Comments on: Boots: “We Sell Homeopathic Remedies Because They Sell, Not Because They Work”

By: Peter A

Peter A — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:48:23 +0000

Anna. Homeopaths are not anti-science. A little more investment could learn more about it. Some people shout from the sidelines who are frightened by what they know little about and are not prepared to be informed. The homeopathic experience in not just about the offering of the sadly named “water or sugar pills”. People invest in the “talking therapies” but I question if they are miles better and cheaper than the homeopathic experience.
The person who takes a substance (conventional medicine or other) is the one who can tell what s/he gains from it good or bad.
Your indication that we are all subject to superstitious and misguided beliefs is reassuring. Therefore the doubters minds should also be examined. A 5 yrs daily use of antibiotics for e..g. Acne should be concerning, hence CAM

By: Berber Anna

Berber Anna — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:59:15 +0000

Peter: Oh, I totally buy that conventional medicine will have undesired effects more often than homeopathic medicine. Guess why? Because homeopathy has no effects whatsoever, good or bad. It’s either water or sugar, or occasionally alcohol (granted, that may poison you in large quantities, but we’re talking drops here). There’s no active ingredient apart from the energy signature mumbo jumbo.

Yes, conventional medicine has side effects. Yes, sometimes it has no effect at all. And sometimes it takes some time to take effect, and impatient patients have turned to alternative medicine by then and ascribe said effect to their witchdoctor’s practice of choice.

By the way, doctors/vets/dentists etcetera are still human. They are subject to superstition and misguided beliefs, just like us.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:42:20 +0000

Let’s ask why people turn to these alternatives? People look for alternatives when the accepted services fail them. What should one do when conventional practices have difficulty solving patients problems and can’t seem to find other ways for doing so? The Dr’s is the first port of call, therefore something must be wrong when patients then look for other means to deal with their problems.
People should not forget that homeopaths are also tax payers but the amount spent from taxes on homeopathy is so minute compared to that spent on correcting the wrongs created by conventional medicine. If homeopathy is that bad then there must be a lot of misguided Drs, Vets, Dentists, Pharmacists etc., all trained initially in the conventional sciences but do practice homeopathy.

By: Bletherskite

Bletherskite — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:27:08 +0000

Howard – they may be ‘serious’ in that they believe in their wooo but homeopathic remedies do not stand up to serious testing. Whether it is anecdotal evidence from your dear old auntie or medicine dished out by an “experienced practitioner” these remedies have no scientific basis.

If they worked, scientists worldwide would have hailed them as wondrous remedies and there would be no controversy, no ‘alternative’ just medicine.

By: Simon Smith

Simon Smith — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:14:31 +0000

Howard Roark, yes, sugar pills with no active ingredient in one case, and sugar pills with none of a /completely different/ active ingredient in another. It’s absolutely vital that you receive the correct dose (none) of the correct ingredient or who knows what could happen?

By: Howard Roark

Howard Roark — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:42:09 +0000

There are serious health care centers for homeopathic health care. It is very necessary that one counsels with the experienced practitioner rather then listen to some aunt who used certain homeopathic pills. The medicine differ with respect to the cases!

By: Raymond

Raymond — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:47:03 +0000

@Aran, Hi!
The fact that it “works” on babies is the fact that the human immune system is a marvelous complex system that is there to cure us human beings from about 85% of the illnesses around. So even without homeopathic drugs the baby or animal would have been cured.

I totally agree that these days we go extremely overboard with medicine. A slight pain or cold somewhere in our head or a mild lump and we are frantically seeking the doctors advice. We as a western society have been conditioned into hypochondriacs –the complete opposite of placebo
I thought long an hard whether to take the swineflu vaccine or not. In the end I decided to take it knowing that anything hits my asthmatic ridden chest. Deciding between two evils.

I am not against herbal medicine just homepathic drugs because it is just water!

By: Aran

Aran — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:50:59 +0000

@Paul and Raymond:
So either, it doesn’t work because it’s not real medicine. But if it does work, what was being treated was not a real illness.
I congratulate you on winning the argument purely by the force of rhetorics.
I’m not sure how you’d explain how homeopathic remedies come to work on six-month-old babies where imho there can be neither autosuggestion nor placebo effect but I’m sure you have an answer to that as well.
You also should note that I’m by no means opposed to conventional medicine, but I think people should get their priorities straight. That swine flu vaccine which is now being pushed on children, the elderly, and pregnant women without ever being properly tested on these groups may be a bigger risk to national health than any “alternative therapies” that get bashed at will.
@Stu: THANKS. Couldn’t have said it better.

By: Stu

Stu — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:53:25 +0000

LOTS of comments on this one – Here’s my two-penneth.

First ask yourself how any particular “potion” came to be accepted as beneficial.

If it was accepted as beneficial centuries ago, then it may be beneficial to some people – possibly the type of people who were unlike those tested (we are all different after all).

People differ in what they put into their bodies and also how often they put things in there as well as the varying amounts of energy they expend, how hot or cold they keep themselves etc.

so could it be possible that the active ingredients in some “potions” will be negated by aspects of lifestyle? for example – one remedy may not work if a person is a smoker or another remedy may only be effective if someone eats what “experts believe” is an unhealthy amount of salt.

Lager calms me, but i dont drink til I hurl

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:45:49 +0000

@Aran

It’s impossible to self medicate on Homeopathic remedies because they aren’t medicine!

You can take an entire bottle of homeopathic sleeping-pills and suffer no ill effects, apart from a slight sugar-rush since they have no active ingredient whatsoever. (James Randi has already done this a few times to attempt to point out how homeopathic remedies are *not* medicines).

Paul B