Does homeopathy have a different meaning than the main definition?

[John Salerno]

I'm aware of the main usage of the word, i.e. alternative medicine based on the principle that a severely diluted substance which causes the symptoms of the disease to be cured will cure that particular disease. However, my eye doctor suggested I take some vitamins (A, C, and E) and some zinc lozenges to help with my current eye infection. The point was that the vitamins might help shorten the duration.

 

But when I found the lozenges in the store, I noticed that the box said "homeopathic" on it, but it didn't seem like a regular homeopathic treatment like you typically see in those little bottles that contain pills. These were supposedly real throat lozenges that claimed to help prevent or cure the common cold. I was skeptical at this point so I decided to skip them, but I'm curious about the use of "homeopathic" in this case. Does it mean something different in certain contexts? It didn't seem to mean the same thing as the above definition about diluted substances.

 

Thanks.

[ecoli]

I'm glad somebody brought this up, because I've wondered the same thing. Even people who subscribe to alt/herbal medicine seem surprised when I've told them to technical definition of 'homeopathic'

[John Salerno]

I'm glad somebody brought this up, because I've wondered the same thing. Even people who subscribe to alt/herbal medicine seem surprised when I've told them to technical definition of 'homeopathic'

 

Yes, when I asked the pharmacist about the lozenges and mentioned that it said "homeopathic" on it, she said "That just means it's used to help prevent an illness." Clearly not the technical definition of the word. So I began to wonder if this is a secondary definition, or if perhaps it's a more palatable definition being used to "hide" the true meaning.

[Appolinaria]

For the longest time I didn't realize homeopathy / holistic health were separate things. I guess homeopathy is a type of holistic practice?

[ecoli]

I think holistic is broadly misused. It just means considering the whole/all the parts. From this definition, any kind of preventative medicine is holistic, 'western' or otherwise.

[doG]

For the longest time I didn't realize homeopathy / holistic health were separate things. I guess homeopathy is a type of holistic practice?

IMO homeopathy is simply a synonym for fraud.

 

But when I found the lozenges in the store, I noticed that the box said "homeopathic" on it, but it didn't seem like a regular homeopathic treatment like you typically see in those little bottles that contain pills.

Certain ingredients like Ignatia, Lycopodium, and Nat Mur are basic homeopathic ingredients. Zinc lozenges with any of these ingredients could be listed as homeopathic.

[John Salerno]

IMO homeopathy is simply a synonym for fraud.

 

 

Certain ingredients like Ignatia, Lycopodium, and Nat Mur are basic homeopathic ingredients. Zinc lozenges with any of these ingredients could be listed as homeopathic.

 

This was it: http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-zinc-cold-remedy-lozenges/ID=prod6091086-product

[John Cuthber]

IMO homeopathy is simply a synonym for fraud.

 

 

Certain ingredients like Ignatia, Lycopodium, and Nat Mur are basic homeopathic ingredients. Zinc lozenges with any of these ingredients could be listed as homeopathic.

Homoeopathic is one synonym of fraud, but it's not the only one.

It relates to a particular idea, which is that the more you dilute something the better it gets.

http://xkcd.com/765/

Actually , it's slightly stupider than that. You don't just mix the ingredients. Its' really important to bang them on a lump of rubber

(I'm not making this up. "Homeopathic remedies are prepared by serial dilution in alcohol or distilled water, followed by forceful striking on an elastic body, called "succussion". Each dilution followed by succussion is assumed to increase the remedy's potency. Homeopaths call this process "potentization". Dilution usually continues well past the point where none of the original substance remains." from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy )

So calling "Nat Mur" homoeopathic is only "legitimate" if it has been "properly processed"

Nat Mur is a pseudo Latin version of muriate of natrium or chloride of sodium i.e. salt.

If you have to dress up your claim in that sort of tosh...

 

Other varieties of cobblers also exist.

 

At one level, holistic medicine is legitimate. People react to all their circumstances and so their health can be affected by lots of things. You really can reduce the duration of someone's sore throat by making their work more interesting.

Adding a non-existent amount of extract of bee sting to their diet isn't, however, one of those things.

Edited June 27, 2012 by John Cuthber

[Moontanman]

I've had many discussions with people about homeopathy and deep into the discussion i realized they had no clue as to what homeopathy meant. I think there is wide spread confusion about what homeopathy is and to some extent i would be willing to bet it's intentional.

 

Most people I've talked to seem to think it means natural or organic or some other less than accurate term. When I see homeopathic I read horse feathers...

[John Salerno]

I've had many discussions with people about homeopathy and deep into the discussion i realized they had no clue as to what homeopathy meant. I think there is wide spread confusion about what homeopathy is and to some extent i would be willing to bet it's intentional.

 

Most people I've talked to seem to think it means natural or organic or some other less than accurate term. When I see homeopathic I read horse feathers...

