Homeopathy is a system of medical treatment based on the notion that illnesses may be cured by administering vanishingly small amounts of a substance that causes the same symptoms that the patient has. The theory is that symptoms are indications that the body is trying to heal itself. The best way to heal a patient is to make the symptoms worse, thus helping the body heal. So if a patient complains of stomach ache, the substance given would be something that causes nausea.
The substance given may be diluted with distilled water, alcohol, or powdered sugar until there is less than one part per million -- in many cases, far less -- of the substance in the mixture, which may still have some chemical effect. In some cases the dilution is beyond 1024 where less than a molecule of the original substance is left in the mixture. The mixture is systematically shaken to impart the power of the substance to the water, alcohol or sugar. Following a program of regular doses of the diluted substance, a patient will supposedly get well.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proofs and the burden of proof is on the claimant. The doses are so diluted that the illness causing substance is virtually gone. How could it have any effect beyond that of what it is mixed in? The extraordinary proof expected of such extraordinary claims has not been forthcoming. There is no evidence that making symptoms worse helps patients get well. There is no evidence that shaking highly dilute solutions changes the water, alcohol or sugar in any way. In addition, research indicates that homeopathic treatments are ineffective. Two studies in Britain in 1986 concluded that homeopathic treatments had effects similar to a placebo. A much-publicized case in France in 1988 that appeared to affirm homeopathy was found on closer scrutiny to have no validity. Homeopathy is harmless at best and at worst may delay effective medical treatment.
Homeopathy was invented by Dr. Samuel F. C. Hahnemann (1755-1843), and has changed little since his time. It is not accepted by modern scientific medicine.
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