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It’s not something that comes up often per se, but I’ve mentioned homeopathy a few times in the past month or two, and each time I have to mention that it’s a complete pseudoscience. , each time I don’t have time to delve into homeopathy. More on why it’s pseudoscience. So some of my viewers asked if I could make a video explaining the details, but I held off because there was no reason to make a newsworthy video. But this week, I was researching a topic for another video, and I realized I’d be mentioning it again, and I wish I had another video where I could say, “If you want to know more about that, go watch it.” I thought so. This”? Good. Let’s go.
Many years ago, when I was 21 or 22, I was a scrappy hippie living in low-income housing in Seattle with no health insurance. I had a health problem and couldn’t afford to see a doctor, so I went to a local herbalist. It’s like being a doctor, right? of course. He gave me natural homeopathic remedies and I also took them. Did nothing. I just blamed myself, thinking maybe I didn’t explain the problem clearly enough. Granted, the problem was that this wasn’t an all-natural remedy, right??
It wasn’t until a few years later that I learned that “alternative medicine” refers to so-called ineffective “medicine,” and that there is a difference between “natural remedies” and “homeopathy.” It is as follows: “Natural remedies” is a broader category that includes a variety of dubious treatments and outright bullshit, but is generally based around things like vitamins and minerals and changing your diet to “whole foods.”
Homeopathy is sometimes considered a subset of natural medicine, but unlike many other natural remedies, homeopathy does not contain any active ingredients. There is not a single molecule such as vitamins or painkillers. In my opinion, this is what makes homeopathy the second most ridiculous alternative medicine method of all time.
The first is “Therapeutic Touch.” This is where no one touches anyone and a nurse or nursing school dropout waves their hands over the patient’s body for a while and then declares the patient healed.
However, homeopathy is a close runner-up. To explain why, I will briefly share the honest truth as told by homeopaths themselves. I promise I’m not making this up. Homeopathy is based on two important truths.
Firstly, “like cures like”. Medications work when they cause the symptoms that the patient is currently experiencing. This is where the name “homeopathy” comes from. It is a combination of the Greek words meaning “love” and “suffering”.
This means, for example, if you have an unpleasant itch, you should take something that causes itching in healthy people, such as poison ivy. If you have cancer, x-rays should be helpful. If you have migraines, a falling anvil may help. etc.
The idea was conceived in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann, who heard that a certain type of bark could treat malaria. He didn’t have malaria, but when he ate the bark to see what would happen, he experienced the same symptoms that malaria patients experience: high fever, uncontrollable shaking, and joint pain. I see that I have started. Therefore, “like cures like.”
This is a very good example of the difference between “medicine” and “alternative medicine.” While alternative medicine experts stopped after one anecdotal data point and built an entire industry around it, real medical experts continued to understand that: The bark of the tree contains quinine, which is toxic to the parasites that cause malaria, but is delicious when combined with a good gin.
This is the first rule of homeopathy. It is said that “like cures like”.
Hahnemann himself soon realized that this was not enough. It is clear that dropping an anvil on a migraine sufferer’s head will only make the headache worse, not better. So the second rule is less is more. Perhaps a very small anvil? And if dilution makes the treatment better, then it stands to reason that diluting something even better makes it even better, and applying that to its natural conclusion, the strongest possible dilution is simply It must be far beyond the point at which a single molecule acts. “Treatment” remains. In the migraine example, you might get to the point where you just draw an anvil on a post-it note and stick it on the top of the patient’s head.
Some people say, “Okay, wait for Rebecca.” “Surely you’re being hyperbolic. Surely you don’t actually dilute it to the point where not a single molecule remains.” Unfortunately, I’m sorry to inform you that this is the case. Hahnemann measured dilution using a “C” scale, where C stands for 100. That is, a 1C dilution ratio would be 1 part of the original substance diluted with 100 parts of water or alcohol. 1% of the substance remains. The scale increases logarithmically, so a 2C dilution corresponds to 1 part of the original substance in 10,000 parts of solution, leaving 0.01% of the original substance.
12C is the highest dilution at which a single molecule of the original substance is likely to still be present in the formula. The mathematician accurately describes 12 degrees as “a pinch of salt in both the North and South Atlantic.” 13C would be less than a single drop of the original substance in all the water on Earth. Hahnemann advocated diluting therapeutic agents to at least 30°C (10 to the 60th power). A quick search of currently available homeopathic products reveals that temperatures typically range from 30°C to 200°C.
“Okay, Rebecca,” you’re probably thinking now, “I didn’t mean to be too dramatic, but it was really unkind of me to joke about drawing an anvil on a post-it note and sticking it on a patient’s head.” You’re really poisoning the well with this ridiculous thing.”
friend. Hold on to your hat.
In June 2000, the New Zealand Homeopathic Association published its quarterly newsletter and included an editorial criticizing fellow homeopaths who were offering paper remedies.
“…when you run out of a suitable homeopathic remedy, write its name and potency on a piece of paper and put it in your pocket or pin it to the left side of the patient’s chest. Be careful not to write down too high a potency.
“But my laughter stopped when I read on and found out that this practice is being promoted by someone who claims to be a classical homeopath, and is all very serious about it. .
“And even more terrifying: 30 cents for extra fat to lose weight, 30 cents for lack of funds to increase real estate sales, 200 cents for computer operation for hard drive problems, 200 cents for driving a car. There were numerous reports from people claiming to have tried “paper cures” such as making it 30 cents. Sick car, courage for public speaking 30c, total recall for exams 30c, and the more mundane headaches 30c, dizziness 30c, itchy feet 30c, etc. Someone said that AGNUS CASTUS LM1 feels good while AGNUS CASTUS 30c has a negative effect.
“The woman I refer to is Eileen Nauman, who will be running courses in New Zealand.
“For those who find it too difficult to write the name of a remedy on a piece of paper, Gillian Leigh, owner and manager of a company called White Mountain in the UK, offers a pocket-sized homeopath that fits inside. “Simply speak the name of the remedy and its potency, and the lactose tablet in the well becomes the remedy so spoken.” ”
Yes, this is a kind of illegal practice, but there are homeopaths who write down their remedies on paper and claim that it will cure the patient.
The funniest thing of all of this is that “mainstream” homeopaths say, oh, I like a cure, okay… dilute it until there’s nothing left, sure, that makes sense…wait a minute, that The idea is to write it down on paper. paper? That’s just stupid. That’s ridiculous. Don’t we have standards?
Anyway, that’s homeopathy! A bunch of nonsense. Now, the next time you mention homeopathy in your video, you won’t have to stop and explain. You saved me countless seconds!
