Never in a million years would I have dreamed I would be able to say this, but I actually recommended a homeopathic remedy today!
To briefly review, for anyone who may be under the mistaken impression that homeopathic remedies actually do anything: they don’t. Here’s why, in a nutshell:
Homeopathy is an unscientific and absurd pseudoscience, which persists today as an accepted form of complementary medicine, despite there never having been any reliable scientific evidence that it works.
So what on earth possessed me to seriously recommend it? I’ll tell you.
I saw a beautiful little 4-month-old today whose mother thinks he might be teething. Everyone thinks their four-month-olds are teething, because they start getting more drooly as their hand-mouth coordination improves, allowing them to get more things into their mouths. Most of the time they don’t actually get their teeth until about 6 months, though 4-month-olds pop out teeth often enough to keep us on their toes. I told her this. She’s cool. Here’s her problem:
“The daycare is getting fussy. They want me to bring in the Oragel. I don’t really think he needs it, and I don’t like the idea of giving medicine when it’s not really necessary.”
Daycares can be fussier than babies sometimes.
That’s when I realized that a homeopathic teething remedy is the PERFECT solution! [edited to add: as long as it’s truly homeopathic, containing not a single molecule of anything that isn’t water; h/t to the coments]
- The baby is happy because someone’s rubbing his gums.
- Mom is happy because the baby’s not getting any medicine.
- Daycare is happy because they’re “doing something”.
Win-win-win.
Musings of a Dinosaur 
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jason Goldman, Kevin Gould. Kevin Gould said: Love it! RT @BoraZ: A Legitimate Use for a Homeopathic Remedy http://bit.ly/g8I2fZ […]
By: Tweets that mention A Legitimate Use for a Homeopathic Remedy « Musings of a Dinosaur -- Topsy.com on February 17, 2011
at 10:37 pm
I loved your solution to the teething dilemma. I find that after trying to talk my customers out of buying anything for their complaints I pick the one least harmful. It is the “Art” of medicine.
Signed a Pharmacist who loves your site.
By: Judy Zinck on February 17, 2011
at 10:57 pm
Um. The homeopathic teething pills everyone swears by? Hylands, I think they are called? Those have belladonna in them. Actually I think they were recalled because of adverse effects. Anyway, not all homeopathic remedies are really homeopathic in the really-it’s-just-water sense. Some of them have herbal crap in them too. So be careful — this is a great idea but you have to pick your placebos carefully…
By: Luis on February 17, 2011
at 11:07 pm
FYI, some homeopathic teething remedies have been (finally) recalled due to safety concerns. For example, Hylands gel was recalled due to children getting belladonna toxicity presenting as CNS symptoms.
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm230764.htm
By: Houston Pediatrician on February 18, 2011
at 11:52 am
What a great and simple solution. Truly the art of medicine and we all love those win-wins!
By: Toni Brayer, MD on February 18, 2011
at 1:31 pm
I saw some homeopathic eye drops the other day and I thought those might work OK (just for dry eyes) but there were cheaper alternatives so I got those. Although I’m always disappointed to see homeopathic meds at my local Kaiser hospital.
By: whitecap nurse on February 19, 2011
at 2:02 am
Looks like you have extended the definition of placebo from being to placate “a patient” to being appeasement of “a patient or those with power over a patient.”
OTOH, it is a bit different to hear of a school asking for medicine[s], the usual thing is to hear of eoght-year-olds being turned over to police for “sharing drugs” such as aspirin…
By: John A on February 20, 2011
at 3:19 pm
In CT they actually have (or at least had) a state law that school officials can *not* require that any student be medicated. I believe it was because way to many parents were showing up at doctors’ offices because their child’s school was insisting that said child be put on ritalin. Something about practicing medicine without a license….
By: LibraryGryffon on February 21, 2011
at 11:07 am
My experience with daycares ran more towards LibraryGryffon’s — they wouldn’t give out a thing without a prescription from a doctor.
Otherwise what strikes me is that someone will tell someone else that so-and-so’s doctor said xxxx was good for “teething” and that will lend legitimacy to homopathy.
By: gingerb on March 4, 2011
at 9:57 pm
The homeopathic question still goes on.
Nothing is 100%. Nitro s.l. tabs. dose .004. ShallI go on ?
By: J RPh on March 8, 2011
at 4:24 pm
There’s a nice story circulating on how to best use homeopathic remedies for teething:
Get a teething remedy in form of tiny pills. If the child is unable to sleep, keeping you up at ungodly hours, take a generous amount of pills and drop them into the child’s bed.
Result: The child will spend the next half hour painstakingly picking up the pills, one by one, between thumb and forefinger, thus forgetting about their pain and allowing you some much-needed rest.
By: Gernot on March 9, 2011
at 11:27 am
Okay officially following your blog 🙂
By: M L on April 24, 2011
at 3:40 am