Homeopathy Guide

I have posted several times on the quackery of homeopathy (link). There is no possible mechanism of action for homeopathic products. They have slight traces of matter that is so deluded that they can't possibly have anything other than a placebo effect. 

Below is a typical detailed description of a homeopathic product. It's from Amazon. I would recommend Googling any over-the-counter product, and checking out Amazon's page for it, particularly looking for what is bolded and in red below. All chain pharmacies carry several homeopathic products, but the information listed on the product probably is not as inclusive as what you will find on Amazon.

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Product Description

Hyland's Naturals Leg Cramp Tablets temporarily relieve the symptoms of stiffness, pains in limbs, joints and legs, cramps in calves, feet and legs. Hyland's quick-dissolving tablets melt in your mouth instantly to relieve symptoms of pain and cramps in legs and calves, pain in limbs and joints, and cramps in your feet. No need for water and no stomach discomfort. This gentle formula is made with all-natural active ingredients. Hyland’s Naturals is a leading consumer health brand with more than a century of history making high-quality products to help people live healthier and happier lives. Made with natural active ingredients, our products contain no artificial flavors or sugars, dyes or parabens. With a state-of-the-art, FDA regulated and cGMP compliant facility, our top-selling products are sold in more than 15 countries and can be found in every major retailer in the United States.
No Side Effects, No Known Drug Interactions

Hyland’s Leg Cramps are prepared with micro-doses of natural active ingredients to ensure safe relief of leg cramps and leg pain symptoms without the side effects or drug interactions associated with other pain medicines. Hyland’s Leg Cramps does not contain aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen and are safe to take with other medications.

Ingredients

Active Ingredients | Purposes: Cinchona Officinalis 3X HPUS: pains in limbs & joints Aconitum Napellus 6X HPUS: pains in joints, legs Gnaphalium Polycephalum 3X HPUS: cramps in calves & feet Ledum Palustre 6X HPUS: pain and cramps in legs Magnesia Phosphorica 6X HPUS: cramps in calves Rhus Toxicodendron 6X HPUS: pain and stiffness Viscum Album 3X HPUS: pains in joints

“HPUS” indicates the active ingredients are in the official Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States.

Legal Disclaimer

CLAIMS BASED ON TRADITIONAL HOMEOPATHIC PRACTICE, NOT ACCEPTED MEDICAL EVIDENCE. NOT FDA EVALUATED.

Statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition.

Pharmacies Have Gotten Away With Selling Snake Oil Too Long

"A national science advocacy organization is urging pharmacists to be worthy of the trust that customers have placed in them to guide them in their health decisions by steering patients away from useless fake medicine in the form of homeopathy. The Center for Inquiry today asked the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners and its member organizations to ensure that these fraudulent products are treated as the snake oil they are." (link)

Read the ingredients on all OTC products sold in all pharmacies. In the context of this post, look for "Homeopathic." Also, Google is your friend in getting science-based information. When Googling an OTC product, be aware of two situations:

• The first posts will be Ads in support of the product.
• Most of the "Reviews" are trying to get you to not purchase the searched-for item but ANOTHER bogus product!

ONLY take information from known scientific sources. If unsure, check out the source on this website: Media Bias/Fact Check.

Naturopathy & Homeopathy: Both Are Bullshit

Naturopath who homeopathically managed fatal natural birthing absolved

In May 2017, the Arizona Naturopathic Physicians Medical Board dismissed a complaint by the Arizona Department of Health Services (DHS) against naturopath Anne Marie Palzer in her role as the clinical director of Birth Haven at Life Spring Midwifery. Records indicate that when a patient came to the center in active labor, a midwife consulted Palzer about signs that the unborn baby was in distress. The baby was transferred to a hospital but could not be resuscitated. DHS alleged that Palzer failed to authenticate the homeopathic medication that had been ordered for the patient every 15 minutes for several hours, and that she had failed to require communication from Birth Haven to the hospital. However, the naturopathic board declared that since Palzer ordered an over-the-counter homeopathic, authentication wasn't needed, and that she had followed proper protocol in connection with the transfer.

Commenting on the case, naturopathic whistleblower Britt Marie Hermes has said:

I suspect that some naturopaths reading this post are thinking that they would have done something differently than what Palzer did. But, my former colleagues, how can you be so sure that you would have made a different decision?
The institutions that train naturopaths revere homeopathy. This veneration, in my opinion, coerces students to believe in magic. Homeopathic medicines are based on substances that are so diluted with water that none of the original material remains. It is the so-called "water memory" of the substance that naturopaths and others believe is medicine. As naturopaths, we are taught that homeopathy can do anything, given the right remedy. [Hermes B. A naturopath-midwife, homeopathy, and a dead newborn. Naturopathic Diaries, December 28, 2017]

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(Consumer Health Digest #18-14)

Warning If You Have A Teething Baby

"Teething can bring sleepless nights full of non-stop crying. Although seeking out one of the teething products marketed to ease the baby's pain may be tempting - the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning against it."

Stay Away From Homeopathic Teething Remedies Warns the FDA

A comment:  who would have thought that a homeopathic anything would be harmful?

Homeopathy Successfully Attacked In The UK

"We are hopeful that NHS Wirral CCG, like their counterparts in Liverpool, are able to take this as an opportunity to make a sensible decision to end support for pseudoscience and free up limited resources for treatments that actually work."

Good Thinking Society’s successful challenge to NHS homeopathy

What's New In Homeopathy? Nothing.

"Nothing has changed in the world of homeopathy. There is no possible mechanism of action for the homeopathic position, which represents a chain of dramatic implausibilities. In order for Hahnemann to have been right, he would have to have won the scientific lottery not just once but a dozen times, stumbling upon multiple entirely new principles of nature. Further, these principles would all have to be of such a nature that they have eluded scientific investigation for the last two centuries."

Deconstructing Homeopathy Propaganda

Harriet Hall has a 32 minute video on this form of quackery.

C'mon, Pharmacists, Get Your Act Together

"For pharmacists there is also a very simple and clear course of action that they can take. Just stop selling health care products that have no evidence of efficacy or evidence of lack of efficacy. Stop selling products that don’t work, can’t work, or are unproven to work."

Pharmacy and homeopathy: Will the profession change, or will change be forced upon it?

Quackery And Pediatric Facial Nerve Palsy

"Although there are no medical therapies that have been shown to significantly hasten recovery, it is important for the correct diagnosis to be made, particularly in children who are more likely than adults to have a more concerning etiology of their facial weakness. Rather than one of the many implausible and unproven alternatives, your best bet is science-based care from an appropriately trained medical professional."

Separating Fact from Fiction in Pediatric Medicine: Facial Nerve Palsy

Beware The Naturopaths

I put these quacks in the same category as homeopaths and chiropractors:  they all have an acute sense of marketing and politics.

Naturopaths and supplement manufacturers: In bed together to promote naturopathic licensure

They Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves

"The American Journal of Public Health is published by the American Public Health Association, the nation’s premier public health organization and an obvious advocate of immunization. According to AJPH, papers submitted to the journal are assigned 3 reviewers and only about 18% make it to publication. That system failed here. The AJPH should retract this article immediately.

American Journal of Public Health article touts “potential public health benefits” of homeopathy