Taking courses in Homeopathic medicine?

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Look into the placebo effect before you waste time and money on something that may tend to make you look gullible.
 
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I don't understand what is meant by the term "homeopathic medicine." Homeopathy is not medicine. Homeopathy is magic. Their pills and potions are made by serial dilution of toxic substances to the point that none of the original substance remains.

So, you take a bit of arsenic, dilute it in 10 mL of water. Hit the container 10 times with a wand or paddle like object. (Seriously, I'm not making that part up.) Take 1 mL of that and dilute it to a 10 mL volume again. Hit it 10 times. (You can't skip the beating the solution with the wand, or it won't work. I'm really not making that up. They have a term for it: succussion.) This is a 2x strength, which homeopaths think is a very weak preparation, because it has too much arsenic in it. Take 1mL, dilute, beat. This is a 3x strength. Take 1 mL, dilute, beat. This is 4x. At this point, there is 1/1000 of the original quantity of arsenic. This is still considered a very weak potion.

The more you dilute it, the stronger they believe it becomes. Something about beating the container with a magic wand transfers the memory of how arsenic harms the body into the water of the "remedy." And stuff. If you do it long enough, and that isn't very long at all, you get to a dilution where not even 1 molecule of arsenic is likely to remain in the solution. That point, around 26x, is still not nearly the maximum potency. You keep making it stronger the more you dilute it.

If there were any reality supporting homeopathic principles, you should be able to cure the whole world of all illness by putting a couple drops of each 40x diluted "remedy" into the oceans. That would not only raise the potency by diluting it further, but it would disperse the magic to everyone, as the high potency ocean water dilution made its way through the water cycle and saturated the planet.

Some smart people believe in magic. That is okay. It doesn't make them dumb, and it doesn't make magic real. It means that people are not always 100% rational. And, sometimes, maybe there is something to magic. But I would much rather consult my local palm reader than my local homeopath. Both would be scamming me for my money, but at least maybe the palm reader would know that it was a scam, and so would put on a better show for my entertainment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilutions
 
ImageUploadedBySDN Mobile1428782733.413228.jpg


Homeopathy is a silly thing.
 
btw, WTF id your definition of a "top" cardiologist?

/I really really hate when that descriptor is used in academics and medicine.
 
I went through the homeopathy training at Boiron's website.

It took less than 30 minutes to go through the entire "course" and ace the exam at the end, and it was free. I highly recommend it if you ever have 30 minutes to kill.

I didn't get an actual certificate and I didn't get a lapel pin like promised, but I did get an electronic certificate proclaiming me a "Boiron Certified Homeopathy Specialist."

It was fun to post it on Facebook and witness the fallout. Those who knew me well enough cracking jokes, and those who didn't either warning me about homeopathy or offering to pay me for homeopathy consultations.


When Bethel Church offered a Dead Raising training in my home town, I was really tempted to attend it. I wrote them asking what kind of certificate I would get if I completed it. I envisioned hanging my "Certified Dead Raiser" certificate right next to my "Homeopathy Specialist" certificate. Unfortunately, though, they said I would receive no certificate. That, and it wasn't free and was supposed to take two whole days.




9RZAN3kl.jpg
 
jared_the_great said:
I went through the homeopathy training at Boiron's website.

It took less than 30 minutes to go through the entire "course" and ace the exam at the end, and it was free. I highly recommend it if you ever have 30 minutes to kill.

I didn't get an actual certificate and I didn't get a lapel pin like promised, but I did get an electronic certificate proclaiming me a "Boiron Certified Homeopathy Specialist."

It was fun to post it on Facebook and witness the fallout. Those who knew me well enough cracking jokes, and those who didn't either warning me about homeopathy or offering to pay me for homeopathy consultations.


When Bethel Church offered a Dead Raising training in my home town, I was really tempted to attend it. I wrote them asking what kind of certificate I would get if I completed it. I envisioned hanging my "Certified Dead Raiser" certificate right next to my "Homeopathy Specialist" certificate. Unfortunately, though, they said I would receive no certificate. That, and it wasn't free and was supposed to take two whole days.


