That shows that you have never studied homeopathy, right? First of all, they are not highly diluted. Second, I haven't said anything about "spiritual energies". Plants have natural chemicals that can be used as medicine, and everyone has done that. It is just that since we can make chemicals ourselves, we ignore nature and we do it all by ourselves, which in turn causes all the side effects. Allopathy is really stupid sometimes. Sometimes you have more side-effects then anything else! It doesn't treat the diseases, it only treat the symptoms.
Truthseeker, I would suggest that you study the actual teaching of homeopathic medicine a little more carefully. It is not just the use of herbal medicine. Homeopaths believe that a substance becomes more powerful as it is diluted. Because of this, homeopaths commonly dilute their treatments so much that only a few (if any) of the original molecules are present in the final 'medicine'. This sort of thinking is common with proponents of herbal medicine, but it's a huge fallacy. Just because something is 'natural' does not mean that it doesn't have side effects. If a herbal medicine is able to cure disease, it's because the herb contains a chemical or combination of chemicals that is able to effect the body's physiology. Any time you take physiology-altering chemicals into your body, you have a risk of side effects. It doesn't matter whether the chemical was produced synthetically in a lab or 'naturally' in the root of a plant. Chemicals are just chemicals, no matter where you get them. I get sooooo tired of people who think that 'natural' products are somehow more healthy than 'artificial' products. Any time you're tempted to think “Oh, it's natural, that must mean it's safe...” try to remember that arsenic and cyanide are completely natural substances. The only thing that matters is what the product is, not where it comes from. In many cases it's actually much safer to go with products that have been created in a lab, since you're much more likely to get pure substances without all of the random alkaloids that you end up with when you extract something from a plant.
To continue with Big Blue's line of thought, radiation occurs naturally. Natural Radon still isn't good for you. Natural ultraviolet light still isn't good for you.
Exactly. If the bottle says 250mg of X, you're damn sure it's got 250mg of X in it. On an herbal product, you typically get an average. One tab might have 100mg, another may have 475mg. Not to mention all the other random crap that might be riding along. Plus, the fact that herbal remedies do not need to be approved by the FDA because they're not, technically, "drugs" scare the crap out of me. I'd so much rather take a drug made by Merck or McNeil Labs or SmithKlineBeacham (Or whomever the hell they're associated with this month) that has been tested and approved by the FDA than some unknown, random, cottage-industry herbal crap remedy.
Though I haven't studied homeopathy - for I think it is stupid - I did take part in a long and vitriolic series of threads on the subject here, one of which contained a summary of Hahnemann's "Organon of Medicine", which I was unfortunate enough to read part of. (Samuel Hahnemann was the originator of homeopathic medicine.) In that work he speaks of the Vital Force of the human body, which he believes to be responsible for every phenomenon manifested by the human body. Diseases, according to him, are caused by disturbances in the Vital Force, which is why "treating symptoms does not cure disease". In short, mystic forces, evil spirits, et cetera. I hate to break it to you, but the thesis of homeopathy involves "spiritual energies", whether you want to believe it or not. Examine these sites: http://lifematters.com/homeo-vital.html http://www.presentmoment.com/article/1996-2_PM__Homeopathy.html http://www.holistic-online.com/Homeopathy/homeo_how_it_works.htm (Look specifically at the paragraphs headed "Homeopathic Remedies Work in Spiritual/Energy Plane and Not in Physical Plane") In short, this isn't about "natural herbs", it's about hocus pocus. Sorry.
Yeah, well, anyways.... I don't know... let's say I'm opened to discover that I'm wrong about it... Btw, I read that the guy who originated homeopathy was another one. I don't remember his name, but he began working with florals (stuff done with flowers, rather then other parts of plants)....
I understood Hahnemann was a floral researcher... most people credit him with inventing the field. http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/s/sa/samuel_hahnemann.html
What is the human threshhold of sensitivity? Can't a single or just few molecules trigger sensitivity in humans? Can it be true that smaller/lighter the molecule, more & quick can be its senstivity in humans?
I've heard that Bach was the "inventor" of such a field...: http://westmichiganbride.com/stories/wedding_jitters.shtml "Just as Sammuel Hahnemann is considered the Father of Homeopathy, Bach is known as the founder of flower remedy homeopathic treatments. Thousands of people have used his formulations safely and effectively over the years. Just a few drops will help bring back emotional balance, eliminate stress and restore tranquility."
That still puts a gap of more than a hundred years between the two of them... and Bach hopefully knew what "homeopathic" meant when he used the word.
Your assumption that safety is higher using lab produced drugs is in need of a correction. There are approximately 100,000 deaths/year (conservative) from prescription medicines. Faulty diagnosis, faulty prescription, misuse of prescription, faulty manufacturing etc. Do you have any numbers showing that 'lab' manufactured products are safer than natural. You did say " . . .in many cases it's actually safer to go with pure substances . . " I would like a refeence for this. I saw a televised acount of bee stings and leeches used in medical practice. The bee sting wa used in 'headache' treatment where thebeem sting was located toward the back of he neck. Something on the order of 80% success rate was claimed. Also t a biologist (pharmaceutical industry) was trying to isolate the 'active' ingredient of the bee sting extract so it could be mass produceded. This assumes of course, that the 'active' ingredent was one chemical and that 'buffering' activities with other ingredients was immaterial. The 'leeches' were used in severe limb damage cases, near limb loss, that provided a mechanism for the blood to be circulated through the damaged tissues.
So you're saying that lab-manufactured chemicals are dangerous even though they are pure and come in carefully controlled doses, but 'natural' chemicals are safe, even though they aren't pure and don't come in standardized doses? That doesn't make much sense to me. This is more of the typical 'if it's natural it must be safe' fallacy. Did you know that there are around 2 million people in the United States alone that are so allergic to bee stings that a single sting is life threatening?
Hello, how can we relate this topic subject to "cephalic phase effect"? http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=37113
