Homeopathy, does it work?

[Cyril Haearn]

Lots of drugs and other treatments have side-effects, sometimes these do not appear until years later, even though the drugs have been tested and approved
Right now experts are racing to make cures for cv, might be ready in a few months, but who knows what side-effects the cures may have? No-one knows

Placebos and homeopathy may have fewer side-effects
..
Checked the poll results again, don't know: zero votes
Looks like we have a lot of experts here

[Oldjohnw]

I'm certainly not an expert but I do know what it is to have one's life saved by a modern drug. Certainly side effects but they were known and it was a balanced view that needed to be made. And it wasn't a placebo.

[Jdsk]

Placebos and homeopathy may have fewer side-effects

Does that mean that you expect homeopathic treatments for coronavirus infection to be effective?

Thanks

Jonathan

[Cyril Haearn]

Placebos and homeopathy may have fewer side-effects

Does that mean that you expect homeopathic treatments for coronavirus infection to be effective?

Thanks

Jonathan

Of course not
I know very little* although I did biology at school
* that is why I started this thread

[pjclinch]

Placebos and homeopathy may have fewer side-effects

We're not exactly going out on a limb here, are we?
Conventional drugs are designed quite explicitly to alter body chemistry in a way that is tested to have a clear effect. The body is a complex system with lots of interacting mechanisms so it's impossible to tell the exact outcome of making an alteration in one aspect of it: side effects should be expected.
Homeopathic remedies contain at most the odd molecule of active ingredient, notionally something built in to the structure of the water in it. That isn't going to do much by itself to alter body chemistry so with very little alteration going on you won't have as many side effects.

But while no side effects is a Good Thing, it's somewhat secondary to stuff like "does it systematically help?" Patting someone choking with something properly lodged in their airway gently on the back has far fewer side effects than a full abdominal thrust (first aid courses teach if you have to do one you should ensure the person on the receiving end goes to hospital to check for internal injuries). On the other hand it doesn't actually save the choker by letting them breathe again, which the thrust does.

..
Checked the poll results again, don't know: zero votes
Looks like we have a lot of experts here

You seem to have missed my opening salvo:

Lacking an "I think you'll find it's more complicated than that" option I'm not voting...

"Don't know" implies that one of the other options is correct but you're not sure which one. Since the questions don't even set out the definition of "works" it isn't as easy to answer as you seem to think. Maybe it's the pedant in me, perhaps it's the daily work in science, possibly both and other things too, but I very rarely fill in these polls because the questions are badly designed and the answers don't cover all the available bases..

Pete.

[Cyril Haearn]

Right again pj
I am more literary than scientific
The polls here allow up to ten answers, I try to offer as wide a choice as possible
I think 'don't know' is a good portmanteau choice, like 'none of the above' in politics

[Smallcog]

Since the formation of the planet, most water molecules must have been in contact with most things. Surely they will then retain their homeopathic memory of that substance. In which case, if I keep drinking tap water, I'll be cured of everything. Fantastic!

[hamster]

Since the formation of the planet, most water molecules must have been in contact with most things. Surely they will then retain their homeopathic memory of that substance. In which case, if I keep drinking tap water, I'll be cured of everything. Fantastic!

I'd stop drinking water. It will have retained the memory of arsenic, lead, cyanide, botutoxin, cone shell venom...so be very, very poisonous indeed.

Bearing in mind the rates of dilution of homeopathy often will not have a single molecule of the original mixture, it requires a fundamentally different understanding of the operation of the physics of the universe to operate.

[reohn2]

Perhaps tapwater has taken on in molecular memory form both good and bad and as a result is inert!