http://woowooscience.com in health, homeopathy, and life en john@vitalpatterns.net Copyright 2008 2008-04-04T06:58:00-08:00 http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/is_drinking_water_really_bad_medicine/ http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/is_drinking_water_really_bad_medicine/#When:06:58:00Z Good grief! Saying that the news is telling people not to drink water seems like an overreaction to today’s “news” that drinking 8 glasses of water a day “is of little benefit,” but there it is on Reuters:There is no clearcut scientific rationale for the average healthy individual to drink a lot of water—and it may be downright harmful—according to two kidney experts. (Emphasis mine.)Why has this become a news item? There is no new evidence to counter the idea that drinking 6 - 8 glasses of water per day is a good idea. Some researchers simply reviewed existing studies and did not find that this recommendation was “evidence based,” which means there aren’t randomized double blind … 2008-04-04T06:58:00-08:00 http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/different_levels_of_healing_example/ http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/different_levels_of_healing_example/#When:07:25:01Z Before I started learning about homeopathy and natural healing I had the idea that there was only two things to do in health care: fix a problem or develop healthier habits. There are more possibilities, however. In my quest to better explain this, I’ve divided the continuum of methods into four groups, in a somewhat arbitrary but hopefully useful way. Conventional methods focus on fixing something, whereas natural methods focus on the natural healing abilities of the organism.Take the example of someone who develops very high blood pressure, seemingly because of some work related stress. What kinds of things can you do for such a person? Here are some of my ideas.1. InterventionGive pharmaceuticals to get the blood pressure … Healing in General 2008-03-25T07:25:01-08:00 http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/what_is_natural_healing/ http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/what_is_natural_healing/#When:22:35:00Z Many people think that the term “natural healing” or “natural medicine” refers to using herbs and other natural substances as a method of treatment. However, natural healing actually refers to an organism’s own inherent healing abilities. Conventional medicine is all about direct intervention. Natural medicine is about supporting and stimulating the body and mind to heal itself.Different health care modalities line up along a continuum from a “fix it” approach to the purely “energetic” approaches. I came up with a simple breakdown of this continuum into four stages. Natural healing encompasses the last three. The stages are increasingly holistic and inclusive, meaning that the higher levels assume the other levels are also necessary.1.    Intervention. This is conventional medicine. Something must done … Healing in General 2008-03-14T22:35:00-08:00 http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/restarting_with_a_new_name/ http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/restarting_with_a_new_name/#When:07:35:00Z While I was taking a longer than anticipated break from blogging—doing some extracurricular activities like getting a house built—I had time to reassess my blog. While I still plan to do my part at putting true information about homeopathy on the internet amid a sea of false and ignorant comments, that is only part of my intent. I enjoy a good argument as well as the next guy, but a lot of the arguments with the neo-skeptics are just arguing for it’s own sake. I got more caught up in it that I want to. The larger goal was just to write a blog about health and life from my perspective, which is that of a scientific/technical guy exploring “the other … 2008-03-14T07:35:00-08:00 http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/heroic_intolerance_and_bullying/ http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/heroic_intolerance_and_bullying/#When:06:00:00Z On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I’ve been thinking about intolerance and bullying. My town puts an amazing celebration that my daughter was part of today. It’s quite the celebration of diversity for our small town, and includes kids from the schools, students from the university, people from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, local artists, etc. For all the talent displayed, the most amazing thing is how supportive everybody is of each other.I’m not saying that we all have to agree with everybody’s choices or opinions, or even enjoy being around everybody else. And I know that we all justify ourselves in various ways so that we all think we’re on the side of good. But when that feeling of being … Off Topic 2008-01-22T06:00:00-08:00 http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/homeopathy_myth_diluting_makes_it_stronger/ http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/homeopathy_myth_diluting_makes_it_stronger/#When:05:03:01Z I often read this kind of statement in articles about homeopathy: “They claim that a smaller amount is therapeutically stronger.” There are two problems with this kind of statement.One, it’s not the smaller amount that counts. What counts for healing is 1) the similarity and 2) the succussion. Why shaking the remedy during the dilution process matters I don’t know. But I do know that a small amount alone does not produce the effect. Where the small amount does count is in avoiding toxicity, which makes it safe and avoids negative side effects. But the similarity is the most important factor, not the amount or lack of amount.Two, “stronger” is the wrong word to use with homeopathic remedies. A homeopathic remedy … Homeopathy 2008-01-21T05:03:01-08:00 http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/what_masquerades_as_science_in_the_press_vaccines_and_autism/ http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/what_masquerades_as_science_in_the_press_vaccines_and_autism/#When:07:41:00Z I left off before the holidays writing about how we believe in science. People have written on this blog that anecdotal evidence is never reliable while putting scientific research on a kind of pedestal. I say both have their place. Moreover, one good thing about analyzing your own experience is that you train your mind to ask questions, and about everything, not just those things that you don’t like. I think that blind faith in scientific research is a bigger problem that most woo-woo beliefs. We aren’t actually making the observations or doing the experiments, and usually not even reading the studies, but rather trusting in what some scientists say, as reported in the media, without a critical enough eye. I … 2008-01-08T07:41:00-08:00 http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/believing_in_science/ http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/believing_in_science/#When:23:35:00Z I recently read something from the BMJ claiming to bust the myth that turkey makes you drowsy. And I thought that it would make a good example of the error of implied causation and how that is not what I’m talking about with homeopathy.Then I realized that, at least for me, this wasn’t that kind of error: it was the error of believing what somebody told me was the science on the subject. I do not have the experience of turkey making me drowsy. I do like to relax after a big meal, but I don’t recall feeling especially sleepy. I usually don’t eat so much turkey anyhow, so maybe it’s just that. In any case, before I heard … Science 2007-12-21T23:35:00-08:00 http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/why_is_it_so_woo_woo/ http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/why_is_it_so_woo_woo/#When:13:03:00Z For many years when I first started studying homeopathy, terms like “energy medicine” and references to quantum mechanics used to drive me crazy. I once knew a physics grad student who complained that new age people were like crows: flying over the fields of science, picking up shiny bits and taking them back to impress the other crows, but not understanding what they were really used for. There is a lot of truth to that, for better or worse, and this is one reason why alternative things like homeopathy seem so woo-woo to scientific-minded people. The problem is that there is a clash of communication styles. Maybe it’s a left-brained vs. right-brained thing, I don’t know. They’re not exclusive, but people … 2007-12-19T13:03:00-08:00 http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/testing_homeopathy_and_the_similarity_problem/ http://vitalpatterns.net/index.php/blog/testing_homeopathy_and_the_similarity_problem/#When:17:38:00Z If you are going to going to seriously test (or use) homeopathy, there is one word that you need to remember: similarity. The homeopathic effect is dependent on a similarity between remedy and patient. I don’t mean similarity of diagnosis, but the similarity of a pattern of physical as well as mental and emotional symptoms and traits. In other words, the remedy should fit the complaints and the state of the patient who has them.Taking homeopathic remedies is sort of like archery. If you shoot and miss the target, you get no effect or a very subtle effect. If you hit the outside part of the target, the remedy should be somewhat helpful. If you hit the center of the target, … Homeopathy, Science 2007-12-09T17:38:00-08:00