To wonder whether people on here know that teething powders are homeopathy?

[ArfAPandaTreacle]

Whenever the word 'homeopathy' is mentioned on here, you instantly get people saying that it's woo. Water doesnt have a memory etc.

But when someone posts asking why Ashton and Parsons is no longer on the shelf, you get a lot of replies saying how good it is, where you can get it, that Nelsons also do some (disclaimer - Ashton and Parskns and Nelsons and Boots own teething powder are all identical).

So out of interest, why when someone posts about teething powder do you never get anyone saying 'homeopathy is woo! Water has no memory.'

And why, when you have a 'homeopathy is woo' thread do you never get all those teething powder loving mums saying 'Actually, teething powder works really well for my baby.'

Please take this as the light hearted, inquistive thread that I intend it to be.

Homeopathy is based on the idea that 'like cures like'. Oh, and diluting something makes it more powerful.
But any remedy with an actual ingredient in couldn't be classed as homeopathic.
In a homeopathic remedy, the 'active ingredient' is diluted to the point where is can't possibly be present in the final medicine - you need to understand orders of magnitude to have any concept of the scale of the dilution.
rationalwiki is helpful

I'd understood that teething powders were herbal, not homeopathic, as they have a herbal ingredient in them. They may or may not 'work', but if people find them helpful, what's the problem? I used Rescue Remedy as a cure for anxiety attacks a while back - it worked as a placebo (and yes, as someone else mentioned, possibly the 70% alcohol helped ;) ) Placebos are very powerful.

Does it really matter ? :) works for some not for others. Same goes for everything medical
And non medical. Anythin that can reduce the need for drugs which can have nasty side effects is surely a good thing? As long as medical attention is always sought when needed.

As for the placebo effect, well doesnt that happen anyway? I mean they did an experiment in an office with headache sufferers gave half a placebo pill and half ibuprofen. Many of those who received the placebo pill reported their headache gone.

As for dilutions/strengths actually in something like an aspirin the % of actual medical ingredient was tiny. I remember having to
Work out the dose in chemistry class at school. The amount of active ingredient was tiny.

I would say that unless someone is actually allergic to water or a plant (like people can be allergic to any medicine) it can't hurt to try. I'd happily try something non medical.

:)

Interesting article here about how homeopathic remedies are made and what they contain (just water then). It does make a couple of statements about things being 'proven' but there are no references.

I was giving my DD these wraps of cocaine teething powders and they seemed to work. THEN I found out they were homeopathic but not labelled as such. I was bloody LIVID I'd been paying for a wrap of sugar.

So next time DD cried with teething pain I put the same amout of icing sugar on her tongue as I would have these powders. And you know what?
It did exactly the same!

Researched a bit and there is growing evidence that sugar acts as a painkiller. Seemed to work for my non-newborn DD.

This study reported in The Lancet with double blind testing etc says that sugar did not appear to be a painkiller for newborn babies but then they admit that they weren't measuring the actual percieved pain but a brain activity related to it. The sugar may well distract the child so it does not conciously experience the pain.

But whatever - it worked for me and my children and now I give them chocolate buttons just before their injections and they don't even flinch! (placebo effect or not - I like it!)

Bonzo, I posted that sentence to specify that in most areas of life I tend towards the rational and not the woo, glad it amused you

I can't help with references right now, I'm on my phone but the point of my post was that we don't know for sure how homeopathy supposedly works in order to debunk it. The Ennis study was interesting as it somewhat rules out the placebo effect but she herself remains critical and the results have not been replicated since.

The placebo effect however is very real, very powerful and I see no logical reason for the constant derision by supposedly logical minds who label homeopathy 'just' a placebo. I fail to see whats so bad about tricking the body into healing itself instead of resorting to medicines, most of which have side effects.

Oh ^sorry Bruffin - I hadn't realised it was the bible that inbued the water with its magic powers. (It has a record for that doesn't it?)

Well that's obviously okay then

Summer you cound't find a paper on a supercomputer not just your iphone because there aren't any!

I'm all for the placebo effect - bloody marvelous. (Mostly) no side effects and free ... but don't try to sell it as the chemical effect. And don't try to sell it as the "homeopathic" efect working. It's the placebo effect of doing / taking something.

We don't need to know how something works in order to debunk it

Being able to prove that it does not work does just fine

There are many pharmaceutical products that would apply to that statement to. If people were to pull every homeopathic remedy , herbal remedy, and medicine that didn't work for a significant number of people then there would literally be nothing at all left.

