Homeopathy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34744858

Possibly ironic, given the concerted efforts to infinitely dilute the NHS...

If it still works with a tiny fraction of the current budget, people might start believing in it.

If they cut the homeopathy budget from £4,000,000 to £4 imagine how strong it would become! As long as they remember to bang the budget against a leather drum first of course.

the fact that this cobblers gets anything is entirely the result of that meddling, scientifically illiterate, jug-eared-horse-fucker, prince charles.

If they cut the homeopathy budget from £4,000,000 to £4 imagine how string it would become!

That's just 3c 'strength' dilution. The minimum is 6c which dilutes the budget to £0.00 to the nearest penny but I'd still push for 30c strength just to be sure.

Homeopathy, fek off back to 1796.

A GP should be allowed to prescribe homeopathic remedies though.

Obviously, no GP worth their license to practice is going to prescribe it for anything that can or should be treated by evidence-based medicine, but being able to give someone a 1p sugar pill or drop of water, just so that person feels better, and buggers off & leaves them alone?

Placebos are useful. And cheap.

Placebos are useful. And cheap.

And unethical.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015591

Though maybe not necessarily so? (acknowledged it was a small trial, a while ago, and has probably been debunked by now in any case)

And unethical.

Not really.

For self-limiting, non-threatening conditions, placebos are very useful. They make people feel better. And they're cheap.

Placebos are really interesting. They have done placebo surgery on people, which leaves a nice scar but touches nothing internally, which seems to work in some cases.
There was also a study which seemed to prove that certain coloured placebo pills work better than other colours.

Placebos are really interesting.

Placebos work on pets. Placebos can work even if you know it is a placebo.

Placebos make you come back to the doctor for more placebos. If only we could make them non-prescription.

Tate & Lyle?

Though I wonder whether administration by a doctor might be part of the actual effect?

But I have nothing by fresh air on which to base that assertion.

And unethical.

You could argue placebos can be used unethically, but a harmless sugar pill cannot in itself be unethical. It's like saying sticking plasters are unethical.

Belief in the efficacy of homeopathy has built up over a long time, increasing its placebo effect. The more you believe it works, the more benefit you will feel. Up to a point, I'd be happy to be duped if it made me feel better.

A GP should be...able to give someone a 1p sugar pill or drop of water, just so that person feels better

I thought that there were officially licensed placebos available for GPs to prescribe without having to waste money on charlatans peddling hippy nonsense, but apparently this is not the case, so GPs often end up giving placebos via prescriptions for active drugs having no effect on the condition being treated, or they resort to homoeopathic preparations, thus enriching fraudsters.

Placebos can work even if you know it is a placebo.

IIRC, placebos in blue packaging work better than those in red packets.

(Bad Science by Ben Goldacre is an interesting read.)

Obecalp(TM) for all!

officially licensed placebos

Yes I've heard placebo's work better if they have an official license, GP has to remember to tell the patient though...

Yes I've heard placebo's work better if they have an official license

That may even be true, but even it is isn't, licensing placebos would be a handy bypass to the reluctance of some GPs to prescribe off-label. Prescribing antibiotics for viral infections is dangerous on a population level, we need a way for doctors to get rid of idiot patients quickly in a way which doesn't threaten the rest of us.

Injected placebos work better than placebos in pill form. The effect of 2 placebo pills is greater than 1 placebo pill.

Morphine works better if the recipient witnesses the administration, and the effects wear off faster if the withdrawal is overt rather than covert.

Bad_Science
If it still works with a tiny fraction of the current budget, people might start believing in it.

Looks like you are not the only person to think this...

http://newsthump.com/2014/12/09/diluting-nhs-funding-for-homeopathy-to-make-it-infinitely-more-powerful/

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/homeopathy-therapeutic-dead-end-systematic-review-no-evidence-it-works-a6884356.html

I'm fairly certain that sugar pills are the reason I've got moobs in the first place.

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