Evidence-based homeopathy?
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Evidence 2013
Evidence-based homeopathy?
For everyone with an interest in evidence-based healthcare
Edzard Ernst , Britain's first professor of complementary medicine, has stoked the flames of controversy by branding Prince Charles a 'snake oil salesman'. Should complementary/alternative med
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Forums » BMJ » Evidence 2013 » Evidence-based homeopathy?
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Evidence-based homeopathy?
posted at 8/8/2011 1:29 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2
First: 8/8/2011 Last: 30/9/2011 |
Edzard Ernst, Britain's first professor of complementary medicine, has stoked the flames of controversy by branding Prince Charles a 'snake oil salesman'. Should complementary/alternative medicine be evaluated just like any other healthcare technologies? See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/30/edzard-ernst-homeopathy-complementary-medicine http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jul/25/prince-charles-snake-oil-salesman
To what extent do you use complementary medicine in your personal life or for your patients? Do you think it's outright quackery but do you still make exceptions for certain products, with no robust evidence in sight? Edzard Ernst is a keynote speaker at Evidence 2011: http://www.evidence2011.com/programme and a taker of fish oil capsules. |
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Re: Evidence-based homeopathy?
posted at 8/8/2011 2:56 PM BST
on bmj.com
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*Moderator*
Posts: 1492
First: 7/4/2011 Last: 18/6/2013 |
Hi Warren The BMJ recently published an interview-feature with Ernst which may be of interest: http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4937.extract |
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Re: Evidence-based homeopathy?
posted at 9/8/2011 11:18 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2135
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 18/6/2013 |
What medicines do you take, Ma'am? I don't take any medicines, doctor! They are all poison! I see. [Suspecting] Do you take anything else? Of course, I take what my Herbal Advisor gives me. Which is? [Several names that I didn't understand] And what is in those? I don't need to know! I trust my herbal advisor! So I am a caring, holistic doctor, but there are some people you just can't reach. John |
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Re: Evidence-based homeopathy?
posted at 6/9/2011 6:16 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 195
First: 14/1/2009 Last: 17/5/2013 |
Anything that claims to be a remedy should be proven using scientific methods. There is plenty of evidence out there that homeopathy doesn't work any better than placebo. i.e. that means it doesn't work at all. However, I don't think homeopathy should be subject to clinical trials as it is such a ludicrous and irrational idea there we should not waste further time and effort on evaluating it. There is a political correctness about being holistic and evaluating all possible remedies but this really is going too far. Homeopathy? There's nothing in it (literally). |
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Re: Evidence-based homeopathy?
posted at 10/9/2011 10:36 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1828
First: 7/3/2009 Last: 18/6/2013 |
A moment, ladies and gentelmen. If you refer to homeopathy mixing one molecule of something with water I agree it is placebo effect and no more. However, herbal remedies can be different. Remember many medications came from different kinds of herbs, fungi etc. Later on we found the active substance that allowed us to manufacture it. I must warn about herbs: they can well contain medication(active chemical substances) and even poison. So, I would make a distinction between the "diluted homeopathy" and the herbal mixtures, which can be beneficiary(of course we need to seek out what ingredient has the effect), but still can be harmful and even poisonous(vinca alkaloids, cyanides, etc...)
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Re: Evidence-based homeopathy?
posted at 10/9/2011 6:01 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2135
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 18/6/2013 |
You mean like "Chuei-Fong-Tou-Geu-Wan" (chase-wind-through-bones)? A 'herbal mixture' whose principal content was prednisolone See: ?http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1595736/pdf/brmedj00085-0022.pdf JOhn |
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Re: Evidence-based homeopathy?
posted at 10/9/2011 11:29 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 66
First: 20/11/2010 Last: 11/11/2012 |
I used to be very outspoken against homeopathy, until I accepted the fact that sometimes a popular and harmless placebo is exactly what some people need. Too bad it costs so much more than what it takes to produce it. And too bad it can do serious damage when it replaces some treatment that is really needed. There is no ground for 'evidence based homeopathy', not until anectodes will be considered sound evidence.
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Re: Evidence-based homeopathy?
posted at 12/9/2011 6:23 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 85
First: 20/5/2010 Last: 22/5/2013 |
I have a friend, young, in her early twenties who has suffered from chronic illness for years. She sees a homeo-naturopath about her health (I've noticed many alternative practioners bear multiple titles - more on this later). Anyway, over the years this 'practitioner' has taken thousands of pounds of my friends cash, putting her into financial debt, and guess what? She's no better! Years of adding this herb and taking that one away. Tweaking this and changing that. My friend's kitchen is full of weird and wonderful teabags, jars of herbs, solutions with pipettes, pills, and products from the worlds rainforests (apparently). I cannot deny that this experience has somewhat coloured my perception of alternative practitioners - with both resentment and anger. These guys are shameless quacks and conmen, and I believe they do a great deal of damage. I once lived with a student quack. She was doing a 3 year "degree" after which she was qualified to call herself a homeopath, a naturopath, and three or four other titles. The best bit was that the entire course was conducted as a correspondance course - she never saw a lecturer face-to-face during her "training". Moreover, she never saw a patient unless she arranged her own placements. |
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