Unusual homeopathic remedies

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Most commonly, [[homeopathic]] remedies are herbs or extracts, but the practice has no shortage of '''odd and unusual remedies''' that proponents also claim cure a whole host of illnesses and obscure maladies. Because the process of [[succussion]], the diluting and shaking/striking an ingredient in water or alcohol, is carried out dozens or hundreds of times, these active ingredients are normally never actually present in the final remedy &mdash; hence why they can get away with strange &mdash; and often dangerous &mdash; ingredients.

==Ingredients==
===Roadkill===
In 2009, the School of Homeopathy decided to do a [[Proving (homeopathy)|proving]] on a mammal, as something like that had never been tried. Eventually, the decision was made to do this with a badger, mostly because the animal represented a bit of "English character" (what, were they trying to ''cure'' English character?), although the logic behind this stemmed almost entirely from ''The Wind in the Willows''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100830200330/http://www.hominf.org/meles/badgintr.htm The Homeopathic Proving of the Western European Badger] (The Homeopathic Information Service)</ref> Apparently, homeopathic roadkill badger makes you randy.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100829072743/http://www.hominf.org/meles/badgmm.htm  The Homeopathic Information Service &mdash; The Homeopathic Proving of the Western European Badger: Materia Medica] (The Homeopathic Information Service)</ref>

===Rabid dog saliva===
[[File:Rabid dog.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Rabid dog]]
A 4-year-old boy was reportedly treated with a homeopathic remedy from [[Rabies|rabid]] [[dog]] saliva (known as Lyssinum or Hydrophobinum) to treat his aggression and growling in preschool.<ref name=bever>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/04/18/a-4-year-old-had-been-growling-at-preschool-so-this-naturopath-says-she-gave-him-rabid-dog-saliva/ Homeopath treated 4-year-old's behavior problems with saliva from rabid dog] by Lindsey Bever (April 18, 2018 at 2:48 PM) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> The boy had reportedly been previously bitten by a (presumably non-rabid) dog in the past,<ref name=bever/> leading to [[naturopath]] Anke Zimmermann of [[Canada]] to [[PIDOOMA|prescribe]] this treatment.

===SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus===
{{main|COVID-19 pandemic}}
A naturopath in [[California]], Juli A. Mazi, was arrested in 2021 on federal fraud charges for allegedly selling $243 homeopathic pellets that Mazi claimed would prevent COVID. She also sent fake immunization cards with the pellets. Mazi claimed that the pellets contained small amounts of the virus.<ref>[https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/woman-arrested-fake-covid-19-immunization-and-vaccination-card-scheme Woman Arrested for Fake COVID-19 Immunization and Vaccination Card Scheme] (July 14, 2021) ''The United States Department of Jusice''.</ref><ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/15/covid-vaccine-passport-card/ Homeopathic doctor sold fake vaccine cards and ‘immunization pellets,’ prosecutors say] by Bryan Pietsch (July 15, 2021) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> In 2022, Mazi's colleague in the scheme, Jaimi Jansen, pleaded guilty "to three counts of providing false statements related to health care matters."<ref name=vaziri>[https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Northern-California-woman-pleads-guilty-to-17223011.php Northern California woman faces 5 years for selling fake COVID cards, pills] by Aidin Vaziri (June 6, 2022) ''The San Francisco Chronicle''.</ref> The pills were labelled as "homeoprophylaxis immunization".<ref name=vaziri/> "Homeoprophylaxis" is a new crackpot idea within homeopathy that claims to prevent rather than treat. 

In 2022, Mazi pleaded guilty to wire fraud and making "false statements related to health care matters", and was sentenced to 33 months in prison.<ref>[https://apnews.com/article/health-california-covid-san-francisco-immunizations-a2654cad5153d7ddf3edda3cff0b2674 Naturopath who sold fake vaccine cards gets nearly 3 years] (November 29, 2022) ''AP''.</ref>

===The south pole of a magnet===
No, homeopaths haven't been the first to stumble upon [[magnetic monopole]]s, they have genuinely made a remedy from a magnet. Although there is little information on what was actually taken and diluted, there is plenty of information on what the remedy supposedly does from its [[proving_(homeopathy)|proving]]. Indeed, it'd be easier to say what ''Magnetis Polus Australis'' [[Panacea|doesn't cause or cure]].<ref>[http://www.homeoint.org/seror/nosodes/magnetispolusaustralis.htm The Materia Medica of the Nosodes]</ref>

===Shipwreck===
[[File:Helvetia.jpg|thumb|Dissolve ship in water and succuss against rocks 10<sup>10</sup> times]]

In 1887, ''The Helvetia'' was caught in a storm and ran aground in Rhossili Bay, [[Wales]]. A century or so later, homeopathic ''expert'' Mary English decided to try and prove the remains of the wreck as a homeopathic dilution. Diluting a scraping of the wreck to 30C, she gave it to 7 people and determined that the wreck could cure a "sense of stuckness" &mdash; as many of the provers were having problems getting stuck in traffic during their long commutes.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100823065420/http://thethoughtstash.wordpress.com/2010/08/01/weird-homeopathy-naufragium-helvetia-the-shipwreck/ The Thought Stash &mdash; Weird Homeopathy]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100211033444/http://www.maryenglish.co.uk/helvetiaproving.html Mary English &mdash; The Homeopathic Proving of Naufragium Helvetia (the shipwreck)]</ref>

