Popped my Star Wars cherry » « Interdisciplinary research (comic)

Homeopathy: Now for vaginas too!

Phil over at Skeptic Money is always keeping his eye out for silly homeopathic scams. Now he’s “found one just for the ladies“:

There is now a “treatment” for a yeast infection. It is called Yeast Gard. It has no side effects. Actually, it has no effects. Here are the “active” ingredients: Candida albicans 28x, Candida parapsilosis 28x, Pulsatilla 28x. Since I had no idea what these things are – I had to look them up. You’re gonna love this…. (From Wikipedia)

Candida albicans is a diploid fungus (a form of yeast) and a causal agent of opportunistic oral and genital infections in humans.

Candida parapsilosis is a fungal species of the yeast family that has become a significant cause of sepsis and of wound and tissue infections in immuno-compromised patients.

The genus Pulsatilla includes about 30 species, many of which are valued for their finely-dissected leaves, solitary bell-shaped flowers, and plumed seed heads. The anthers are bright yellow and the purple bell consists of sepals.

Ah, that’s lovely. Add a bunch of gel with the “memory” of yeast (aka, a bunch of gel with nothing in it) to your vagina, and your yeast infection should clear up in a couple of days! Even though your yeast infection probably would have cleared up in a couple of days if you did nothing. Ah, scams, aren’t they lovely?

Though the thing I find most amusing is that whenever someone recommends a post or article to me (like this one), 90% of the time it’s about vaginas/penises/boobies/sex. Well, there’s usually some sort of skeptical bent to it, or it’s inane enough to need my commentary or debunking. You guys know me too well (I mean, look, I already had a “vagina” tag). Kind of love it that sex makes you think of me!

Popped my Star Wars cherry » « Interdisciplinary research (comic)

Comments

  1. says

    Hey that vagina's got a girl on it!

    Look on the bright side, whilst this gel is as ineffective as all other homeopathic remedies, at least this one can double as a sexual lubricant.

    Smear it on girl, smear it on!

  2. says

    Hey that vagina’s got a girl on it!Look on the bright side, whilst this gel is as ineffective as all other homeopathic remedies, at least this one can double as a sexual lubricant.Smear it on girl, smear it on!

  3. says

    Interesting that they need to stop at 28x rather than go all the way to 30c.

    Does potentising it too much kill off the good yeasts, too?

    Silly homoeoe.

  4. says

    Interesting that they need to stop at 28x rather than go all the way to 30c.Does potentising it too much kill off the good yeasts, too?Silly homoeoe.

  5. says

    It's just how our minds work. I think of sex, immediately Jen comes to mind. (no comment on the inverse relationship.)

    But, all kidding aside, wtf? I don't know much about yeast infections, but it seems like inserting more yeast and some colourful plants would be very foolish. Of course, it is homeopathy, so I'm not that surprised, but you know, if I was going to put something on my dick, I'd definitely read the instructions and make sure it can do what it says it does.

    Edit: Ah, the captcha is back.

  6. says

    It’s just how our minds work. I think of sex, immediately Jen comes to mind. (no comment on the inverse relationship.)But, all kidding aside, wtf? I don’t know much about yeast infections, but it seems like inserting more yeast and some colourful plants would be very foolish. Of course, it is homeopathy, so I’m not that surprised, but you know, if I was going to put something on my dick, I’d definitely read the instructions and make sure it can do what it says it does.Edit: Ah, the captcha is back.

  9. says

    I'm getting rather tired of good news sites that are starting to clog up space with "Living" and "Impact" sections that are little more than crap.

    Witness the Huffington Post, whose Living section sports the following headlines:

    "Do You Only Live Once? Science Suggests Life Not One-Time Deal""Why Do Humans Dance?""Does the Moon Exist If There Are No Sentient Beings to Look At It?"

    Gimme a fuckin' break.

  10. says

    I’m getting rather tired of good news sites that are starting to clog up space with “Living” and “Impact” sections that are little more than crap.Witness the Huffington Post, whose Living section sports the following headlines:”Do You Only Live Once? Science Suggests Life Not One-Time Deal””Why Do Humans Dance?””Does the Moon Exist If There Are No Sentient Beings to Look At It?”Gimme a fuckin’ break.

  21. Jim says

    Did they stop at 28x because that would *link* it to the cycle of the Moon and have some sort of *waves hands* pow-errrrr?

  22. Jim says

    Did they stop at 28x because that would *link* it to the cycle of the Moon and have some sort of *waves hands* pow-errrrr?

  31. says

    Sorry, DM, you bastard, but we do not live in the Middle Ages or in a Muslim country, where your threat would have any teeth.

    You can go to hell!

  32. says

    Sorry, DM, you bastard, but we do not live in the Middle Ages or in a Muslim country, where your threat would have any teeth.You can go to hell!

  33. says

    LOL! DM, everyone knows that you are a lying little shit who makes Mr Hankey look respectable.

    On second thought, you are more like Cartman.

    Dale Husband, the Honorable Skeptic

  34. says

    LOL! DM, everyone knows that you are a lying little shit who makes Mr Hankey look respectable.On second thought, you are more like Cartman.Dale Husband, the Honorable Skeptic

  35. says

    Comments like, “Ugh, homeopathy. I sometimes find it irritates me even more than religion does…” from mcbender really sadden me.I use homeopathy regularly for a variety of common ailments. The only reason I find that skeptics don’t like it is because of the ‘lack of scientific data’. I’m not here to tell you about the mountain of data which supports it.Instead, I would like to throw out there that we need a more advanced scientific research model in order to properly test this modality.People are getting better. I have seen it first hand and I will not wait for the model to catch up to help people. What is the research missing?

  36. mcbender says

    Homeopathy cannot possibly work. All of the mechanisms proposed to explain why or how it works would require everything we know in physics, chemistry, biology, etc to be completely wrong…That said…I’ve spoken to MANY people like you. Every last one of them has presented anecdotes to me expecting that to be the clinching proof – “oh, it worked for me, who are you to tell me that it’s just regression to the mean” and so on.The problem with obtaining proper data in a medical context is the fact that people often recover on their own, but I’m sure you know this.The plural of anecdote is not data; that’s not how evidence works. “I’ve seen it firsthand” is worth absolutely nothing. I’m sure you know this too.Whenever a properly controlled trial is done of homeopathy, it is proven to be no better than placebo. Given the fact that there is no possible way for it to work in the first place, this is not surprising. Present me a proper trial – not worthless anecdotes and assurances – and perhaps I’ll take you seriously. Until then, I’d really appreciate if you stopped promoting quackery.

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