not admit to my lovely df that i think homeopathy is a load of, well, nonsense?

[ForkInTheForeheid]

My df is a big believer in homeopathy, the homeopathic Dr was the first port of call when we were kids, I'm sure we as kids and my dad have had lots of benefit from the placebo effect over the years. :-) however, as an adult with a critical mind and some scientific knowledge I came to the conclusion that I didn't believe any of homeopathy's claims. So for several years every time DS or I get any illness my dad tells me which homeopathic remedy I need, emphatic that aconite will destroy the common cold if you "catch it early enough" and that rus. tox. (?) will cure chicken pox and stop the spots from turning into scabs, they will just disappear back into the body apparently...

So aibu to politely nod and agree despite thinking it's a load of rubbish (no placebo effect if you don't believe it will work either) or should I admit my scepticism to him? I'm usually pretty honest with people and so it makes me feel icky and uncomfortable but I don't want to hurt his feelings.

I have this dilemma with a dear friend. She even did a homeopathy degree (such things exist?) I try to change the subject.

Well, arnica drops worked brilliantly for me after I had DS. Can't believe how quickly I healed from the bruising and soreness.

It's not nonsense. It's water

YANBU as long as your father is never in a position to make medical decisions about your DCs.

Its just water, James Randi does the best debunking of it, you can find him on youtube and show her the clips.

Herbal arnica is proven to be effective, different to homeopathic arnica (which is so diluted that there is no arnica left).

I just agree with my MIL when she suggests I see a homeopath for whatever ailment. I think it's nonsense but she's a lovely woman and I don't see the point of forcibly rejecting her advice.

*him

Luckily he's not anti any conventional medicine, has had hernia operations etc. just far prefers homeopathy.

I took the boots arnica drops which claim to be homeopathic. Worked brilliantly for me.

*that should be all conventional medicine

Will look up james Randi, however doubt I would change his mind even in the face of strong evidence unfortunately

Buy him a copy of Trick or Treatment by Edvard Erst and Simon Singh - there is a whole chapter about what a load of bilge homeopathy is.

On second thoughts don't do that - it's mean. Just keep nodding and smiling. But don't let him be in charge of the medicine cabinet

The problem is iphond that you don't know if they worked, you know you took them, you know you got better quickly but you don't know that one caused the other, could be placebo, could be coincidence.

I don't know - it has been going a long time for it to be considered rubbish.

Does sticking needles in you cure illness? Well 1.3 billion chinese people think so, so who am I to disagree.

They have a point with the theory of treating the whole person rather than just the complaint. Ime people often become ill when emotionally stressed for whatever reason.

Homeopathy has been proved to have a placebo effect (if memory serves, that means it has a positive effect in around a third of cases)

Some bona fide drugs are not far off that figure.

If your father finds it helps him, then good for him.

I think your right mrsbaldwin - I'm just weird with things that involve lying, omitting the truth - makes me uncomfortable but I think the right thing to say is nothing :-s

"Does sticking needles in you cure illness? Well 1.3 billion chinese people think so, so who am I to disagree."

They don't, you know. Many of them think that it helps with pain relief. But when they can afford it they use it alongside science based medicine.

Nod and smile but of course its total bunkum

Hmeopathy has never been proven to have any greater effect than a placebo ie it's no more effective than a sugar pill.

Not that long mayisout, only a couple of hundred years, and as others have said the placebo effect can be powerful.

Tricky one. I wouldn't use homeopathic remedies, but I suppose I would maybe just nod and smile, unless it seemed like more of a problem than that, then I would say something.

My DMil was fretting about DS having the MMR, so I gave her a copy of Ben Goldacre's book Bad Science?

Homeopathy is a complete and utter con. The sort of things it 'works' on are things that basically get better within a week anyway, because it's chalk and water. If 'water molecules have a memory' we'd all be dead of fucking cholera because of all the memories-of-infected-shit we've ingested.

However, in the case of your DF, as long as he's got enough functioning cognitive dissonance going on to see a proper doctor for serious injuries and illnesses and confine the woo-bollocks to minor ailments that nothing makes any difference to anyway, let him get on with it and treat his fondness for it like any other superstition: a silly but harmless trait in a lovable person, same as believing in gods or liking Emmerdale.

To believe in homeopathy you have to believe that water has a memory. Have you ever asked your dad whether he really believes that?

No I don't think I have akissisnotacontract, think I've always avoided broaching the issue since having my Epiphany (really was, I liken to someone who's grown up in the church becoming an atheist :-) )

I got give some homeopathic arnica pills after having an operation, by a well meaning relative. What made me laugh was on the packet it suggested contacting a doctor in the case of an overdose. They were quietly binned and I healed remarkably quickly anyway.

The thing about the placebo effect is that the homeopathic nonsense can make you feel better. Which is annoying as it's so blatantly bullshit.