Great news about Homeopathy! Proved to be the most effective treatment in

[PigletJohn]

Great news about Homeopathy! Proved to be the most effective treatment in 0 out of 64 illnesses!

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/homeopathy-therapeutic-dead-end-systematic-review-no-evidence-it-works-a6884356.html

"Professor Paul Glasziou, a leading academic in evidence based medicine at Bond University, was the chair of a working party by the National Health and Medical Research Council which was tasked with reviewing the evidence of 176 trials of homeopathy to establish if the treatment is valid.

A total of 57 systematic reviews, containing the 176 individual studies, focused on 68 different health conditions - and found there to be no evidence homeopathy was more effective than placebo on any"

^Today 01:56 LuisCarol

Proved to be the most effective treatment in 0 out of 64 illnesses

That's great news! The water clearly needs to be diluted only one more time, and it could be the most effective treatment in 0 out of 128 illnesses. Thanks!^

I have a terrible cold (maybe I need a homeopath as "big pharma" are probably withholding the cure) and actually just laughed, bringing on a painful coughing fit. So thanks

I know nothing about homeopathy however I do know it is also true that SSRI's are proven to be no more effective than the placebo too.

And a sugar/water pill is a hell of a lot cheaper than anti depressants. I dread to think how much the NHS spend on these drugs that are also no more effective than the placebo effect.

That isn't really true about SSRIs though. All but one meta-analysis seem to show SSRIs do have an effect over placebo.

And that study was a) not very well done and b) published in what appears to be a not very well known journal by someone who was selling a book on the subject. Which might explain a).

In practice the role of placebo in treating depression is quite complicated, although fascinating.

I've heard it's effective at treating exceptionally mild dehydration

A friend of mine posted about this on FB and a friend of hers WHO HAS A DEGREE IN MICROBIOLOGY went on about how her whole family had been cured of mild and fluctuating conditions by homeopathy and that "science doesn't understand how water works".

Best thread title ever

Although I would still like to try the Berlin Wall remedy. Was it to overcome separation or something like that?

There's a study going on not far from us to see if homeopathy works for ADHD. I despair. Angry to at the false hope it'll lead for parents who really need help that actually works. Of course, if they can scientifically demonstrate that water can actually alter brain chemistry I'll be the first in line to be amazed.

My family and I have had tonnes of stuff cured by homeopathy. Now if it was the placebo effect then fine. I'm happy to pay for it. Would never expect to get it on the nhs and nor would I use it for serious stuff, but I'm still very glad of the benefit I've had from it.

Rafa - SSRIs don't work on their own for depression. You can argue against that all you like, but simply, they do not cure depression.

Yet, we still spend a fortune on them.

Funny that, seeing as they are a massive huge ridiculous source of revenue for the pharmaceutical industry.

Never mind the statins scandal which the NHS spends a lot lot more than £4m a year on.

It's weird that people get so tetchy about homoepathy when it is usually simply a personal choice, not an NHS thing.

peas people are "tetchy" because vulnerable people are being exploited. In some cases they are encouraged not to take actual medicine. It is completely unethical and immoral.

I think most people use homeopathy as supplementary medicine when everything else has failed.

I've never used it but also never heard of one real life person who has used it instead of conventional medicine.

I stand by the feeling that people mock homeopathy to try and look all clever and sciency, when the truth is there are hundreds of shite drugs that we accept as being effective which are not based on objective science (if such a thing can even exist in medicine)

Homeopaths or alternative medicine practitioners of any kind should be banned who do that. I've never been advised anything like that, and I'm sure most homeopaths wouldn't dream of undermining medical advice.

What???

But there are things out there that science still can't explain!
Says my atheist sister.

Yep peas. In my experience, homeopathy has helped where medicine could online manage the symptom. Like I say, maybe it's placebo, but it's a damn powerful one and I shall use it again if I see fit. My mum, my baby and I have all been very glad of it.

Science can't explain the placebo effect, that is true.

Unless I missed the paper...?

I only found out recently there's an NHS homeopathy hospital.

Yes.
Once I participated in a clinical trial conducted for them. Mostly as a favour for a colleague.
They were already charging thousands for the treatment and needed the trials to get NHS funding for it.

I clearly had a placebo... Or not...
I was a colleague of the person running it and it seems (after it ended) that the trial wasn't successful.

But they still were happy to charge people for it before any evidence.
That's about all I need to know.

I also have another story.
My son had enduring heel pain. After a few months his paediatrician suggested homeopathy. He was a convert and am a clear sceptic (and scientist...). Anyway... a month later my son simply got better.
Except I didn't go for it.
If I had, I'd have thought it was the "treatment", even the placebo effect. But the truth is that his body just stopped aching. (Probably growing pain)

So neither conventional medicine or homeopathy cured your son......yet your only criticism is for homeopathy. Surely that doesn't make sense.

Yeah it doesn't hold up scientifically that's for sure. So the nhs should have nothing to do with it. But it's different strokes for different folks isn't it? People have the experiences they have of homeopathy and that informs them to keep using it or shelve it.

I'm not a fan of unnecessary medicine, anyway. And as no condition was found there was no treatment as such. Except pain killers.
There's quite a lot where traditional medicine works. And homeopathy doesn't (same conditions).
Which is not to say traditional medicine has all the answers. Certainly not.

But science has a pretty good idea how the placebo effect works.
In pain, for example. Pain is perceived by the brain. Some chemicals produced by the body makes us feel happier, more relaxed, or are natural pain killers.
The placebo effect may help make cancer treatment more effective, but it won't get rid of it.

Oh you doubters. This site explains it all:

www.howdoeshomeopathywork.com/

franke

And I was just about to post "bollocks" but no, OP, I heartily agree with you. And you cheered me up!

Tomorrow I will mostly trying not to look too sciency and clever, however I shall still be mocking homeopathy.

the thing about illnesses is that over time, either they get better, or they don't, and eventually you die. With careful selection of evidence, you can claim anything.