Homoeopathy! Could it work in the low potency remedies?? "Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence"

Question

Comment by ScepDoc:

Sharks can detect miniscule amounts of certain chemicals. Some types of sharks can detect their prey at one part per 10 billion; that's one drop in an Olympic-sized swimming pool! Some sharks can detect these low concentrations of chemicals at prodigious distances--up to several hundred meters (the length of several football fields) Water flows into the nostrils and dissolved chemicals come into contact with tissue, exciting receptors in the cells. These signals are then transmitted to the brain and are interpreted as smells. The shark’s endless hunting pattern, swimming back and forth increases their chances that they will detect that elusive blood cell.

Even though there may be detectable molecules at some of the more concentrated solutions....remember that dilute toxins have no known effect on the body. For example, the allowable limit of Arsenic (a deadly poison) in our drinking water in 10 parts per billion..or equivalent to an 8X homeopathic dilution.

MY QUESTION IS: If the sharks can detect such miniscule amount of blood molecule, than why us, the people can’t react to similar combo of chemicals given to our bodies in the homoeopathic preparations? Or can we? We did establish that low potency remedies DO have enough molecules for our body to react. If one does believe otherwise, than how come we need those (deadly poisons??) for the proper body function and our health.

(Selenium, cobalt etc…) in miniscule amount. And that is tested by the science. Gosh! Even the Arsenic is good for the health in small doses. Wouldn’t this be a possibility that homoeopathic preparations do work in the low potency kind? Maybe the 1.000+ MD’s who do practice homoeopathy in England do believe so. Even the Queen of England does have a private Homoeopath.

Answer 1

Homeopathic remedies are nothing but water.

They have no effect except to empty wallets, and perhaps cause patients to delay seeking real medical attention.

Answer 2

Why did you post this again?

Homeopathic potions do not contain a single molecule of the so-called active ingredient, so your analogy is false.

Sharks rely on sensing a molecule which is present; homeoquack magic relies on the memory of a molecule which is no longer present.

EDIT doctrine_mouse: then it has nothing to do with homeopathy

Answer 3

First, homeopathics are said to work with your body's energy, not necessarily on the physical plane, so the shark analogy can neither prove, nor disprove them.

The homeopathic idea that the more diluted somethinig becomes, the stronger its potency is based on the idea that when you dilute something down to such a miniscule amount, you are no longer left with the actual substance, but rather you are left with the energy of that substance. Some say that it is dependent on whether you believe water has a memory, some say theres no water. It can be done BOTH ways, but my understanding of it is this:

Non-water/Succession homeopathy: take 1 part substance and tritrurate it with 99 parts milk sugar. Take the desired potency (for example 3c) and add it to 99 parts pure alcohol, carry out succession to get 4c and repeat to desired potency (for example 8c). They add that to unmedicated pills.

Water:Grind subtance up and add to vat of purified water and alcohol. They are set aside to distill and techinicians stir the mixture. The contents are then poured into a giant press where the solution is extracted and solid material discarded. The liquid is then tested, coated, bottled, stored. They then dilute them to precise specification, the essence of the mother tincture is infused into small sugar pellets

Also, yes cobalt and arsenic and good for the body in minute ammounts. Selenium is an essential trace mineral and we need in 55 micrograms per day, not to exeed 400 micrograms. If you are deficient in selenium you can have muscle pain, weakness, and heart disease.

Something that most people don't know about homeopathics is that you can't just go to the health good store, look at a bottle of homeopathics that says "for depression" and expect it to work wonders. The art of homeopathy is far more complex than that and you have to tailor each treatment to the specific symptoms felt by the body. So 2 people with the exact same disease will have 2 completely different remedies. For example:

"Arsenicum album: Anxious, insecure, and perfectionistic people who need this remedy may set high standards for themselves and others and become depressed if their expectations are not met. Worry about material security sometimes borders on despair. When feeling ill, these people can be demanding and dependent, even suspicious of others, fearing their condition could be serious."

Not everyone with depression falls into that category (in fact there are at least 25 other categories of depression in homeopathy), so if there are ever homeopathics out there claiming they are for "depression" and include no description as to which kind, don't trust them.

Answer 4

1 - We are not sharks.

2 - You can test sharks and see them respond. You can predict which direction the test shark will take when you have two streams of water entering the tank with differing concentrations of the chemical.  You can have one person watching the shark (or videotape the shark) as you alter concentrations. In other words, the reaction of the shark can be correlated to the presence or absence or dilution of the blood.

If you test a human with homeopathic dilutions, and neither the therapist nor the test subject know which is the dilution and which is the blank, you cannot predict the human's reaction any better than random chance allows.  If you can't measure an effect reliably, and if you can't predict the effect of a drug ... it's useless!

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Adding: "We did establish that low potency remedies DO have enough molecules for our body to react."  

We did? And there is a difference between a minuscule (but measurable) trace amount in your body and the extreme dilutions of homeopathy. Although selenium is toxic, the normal level of 120 ng/mL is way higher than the amount of anything in a homeopathic dilution. I have MORE selenium in a milliliter of my blood than is in a whole bottle of a homeopathic dilution od selenium (if they use it).