3 ms·

Woah, are you seriously comparing immunotherapy to homeopathy? One has no basis in reality and no known mechanism of action. The other has a solid scientific a

Woah, are you seriously comparing immunotherapy to homeopathy? One has no basis in reality and no known mechanism of action. The other has a solid scientific and biological foundation behind it. Nor is immunotherapy the "latest scientific research," its been around for decades. James Randi famously starts out talks swallowing an entire bottle of homeopathic sleeping pills. He's not dead yet despite being almost 90.

will_brown 10y ago
I agree with him, but I don't believe he is comparing immunotherapy to homeopathy. Moreover, if you read the article it pretty much drops the use of Homeopathy for the very specific definition of like cures like and calls it like cures like pseudoscience and stated like cures like has never worked for any condition. I don't mind attacking homeopathy but once we begin using the very specific definition of like cure like and calling that basic principle pseudoscience...that is when I take issue with it because that is the exact principle immunnotherapy for allergies is based on.
ryuker16 10y ago
bad idea.... I wouldn't be surprised if one shady homeopathic maker just put real pills in to save cash and increase efficiency.
Alex3917 10y ago
> James Randi famously starts out talks swallowing an entire bottle of homeopathic sleeping pills. And that's exactly why I posted my comment, because it's wildly irresponsible to post comments leading people to believe that they can do the same thing and come away unharmed. The fact is that if you chug a bottle of 3x diluted poison ivy oil then you're almost certainly going to die. And not because it wasn't diluted properly, because it had other ingredients, etc. Most homeopathic treatments on the market today are highly diluted. But not all. And since historically there was more of an even split between high dilutionists and low dilutionists, it's not unlikely that in the future even more low dilution homeopathic products will come on the market. So when you post shit that's going to come up in Google for the next twenty years that's implicitly encouraging folks to try some stunt that could easily get them killed, don't expect to not get called out on it.
- nathan_f77 10y ago
  > if you chug a bottle of 3x diluted poison ivy oil then you're almost certainly going to die Haha ok, yes, you have a point there. I guess it is really dangerous to assume that all homeopathic remedies are pure water, because some of them aren't actually diluted that much. Some of them still contain poison.
stillsut 10y ago
> swallowing an entire bottle of homeopathic sleeping pills If you wanted to induce a placebo effect, playing up the potency of the sugar pill would be helpful - for example saying "Do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, take more than two, as this can result produce DANGEROUS effects" is a lot better than going "Ehh, take more if it'll make you feel better, this stuff's completely inert anyways.". I believe we already do this in medical field: for example those big ibuprofens they give you after a trip to the ER. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it the exact. same. thing. as just taking multiple over-the-counter ibuprofen pills? The underlying idea being that the patient will be satisfied the doctor is "doing something" to alleviate his pain, while not having to write risky pain killer Rx. Maybe, homeopathy works in a similar way - it gives a compelling sci-fi / witchcraft / whatever-you-fetish backstory to a sugar pill. And when your subconscious buys in, you may cure yourself. Certainly with the example of insomnia, it seems quite plausible.

will_brown 10y ago

I agree with him, but I don't believe he is comparing immunotherapy to homeopathy. Moreover, if you read the article it pretty much drops the use of Homeopathy for the very specific definition of like cures like and calls it like cures like pseudoscience and stated like cures like has never worked for any condition. I don't mind attacking homeopathy but once we begin using the very specific definition of like cure like and calling that basic principle pseudoscience...that is when I take issue with it because that is the exact principle immunnotherapy for allergies is based on.

ryuker16 10y ago

bad idea.... I wouldn't be surprised if one shady homeopathic maker just put real pills in to save cash and increase efficiency.

Alex3917 10y ago

> James Randi famously starts out talks swallowing an entire bottle of homeopathic sleeping pills. And that's exactly why I posted my comment, because it's wildly irresponsible to post comments leading people to believe that they can do the same thing and come away unharmed. The fact is that if you chug a bottle of 3x diluted poison ivy oil then you're almost certainly going to die. And not because it wasn't diluted properly, because it had other ingredients, etc. Most homeopathic treatments on the market today are highly diluted. But not all. And since historically there was more of an even split between high dilutionists and low dilutionists, it's not unlikely that in the future even more low dilution homeopathic products will come on the market. So when you post shit that's going to come up in Google for the next twenty years that's implicitly encouraging folks to try some stunt that could easily get them killed, don't expect to not get called out on it.

nathan_f77 10y ago
> if you chug a bottle of 3x diluted poison ivy oil then you're almost certainly going to die Haha ok, yes, you have a point there. I guess it is really dangerous to assume that all homeopathic remedies are pure water, because some of them aren't actually diluted that much. Some of them still contain poison.

stillsut 10y ago

> swallowing an entire bottle of homeopathic sleeping pills If you wanted to induce a placebo effect, playing up the potency of the sugar pill would be helpful - for example saying "Do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, take more than two, as this can result produce DANGEROUS effects" is a lot better than going "Ehh, take more if it'll make you feel better, this stuff's completely inert anyways.". I believe we already do this in medical field: for example those big ibuprofens they give you after a trip to the ER. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it the exact. same. thing. as just taking multiple over-the-counter ibuprofen pills? The underlying idea being that the patient will be satisfied the doctor is "doing something" to alleviate his pain, while not having to write risky pain killer Rx. Maybe, homeopathy works in a similar way - it gives a compelling sci-fi / witchcraft / whatever-you-fetish backstory to a sugar pill. And when your subconscious buys in, you may cure yourself. Certainly with the example of insomnia, it seems quite plausible.