|
About a week ago I joined a Facebook group supposedly for diabetics. After a bit of reading around I realised that the group had been set up and was administered by a homeopath. This set some alarm bells ringing. Then I noticed that he was offering "consultations" over Skype to the members of this group.
So my next thought was "is this an attempt to prey on vulnerable people and drum up business?"
Everyone has heard of homeopathy, but for anyone who doesn't know about it, heres the basics. They think that the more you dilute a substance, the more powerful it is and they use something which causes the original problem in order to "treat" it. So if you are having problems sleeping they may use a drop of coffee diluted in 100 drops of water. Then they tap it to "energise" it. Then they keep diluting it way past the point where there is absolutely none of the original substance left in it, tapping it every time.
So what they end up with is water, but according to their dogma "water has a memory". No, I am not making this up. Apparently water is unique in remembering what it has been in contact with. Quite impressive for 2 hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom. Then they put a drop of this water on a sugar pill or just give you some of the water.
And this method is claimed by homeopaths supposed to cure all sorts of stuff from the common cold to diabetes, malaria and cancer.
Again - No I am not making this up as a joke.
By now most people are thinking "but thats ridiculous". Theres no scientific basis for this and when its been tested in double-blind placebo-controlled trials its proven to be either no more effective than placebo or even less effective. The "energy" from the "energising" (tapping) of course cannot be detected.
This is not really surprising since "homeopathic remedies" are either sugar pills or water.
And I don't even think we need to point out that all water has at some point in its existence been in contact with calcium. So as far as I can see by their own oddball dogma, it should make your teeth fall out and your skull crumble. Maybe its down to the way they tap it?
So its been proven not to work yet they still claim to believe in it. Of course along the way they sell a lot of very expensive water to vulnerable people with medical conditions which are hard to treat.
Now you may be thinking this is essentially harmless other than duping people out of money but unfortunately its not. One of the higher profile examples is that increasingly people are returning from tropical countries with malaria, including the strain that can kill in 3 days if untreated. These people were told not to bother with anti-malarial medication but take some homeopathic water instead. There was also a case of an Australian child whose parents treated her eczema with homeopathic water instead of perfectly standard and effective medication. The child died. Because of something as simple to treat as eczema. The parents were convicted of manslaughter:
Link: Sydney Homeopathy Manslaughter Case
So despite no proof that it does anything at all and ample proof that it does not work, these people keep selling their water. Whether individuals believe it or not while selling their water is questionable, but if they do then it seems to be more religion than medicine. Since the object is to sell you something then I see it as being more akin to a religious cult than anything else.
So knowing this you can see why I was instantly concerned for the diabetics in that group. Unfortunately I have a low tolerance for quacks, scammers and shills and tend to go in "a bit heavy". While giving out the usual practical advice for effectively controlling diabetes and information surrounding it (meter variations, cholesterol etc), I took a shot at the "cultist nonsense" of homeopathy. I also reacted very quickly to a warning about the "dangers" of aspartame, attempting to squash that bit of quackery as well.
In the end I was kicked for disagreeing with the term "reversal". It seems to be common for people trying to sell you some magic cure with no scientific basis to use the term "reversal" rather than "control". Its a step down from "cure" which is far more obviously nonsense since everyone knows diabetes is incurable. So promoting "reversal" rather than "cure" is far more believable.
It became increasingly apparent that rather than "discussing alternative methods" for treating diabetes, the purpose of that group as intended by the admin was for it to focus on homeopathy, offering consultations to diabetics which would involve buying expensive water. I would not be surprised however if these consultations included advice to reduce weight and control diet at the same time. These actually do help with control of diabetes, but the credit for any degree of success could then be claimed by the magic water.
So is this a new approach by quacks to prey on the vulnerable? Start a facebook group about a condition and then sell your service, cure or "reversal" method to people? Perhaps its not but thats the impression I have been left with.
I'm sure this particular homeoquack will continue but now his audience has been forewarned.
Note: A couple of days before writing this, the Advertising Standards Agency asked people to stop reporting homeopathic websites for making unfounded and unproven medical claims such as claiming homeopathic remedies to cure cancer. They have been so overloaded with reports of these breaches of the law that they are wrapping it all up into a special investigation of ALL homepathic sites and the claims made.
Also as shown by recent letters to the newspapers, doctors are growing increasingly hostile to homeopathic placebos being paid for by the NHS.
There could be some dry times ahead for homeopaths...
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