 

That's why I asked my question. I don't understand why the word would be used on a box of throat lozenges that don't seem to be actual homeopathic medicine as I understand it in the technical sense.

[John Cuthber]

That's why I asked my question. I don't understand why the word would be used on a box of throat lozenges that don't seem to be actual homeopathic medicine as I understand it in the technical sense.

 

Fraud sells well.

It's also cheap.

What you have are some pills that misrepresent themselves as being part of a fraudulent system.

[doG]

This was it: http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-zinc-cold-remedy-lozenges/ID=prod6091086-product

Ah, I see it has a 2X homeopathic preparation of Zincum Gluconicum in it. That means they diluted the zincum gluconium by 10:1 and then the diluted the dilution 10:1 again after banging it on a tire for a bit giving you a 1/100th dilution of zincum gluconium banged twice on a tire. Your throat should be feeling better just reading this since it knows you'll probably opt for something else next time

[hypervalent_iodine]

To give you an idea of the 'science' behind homeopathy:

 

 

She is apparently a leading authority in homeopathic medicine.

[John Salerno]

Ah, I see it has a 2X homeopathic preparation of Zincum Gluconicum in it.

 

Is that what it means when it says "Zincum Gluconicum 2X"? That it was prepared that way?

[JMJones0424]

Is that what it means when it says "Zincum Gluconicum 2X"? That it was prepared that way?

Yes, that's precisely what it means, and why the product is a fraud. The issue is not that a legitimate product has been tarnished with the word homeopathy and all the baggage associated with it, the issue is that a pharmacy is selling this snake-oil as if it were useful.

 

What's even more troubling is that your eye-doctor recommended that you purchase the snake oil. Perhaps you misunderstood him If he recommended that you supplement your diet with zinc, this product is not going to provide it.

 

 

My recommendation to you:

1.) Make sure your eye doctor actually recommended that product to you, or if a zinc supplement was recommended and you fell for packaging. If this product was specifically recommended, find another eye doctor and report this to your state licensing board.

 

2.) If you can, switch pharmacies. This is not an isolated issue with just Walgreens, many of the larger chain pharmacies are starting to sell homeopathic crap alongside actual over-the-counter medications and duping their customers. If you cannot or are unwilling to find another pharmacy, then complain to management. A pharmacist should have been able to tell you that the product is nothing but sugar. The one you spoke with is either incompetent or deceitful. Either way, you failed to get accurate advice from a person who is trained and paid to give you accurate advice.

 

3.) Spread the word that homeopathic remedies = sugar water, no matter the appearance of the product or the packaging. The 2x is the dead giveaway in the active ingredients listing, no actual medicine will have nx before the amount of the active ingredient, it will just list the amount.

[Suxamethonium]

Homeopathic remedies can have clinically significant (though not necessarily having a positive effect) amounts of an active ingredient.

 

http://nccam.nih.gov/health/homeopathy

 

Note: "Although people sometimes assume that all homeopathic remedies are highly diluted and therefore unlikely to cause harm, some products labeled as homeopathic can contain substantial amounts of active ingredients and therefore could cause side effects and drug interactions."

 

Also, I think there is a general confusion in the general population between 'natural' alternative products (some being notably pharmacologically active like st johns wort) and 'homeopathic' products- so I wouldn't assume any product to abide by the true definition of the word. In Australia there is (usually? Although I have seen it always) an indication of the amount of active or potentially active ingredient (e.g. 2mg/g Zinc Oxide or 1000mg grape seed extract).

[Academic]

I think that homeopathy relies on the placebo effect. When you take those pills you think that you are already healed because you have taken your "medicine''. However, this practice is rather ineffective with some people, for example me. Even if I do not know that the particular drug is homeopathic, it will not help me unless it contains medically active substance.

 

I watched the woman in the video an I stopped it immediately after I heard the words ''with homeopathy we create an energetic substance''. Homeopathic drugs are so diluted that the real chemical in them is less than that in a glass of drinkable water. So it would mean that from whatever you are sick the best remedy for you is to drink some water.

 

So if you ask me to give a definition of homeopathy I will say: a placebo pill made from sucrose, lactose and other additional substances which does not have a proven healing effect.

[John Cuthber]

Did you hear about the homoeopath who forgot to take their "remedy" and died from an overdose?

[Ringer]

To give you an idea of the 'science' behind homeopathy:

 

 

She is apparently a leading authority in homeopathic medicine.

 

Oh, that hurt my brain.

[hypervalent_iodine]

Oh, that hurt my brain.

 

I've got just the thing for you.

 

[Ringer]

I've got just the thing for you.

 

 

Awwww, the poo treatment again?

[Arete]

Awwww, the poo treatment again?

 

[fresh]

Fraud sells well.

It's also cheap.

What you have are some pills that misrepresent themselves as being part of a fraudulent system.

 

this is exactly what i want to say, and homeopathy is all about pseudoscience.