# Am I the only one who knows homeopathy is a crock? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 13, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929 "2004-07-13T17:41:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Apricot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Apricot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apricot)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/1 "2004-07-13T17:41:58Z")
Arrrrrrrrrrrgh! It’s not here, it’s elsewhere. I like these people. They are my friends. I count on their support so you will never see this post there. However, I am about to go batshit over comments like this: > [@](#): > > I cannot agree more! Homeopathy is wonderful and should be able to help you. Good Luck! One day I’m going to get banned over my non-supportive explosion. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![qcomdrj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/a6a055/32.png) [@qcomdrj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qcomdrj)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/2 "2004-07-13T17:44:47Z")
I would love to chalk all of it up to placebo effect, and I am sure a majority of the benefit of this stuff is in the brain. However, living a healthy life is healthy, and that’s about the only part of homeopathy I support. Not the brain dead “I don’t want chemo I’m going to drink 8 glasses of carrot juice a day” shit. Sure, chemo doesn’t always work. But explain to me what carrot juice does to freaking unregulated multiplying cells. I’m with you. ---
**Author:** ![Blackclaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e68b1a/32.png) [@Blackclaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackclaw)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/3 "2004-07-13T17:46:42Z")
I think everyone on this board knows it’s a crock. Impress your friends by intentionally overdosing on the stuff yet being miraculously unaffected. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/4 "2004-07-13T18:21:14Z")
> [@Blackclaw](#): > > Impress your friends by intentionally overdosing on the stuff yet being miraculously unaffected. Won’t work. Some homeopathic “cures” rely on water memory and dillution. It’s the idiotic theory that you can dissolve something in water and the water will retain the memory of the substance after you dillute it to whatever miniscule concentration the remedy calls for. In short, dillution will increase the beneficial effect, and the less you take - the better.\* So if **apricot** does that, her homeopathic friends might babble something about how it’s really the energy fields in the water’s memory that cause the effect and drinking straight whatever won’t really help. She needs to dillute it to make it stronger, and it’s kinda hard to OD on anything using that logic. They’ll probably throw in some pseudo science about toxins, too. On a side note, ask a homeopath what they mean by toxins, sometime. “This is supposed to purge toxins? Which toxins? Is it supposed to oxidize lactic acid or something?” I’ll be suprised if you get a straight answer. These idiots usually can’t even _name_ a specific toxin the snake oil is supposed to get rid of. A position I agree with regarding many homeopathic remedies, although I take it one step further. If less is better, then none is ideal, and the best course of action is to acoid it all together. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![scule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@scule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scule)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/5 "2004-07-13T18:34:07Z")
I have a friend who’s sister is halfway through a four-year course on homeopathy (what could possibly take four years?) and I don’t have the heart to tell him that it’s all a crock. She’s really nice, and I wouldn’t want to offend or anything, but I keep wanting to say “You’re selling snake oil!” Oh well, friendship comes first. Incidently, it really bothers me that these people (as well as chiropracters) are allowed to be called doctors. It debases the title. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/6 "2004-07-13T18:49:37Z")
On another side note, not _all_ homeopathic remedies are porcelein chili cookers. I’m reminded of several legitimate studies regarding acupuncture that can’t be dismissed out of hand. Hell, the NIH even developed a [consensus statement](http://odp.od.nih.gov/consensus/cons/107/107_statement.htm%5B/url) on acupucture that states the following: > [@](#): > > However, promising results have emerged, for example, showing efficacy of acupuncture in adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in postoperative dental pain. There are other situations such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma, in which acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/7 "2004-07-13T18:49:48Z")
**scule,** obviously, if you take instruction that would ordinarily just use up an hour or two and dilute it out to the point where it takes four years to sit through the classes, this increases the strength of the instruction. ---
**Author:** ![Apricot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Apricot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apricot)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/8 "2004-07-13T18:53:54Z")
I thought homeopathy and acupuncture were completely different practices, with the only similarity being that acupuncturists sometimes prescribe homeopathic remedies and that the same people might do both. I can’t imagine that homeopathy is an entrinsic part of “oriental medicine”. ---
