Never underestimate the power of a good placebo! (I mean that totally seriously. Placebos can be very useful in very real ways.) Just, ideally, don't pay too much money for them.
I spoke up because a certain homeopathic asthma medicine has saved my life more than once when my actual medicine was unavailable. I've also found some of them very useful for avoiding colds and such while I'm traveling. But not every remedy is good for everything, and the quality varies by company, I've found. But no, they should not cost much, and many good ones do not.
When I was in Germany a few years ago and getting sick (this was the precursor to 6 months of nausea until I was diagnosed with abdominal migraines), I went to the pharmacy looking for something to help with that. The pharmacist recommended something, and I asked to make sure it wasn't homeopathy, since I know that's considered legit* over there. She said, no, it's herbal. It's a tincture of peppermint and some other traditional anti-nausea plants.
*Or so I'm told; insurers pay for it like it's real medicine?
Yeah, there are some homeopathic medicines that are treated like they were something else and it's highly annoying.
Not as annoying as a former doctor who gave me homeopathic stuff against my bad pain caused by as-of-yet undiagnosed rheumatoid arthritis, though. I just stared at the pills and could not believe what I was seeing and he was out of the door before I could shout at him.
And try as I like, a small crack appears in my diplomacy-dike. “By definition”, I begin, “Alternative Medicine”, I continue, “Has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work. Do you know what they call 'alternative medicine' that’s been proved to work? Medicine.”
“So you don’t believe in any natural remedies?”
“On the contrary Storm, actually Before I came to tea, I took a remedy derived from the bark of a willow tree A painkiller that’s virtually side-effect free It’s got a weird name, Darling, what was it again? M-masprin? Basprin? Oh yeah! Asprin! Which I paid about a buck for down at the local drugstore." - Tim Minchin, "Storm"
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chiming
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Date: 2012-09-21 08:44 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-09-21 09:32 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-09-21 09:40 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-09-22 02:14 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-09-22 02:25 pm (UTC)From:*Or so I'm told; insurers pay for it like it's real medicine?
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Date: 2012-09-23 09:22 am (UTC)From:Not as annoying as a former doctor who gave me homeopathic stuff against my bad pain caused by as-of-yet undiagnosed rheumatoid arthritis, though. I just stared at the pills and could not believe what I was seeing and he was out of the door before I could shout at him.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-23 01:31 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-09-24 11:54 pm (UTC)From:“By definition”, I begin,
“Alternative Medicine”, I continue,
“Has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work.
Do you know what they call 'alternative medicine' that’s been proved to work?
Medicine.”
“So you don’t believe in any natural remedies?”
“On the contrary Storm, actually
Before I came to tea, I took a remedy derived from the bark of a willow tree
A painkiller that’s virtually side-effect free
It’s got a weird name, Darling, what was it again?
M-masprin? Basprin? Oh yeah! Asprin!
Which I paid about a buck for down at the local drugstore."
- Tim Minchin, "Storm"