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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Homeopathy vs home remedies

142 replies

suspiria777 · 28/07/2021 16:14

After a long time reading on MN and elsewhere, and just general chats to people at work or at weddings or whatever, I've come to the conclusion that a significant proportion of people don't really understand what homeopathy is, and think of it as roughly synonymous with 'natural medicine' or 'home remedies'.

Am i mistaken?

I can't think what else would explain the large proportion of otherwise seemingly sensible people who discuss homeopathy as if it actually has good scientific evidence base. Surely people don't back it if they realise it is just water and woo woo?

What do you think?

OP posts:
queenMab99 · 28/07/2021 16:22

I don't understand how people do long university based courses, to get qualified, and as far as I know, up until recently, and even now, are employed by Drs Surgeries, when all research seems to come up with no proof that it works.

suspiria777 · 28/07/2021 16:56

Yes, it's shocking the NHS ever funded it!

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Essentialironingwater · 28/07/2021 17:09

I've only ever heard it ridiculed to be honest. But I have a degree in Chemistry and probably naturally surround myself with fellow sceptics.

I have a friend who does reiki and probably believes in homeopathy but we don't talk about woo stuff. Just like I don't really discuss religion with people I know who believe in any Gods, I suppose.

IsThePopeCatholic · 28/07/2021 17:12

It ‘works’ for some people because of the placebo effect. It’s all nonsense though and totally unscientific.

gingerandsmall · 28/07/2021 17:26

I'll never forget my lecturer at uni try and sell us all his homeopathy and acupuncture treatments during a lecture on blood transfusions. Lost all respect for him at that point.

EdgeOfACoin · 28/07/2021 17:34

I've had to bite my tongue when otherwise lovely and sensible people extolled the virtues of homeopathy.

I really do think a lot of people think it is just the same as using natural remedies.

Blackberrybunnet · 28/07/2021 17:36

"Scientific" evidence is one form of evidence, not the only form of evidence.

suspiria777 · 28/07/2021 17:37

@EdgeOfACoin I really do think a lot of people think it is just the same as using natural remedies

I'm glad i'm not the only one with this hunch!

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EdgeOfACoin · 28/07/2021 17:50

Quote from onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/myuviclife/2016/06/07/homeopathy-put-into-perspective/

Homeopathic remedies are typically diluted so excessively that NO molecules of the original substance are present in the actual remedy. Essentially, this means that if you purchase a homeopathic remedy from the drugstore, you will be buying nothing but pills of lactic acid and water, which makes it no different from placebos used in drug trials. I encourage you to watch CBC’s Marketplace special on homeopathy, where they demonstrate that even the most sophisticated analytical instruments can’t detect any medicine in a homeopathic pill. What they did detect in the pills, though, was sugar.

These remedies can range in dilutions from 1 molecule of substance in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules of water, and can even go up to a 1/10^400 dilution, which is one molecule of substance for every 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules of water. That’s what I call dilute.

It’s tough to get an appreciation for how large of a number this is unless it’s made a little easier, so I did some number crunching to give this analogy.

1/10^400 is equivalent to taking one grain of rice, crushing to a powder and dissolving it in a sphere of water the size of the Solar System, with the Sun at the center and the orbit of Pluto at the outside (giving this sphere a radius of 3.67 billion miles), and then repeating that process 8 more times in a series. Now, if that isn’t dilute, I don’t know what is.

Quarantino · 28/07/2021 17:54

I believed they were the same sort of thing as herbal remedies until I looked it up, in my early 20s. Because I couldn't actually believe anyone would sell something like that!
The "best" bit is that it's based on the belief that the more diluted it is, the more effective it is. And that "like cures like", so if e.g. a petal looks a bit like an ear, it cures ear infections or whatever...

Yeah, no.

Maireas · 28/07/2021 17:59

I always wonder what on earth people learn when they get "qualifications" in homeopathy? Properties of water?

Chloemol · 28/07/2021 18:07

What a load of nasty posts. Typical intolerant MNetters

OchonAgusOchonOh · 28/07/2021 18:14

@gingerandsmall

I'll never forget my lecturer at uni try and sell us all his homeopathy and acupuncture treatments during a lecture on blood transfusions. Lost all respect for him at that point.
Acupuncture does have scientific evidence of efficacy for relief of chronic pain.
Quarantino · 28/07/2021 18:14

@Chloemol

What a load of nasty posts. Typical intolerant MNetters
Please, do correct any factual inaccuracies.
noodlezoodle · 28/07/2021 18:15

I think it doesn't help that there are quite a few herbal remedies that are actually labelled as 'homeopathic' when they do in fact have real ingredients, be it an essential oil/tincture or whatever it is. So it's easy for people to get confused.

But homeopathy itself is of course total bullshit, and it's not intolerant to say so.

Maireas · 28/07/2021 18:15

@Chloemol - where are the nasty posts?

suspiria777 · 28/07/2021 18:16

I believed they were the same sort of thing as herbal remedies until I looked it up, in my early 20s. Because I couldn't actually believe anyone would sell something like that!

Aha! More vindication! I can definitely see why it comes off like herbal/natural/home remedies given the name "Home-opathy"

OP posts:
OchonAgusOchonOh · 28/07/2021 18:17

@Blackberrybunnet

"Scientific" evidence is one form of evidence, not the only form of evidence.
@Blackberrybunnet: What other types of evidence are there? And why does scientific get enclosed in quotation marks?
Maireas · 28/07/2021 18:21

@suspiria777

Yes, it's shocking the NHS ever funded it!
I can't believe that actually happened!
coodawoodashooda · 28/07/2021 18:22

I have had enormous success with homeopathy.

suspiria777 · 28/07/2021 18:27

Success with what? Hydration?

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coodawoodashooda · 28/07/2021 18:28

Thats rude.

Freddiefox · 28/07/2021 18:28

I think a lot of people get it mixed up with herbal and natural remedies. Rather than being water.

Freddiefox · 28/07/2021 18:29

@coodawoodashooda

I have had enormous success with homeopathy.
Water’s really good for you.
UrAWizHarry · 28/07/2021 18:31

@Chloemol

What a load of nasty posts. Typical intolerant MNetters
Homeopathy is bollocks. This is a undeniable fact. Nothing nasty about it.