===A stone circle===
Another entry from the baffling world of Mary English, a homeopathic remedy was made of the Stanton Drew stones, the second largest stone circle in England (after Avebury, by diameter, not the more famous [[Stonehenge]]). The proving was done between 2001 and 2004 with a mix of 12 men and women. It might be worth noting that it is an offense to cause any damage to a scheduled monument without consent under the 1979 Ancient Monuments and Archaelogical Areas Act, as noted on Mary English's website. Luckily, the remedy was made by collecting a few loose fragments of stone, and with a 6C dilution factor, there should be more than enough to go around to whoever wants some.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100211032807/http://www.maryenglish.co.uk/stantondrew1.html Mary English &mdash; Stanton Drew Proving Stone]</ref>

===Plutonium===
No, really. For the reasonable sum of $29, you can get a book throroughly describing the proving of a plutonium-based remedy.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040907112630/http://www.minimum.com/b.asp?a=plutonium-nitricum-sherr The Homeopathic Proving of Plutonium Nitricum]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050116095747/http://www.minimum.com/reviews/plutonium-nitricum.htm Review of Plutonium Nitrium]</ref> Of course (albeit a minor point), the availability of said remedy, given its heavy regulation world-wide, is left up to the consumer to figure out.

===Antimatter===
[[File:Positronium.png|thumb|Quite popular, apparently]]

In 1998 a homeopathic remedy was prepared by exposing a solution to the gamma radiation produced by the annihilation of positronium &mdash; an exotic atom-like structure containing an electron and its anti-particle, a positron. According to the description supplied by authors, positrons were produced by beta-plus decay of sodium-22, then passed through a nitrogen gas cell to form positroniums.<ref>Positronium is incredibly unstable. Its half-life in a vacuum is less than a microsecond.</ref> As soon as these came shooting out of the nitrogen, they hit a metal plate, where they annihilated and produced 511 keV gamma [[radiation]], which in turn irradiated some [[ethanol]]. Thus, the remedy never even came into contact with any antimatter &mdash; only with the radiation from its decay. Positronium is said to have themes of calming.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20021113233220/http://www.hominf.org/posi/posifr.htm The Homœopathic Proving of Positronium]</ref>

===Light from Venus===
[[File:Venus-pacific-levelled.jpg|thumb|Ping! You can now cure… erm, "feeling a bit iffy".]]
Surely it can't get weirder than this? The remedy ''Venus Stella Errans'' didn't even require dissolving anything as it was made entirely from the focused [[light]] of the planet [[Venus]] &mdash; similar to the old joke about making a Martini by shining a sunbeam through a bottle of vermouth. The Principle of Similars seems a little confused about this sort of thing; exactly what symptoms could be caused by the light of Venus? Luckily, the author of the proving explains:
{{cquote|''Whilst I don't think that the symptoms that can be cured by this remedy will be ones caused by exposure to the light of Venus, it is possible that individuals who have these symptoms are sensitive or susceptible to it.''}}

Not only is the concept of using ''light'' as your active ingredient a little stupid (light doesn't affect [[water]] much, we'd quite obviously know otherwise) as well as the fact that all light is identical &mdash; save a few [[spectroscopy|spectroscopic]] differences due to the absorption in Venus' atmosphere &mdash; but the remedy available is diluted to an ''immense'' 200C.<ref>http://homeopath.x10.mx/venus.htm</ref>

===Water===
Probably the crowning achievement of the homeopathic arts, there is homeopathic ''water'' available. However, just diluting and succussing water itself would be silly; this remedy is a succussion of "new" water, that is, water newly formed by reacting [[hydrogen]] and [[oxygen]]. Of course, this makes no sense in any way, shape or form. Anyone with any knowledge of [[chemistry]] will know that water is water is water, with no possible difference.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20090630004624/http://www.hominf.org/aquanova/aqnofr.htm</ref>

===Bullshit===
And the homeopaths finally admit it &mdash; the remedy ''excrementum tauri'' is [[bullshit]]. Literally.<ref>http://www.provings.info/en/substanz/bos-p</ref> This is not to be confused with [[feces therapy]], which is the real shit, not that watered-down crap.

===Dinosaur bones===
Villagers in modern day Henan province in [[China]] have been grinding dinosaur fossils for use in homeopathic tonics. The bones have been ground up into tea for decades: a practice recorded to have occurred with ancient peoples across the world. When asked why so many Chinese still believe in [[dragon]]s, China's premier dinosaur hunter [[tu quoque|responded]], how many Americans still don't believe in evolution?<ref>[https://shc.stanford.edu/stanford-humanities-center/news/dinosaur-fossils-part-longtime-chinese-tonic Dinosaur Fossils Part of Longtime Chinese Tonic] by Kevin Holden (July 13, 2007) ''National Geographic''.</ref>

===Misc. others===
No background details but the following exist: five different types of [[cigarette]], [[Communion]] Host (denomination not stated), car exhaust, [[Water woo|double helix water]] (woo building upon woo), and Electricitas (High Voltage Pylon).

==What is going on here==
Since homeopaths can't really do research in the conventional sense, they have to fall back on [[Proving (homeopathy)|provings]] if they want to feel that they are advancing the field of homeopathy. The result is a lot of provings. Most are rather boring, being a [[random]] selection of plants and simple inorganic compounds. They do, however, tend towards using [[Latin]] and obsolete names for things. For example, the fairly popular "Natrum Muriaticum" is {{wpl|Salt|table salt|.}}

In practice, most homeopaths tend to stick to a fairly small number of remedies dating back to either [[Samuel Hahnemann]] or James Tyler Kent.

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100822201037/http://thethoughtstash.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/the-weird-homeopathy-list The Thought Stash]:  Hat tip as a starting point for this information.

==References==
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[[Category:Homeopathy]]
[[Category:Alternative medicine]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]

Categories: Homeopathy, Alternative medicine, Pseudoscience