If people post asking for ideas as to what might help them or their dc then there is no harm
In being made aware of every option. What they choose to do with the info is up to them.

No harm
In trying of there is a chance however small that it might work and certainly won't hurt anybody to try. :)

No, there's no harm in trying homeopathy for minor things like colds, headaches, hayfever etc. But people deserve to know what they are buying. If it doesn't bother them that it's just water/sugar and that there's no proof that any of it works then it's up to them, but it shouldn't be sold as if it's guaranteed to work and it shouldn't be sold alongside conventional medicine that has active ingredients in it.

Most babies seem to suffer a multitude of symptoms attributed to teething the main one is often tummy upsets resulting in colic and diarrhoea. It is likely that most stomach upsets are due to babies chewing on hands and anything available to relieve the discomfort and infecting themselves with new bacteria which are the actual causative agent of the stomach upset.

Nature has probably intended this way in order to build up our normal gut bacteria( for those of you who are having minor panic attacks)

One of the best old remedies for colic/wind is sugared water. These old (snake oil ) manufacturers of tooth powders just did the maths and banked the profits. Yes they do work but probably not because they have some magic ingredient.
I always gave calpol to my ds because when I have toothache I take paracetamol.
On a similar vein I once met a family whose little girl had the most awful infected nappy rash. They were using cloth nappies but obviously hadn't grasped that although very echo friendly you just can't leave a child in them for hours. There method of dealing with the pain this poor little girl was in was to do do breathing control. She was 2 years old. It was criminal watching her try to sit down next to he father while he panted with her to blow away the pain.

Well I found teething powders a pile of absolute shite for all 3 of my kids.

Sorry 'their' for anyone who reads in full

It does say on the box that it's herbal. It's the chemist that has it in the shelf next to the other teething remedies. Seems the beef should be more with them not displaying it in the "alternative medicine" section. :)

But many feel homeopathy does work for them, and the Ennis study was constructed in such a way that placebo effect was eliminated yet she (a hardened sceptic) could not prove homeopathy doesn't work, despite that being her sole aim when constructing the experiment.

Science has not conclusively proven homeopathy doesn't work, its tried very hard but hasn't quite managed it. Proper studies need to be undertaken to ascertain whether it's 100% placebo, whether the type of homeopathic tincture actually alters the effects, whether any known homeopathic punctures undergo the molecular clumping described in my first link, etc.

Until these studies are done then saying 'we know its nonsense. We don't need to prove it doesn't work' is as illogical as claiming 'the water remembers'

Tincture, not punctures

Dyac

Interesting study Bonzo

Interesting summer

Science has not conclusively proven homeopathy doesn't work, its tried very hard but hasn't quite managed it. Proper studies need to be undertaken to ascertain whether it's 100% placebo, whether the type of homeopathic tincture actually alters the effects, whether any known homeopathic punctures undergo the molecular clumping described in my first link, etc.

Lots of studies have been done. They have all demonstrated that the effect of homeopathic remedies is no greater than the placebo affect. It's really not necessary to go on and on repeating experiments to see if they give a different result.

Zombies bit of a late response but my (pisstaking) spiritual refers to the below. Homeopathy in its purest form shouldn't be just handing over the dilutions water. So is therefore different to herbal medicines which I believe have some basis for working.

7] Homeopaths select remedies by consulting reference books known as repertories, considering the totality of the patient's symptoms as well as the patient's personal traits, physical and psychological state, and life history

Scientists among us, is lactose as a sugar for helping soften hard stools (as in lactulose) different from plain granulated/icing sugar in its effects?

Because that's what A&P contains.

Science does not have to prove homeopathy doesn't work. Though even a a very basic knowledge of chemistry would show its claims are invalid.

It is more usual to have to prove something does work before you can profit by selling it. Although I guess we are all affluent enough to pay inflated amounts for what is basically sugar.

Water has a memory

I treat myself with with piss everyday

There are NHS homeopathic hospitals - my GP is a homeopath and a 'proper' doctor. I wouldn't dream of presuming I know better than her and scoff at her qualifications.

I'd imagine the ingredient that helps is the actual powder.

As other posters have pointed out, the crucial difference between herbalism and homeopathy is the dose. Homeopathic preparations do not contain plants (or other substances) in enough quantity to have any measurable effect. Herbal preparations contain the plant in much higher quantities (that can be quantified and have measurable effects) - many allopathic or conventional medicines are actually herbal preparations.