On 4 Jan 2011 at 11:09pm Sideways From Bighton wrote:
Anyone see the report on homeopaths offering, ahem, homeopathic "alternatives "to Malariia vaccination?
With the state of the deficit, NHS cash for worthless voodoo quackery definitely needs cutting
On 4 Jan 2011 at 11:34pm Newmania wrote:
Is there actually any evidence that the entire "Talking cure " industry does any good ? Lets cut some modern superstitions while we are at it
" But how does that make you feel ?"
On 5 Jan 2011 at 7:01am wallander wrote:
£60-80 per hour listening to people tell you their problems. If it doesn't work then its pretty expensive.
On 5 Jan 2011 at 7:13am Twinky wrote:
There are vast swathes of research that show that homeopathy is no better than a placebo. These are ignored by the homeopathy industry, who when challengedrely on this, either reply with their own higly flawed data (never peer reviewed) or say "more research is needed" when in fact no its not. Read Ben Goldacre's "Bad Science". I don't care what these quacks say until it is presented as an alternative to proper medicine by the NHS- if we go down this route, where for serious conditions people may waste their and the NHSs time, lives are being put at risk.
On 5 Jan 2011 at 9:20am Newmania wrote:
Twinky don`t you think that there is something in the idea of looking at health in a holistic way and concerntrating positively on health and balance as a opposed to the Western tradition of chiefly being interested in disease.
Are you sure,for example,that the practice of meditation and variously seeking calmness does not help blood pressurre ,heart conditions allergies and the rest of the modern maladies which, are getting worse not better.
I am infinitely more open to such suggestions than the idea that handing out prozac and chit chat ,in the end ,does any good personally ,and I am,I like to think,a reasonably rational person.
On 5 Jan 2011 at 10:56am Clifford wrote:
I have to agree with most of what you said Newmania - though you miss out the fact that were talking here about a group of money-grubbing quacks who operate at virtually the same level of rationality as astrologers.
On 5 Jan 2011 at 11:46am Librarian wrote:
Try reading '13 Things That Don't Make Sense' by Michael Brooks, who, coincidentally is from Lewes (not that that makes any difference!). He puts forward some interesting arguments both for and against hoemeopathy, and despite the overwhelming view in the scientific community that it is no more than a placebo, there remain some arguments for its efficacy that cannot be explained. There is even an explanation of how water molecules could hold a 'memory' of sorts, despite the impossibility of this being the main argument against it.
Before someone comes on here trying to start a scientific argument with me, let me just say I am not expressing my own views on the subject, just saying that this is an interesting book. Oh, and I am not the author, or in any way related to him either!!
On 5 Jan 2011 at 3:10pm SHS wrote:
A good day's hard manual labour will cure most problems.
On 6 Jan 2011 at 12:39am Brixtonbelle wrote:
Except broken limbs
On 6 Jan 2011 at 11:04am Clifford wrote:
.. which I understand homeopathic remedies are of little use for too.
On 6 Jan 2011 at 12:58pm Nick Riviera wrote:
As far as I understand, no remedies, conventional, hoemeopathic or otherwise can cure a broken limb. They have to just get better on their own.
On 6 Jan 2011 at 1:14pm brixtonbelle wrote:
Eh Nick ? When my sister broke her arm she went to an NHS hospital and had it put in a conventional medicine plaster cast. That and some conventional medicine pain killers helped a lot. Or I suppose she could have left it dangling and twisted and just hoped it would get better on its own....
On 6 Jan 2011 at 4:00pm Nick Riviera wrote:
Yes BB, but a plaster cast is not a cure, and can hardly be called a conventional medicine (as opposed to any other kind), it is just a means of restricting movement to allow the bone to heal itself. I am sure a hoemeopath, herbalist, or any other kind of alternative practitioner would recommend exactly the same treatment for a broken limb. Pain killers meanwhile may be very good at easing pain, but again, they do not cure broken bones.
On 6 Jan 2011 at 10:51pm homoepath wrote:
actually homeopathy can ne effective for broken bones, esp the pain see hxxp://homeopathyplus.com.au/cases/fractured-bones.html "omeopathy can assist in repairing broken bones that result from genetic problems or osteoporosis"
also hxxp://www.ecologyhealthcenter.net/node/177 "The homeopathic remedy Symphytum, or Comfrey, has been known for centuries as Knitbone. It has a remarkable ability to speed the healing of bones"
On 7 Jan 2011 at 9:49am Nick Riviera wrote:
I take it all back!
On 7 Jan 2011 at 12:33pm Hoodie Hugger wrote:
Newmania, I agree that health should be looked at in a holistic way, but should the NHS be solely responsible for that? Isn't their remit to make people better when things do go wrong?
Librarian, good recommendation, I found that book interesting too (although I think he slightly stretches the idea in places).
On 7 Jan 2011 at 1:09pm Brixtonbelle wrote:
I didn't say a plaster cast was a cure, just that it often helps heal a broken bone.
Homeopathy is proven quackery, no doubt about it. It's about as effective as a placebo.
Comfrey might help speed the process, but I reckon you would need masses more than the amount used in homeopathic remedies. Still each to their own.
I'd just like to see how homeopaths deal with something like measles effectively given their antipathy to conventional medicine.
On 7 Jan 2011 at 3:47pm Nick Riviera wrote:
Why mention it then BB? All I was saying is that there is no cure in conventional medicine for a broken limb, and you brought up NHS plaster casts as if to say that was proof to the contrary - you certainly didn't say 'it often helps heal a broken bone'.
Meantime, try reading the Michael Brooks book mentioned above, the 'proof' about hoemeopathy is not quite as cut and dried as you might like to think.
Also, just because it may not be able to cure measles does not prove it to be quackery, any more than a lack of a cure for the common cold does not make conventional medicine so.
I have never used it myself, so I cannot make any comment on its efficacy other than by repeating what I have read.
On 7 Jan 2011 at 6:59pm brixtonbelle wrote:
Nick I don't really care enough about it to get het up. But just to requote myself, I said:
" When my sister broke her arm she went to an NHS hospital and had it put in a conventional medicine plaster cast. That and some conventional medicine pain killers helped a lot."
'helped a lot' being the operative words. I never claimed a cast cured it. And my initial remark about broken limbs was lighthearted. Never mind.
Have a good weekend and keep taking the medicine !
On 10 Jan 2011 at 1:30pm Nick Riviera wrote:
Why start your post 'Eh Nick?' then? I am only trying to establish what point you were trying to make. I can't see any other reason for you to make the comments that you did. It's not worth worrying about really. Anyway, thanks, I had a nice weekend. Hope you did too!