Will these homeopaths get the Nobel prize?
The story is all over: at a symposium last weekend, 29 German homeopaths ended up in hospital after ingesting the powerful hallucinogenic drug, 2C-E, also known as Aqua Rust. You can read it here or here or here or here, for instance.
The events are a bit nebulous, and most newspapers got it at least partly wrong. The group seems to have been composed of not just homeopaths but also ‘Heilpraktiker’, the German lay healers who usually mix all sorts of alternative therapies. They did take the drug – which one exactly has not yet been verified – and became acutely ill. A huge amount of ambulances and staff came to their rescue and took them all to hospital where they seem to be still recovering. Police is understandably keen to talk to them.
On Twitter and elsewhere, people have been making fun at these poor health care professionals. I think this is hardly called for and certainly less than kind. Other, more empathetic experts have suggested that these men have engaged in a self-experiment. I always like to see the good in people, particularly in homeopaths and therefore like this idea.
What if, as has been suggested, these men actually did a homeopathic proving on Aqua Rust? In this case, they are my heroes! Not just because they sacrificed their own health in the interest of medicine, but they seem to have found an important, I would even say ground-breaking new cure.
Homeopathic provings are the corner-stone of homeopathy; they are the tool used by homeopaths to identify which remedy is suited for which condition/patient. Provings work as follows: several healthy volunteers take a remedy in a high concentration; subsequently they record their symptoms in much detail; these symptoms then constitute the ‘drug picture’ of the remedy tested; and when a patient complains of similar symptoms, she will be cured with a high dilution of this very remedy. This is what the prime law of homeopathy is all about: LIKE CURES LIKE.
So what have our German pioneers discovered last weekend? They took the Aqua Rust (or whatever else the police will find in their system) and were reported to all start talking utter nonsense. But this is nothing short of sensational! According to the rules of homeopathy, the drug they took can now be highly diluted and shaken vigorously many times – and we have a cure…against what?
AGAINST HOMEOPATHY, OF COURSE!
The number one characteristic of homeopathy is that its proponents talk utter nonsense. Give them their newly discovered remedy and they will be cured. Simple!
In my mind, there is little doubt, these German homeopathic heroes need to be nominated for the next Nobel prize: homeopathy has plagued the world since 200 years, and nobody has yet found a cure for it. These German healers sacrificed not just their weekend, but even their well-being and health to find one – and they have done it!
Homeopathy will finally be an oddity of the past – well worth a Nobel prize, I’d say.
http://edzardernst.com/2015/09/will-these-homeopaths-get-the-nobel-prize/
Courtesy of: http://www.medpagetoday.com/EmergencyMedicine/EmergencyMedicine/53457?isalert=1&uun=g906366d4507R5793688u&xid=NL_breakingnews_2015-09-09
The events are a bit nebulous, and most newspapers got it at least partly wrong. The group seems to have been composed of not just homeopaths but also ‘Heilpraktiker’, the German lay healers who usually mix all sorts of alternative therapies. They did take the drug – which one exactly has not yet been verified – and became acutely ill. A huge amount of ambulances and staff came to their rescue and took them all to hospital where they seem to be still recovering. Police is understandably keen to talk to them.
On Twitter and elsewhere, people have been making fun at these poor health care professionals. I think this is hardly called for and certainly less than kind. Other, more empathetic experts have suggested that these men have engaged in a self-experiment. I always like to see the good in people, particularly in homeopaths and therefore like this idea.
What if, as has been suggested, these men actually did a homeopathic proving on Aqua Rust? In this case, they are my heroes! Not just because they sacrificed their own health in the interest of medicine, but they seem to have found an important, I would even say ground-breaking new cure.
Homeopathic provings are the corner-stone of homeopathy; they are the tool used by homeopaths to identify which remedy is suited for which condition/patient. Provings work as follows: several healthy volunteers take a remedy in a high concentration; subsequently they record their symptoms in much detail; these symptoms then constitute the ‘drug picture’ of the remedy tested; and when a patient complains of similar symptoms, she will be cured with a high dilution of this very remedy. This is what the prime law of homeopathy is all about: LIKE CURES LIKE.
So what have our German pioneers discovered last weekend? They took the Aqua Rust (or whatever else the police will find in their system) and were reported to all start talking utter nonsense. But this is nothing short of sensational! According to the rules of homeopathy, the drug they took can now be highly diluted and shaken vigorously many times – and we have a cure…against what?
AGAINST HOMEOPATHY, OF COURSE!
The number one characteristic of homeopathy is that its proponents talk utter nonsense. Give them their newly discovered remedy and they will be cured. Simple!
In my mind, there is little doubt, these German homeopathic heroes need to be nominated for the next Nobel prize: homeopathy has plagued the world since 200 years, and nobody has yet found a cure for it. These German healers sacrificed not just their weekend, but even their well-being and health to find one – and they have done it!
Homeopathy will finally be an oddity of the past – well worth a Nobel prize, I’d say.
http://edzardernst.com/2015/09/will-these-homeopaths-get-the-nobel-prize/
Courtesy of: http://www.medpagetoday.com/EmergencyMedicine/EmergencyMedicine/53457?isalert=1&uun=g906366d4507R5793688u&xid=NL_breakingnews_2015-09-09
An alternative medicine conference at a hotel in the town of Handeloh, Germany ended abruptly after a group of 29 men and women took a synthetic psychedelic drug and started experiencing hallucinations.