9RZAN3kl.jpg
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I'm sure the Dead Raising course would have been worth the money. Hell, Gawker Media probably would have paid you to write about it.
 
CaliforniaDreamer said:
You must be confusing naturopathic with homeopathic.
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And isn't it telling that it is such an easy mistake to make?

Sadly, I think that homeopathy has more rigor, since it has a set of defined principles, where naturopathy is governed by the daily fads. Are coffee enemas in or out this season?
 
jared_the_great said:
When Bethel Church offered a Dead Raising training in my home town, I was really tempted to attend it. I wrote them asking what kind of certificate I would get if I completed it. I envisioned hanging my "Certified Dead Raiser" certificate right next to my "Homeopathy Specialist" certificate. Unfortunately, though, they said I would receive no certificate. That, and it wasn't free and was supposed to take two whole days.
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Holy bullcrap! Figuratively!

I love that they don't promise any actual raising of the dead, but rather a deepened sense of belief and "breathing life into situations" where someone has died.

I sometimes think that I should go into the snake oil business myself. I understand it pretty well and I have great showmanship. Unfortunate morals, impeding my road to riches.
 
Promethean said:
I sometimes think that I should go into the snake oil business myself. I understand it pretty well and I have great showmanship. Unfortunate morals, impeding my road to riches.
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I have this thought frequently. If only it weren't for that pesky conscience, I could make a killing selling scam --- I mean CAM --- treatments.
 
I've attended some alternative medicine seminars that occasionally have a homeopathic segment and I can say with confidence it is 99% quackery, but every now and then they derive solutions that are at least moderately comparable to the allopathic analog. That said, it's complete pseudoscience and a waste of time to study.

Far more practical is some of the naturopathic methodologies that incorporate the use of diet and lifestyle changes to cure illness. Unlike homeopathic medicine, there is an abundance of research to prove the efficacy of some of these treatments. There's a lot of nonsense also, but if you pick and choose correctly I think there's real value to be gained that can be used later.
 
Furan said:
Far more practical is some of the naturopathic methodologies that incorporate the use of diet and lifestyle changes to cure illness. Unlike homeopathic medicine, there is an abundance of research to prove the efficacy of some of these treatments. There's a lot of nonsense also, but if you pick and choose correctly I think there's real value to be gained that can be used later.
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Listen, I hear what you're saying, but think of it this way: If you go to your cupboard and find a bagel that's totally moldy and disgusting, are you going to sit there and pick through it in the hopes that there's a small part of it that's good to eat? Or are you going to open up the fresh new bag of bagels that's sitting right there and throw the moldy one in the trash?

If there is an abundance of research to prove the efficacy of a treatment, it's not naturopathic vs. allopathic anymore. It's evidence based medicine.
 
Promethean said:
And isn't it telling that it is such an easy mistake to make?

Sadly, I think that homeopathy has more rigor, since it has a set of defined principles, where naturopathy is governed by the daily fads. Are coffee enemas in or out this season?
Click to expand...

I thought the coffee enema goes in then comes out?!?
 
Flintwire said:
Listen, I hear what you're saying, but think of it this way: If you go to your cupboard and find a bagel that's totally moldy and disgusting, are you going to sit there and pick through it in the hopes that there's a small part of it that's good to eat? Or are you going to open up the fresh new bag of bagels that's sitting right there and throw the moldy one in the trash?

If there is an abundance of research to prove the efficacy of a treatment, it's not naturopathic vs. allopathic anymore. It's evidence based medicine.
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Right, but some things are taught in each respective curriculum that are ignored in the other -- that's what I was referring to. The OP was asking about taking homeopathic classes, and I was trying to offer an alternative that may have real world applicability. Hopefully he's smart enough to discern what's useful and what isn't.

In my experience, I found it enlightening to learn about alternative (and proven) ways to control blood sugar in diabetics through diet. I'm not naive enough to think this is going to "cure" them, but it may help prevent neuropathy among other things.
 
