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Are homeopathic medicines just water?
I thought they contained herbs and things. Are there homeopathic remedies that contain water only?
I'm not a vet, I'm a vet nurse - big difference!
No animal realises the difference between a medicine and a placebo, which is why a placebo would have no effect.
Ad G, they're all meta-analyses - have you come across any double-blind experiments?
Soul Doctor - I was just asking what they contain, not how effective they are.
10 Answers
- Zen CatLv 51 decade agoFavorite Answer
The answer to your question is basically yes "they are just water," nothing else remains after homeopathic dilution.
However, the water in homeopathic remedies is "different" from the water you get out of the sink. When the homeopathic process is done to it, the structure of the water changes, which allows it can affect the body (most likely in an energetic fashion).
Then again, that's a hard pill to swallow, which rightly contributes to a lot of the skepticism homeopathy faces.
Most homeopaths know from experience that homeopathy works, but they aren't totally sure why, so they hold an attitude of "it works really well, and I'll just accept that I can't explain why." I do know that exposing a remedy to an electromagnetic field or EMR tends to ruin it (whereas oxygen exposure does not), so this definitely evidences something energetic is going on with the water.....however that also means it's nearly impossible to prove anything about with conventional science.
So yea, as other people have said, you really just need to try it for yourself to draw your own conclusions about it (ie. works on animals, must not be placebo). Technically it is "jsut water" but the phrasing of that statement is rather deceptive. I hope that helps answer your question!
*the only thing I can add is that the efficacy of homeopathy is extremely depenedent on the skill of the homeopath, so if you see a bad one, you'll walk away with a completely different perception of it.
- ?Lv 45 years ago
True homeopathic meds aren't placebos. They do cure diseases and conditions, it's just that they usually take a very long time to work, as they work with strengthening the body to heal itself instead of shutting off the body's defenses (antibiotics) and taking over. If I was a runner and wanted to run 10 miles for a fitness benefit, I wouldn't say, Oh, I'll just take the car and get there faster. Pharmaceuticals are like that. Now we have an entire society that wants its "quick fix" to get better within a few minutes of that first sniffle instead of working with our bodies through nutrients, supplements and homeopathic remedies to rid ourselves of allergies and like diseases and have them never come back. I would rather take homeopathics for six weeks and come out healthier that to take traditional medicine for three weeks and deal with a host of side effects that could haunt me for life.
- 1 decade ago
"the water in homeopathic remedies is "different" from the water you get out of the sink. When the homeopathic process is done to it, the structure of the water changes, which allows it can affect the body"-Alex F
what about all the other substances that it touches. Why is not affected by other homeopathic remedies that it's touched before.
WATER is NOT intelligent.
ADDED
Oh and by the way soul"doctor" (ha) Great anecdote. Thanks for that. perhaps you should perform a clinical story trail with double blinded stories.
Stories are all you have. For every person that gets a good result how many people get no result. That's kinda what a trial is. If it doesn't work for you your less likely to rave on about it. The good results are coincidences and false correlations. They would have happened anyway.
If homeopathy didn't know this it would perform large double-blinded clinical trials and prove it once and for all.
But the they know it's all crap so they make excuses. There is no excuse. a large blinded clinical trial that was then independantly repeated would prove it one way or the other. It would show if it did anything at all.
- Soul DoctorLv 71 decade ago
Can just water or placebo cure or even improve a lung cancer patient ? Well, can it ? Check this answer please and email this person his mother is taking the remedies i prescribed, Homeopathic Remedies plus a quarter teaspoon of Turmeric powder three times a day and she is constantly improving and her tumor is shrinking in size. Placebo huh ?
Here is the a question and you can email and ask Sneaky Snake who answered this question too :-
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvqXF...
Check this answer and how fast the Homeopathic remedy worked :- http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArRhF...
I can tell you thousands of such cases and after this anyone who calls Homeopathy Placebo or plain water, is either the dumbest person in the world or an absolute liar who is deliberately trying to misguide people from taking remedies which can cure them and trying to entice them into taking drastic medicines which can only make one sicker instead of better. You are free to derive your own conclusion from here on.
Take Care and God Bless.
Source(s): Homeopathic Practitioner - old cat ladyLv 71 decade ago
Homeopathic remedies are made from plants (Rhus toxicodendron - poison ivy), minerals (Silicea)), metal - Plumbum or lead) animals (Cantharis or Spanish fly), non-metals (Iodine and sulphur).
About 60% of the remedies are made from plants - some use whole plants, some the leaves, roots, bark, berries, fruits or seeds, bulbs, buds etc.
There are over 2,000 remedies from these sources. A mother tincture is made from the original material and diluted with water to make the different potencies.
Source(s): Homeopathic remedies have been used with animals almost from its inception 200 years ago. - Anonymous1 decade ago
No, they aren't.
I've given you some information and research that should help your understanding.
Also since you are a vet I added some info on homeopathics for animals. How many farm animals and pets realize if they are being medicated or getting a placebo?
Source(s): http://www.boiron.com/ http://www.boiron.com/en/htm/04_recherche_homeo/re... http://www.boiron.com/en/htm/01_homeo_aujourdhui/c... http://www.boiron.com/en/htm/veterinary-homeopathy... - ?Lv 71 decade ago
We have a holistic vet. They use homeopathic preparations, which work quite well for anxiety and allergies. Of course they are not just water. They also use antibiotics when there is a real need for them.
- 1 decade ago
Homeopathic medicines are so diluted that they are considered to be the strength of a drop of water placed in the Ocean.
They believe that you break it down to a "molecular" level, which is patently absurd and useless.
You get more remedies by placing a cracker on your forehead and believing it helps you.
Good luck.
- DashLv 71 decade ago
Most of them don't work so you might as well just save your money and drink water.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Only to cure dehydration.