Quizzes & Puzzles1 min ago
Homeopathy 'could Be Blacklisted'
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I know that £4 million is peanuts in the total scale of health spending
but it does seem too much to spend on medicines that are so diluted, that no trace of the original molecules remain. I'm sure that placebos can be obtained cheaper than this.
https:/
I know that £4 million is peanuts in the total scale of health spending
but it does seem too much to spend on medicines that are so diluted, that no trace of the original molecules remain. I'm sure that placebos can be obtained cheaper than this.
https:/
Answers
Homeopathy is nothing more than hocus pocus and the NHS should have nothing to do with it.
08:29 Fri 13th Nov 2015
Good question, retrochic. On the other hand, there is every possibility that the placebo effect would have an impact on animals too. I mean, why not?
In the long run, if you give water and sugar to someone then it's going to have no direct causal impact on their health. Other features are always in play when it comes to medicine, though, and these cloud the issue. Homeopathy, when it comes at least to the practice of 6C and 30C dilution, has no active treatment left and you'd be no better off drinking tapwater.
In the long run, if you give water and sugar to someone then it's going to have no direct causal impact on their health. Other features are always in play when it comes to medicine, though, and these cloud the issue. Homeopathy, when it comes at least to the practice of 6C and 30C dilution, has no active treatment left and you'd be no better off drinking tapwater.
jim -are you serious? How can the placebo effect work on an animal? They have no idea what you are giving them . I have used homeopathic medicine on horses and dogs and seen a difference. I use a London based Homeopathy clinic. I have seen significant differences in recovery from castration in horses when a homeopathic preparation was administered before and after the operation and have used preparations for nervous animals when travelling.
Anyway the OP is about NHS funding and I am of the opinion alternative meds and treatment should be paid for by the patient, thus allowing more funding for conditions that do not respond to homeopathic meds.
Anyway the OP is about NHS funding and I am of the opinion alternative meds and treatment should be paid for by the patient, thus allowing more funding for conditions that do not respond to homeopathic meds.
I might equally wonder if you are being serious in weighing anecdotal evidence against a huge body of failed research trials that consistently demonstrate no impact beyond placebo (in humans, and apparently in animals as well); while any trial that might appear to support homeopathy as an effective treatment almost invariably has a flawed methodology, or skewed data.
As to whether or not there exists a placebo effect in animals -- I believe the answer is as yet unknown, but it is a misconception that "having no idea what you are being given" negates the possibility of placebo. Moreover there is anyway the problem of separating the animal's actual response to the treatment from a human's perception of it -- just as you can't persuade a dog that a sugar pill is more than sugar, you can't really ask how it feels afterwards. Animals have a tendency sometimes to appear deceptively fine one moment and dead virtually the next, for that matter -- or even vice versa, carrying horrific injuries and apparently ignoring them.
No, there is no evidence beyond hearsay and anecdote to support homeopathy as an effective, active treatment in humans or animals. Whether there exists an active placebo effect in animals (or, alternatively, a "proxy placebo"/ conditioning effect), is an active area of debate. The efficacy of homeopathy is not.
"The assumption ... is that any effect in a baby or animal cannot be due to the placebo effect, because placebo effects are dependent upon the expectation of benefit. This is a gross misconception, however. Placebo effects can result from the attention of the caregiver or other non-specific effects. Or they can simply be an artifact of observation – the person observing for an effect in the animal or baby may be the one responding to the placebo... there is no good evidence for the effectively [sic] of any homeopathic remedy in any population."
(from sciencebasedmedicine.org, 2010)
As to whether or not there exists a placebo effect in animals -- I believe the answer is as yet unknown, but it is a misconception that "having no idea what you are being given" negates the possibility of placebo. Moreover there is anyway the problem of separating the animal's actual response to the treatment from a human's perception of it -- just as you can't persuade a dog that a sugar pill is more than sugar, you can't really ask how it feels afterwards. Animals have a tendency sometimes to appear deceptively fine one moment and dead virtually the next, for that matter -- or even vice versa, carrying horrific injuries and apparently ignoring them.
