"Skeptics to commit suicide."

[Cuddles]

The practice of homeopathy takes a material that causes a symptom and uses that to cure that symptom in a sufferer.
From the leaflet Matt references

Shouldn't this produce eye problems?

The trouble you're having there is that you're assuming homeopaths actually try to be consistent, or even make any kind of sense at all. While the theory of homeopathy takes a material and uses it to cure the symptoms it causes, the actual practice of homeopathy takes a material and makes up some crap about it. If you're lucky that is, a lot of the time they don't bother taking a material first. Moonbeam and antimatter remedies for all. And yes, those do actually exist.

[Julia]

I've only had one experience of homeopathic medicine. My father went to Boots to get some anti-catarrh medicine for me and came back with what turned out to be a bottle of homeopathic pills. According to the instructions the child dose was half that of the adult dose, which surely makes it TWICE as strong? When I explained to my father what homeopathy actually was he thought I was joking. He was under the impression - which I think is very widespread - that homeopathic medicines were merely natural remedies containing none of those nasty 'chemicals'.

[DrS]

Excuse my ignorance, please, but are Bach Remedies homeopathic?

[wooo_oops]

noop, they are:

Step One: Mother tinctures are prepared from plant material and natural spring water using either the Sun or Boiling Method as defined by Dr Bach.
Step Two: The mother tincture is made up of the energised spring water [Step one] mixed with an equal quantity of 40% brandy. The brandy acts purely as a preservative for the remedy.
Step Three: To make the stock bottle, the mother tincture is added to 27% grape alcohol.

Booze!

But he was homeopathic, though.

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

I've only had one experience of homeopathic medicine. My father went to Boots to get some anti-catarrh medicine for me and came back with what turned out to be a bottle of homeopathic pills. According to the instructions the child dose was half that of the adult dose, which surely makes it TWICE as strong? When I explained to my father what homeopathy actually was he thought I was joking. He was under the impression - which I think is very widespread - that homeopathic medicines were merely natural remedies containing none of those nasty 'chemicals'.

I think we underestimate the amount of confusion. I'm not aware of any surveys, but I would imagine most of the population thinks homeopathic and natural remedies are the same thing. After all, you just go into Holland and Barratt and they are on the same shelf.

3 or 4 years ago, my wife was getting bad cramps in her calf and she got some homeopathic pills from H&B after speaking to a woman in the shop. There isn't anything in big letters written on the bottle to let you know they are homeopathic, and at the time I probably thought to myself, I'll not say anything even though I know it probably won't help, and she wasn't going to die from the cramp.

I know an awful lot more now about the whole alt med domain than I did then, but I don't think very many of the population do.

[SKIRRID5]

Yes, I've found people tend to believe homeopathic means merely "natural" or "herbal". This is a good example of ignorance and not bothering to think. Most people, unless they are completely illiterate, have the INFORMATION to work out what the word means, but in a thousand years they wouldn't bother. What did it say on cartons of milk (if it doesn't now)? "Homogenised" meaning made all the same, the milk and cream being mixed. Of course loads of folk would think it meant "made gay" and want to fire-bomb the dairy!

[bindeweede]

"Homogenised" meaning made all the same, the milk and cream being mixed. Of course loads of folk would think it meant "made gay" and want to fire-bomb the dairy!

Is that not just a bit over-the-top? Well, totally silly, really.

[Jocky]

I think we underestimate the amount of confusion. I'm not aware of any surveys, but I would imagine most of the population thinks homeopathic and natural remedies are the same thing. After all, you just go into Holland and Barratt and they are on the same shelf.

3 or 4 years ago, my wife was getting bad cramps in her calf and she got some homeopathic pills from H&B after speaking to a woman in the shop. There isn't anything in big letters written on the bottle to let you know they are homeopathic

I used to suffer from exactly the same confusion - and I'm sure that unconscious blind trust in Holland and Barrett's shelf-labelling policy was one of the reasons.

However, the day when I happened to stumble across the truth about Homeopathy was an important first step on my personal road to skepticism. When I realised what transparent nonsense it is, and that my humble knowledge of chemistry from schooldays was easily sufficient to understand and explain the reason why, I felt empowered to start asking questions. I have never looked back.

Shortly after this epiphany, I actually went so far as to go into Holland and Barrett and start asking questions. I explained my concerns to the bloke behind the counter, but he just looked back at me pityingly and said, "Well sir, that's just the way homeopathy works, you see?" Unfortunately, I didn't have the presence of mind or the confidence in my knowledge at the time to tell him that homeopathy has been shown not to work in many clinical studies.

I walked out of the shop, and from that day to this I have never darkened their doors again. However, it was an important learning experience, and for that I suppose I should be grateul.

[siestatime]

noop, they are:

Step One: Mother tinctures are prepared from plant material and natural spring water using either the Sun or Boiling Method as defined by Dr Bach.
Step Two: The mother tincture is made up of the energised spring water [Step one] mixed with an equal quantity of 40% brandy. The brandy acts purely as a preservative for the remedy.
Step Three: To make the stock bottle, the mother tincture is added to 27% grape alcohol.

Booze!

So it's a mixture of brandy and water then.
How is this spring water "energised"?

[tolman]

By step one,
Though the description is bad, since it refers to making the mother tincture in both steps 1 and 2, when really, it should start by saying

"To prepare a mother tincture, first energise the spring water by adding random plant stuff.
It doesn't really matter what you use since it'll end up dluted to **** anyway."

[siestatime]

So the plant tincture is diluted with brandy the same as for a homeopathic remedy.
OK. I think.

[bindeweede]

So the plant tincture is diluted with brandy the same as for a homeopathic remedy.
OK. I think.

Siestatime,

I don't think homeopathy uses anything as nice as brandy. Just water. But it does get a damned good shaking. Succussing? Not sure about that word, or its spelling.???

[siestatime]

Siestatime,

I don't think homeopathy uses anything as nice as brandy. Just water. But it does get a damned good shaking. Succussing? Not sure about that word, or its spelling.???

I'll try again, using English this time.

"So the plant tincture is diluted as if it were a homeopathic remedy, but using brandy instead of water."

If it gets a damned good shaking, it probably deserved one.

[DrS]

So is there any trace of an active ingredient in a Bach remedy ... apart from the booze, that is!

[siestatime]

So is there any trace of an active ingredient in a Bach remedy ... apart from the booze, that is!

I always assumed that Bach's Flower Remedies were a sort of portable and undiluted version of herbal remedies, such as camomile and limeflower teas. Shows how much I know.

Some friends of mine, who are quite level-headed, swear by the Bach Flower Rescue Remedy, they take it when they have to travel by plane. They said it was a mixture of five -or was it seven? - anyway, a mixture of herbs/plants/vegetation in general. That's where my mistaken ideas come from.

Now I know it's a load of drivel.

Time and again this forum has made me take a long, hard look at ideas that I had taken for granted. It isn't easy having all your props taken away from you, sometimes it's scary, but I feel much more in control of my own life.

What a long spiel and I hope you haven't dropped off reading it.

So, yes, DrS and myself would like to know if there is anything in these bottles apart from brandy and whitewash.