original substance is 12C.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy#Remedies





    Let's follow one of the cites they used.


    Many homeopathic remedies would be expected to contain zero molecules of the original substance. Supposing 40g of calcium (one mole) were diluted by homeopathic principles starting from 100% pure substance. Avogadro's number tells us that we have 6.02x10^23 molecules per mole. By 7C the remedy would be expected to contain about 6 billion calcium molecules, and by about 11C, it would be expected to have only about 60 ((1/100)11 x 6.02x10^23 = 60.2). A the 12C (or 24X) dilution, there is a 50/50 chance of one molecule being present. The dilution at which one would expect to have only one molecule does depend upon the starting number of molecules, but assuming that we started with all the atoms estimated to be in the universe, about 6x10^79, then we end up with a 50% chance to have one molecule left at 40C (or 80X), still far more concentrated than the 200C dilutions that are commonly dispensed.

    http://altmed.creighton.edu/Homeopathy/philosophy/dilution.htm
     
  10. Makedde

    Makedde New Member Past Donor

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    And has he tested every single homeopathic remedy?
     
  11. Panzerkampfwagen

    Panzerkampfwagen New Member

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    Sigh. You're being hard headed. It's unlikely that there is any ingredient left at the dilutions that they are working with.

    They claim that water is magic and remembers what has been in it, you know, except poisons, toxins, etc I guess.


    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bYAgR71NBY"]Homeopathy is NOT Medicine - YouTube[/ame]
     
  12. Makedde

    Makedde New Member Past Donor

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    You have stated that tests have been done, but you haven't specified which products were tested. I wish to know.
     
  13. Panzerkampfwagen

    Panzerkampfwagen New Member

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    I don't even think you actually know what homeopathy is.

    It is water. Does water have the ability to cure everything? If your answer is no then homeopathy is bull(*)(*)(*)(*).

    And if you think medicine should be accepted until proved that it doesn't then I'm glad you're not in charge of real medication. Good thing it's just water. The only danger you're at, apart from taking it for like cancer or something, is water intoxication.
     
  14. Makedde

    Makedde New Member Past Donor

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    You keep saying it is water, yet you haven't even named one homeopathic remedy that IS water. I am still waiting.
     
  15. Panzerkampfwagen

    Panzerkampfwagen New Member

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    Every single one that is diluted to those amounts.
     
  16. Lady Luna

    Lady Luna New Member

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    That is false. Homeopathy is merely one of many alternative treatments that hasn't been FDA approved.
     
  17. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    St John's Wort is a herbal medicine, not a homeopathic medicine. It works by dosage, etc. . A homeopath would dilute it to nothingness, and then claim it works.
     
  18. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    No it doesn't. Herbal =\= homeopathic.
     
  19. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    Then tell me how it works.

    I want to know how supporters of it think it works.
     
  20. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    We're exporting fast food to them pretty quickly. We'll have them at 300 lbs soon.
     
  21. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    Instead of shooting down what you think our misconception are, tell us how it works.
     
  22. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    The theory goes that the weaker the solution, the better the homeopathy works.
     
  23. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    The FDA can't ban homeopathy. There isn't enough active ingredient to do harm :)
     
  24. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    Give us three examples.
     
  25. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    The concentration is simple math, and we are trusting that the homeopaths mix their solutions as they claim.
     

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