No, there is no evidence beyond hearsay and anecdote to support homeopathy as an effective, active treatment in humans or animals. Whether there exists an active placebo effect in animals (or, alternatively, a "proxy placebo"/ conditioning effect), is an active area of debate. The efficacy of homeopathy is not.
"The assumption ... is that any effect in a baby or animal cannot be due to the placebo effect, because placebo effects are dependent upon the expectation of benefit. This is a gross misconception, however. Placebo effects can result from the attention of the caregiver or other non-specific effects. Or they can simply be an artifact of observation – the person observing for an effect in the animal or baby may be the one responding to the placebo... there is no good evidence for the effectively [sic] of any homeopathic remedy in any population."
(from sciencebasedmedicine.org, 2010)
Naomi: "I can’t go along with that. When I give my dog his medication, he thinks he’s getting a treat. He has no idea his tablets are to help him with his mobility. "
If the dog is perceiving it as a treat he's still, presumably, going to feel in a happy mood, no? That might make a difference.
Perhaps the better way of reading my post is that you can't automatically rule out the possibility of placebo, in one form or another, in animals (or babies for that matter). Since it has already been established well beyond any reasonable doubt that homeopathy is just water/ sugar and has no active element, then it follows that any positive responses in the patient, human or animal, are due to other causes.
If the dog is perceiving it as a treat he's still, presumably, going to feel in a happy mood, no? That might make a difference.
Perhaps the better way of reading my post is that you can't automatically rule out the possibility of placebo, in one form or another, in animals (or babies for that matter). Since it has already been established well beyond any reasonable doubt that homeopathy is just water/ sugar and has no active element, then it follows that any positive responses in the patient, human or animal, are due to other causes.
Oh but it can work, Jim.....you know that.....I have told you and that should be enough......
However......one day you will get cystitis.....you'll be in agony and despair....you'll be incontinent and passing blood...... the antibiotics won't work and you'll think.....
I know.....I'll ask Gness for the name of her homeopath......
And I'm nice....so I will tell you.......and you'll be so grateful.......☺
However......one day you will get cystitis.....you'll be in agony and despair....you'll be incontinent and passing blood...... the antibiotics won't work and you'll think.....
I know.....I'll ask Gness for the name of her homeopath......
And I'm nice....so I will tell you.......and you'll be so grateful.......☺
What convinced me that homeopathy could work was not just that one of the fiercest bouts of cystitis and bleeding I'd had was eased within hours but that I haven't had it since....(and the huge, bloated tummy disappeared..which was bliss!)
That was in about 1990.....
I'd had one appointment which wasn't overly expensive....some weeks later I had a slight irritation and thought I was in for more of the usual with days off work.
I phoned the chap and he gave me a little phial of pills to have by just in case....no charge....
I still have them...☺
That was in about 1990.....
I'd had one appointment which wasn't overly expensive....some weeks later I had a slight irritation and thought I was in for more of the usual with days off work.
I phoned the chap and he gave me a little phial of pills to have by just in case....no charge....
I still have them...☺
For treating certain pain conditions acupuncture may have an effect -- but in fact even the benefits of acupuncture remain hotly debated still, and it's a long way still from no longer being "scoffed at".
Homeopathy and acupuncture both at least have one thing going for them, in that they are not directly harmful either (unless the guy sticking needles in you isn't well-trained or is using dodgy equipment). The main problem is that people who make use of alternative therapies often do so because they distrust the main system. In some cases that may be justified because of bad experiences or a history of failed treatment -- it's up to conventional medicine to improve its practices and communication to combat this.
Homeopathy and acupuncture both at least have one thing going for them, in that they are not directly harmful either (unless the guy sticking needles in you isn't well-trained or is using dodgy equipment). The main problem is that people who make use of alternative therapies often do so because they distrust the main system. In some cases that may be justified because of bad experiences or a history of failed treatment -- it's up to conventional medicine to improve its practices and communication to combat this.
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