I don't get it.

[draggonlaady]

The whole homeopathic thing. I don't GET how people think about this stuff. I mean, I totally get that some plants have components with medicinal effect. Hell, something like 2/3 - 3/4 of our drugs are based on plants, so that's a given. What I don't understand though, is why so many people seem to be convinced that medicines that have been developed and tested and standardized so that we know what they do, and why, and exactly how much is in each tablet/capsule/milliliter should be shunned in favor of something that's never been tested, or is given in such diluted tiny doses that even if there IS medicinal effect from the plant it can't possibly be a therapeutic dose; why so many people buy into the "it's natural so it's totally safe" thing. I mean, really--ricin is totally natural, all organic, and deadly as bullets. Why are standardized, regulated medicinal components regarded as less desirable than herbal concoctions from the supplement store downtown? Do people not realize that different parts of the plant have different compositions? That maturity of plant at harvest, and handling, and time since harvest, and the soil it was grown in all affect the composition? That there is NO WAY TO KNOW how much of what is in that powdered stuff without sending it to a lab for analysis? How is that an improvement?

You cannot have things both ways; either the substance has medicinal effect, and therefore there have to be safe and effective dose limits (too little = not effective, too much = toxic) or it's completely safe at any and all doses, and is almost as effective as distilled water.
And it's not just random crazies that come up with these things. A veterinarian on a listserve I subscribe to recently asked for dose recommendations for a homeopathic treatment. Okay, fine.. until the response she got which was "how much you give does not matter, just give it for 3 - 5 days." This from a frelling doctor! How on Earth can it not matter how much you give?! I replied asking (as politely as possible) how dose cannot matter. No replies yet.

Sept dc = 33

Comments

[jacksontwobears.livejournal.com]

Did that frelling doctor get their degree in a box of cereal?
Cracker Jacks, perhaps?
Photo copier?

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Don't know them personally, just that they comment sometimes on the list. Have to be a vet or vet student to be in the group, supposedly. don't know who checks that out and can't recall exactly what i had to do when i signed up. it is an exotic animal vet list, and seems like exotic animals and alternative treatments often go together....

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

My issues with homeopathy are entirely separate from my issues with organic. Totally different discussion. There is, as far as I know, nothing wrong with organic food. I'm not convinced it's BETTER than conventionally produced food health wise, but that's not what I'm talking about.
And the stuff people are wanting me to treat with homeopathic stuff ARE actual medical conditions, and in the vast majority of cases are things for which I have a known, well-studied treatment. There IS something wrong with declining proven and effective treatments in favor of colored water. And again, that doesn't mean that all herbs are useless. I use, for instance, milk thistle extracts on a regular basis. But I don't go buy them on the cheap from the "health food" store, I buy them from a reliable medical company that evaluates samples of every batch so that I know what I'm dosing with. And I sure as hell don't tell people that dose doesn't matter! That's where I have problems--not with the concept that herbs are useful, but with the way people are attempting to use them, and the dual perception/wishful thinking of "it's super effective and absolutely safe in all circumstances" that keeps coming up.

[kresentia.livejournal.com]

I agree - I've never understood the homeopathy thing. Esp when I've had one person say it's all about low levels of poisoning and others have said it's a treatment. I didn't get either of them. That said, I'm a big believer in trying anything that (at least probably) won't make something worse if known treatments aren't working! But I like to start with the known...
I do like your argument.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Well, technically, a lot of medicines are low-level poison. It's all a matter of dose. Which is exactly why I cannot grasp the "dose doesn't matter" argument. Coumadin has saved hundreds of thousands of lives by preventing in-vessel blood clotting and thus strokes and distal thromboses. "Yay!" right? It's also the active ingredient in many rodenticides. All a matter of dose!

[kresentia.livejournal.com]

I understand that. The person I was talking with, as best I understood, was talking about how homeopathics were basically small doses of toxin that made your body react and that's why they worked - like building a tolerance to an allergy. I didn't quite get it...

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

As best I can gather, the theory is very similar to desensitization shots for allergies. But in desensitization, dose is EVERYTHING. If you get it too low, you get no response. If you get it too high, you risk anaphalactic shock. So that STILL doesn't explain the "dose doesn't matter" comment. The doctor has not replied with an explanation.

[cheshirecatco.livejournal.com]

I love homeopathy from a comedy standpoint. It's like someone, somewhere said at every step of the process, "OK, they've bought into *that* bit of wackiness. Let's see how much weirder we can make it." I mean, you start with the idea that like cures like. (Sure! Vomiting? Take ipecac!) Right! People BOUGHT INTO IT! OK, so... dilute it to make it MORE effective! Oh my god, people bought into THAT! Um... We can do it over the INTERNET! Yeah! And people PAY FOR IT.

I swear, someone, somewhere is making this up as a huge practical joke. I refuse to accept that this is for real on the grounds that it would make me cry even more.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

hahahahahahaha