Homeopathic Remedies – Safe or Unsafe?
ByHomeopathic “remedies” enjoy a unique status in the health marketplace: They are the only category of quack products legally marketable as drugs. Dr. Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Homeopathy is completely safe. Even babies and pregnant women can use Homeopathy without the danger of side effects. Homeopathic remedies can also be taken alongside other medication without producing unwanted side effects. A quote from the front page of ABC Homeopathy.
Not all homeopathic medicines are as dilute or safe as the ABC Homeopathy site would have you believe. Or,if they are safe then many products marketed as “Homeopathic” do not meet the rigorous standards. One such medication is Zicam. Many of my patients tell me they take this compound when they have viral upper respiratory symptoms we often call a “cold”.
During 2008, the FDA received reports on harmful side effects on over 800 homeopathic products. One of the most serious was the lose of the sense of smell and the homeopathic remedy was Zicam. Though most homopathic remedies are diluted to parts per million, some of the ingredients in Zicam were diluted to only 2 parts per hundred. Zicam was ordered by the FDA to stop producing products that contained Zinc gluconate. These were the nasal gel, the adult and kid-size nasal swabs.
I find it interesting that people who hold me and my colleagues to a very high standard of ethics and practice will use such products and argue about their effectiveness. I think they simply want something they control and don’t have to have a prescription to use. It also seems to me that they want to simplify very complex processes and use a single ingredient to remove uncomfortable symptoms even when those symptoms could be caused by a myriad of processes within their bodies.
One of the main defenses I hear for this is “I know my body better than anyone else.” To me that is like saying they are qualified to repair a car because they can put gas in it and aim it down the road. Neither make much sense to me. Now, I need your opinion. You, or most of you are on the other side of the fence from me. You consume services and I deliver them in medicine. Am I crazy for these thoughts and opinions or do you agree with me? Let me hear from you in the comments section.
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