Saturday, January 14, 2006

Homoeopathy — is it snake oil?


Apparently some recent scientific experiments have shown that most complementary treatments (and in particular homoeopathy) are ineffective compared to conventional treatment, which I’m perfectly prepared to accept — many of the alternative treatments seem to be juju administered by money grabbing witch doctors. What I can’t understand however, is a placebo effect working with hay fever. I’ve tried so many different conventional pills and potions, and, apart from some very dangerous injections I had in the late ’70s, nothing has worked, until I tried
homoeopathy. And hooray it seems to work. I have three injections in the winter of what is to all intents and purposes, water, and then by some kind of magic I have a relatively sneeze and itch-free summer.

9 Comments:

Blogger Lin said...

LOVELY Sketches!!! And comments! AND HORRAY for whatever works for your hayfever! I do think that there is so much UNKNOWN about the way the body works and effective treatments, that, especially when studying other cultures that specialize in very 'non-western' medical practices, SOMETHING clearly is working, that we can't discount that there is something MORE going on. More than anything, I'm glad your hayfever is better!

1/15/2006 1:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm really happy that your summer misery is over! Now you can enjoy the summer waather without teh dread of a streaming nose.

Rachel

1/16/2006 4:08 AM  
Blogger Julie Oakley said...

Rachel and Lin - maybe my subconscious is a sucker for needles and provided I'm pierced my mind can convince my nose and eyes not to react to the pollen.

1/16/2006 10:57 PM  
Blogger Cream said...

Nice to see that Homeopathy is getting the thumbs up for hayfever.

There has lately been a great increase in Chinese shops selling medicines and treatments. I'd love to know whether these are truly delivering the services they advertise.

1/17/2006 8:36 AM  
Blogger Julie Oakley said...

Cream, from what I've read, I wouldn't touch Chinese medicine in England (some of it is very powerful stuff administered by people who are not necessarily regulated, so a few deaths have happened!)

1/24/2006 10:36 PM  
Blogger gm said...

The other day I came across this blog - "all of today" (that is what it is called, i think)- the writer (lokulus, i guess was his/her name) went at lengths to ridicule a system of theprapeutics that has stood the test of time and remarks, more corrosive than his measly attempt at poetry (sic!). He, in his profile claimed to be a scientist, though I presume he knew nothing of the methods of science for certainly scientific methods do not include discarding (or accepting for that matter) ANYTHING under the sun and on earth without evidence. If something cannot be proved to be true, that it is false, is not an automatic conclusion.

The same is applicable for Homoeopathy. There have been countless attempts by people, grand men of science, philosophy, to disprove Homoeopathy. Inspite of this Homoeopathy continues to benefit countless people across the world. Countless case-studies offer testimony to its efficacy.

I invite people, if they were to call themselves men of science, to do some research before negating (or accepting) something.

2/19/2006 10:01 AM  
Blogger gm said...

I am happy for Julie that she has found relief from her hay fever. That homoeopathy has helped her is no surprise, not is it a chance happening. The efficacy of homoeopathic medicines is well documented through ages and experiences like Julie's are certainly reproducible.

2/19/2006 10:06 AM  
Blogger pensive said...

good for you Julie.. but as a person closely associated with homeopathy i would like to add that isn't just good for hay fever & your regular coughs & colds like it is made out to be. on the contrary its reach is far beyond that. i had the pleasure of treating a child in whose palm a wood splinter was embedded for over a month as a result of injury. inspite of undergoing surgery & god knows how many courses of antibiotics the child was not fine. with simple oral homeopathic medicines the child's ordeal was over as the piece of wood came out of his palm without me having so much as slit it. SIMPLE ORAL MEDICINES. i have the wood piece & the family's faith to endorse this system of medicine. for all those who call homeopathy "placebo" refute this if u can!

5/24/2006 4:07 PM  
Blogger Julie Oakley said...

Having read Ben Goldacre's book Bad Science, I've now seen the light! I no longer believe in the efficacy of this nonsense.

5/21/2012 3:03 PM  

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