ReplyDeleteThe group of “Heilpraktikers” — German for “healing practitioner,” a holistic medicine profession in Germany — were reportedly “”staggering around, rolling in a meadow, talking gibberish and suffering severe cramps,” at the August 4 conference, according to the Independent.
The practitiners all tested positive for 2C-E, a synthetic psychedelic that is a schedule 1 controlled substance in the United States, according to Erowid Center, a non-profit psychoactive drug information center.
According to an Erowid forum run by users who have taken 2C-E, the drug has been likened to LSD and can cause muscle tension and aching, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and paranoia in some users. The drug is called Aquahurst in Germany and has been illegal there since last year, the Independent reports.
150 medical staff members, ambulances, and police had to come to the hotel to corrall the “raving” specialists — who ranged in age from 24 to 56, the Independent added. Some were suffering from delusions, breathing problems, racing hearts, and cramps.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/alternative-medicine-conference-ends-in-chaos-2015-9
Dozens of Homeopathy Conference Attendees End Up in Hospital After Taking Actual Drug
ReplyDeleteThe headline may be humorous, but the actual situation is devastating.
At an alternative medicine conference in Hamburg, Germany over the weekend, 29 people ended up in a hospital after taking a very real, very potent drug:
The patients, aged between 24 and 56, were found suffering from delusions, breathing problems, racing hearts and cramps, with some in a serious condition, Deutsche Welle reported.
Tests on their blood and urine revealed they had all taken hallucinogenic drug 2C-E, which is known as Aquarust in Germany and has been illegal there since the end of last year.
It’s unclear if they were aware of what they were taking. For all we know, they thought they were taking a completely harmless homeopathic drug, as part of a “drug experiment.”
The Association of German Healing Practitioners has distanced itself from the event:
“Unfortunately, the conference in Handeloh has severely damaged the image of the alternative medicine profession… and we have clarified that such acts are not in the spirit of natural therapy, and contradict our values both morally and legally…”
Well, the image of alternative medicine was damaged long before this incident took place…
It’s almost comical that homeopaths are fretting over this illegal drug while simultaneously promoting useless ones. It’s not exactly a step up.
That said, I hope all the victims recover without lasting effects.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/09/08/dozens-of-homeopathy-conference-attendees-end-up-in-hospital-after-taking-actual-drug/
On a day when the only mystery in the air should have been the actual merits of homeopathy, participants in a private homeopathy conference at a hotel in a small town near Hamburg, Germany ended up with a much bigger question on their hands. Of those participants, 29 were rushed to the hospital after they were found “staggering around, rolling in a meadow, talking gibberish, and suffering severe cramps," reports German broadcaster NDR.
ReplyDeleteA blood test and urine analysis showed that these conference-goers had taken the drug 2C-E before experiencing any symptoms. Speaking to NDR on behalf of Germany's commission for narcotics, Torsten Passie, MD, PhD, explained that “it must have been a multiple overdose." He went on to say that, if the true cause was an overdose, then "that does not support the view that the people concerned took the hallucinogen knowingly," adding that "one has to assume that [these] people were not told about the substance, its effects, and risks before taking it.”
Also known as Aquarust, 2C-E is a synthetic psychedelic drug that, although it's not exactly the same, delivers symptoms akin to those of LSD to the user. Chief among these similar symptoms, one could argue, is the penchant for rolling in meadows. (If we know one thing about hallucinogenics, it's that they're most effective when taken in or near a meadow, with the option of rolling available.)
The rush to the hospital only occurred when some of those who were drugged experienced heightened, more dangerous effects. Deutsche Welle, another German broadcaster, reported that some of the patients experienced cramps, rapid heartbeats, and breathing problems. While their trip was probably bad enough before their hearts started racing (would you enjoy hallucinating in a windowless hotel conference center?), these were not signs to be ignored; 2011 saw three deaths occur as a result of 2C-E use.
http://www.refinery29.com/2015/09/93616/homeopathy-conference-germany-hallucinogenic-drug-use?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Police in the the German town of Handeloh, south of Hamburg, are investigating whether the extraordinary scenes were a failed drug experiment gone wrong or a malicious prank.
ReplyDeleteNDR reports the men and women, aged between 24 and 56, were staggering around the convention centre, lay curled up in a nearby meadow, spouted gibberish and suffered violent convulsions.
Medical staff - arriving in more than 25 emergency vehicles - were startled by the people’s behaviour, which was found to be the result of them ingesting 2C-E, also known as Aqua Rust...
Taking the drug is not illegal, but buying and distributing it is.
Homeopathy is a 200-year-old pseudoscience based on the belief that “like cures like” and that the dilution of a medicine renders it not weaker but stronger.
The NHS website says: "There has been extensive investigation of the effectiveness of homeopathy.
"There is no good-quality evidence that homeopathy is effective as a treatment for any health condition."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/chaos-homeopathy-convention-after-29-6407241#ICID=sharebar_twitter