Promethean said:
And isn't it telling that it is such an easy mistake to make?

Sadly, I think that homeopathy has more rigor, since it has a set of defined principles, where naturopathy is governed by the daily fads. Are coffee enemas in or out this season?
Click to expand...

Well at least naturopathic methods have some possible physical reality in their mechanisms of action.
 
Furan said:
In my experience, I found it enlightening to learn about alternative (and proven) ways to control blood sugar in diabetics through diet. I'm not naive enough to think this is going to "cure" them, but it may help prevent neuropathy among other things.
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Diet is central to blood sugar control in mainstream medicine. What is unique about the naturopathic approach?
 
sunnysnow7 said:
Diet is central to blood sugar control in mainstream medicine. What is unique about the naturopathic approach?
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I hate that I'm now in the position of defending naturopathy -- how the **** did this happen?

Most diabetics are told to avoid foods high on glycemic index (good advice), but not told that fat and acid can lower postprandial glucose levels significantly compared to eating these foods alone. Just a primitive example, and information I'm sure most allopathic physicians are well aware of, but in reality most diabetics have no idea this is the case because they've never been told.
 
Furan said:
I hate that I'm now in the position of defending naturopathy -- how the **** did this happen?

Most diabetics are told to avoid foods high on glycemic index (good advice), but not told that fat and acid can lower postprandial glucose levels significantly compared to eating these foods alone. Just a primitive example, and information I'm sure most allopathic physicians are well aware of, but in reality most diabetics have no idea this is the case because they've never been told.
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I would agree that physicians often fall short when it comes to nutrition advice - largely due to time limitations - but this is common knowledge among MDs, DOs, and RDs. In fact, very few medical professionals rely solely on the glycemic index these days.
 
CaliforniaDreamer said:
Well at least naturopathic methods have some possible physical reality in their mechanisms of action.
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Hmmm?

from: http://www.naturopathycure.com/

Naturopathy is a form of treatment of diseases through elements of nature. Nature is made of five elements - Jal ( water), Vayu (air), Agni (fire), Akash ( sky) and Prithvi ( Earth). These elements also constitute our body. We get sick when there is imbalance in these elements and body just reacts to this imbalance by trying to get rid of impurities in form of cough, vomiting, fever etc. Therefore, it is beneficial to cure diseases not through drugs or surgery, but with help of these five elements of nature.

Now admittedly that is just one voodoo purveyor's version of what naturopathy means. Another might borrow more heavily from actual medicine and come up with something that involves some degree of testable reality. But that is part of the problem. Naturopathy is like, (toke) whatever you want it to be, man, so long as it is in opposition to evidence based medicine. I at least respect homeopaths for having some defined rules, even if they don't apply them consistently.

If it is tested, and works, it isn't "alternative medicine" anymore. Just medicine.
 
sunnysnow7 said:
I would agree that physicians often fall short when it comes to nutrition advice - largely due to time limitations - but this is common knowledge among MDs, DOs, and RDs. In fact, very few medical professionals rely solely on the glycemic index these days.
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And so, if you have someone that you know could benefit from dietary modification, you have the option to refer them to RDs, that is legitimate dieticians who went to actual school to learn about nutrition. Or let them wander into a pit of naturopaths who might accidentally have some good dietary advice or who might convince them that they have to match their dietary choices to their chakras, or some other such nonsense.
 
Promethean said:
If it is tested, and works, it isn't "alternative medicine" anymore. Just medicine.
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So you respect homeopathy more because you are certain that it is totally false, while other "naturopathic" treatments have only a small chance of being effective? What? Also your oft repeated point about it not being alternative medicine if it works relies upon someone taking the initiative to perform a controlled drug trial on a substance. There are many many substances where not only have there been no such studies, but the studies wouldn't be allowed, so that cliché really doesn't apply as broadly as you think it does.
 
I was told by an alternative medicine enthusiast that the reason we can't find scientific evidence for their treatments working is because we're trying to test their system using our tools, which isn't valid.

