Your Favorite Home Remedy

[wishspirit]

These two sentences contradict one another.

I agree. Many people swear by homeopathic remedies, but they are not medically proven effective. At worst they can harm health, at best they are a waste of money.

Home remedies may work well, but part of it may be psychological comfort. Warm tea, blanket, cuddly dog, cat, or Teddy bear can work wonders.

As a whole sentence it doesn't contradict itself. Homoeopathy and home remedies are not the same. Homoeopathy is based on the idea that water has memory, and can remember that 1 million dilutions ago it had something that was a raw ingredient deemed to be helpful. Home remedies are usually passed down knowledge, some with and some without scientific backing.

That isn't to say that all 'home remedies' aren't helpful. Hundreds of years ago people used to chew the bark of a willow tree to make them feel better, the same core ingredient we now use in aspirin. Some certainly do have merit, but some are primarily based on the placebo effect, which still gives you a positive outcome if you truly believe it works. My natural dubiousness of anything without scientific backing means it is unlikely to work for me.

The power of placebo is an amazing thing, and is not to be ignored. If you believe it will help you, then often it will. This isn't a slight on anyone, it is just how the mind is programmed to work.

There is, thus far, no scientific evidence to back homoeopathy, only that it creates the similar reaction to a placebo.

 

[mainegal]

Thanks, Kate, for your response.

I made the mistake of taking a thread about home remedies and mentioning homeopathy.
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/homeopathy-000352.htm

I think what I meant was that homeopathy can harm because it might delay truely effective treatment. At its best, it does not harm, but you are out money.

I do apologize for hijacking the home remedy thread.

Now, back to the chicken soup already in progress. (BTW, my guess is that Won Ton Soup is in a chicken broth. Yum!)

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I wouldn't call it a remedy but for a sore throat, I add Scotch to Lyn's hot tea with lemon and honey.

I'm sorry you are sick. It isn't fair to get sick when school ends (or is ending).

You ain't kidding! Other than still being under the weather and returning to school today, I was completely overwhelmed with what has to be done before next week. Ugh! Not a good feeling!

We use emergen-c drink mixes. I like the orange, dh likes the raspberry. Seems to give me an energy boost when I'm sick! .

A good friend of mine swears by Emergen-C.

While I'm all for home remedies, I have discovered the ultimate preventative treatment for all common illnesses: I wash my hands frequently!

You can imagine the germs I encounter every day working as a school librarian. YIKES! I'm careful not to eat or do things like rub my eyes or nose unless I've washed my hands. Works wonders....I haven't had a single illness for over 3 years....not even a cold!

Note: I wash my hands more often right before my Disney trips...it seems that the kids/teachers at school are the sickest during February, which is when I usually travel. Nobody wants to be sick at Disney!

I 100% agree with this!

 

[dalt01]

a beverly hillbillys episode.........granny had some concoction that she said cured the common cold........drysdale checked all around the Ozarks or wherever they were from and thousands upon thousands of fellow hillbilly types backed up the story....sooooooooo....drysdale put on a big push spending lots of money on the assurance that once the product hit he would get it back in spades...once the deal was set he said to granny..ya gotta tell me how this stuff works....granny said......well you drink a big glass of it when you start to feel sick and in a week to ten days your cold will be completely gone.....................................................and so it goes.............