Using radiotherapy to cure cancer which was caused by exposure to radioactive materials sounds a lot like homeopathy (except in this case it actually works)

58008@lemmy.world to Showerthoughts@lemmy.world – 80 points –
19

"Man slashed with knife goes into surgery to be slashed further by smaller knives"

Once we get better at treating cancers we will look back at Chemo and Radiotherapy with the same mind as we currently look back at mediaeval procedures.

There's so much amazing cancer medicine in the pipeline, it's just crazy. If only 10% or it works as good as hoped for, cancer will be much less of an issue in a comparatively short time.

Yep, it just sucks that the hit or miss accuracy of many current treatments will be like that for many decades. It’s just part of the process towards eventually getting to extremely effective treatments with minimal side effects.

Not really. Homeopathy is diluting the offending substance with water until it is essentially gone while believing that the recently departed molecules had automagically imparted medicinal properties to the surrounding water molecules. It is quackery up there with ayylmaos and bigfoot enthusiasts.

While you are right about the dilutions. The specific ingredients used are picked based off of the idea "like cures like". So to cure a headache they would use an ingredient that causes headaches etc. Total quakery

I’d say a vaccine is a better example of successful homeopathy.

Vaccines have nothing in common with homeopathy.

Vaccines are a preventive measure that expose your immune system to small amount of pathogens, their toxins or small parts of their genetic code (mRNA vaccines) to build up immunity and prevent or lessen future infections. Their effects are proven in multiple studies and meta studies.

Homeopathy is quackery that dilutes organic or anorganic materials (that randomly got associated with symptoms, e.g. Berlin Wall against binding problems) to infinity to treat an existing condition.
Every high-quality scientific study leads to the realisation that Homeopathy doesn't act beyond placebo effects.

Homeopathy is a treatment that uses a stressor or pathogen to treat the same disease caused by that stressor or pathogen.

This is the bullshit homeopathy tells since the beginning.
If true homeopaths would offer you influenza globuli against a flu but instead you get Aconitum napellus, an extremely poisonous flower.
That's poison is then watered down till there isn't a single molecule of it left. Afterwards it is sprayed on globulis or further diluted in alcohol. But that's okay because homeopathy believes in the "memory of water" that is complete nonsense on it's own.

It’s just a definition man no reason to get offended. It’s differentiated from allopathy which is medicine which uses a disease vector’s opposite to treat the disease.

But the definition is made up nonsense. The Simile principle and the definition of allopathy as opposite of a disease vector are false. The only active agents that could be defined as such opposites are antibiotics and virustatics.

Alternative medicine kills, every day. So being scientific correct has nothing to do with being offended.

Yeah those are definitely allopathic medicine, as I understand it. Any kind of anti-inflammatory in response to inflammation, an ice pack on the head in response to a fever, drugs to reduce blood pressure in response to high blood pressure, most medicine is allopathic. I could be totally wrong about that it’s been 20 years since I learned that definition I think.

I’d say among other homeopathic remedies are exposure therapy, and weights or unstable platforms used in physical therapy. You treat a disease by giving the person little bits of that disease to target and fight against, to enhance the fight against the main disease.

No. It more like, "If you break what's broken maybe everything will work again"

More like "If we further break what's half-broken and going haywire, maybe it'll stop."

one of more common high energy radiation linked cancers are leukemias, and these are mostly treated with chemotherapy (unless you're deleting entire bone marrow and getting a little bit from someone else)