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Yay and meh
Yay me and homeopathy. My boss has been moping around at work for the last couple of weeks, and she explained to me on Friday that she was feeling incredibly stressed and had had a headache for that entire time. Aspirin didn't put a dent in it, and when I lent her some Neurofen (ibuprofen), it only took the edge off. I said I'd bring in a homeopathic potion on Monday if she was still feeling rough (I knew which one she probably needed because I'd done a mini-consult with her a few months back - while it was for digestive problems then, the remedy also addresses headaches).
Cut to yesterday, when I brought in the potion and asked her how she was doing. The headache was still with her and she hated the entire universe, including our manager. I gave her a few drops in some water and she took it. That was the extent of my consultation - on Friday, saying "that same thing might help", and yesterday, saying "take this". She came up to me mid-afternoon, and said that the headache was gone. Completely. She'd forgotten what it was like not to have it. She was still fine today.
So, bloody amazing "counselling effect", eh? One sentence and my god, I can fix people. Or a fascinating "placebo" effect, from a potion that I had previously given for digestive problems - wow, people can convince themselves it's the universal panacea!!1! Gee, why didn't the Neurofen work, then?
You'll have to excuse the sarcasm. I've been reading a number of things lately that have been riffing off Ben Goldacre's diatribes against homeopathy. I have no problems whatsoever with people exposing dangerous practices, like these so-called homeopaths (most of whom don't practice according to proper homeopathic methodologies) who do stupid things like advise patients to stop taking prescribed medications, or who promise to "cure" people (of cancer, HIV, yadda yadda). The latter is illegal, and I fully support the weight of the law against those morons. What I dislike is the lazy assumption of people like Goldacre (and I really respect most of his stuff) that all homeopaths are cynically ripping off their patients or are deluded woo-woo hippies.
I wouldn't give my nearest and dearest homeopathic remedies if they didn't appear to work, in my experience. I've tried them for myself, obviously. I don't put it all down to placebo effect - I can take one potion for nausea (the one I think should work), and it doesn't work. I take another, and then suddenly the nausea disappears. I suppose it could there could be a selective placebo effect? I, and the homeopaths I respect, do not diss conventional medicine out-of-hand (although of course we do have criticisms). We don't pretend we can explain how remedies, that are diluted so that there is no trace of the original substance, can work. There is no explanation at this point.
I do wish that the reputable bodies that are concerned with homeopaths, the Society of Homeopaths in the UK, the NZ Homeopathic Society, and so on, would start making press statements of their own against these bad practitioners. There are only a few bad apples in the barrel, but by remaining silent, it makes it seem that most homeopaths collude in this kind of behaviour. We do not. We want to make people better, not engage in deception and false claims. I also wish people like Goldacre would stop focussing on a few nutbars or exploitative arseholes, and look at the kind of practices that are genuinely endangering people's lives or ripping them off. Actually, he does (he gets a few good jabs into the diet industry, and the anti-MMR campaign), but the amount of time he spends on homeopaths seems disproportionate. Or maybe those dodgy herbalists are worthy of more respect because their concoctions can genuinely kill people, and aren't just sugar water? Who knows.
Cut to yesterday, when I brought in the potion and asked her how she was doing. The headache was still with her and she hated the entire universe, including our manager. I gave her a few drops in some water and she took it. That was the extent of my consultation - on Friday, saying "that same thing might help", and yesterday, saying "take this". She came up to me mid-afternoon, and said that the headache was gone. Completely. She'd forgotten what it was like not to have it. She was still fine today.
So, bloody amazing "counselling effect", eh? One sentence and my god, I can fix people. Or a fascinating "placebo" effect, from a potion that I had previously given for digestive problems - wow, people can convince themselves it's the universal panacea!!1! Gee, why didn't the Neurofen work, then?
You'll have to excuse the sarcasm. I've been reading a number of things lately that have been riffing off Ben Goldacre's diatribes against homeopathy. I have no problems whatsoever with people exposing dangerous practices, like these so-called homeopaths (most of whom don't practice according to proper homeopathic methodologies) who do stupid things like advise patients to stop taking prescribed medications, or who promise to "cure" people (of cancer, HIV, yadda yadda). The latter is illegal, and I fully support the weight of the law against those morons. What I dislike is the lazy assumption of people like Goldacre (and I really respect most of his stuff) that all homeopaths are cynically ripping off their patients or are deluded woo-woo hippies.
I wouldn't give my nearest and dearest homeopathic remedies if they didn't appear to work, in my experience. I've tried them for myself, obviously. I don't put it all down to placebo effect - I can take one potion for nausea (the one I think should work), and it doesn't work. I take another, and then suddenly the nausea disappears. I suppose it could there could be a selective placebo effect? I, and the homeopaths I respect, do not diss conventional medicine out-of-hand (although of course we do have criticisms). We don't pretend we can explain how remedies, that are diluted so that there is no trace of the original substance, can work. There is no explanation at this point.
I do wish that the reputable bodies that are concerned with homeopaths, the Society of Homeopaths in the UK, the NZ Homeopathic Society, and so on, would start making press statements of their own against these bad practitioners. There are only a few bad apples in the barrel, but by remaining silent, it makes it seem that most homeopaths collude in this kind of behaviour. We do not. We want to make people better, not engage in deception and false claims. I also wish people like Goldacre would stop focussing on a few nutbars or exploitative arseholes, and look at the kind of practices that are genuinely endangering people's lives or ripping them off. Actually, he does (he gets a few good jabs into the diet industry, and the anti-MMR campaign), but the amount of time he spends on homeopaths seems disproportionate. Or maybe those dodgy herbalists are worthy of more respect because their concoctions can genuinely kill people, and aren't just sugar water? Who knows.
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