**Author:** ![Apricot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Apricot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apricot)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/9 "2004-07-13T18:55:58Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > **scule,** obviously, if you take instruction that would ordinarily just use up an hour or two and dilute it out to the point where it takes four years to sit through the classes, this increases the strength of the instruction. OMG. I’m not angry anymore because I’m laughing my ass off. I’m off to go attempt suicide with my homeopathic 20000000x cyanide. ---
**Author:** ![Blackclaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e68b1a/32.png) [@Blackclaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackclaw)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/10 "2004-07-13T19:07:55Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > In short, dillution will increase the beneficial effect, and the less you take - the better.\* So I’m overdosing by not taking any? Should I rush myself to a hospital or something? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Blackclaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e68b1a/32.png) [@Blackclaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackclaw)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/11 "2004-07-13T19:12:34Z")
Quick followup - If homeopathy holds that water retains a memory of substances that it has been in contact with, does that include the substances that the water has come into contact with as it went through someone’s digestive system and its subsequent journey through a sewer system? ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/12 "2004-07-13T19:15:48Z")
Well, _Cecil_ knows that homeopathy is nuts: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000225.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000225.html) ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/13 "2004-07-13T19:21:25Z")
> [@Apricot](#): > > OMG. I’m not angry anymore because I’m laughing my ass off. > > I’m off to go attempt suicide with my homeopathic 20000000x cyanide. One of the tenets of homeopathy was that “like cures like.” So, if you have a fever, you should take a substance that raises your body temperature–diluted a bajillion times, of course. So you might accidentally render yourself immune to cyanide. Or cure that unpleasant blue cast to your skin. Or, uh, something. ---
**Author:** ![Apricot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Apricot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apricot)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/14 "2004-07-13T19:29:50Z")
So, I’m dying right now (consequence of living), so I take something that causes death, but in a very small concentration. Death is now prevented and I am now IMMORTAL!! Or the blue cast to my skin is gone. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/15 "2004-07-13T19:32:29Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > It’s the idiotic theory that you can dissolve something in water and the water will retain the memory of the substance after you dillute it to whatever miniscule concentration the remedy calls for. In short, dillution will increase the beneficial effect, and the less you take - the better.\* So, can a doctor of homeopathy explain why watered-down drinks taste so shitty? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/16 "2004-07-13T19:44:48Z")
> [@qcomdrj](#): > > that’s about the only part of homeopathy I support. Not the brain dead “I don’t want chemo I’m going to drink 8 glasses of carrot juice a day” shit. I think you are confusing homeopathy with something else. Carrot juice might come under “alternative medicine” but not homeopathy, which a supremely successful scientific discipline, in that the price charged by its practitioners is exactly inversely proportional to the amount of active ingredient they sell. :rolleyes: “Alternative” medicine, of course, is also a crock of shit - yes, CROCK OF SHIT - because its basic tenet is that man-made drugs (designed to target specific receptors in body, rigorously tested for safety) are bad, whereas ground-up bits of plant (no testing, no safety controls, uncontrolled dosage) are good - because they’re NATURAL, so they must be GOOD FOR YOU!! All natural stuff is good for you! Like, say, botulinum toxin, or hemlock. :rolleyes: number two. And don’t even get me started on that phrase “chemical free”. “Our product is 100% chemical-free”. Uh huh. So how much total fuckin’ _vacuum_ do ya sell? :wally ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/17 "2004-07-13T19:55:48Z")
> [@Apricot](#): > > I thought homeopathy and acupuncture were completely different practices, with the only similarity being that acupuncturists sometimes prescribe homeopathic remedies and that the same people might do both. > > I can’t imagine that homeopathy is an entrinsic part of “oriental medicine”. Ah, you’re right. I was apparently confusing the word “homeopathic” with “holistic”. To fix my comment, I’ll say that not all _alternative_ remedies are bullshit. Homeopathy - yes. Crystal energy - absolutely. Acupuncture - maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/18 "2004-07-13T19:59:13Z")
> [@Apricot](#): > > So, I’m dying right now (consequence of living), so I take something that causes death, but in a very small concentration. Death is now prevented and I am now IMMORTAL!! There’s a story by Harlan Ellison where a man takes small doses of “the essence of death” to immunize himself against dying. I forget how it ends (which I shouldn’t post even if I did remember, of course). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/19 "2004-07-13T20:18:50Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > There’s a story by Harlan Ellison where a man takes small doses of “the essence of death” to immunize himself against dying. I forget how it ends… Don’t tell me - he applied to the FDA for a drug licence? No? Okay, how about he took out full-page ads in low-rent magazines, complete with quotes from satisfied customers: “I been takin’ this stuff for six weeks, an’ I ain’t done died yet, no sir!” – M.-E. Walton, AL “It’s amazing! I just take two drops, dissolved in five gallons of water, after breakfast and I live right through the rest of the day!” – M. Jackson, CA “It’s a disgrace! Business has dried right up!” – G. Reaper, HL ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929/20 "2004-07-13T20:20:17Z")
> [@Apricot](#): > > So, I’m dying right now (consequence of living), so I take something that causes death, but in a very small concentration. Death is now prevented and I am now IMMORTAL!! No! Wait! Wrong! Stop! If you take a very small dose of something, you get a very big effect of it! So if you take a small dose of something that causes death, you DIE!!! :smack: Say. How about all the air pollution that the rainwater fell through on its way to the reservoir? Does that water contain a homeopathically-small dosage of those toxins, carcinogens, and just plain gunky stuff that’s in the air? It’s a wonder that we don’t all keel over from drinking tap water. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-knows-homeopathy-is-a-crock/254929.md?page=2)