I actually went to a naturopathic doctor on insistence of my family members and he spent most of the time bashing allopathic medicine. He said allopathic medicine is basically like a nuclear missile. Sure it fixes the problem but by using synthetic chemicals, it destroys everything else in the body in the process. On the other hand, their treatments improve the body as a whole, and therefore fix the problem as well and since they are not using harmful synthetic chemicals, there is no side effect.
 
OP got his answer from the first two responses, why the circle jerk though?
 
amazing tekkers said:
OP got his answer from the first two responses, why the circle jerk though?
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Because SDN.

And I'm bored. Really, deeply bored. I was so engaged for so long, with so much going on all at once and so many top priorities crowding one another out. And I was killing it all anyway.

Now, though. I'm not putting together an application. I'm down to one job, which is only 40 hours. I am not currently engaged in serious entrepreneurial activities. I'm only enrolled in one class, and really, I'm done with it. I completed all the modules for my Org 2 class in two weeks of sustained work, and I've been lingering over studying for the final because I don't want to be done too soon. I only sleep about 6 hours a day, and on a totally different schedule from my household.

So, I post to SDN. I could play video games, I guess, but this is more fun. And it is easier to walk away from when the real world presents me with opportunities to engage with it.

EDIT: I did find Kindle Unlimited, the $10/month subscription that gives access to a large lending library at Amazon. And I got the first 30 days free, so for the next month at least, I might be here a little less, as I catch up on my reading. I signed up yesterday and I've already gone through 3 books that looked interesting. (Not as impressive as it sounds. Only 1 of them was really book-length. The other two were glorified pamphlets.)
 
CaliforniaDreamer said:
So you respect homeopathy more because you are certain that it is totally false, while other "naturopathic" treatments have only a small chance of being effective? What? Also your oft repeated point about it not being alternative medicine if it works relies upon someone taking the initiative to perform a controlled drug trial on a substance. There are many many substances where not only have there been no such studies, but the studies wouldn't be allowed, so that cliché really doesn't apply as broadly as you think it does.
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LOL WUT?

If something works, especially if it works better than existing mainstream therapies, then it deserves to be explored properly and added to our toolkit, not kept in the realm of witchdoctors where it may or may not be applied in an efficacious fashion. A number of effective drugs and therapies have been converted from hedge magic and folk remedies. When something works, it does tend to be studied. Why would we ever allow something which is effective to go unused when there are patients who could benefit from it?

I don't get why you think that certain research would be prohibited. If you are talking about scheduled drugs being off limits to study to determine if they have any clinical utility, that isn't entirely true. Such studies do happen, and have shown some promising results for certain substances. But if we are including those substances to be in the naturopaths' arsenal, then you have a much wider definition of naturopath than I do.
 
Promethean said:
LOL WUT?

If something works, especially if it works better than existing mainstream therapies, then it deserves to be explored properly and added to our toolkit, not kept in the realm of witchdoctors where it may or may not be applied in an efficacious fashion. A number of effective drugs and therapies have been converted from hedge magic and folk remedies. When something works, it does tend to be studied. Why would we ever allow something which is effective to go unused when there are patients who could benefit from it?

I don't get why you think that certain research would be prohibited. If you are talking about scheduled drugs being off limits to study to determine if they have any clinical utility, that isn't entirely true. Such studies do happen, and have shown some promising results for certain substances. But if we are including those substances to be in the naturopaths' arsenal, then you have a much wider definition of naturopath than I do.
Click to expand...

As someone who is designing such a study, I can tell you that there is much more than objective scientific reason guiding research in this country. Once you consider politics, economics, public opinion etc, you can see why. It is nice that you think that just because something works that it will be studied effectively. It's nice that you think that if it works it will be marketed and produced by drug companies and available for use. The problem is that drug companies set the stage for what drugs get studied, produced, and marketed, if it is not profitable for them then who is going to fund the fda trials to "prove" the efficacy?
 
If it's stupid and it works, then it's not stupid. Patients will come to you with all kinds of wazoo questions and home remedies, so you either know what they are talking about or you can laugh them out of your office. I'll let you guess which patients will come back.
 
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