Homeopaths are not generally known for the reliability of their recommendations. This advice by the UK Society of Homeopaths (SoH) was emailed to me a few days ago (how on earth did they know I was on holiday?). It is just too weird and wonderful – I cannot resist the temptation of showing it to you:
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Off on holiday? Whether you’re going abroad or ‘staycationing’, keep these remedies handy to tackle a range of minor ailments. We suggest 30c potencies for all remedies, using every 30- 90 minutes, two or three times depending on the severity of the condition. Always seek medical help for anything more than a minor injury or illness.
Aconite Great for shock, such as from fright, bad news or after having a fall. Also good for the onset of fever after exposure to acute cold, wind or heat.
Apis For bee or wasp stings and any allergic reaction which causes rapid swelling, redness and pain and where the affected area is puffy, white or rosy, feels hot and is better for cold compresses.
Arnica The classic remedy for trauma, injury and bruising. The typical arnica patient will tell you that they are fine but may well be confused or in shock. Also useful for fractures, strains after exertion such as lifting heavy objects and the early stages of a black eye and for jetlag.
Arsenicum This is a great remedy for food poisoning, especially from meat. The person will be very anxious and not easily pacified. The pains are often burning. Vomiting and diarrhoea accompanied by chills, exhaustion, and restless.
Belladonna Great for heatstroke or exhaustion, along with appropriate cooling and rehydration therapy, and for acute fevers or inflammations, which come on suddenly and lead to throbbing pain, redness and swelling. The skin is hot and red and the face flushed but, at the same time, the person can feel chilly and want to be covered.
Ledum This is the first remedy to think of with puncture wounds and for bites and stings which fester. Good for twisted or sprained joints, especially ankles.
Nux Vomica The main remedy for hangover or indigestion from over-eating but also useful for food poisoning in which there is constant retching.
Urtica urens Very useful for skin conditions such as urticaria with raised lumps like nettle rash and great for ‘prickly heat. Urtica can be used for minor burns and scalds as well where pains are stinging, like nettle rash, but not too sore to touch.
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I find the list and particularly the comments most revealing. To me, they suggest that homeopathy just do not have a cue. They recommend nonsense for conditions they know nothing about. They do not seem to know what real shock or food poisoning or heat stroke are. They do not seem to appreciate that they can be life-threatening problems. And by stating “Always seek medical help for anything more than a minor injury or illness”, they clearly admit that they are merely jokers of no significance whatsoever.
For what it’s worth, I here give my evidence-based view on the remedies listed:
Aconite No evidence to justify the claims mentioned above.
Apis No evidence to justify the claims mentioned above.
Arnica Some evidence to show that Arnica does not work.
Arsenicum No evidence to justify the claims mentioned above.
Belladonna No evidence to justify the claims mentioned above.
Ledum No evidence to justify the claims mentioned above.
Nux Vomica No evidence to justify the claims mentioned above.
Urtica urens No evidence to justify the claims mentioned above.
Oh, I almost forgot: the SoH is the organisation of ‘professional’ homeopaths in the UK (professional meaning they have no medical training). On their website, they state: “High standards are the cornerstone of the Society of Homeopaths. So we were delighted that our register was accredited by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) in 2014… This accreditation demonstrates our commitment to high professional standards, to enhancing safety and delivering a better service.”
One does wonder whether killing gullible holidaymakers via bad advice counts as high standards.
10 Responses to Homeopathy: does killing holidaymakers via bad advice count as ‘high standards’?
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The Professional Standards Authority:
“What we do:
We help to protect the public by improving the regulation and registration of people who work in health and care. There are three main areas to our work:
Reviewing the work of the regulators of health and care professionals
Accrediting organisations that register health and care practitioners in unregulated occupations.
Lobbying government”.
What PSA does not do is accredit the standards adopted by an organisation that is accredited. PSA simply accredits the fact that an organisation is organised.
The claims made by SoH are non-evidenced and false.
They represent the lowest possible professional standards.
SoH should be ashamed. That it is not, is evidence of its malign intent.
The Advertising Standards Authority is not so generous and demands evidence.
Well, at least they don’t appear to endorse “homeoprophylaxis” for killer diseases such as malaria and yellow fever like other homeopaths do, so there’s a bright spot.
[/sarcasm]
On the topic of ‘professional’ organizations, there seems little point complaining that these are set up and managed by by practitioners and therefore mark their own homework. The same applies to orthodox medicine (e.g. the GMC in the UK), law (e.g. the SRA), house builders (e.g. the NFB) and many other professions. There’s an Association of Professional Astrologers International and a Spiritualist Association of Great Britain. Even the Telephone Preference Service, with which one registers to prevent cold telephone calls, is funded by the cold-calling industry!
The ultimate accolade in Britain is to achieve a royal charter, which allows an organization to add ‘Royal’ to its name, as in the many Royal Colleges for medical specialities and even the most famous of them all, the Royal Society, which includes scientific knuckleheads like Prince Charles among its fellows.
It seems only time and experience ever sieve professional organizations into the credible and the less credible.
The TPA will actually cold-call to ask if you will take part in a survey! It’s in their terms & conditions.
Here’s what goes on at an SoH-accredited training college:
https://majikthyse.wordpress.com/2018/05/12/going-undercover-homeopathy/
Next time I see that little old lady waiting at the zebra crossing, I’ll walk her to a bend blind bend on the crest of a hill and say, “have a quick glance in case there’s a speedboat coming.”
Difference between SCAM and religions? None: they’re both into profits.
Regarding SCAM and religions: I cannot remember what Apis is in homoeopathy but Apis is also the ancient Egyptian bull god. Possible Apis worship might work as well homoeopathy?
Apis is ground up, dead bees – scrummy!
Ah, so there is a sting in the tail… and who said homeopathy is black and yellow?
“Apis”, talk about nominative determinism.
Sounds okay as a protein source but for health I’ll stick with the Apis Bull.