Homeopathy, Naturopathy, and Iridology

[Wizard]

Ah just had a fun discussion with my dad about the usefulness of these "healing" meathods. As you might not know I am a Public Health (BSPH) student at Loma Linda University. Here we are taught (strongly mind you) that all these alternative healing meathods are sheer quackery.

Short definitions

Homeopathy: Heal Like With Like Much fuller explanation (http://www.towlechiropractic.com/homeopathy.htm)

Naturopathy: Nature Will Heal You Again much longer (http://www.naturopathyonline.com/nature.htm)

Iridology: Your Eyes Hold The Key To Diagnosing Your Illness Much more complete (http://www.iridology.gr/whatis.html)

The URLs all lead to sites that are Pro the meathods. I'll leave you to find the ones that are Anti. What is your take on these alternative medicines?

[Memo]

I strongly believe they're all "sheer quackery" as well. My dad (MD) takes this stance as well. However, in Mexico, Homeopathy is widely used as a treatment for stuff like the cold and simple diseases. I do'nt know.....I just find it too hard to believe.

[hapoo]

i'll believe it when i see the proof.

[johnnymk]

I remember going to a seminar about twenty years ago concerning Iridology.
If you don't have blue eyes, forget your health. The moderator told us that everyone should be born with blue eyes, and that the more diseased your body becomes, the darker your eyes become. What nonsense!

[topane]

Sometimes though, if you think it's good for you then it can be good for you. The human mind is an amazing thing ;).

[LPMiller]

SOME homeopathy works. In fact, many modern medicines are derived from these things. There was a homeopathic medicine on the market that reduced allergy problems. The medicos took it and before you know it, Nasalcrom is a drug costing twice as much, but its the exact same thing as the homepathic version.

A lot of whats out there is crap - but then, a lot of doctors are quacks too. Everything shoudl be taken with a grain of salt, but not everything should be dismissed out of hand either. Especially coming from an industry that essentially holds a monopoly over health.

I had a good, good friend who was given six months to live - breast cancer had entered her entire body. Acupuncture and homepathy gave her 10 years of life the doctors swore up and down she didn't have. She's gone now, but she showed both the power of personal will, and that there are other ways to do things.

[WhiskeyPapa]

We deliver all of our babies at home using a midwife. For some reason, most midwives are neck-deep in the "alternative" medical stuff. My wife just visited her midwife yesterday and said she's even more into the weird stuff since we had our last baby.

Having a large family, one of the comments we hear a lot is "you must be going to the doctor all the time!" Actually we are very health-conscious and some of our kids have never seen a doctor. My wife is very good at treating common childhood maladies, but if there's something that even remotely looks bad, we don't hesitate to take them into the doc.

[whitak24]

Originally posted by kb0wwp
We deliver all of our babies at home using a midwife. For some reason, most midwives are neck-deep in the "alternative" medical stuff. My wife just visited her midwife yesterday and said she's even more into the weird stuff since we had our last baby.

Having a large family, one of the comments we hear a lot is "you must be going to the doctor all the time!" Actually we are very health-conscious and some of our kids have never seen a doctor. My wife is very good at treating common childhood maladies, but if there's something that even remotely looks bad, we don't hesitate to take them into the doc.
i strongly believe that there is a big difference between taking care of yourself, following a healthy lifestyle, and using some "natural" medicine to take care of problems vs. ditching your family doctor and trying to use various "miracle cures" to treat your ailments.

under the first method, you're working with your body to help it do what it naturally wants to do: resist and fight diseases. if you can't achieve that, you like a doctor step in.

under the second alternative, you ignore what really needs to be done and focus on using some miracle herb or healing potion that some pitchman says will work wonders. or you reject all of the scientific advances of the last 500 years and follow some strange anti-technology health plan.

in the second case, you're endangering yourself foolishly as opposed to wisely taking care of yourself.