A small tickle starts at the base of your throat. You clear your throat, hoping it will go away. Unknowingly, you may have contracted a virus that plagues many today, and as this thought crosses your mind, you cough again; this time a cacophonous wheeze escapes your lips.

You have the common cold.

With this thought, you might run to the medicine cupboard, a supply of Tylenol Cold on hand. Or, you might be the type to turn instead to alternative methods, and run to the local health food store for a visit to your homeopathic practitioner, taken in by the hype on homeopathy.

Now, if you’re like me, you might question the validity of what someone is selling you (especially if you’ve ever bought homeopathic medicine before, you would know just how much of a hole that burns in your pocket). Have you ever considered what is contained in that ‘medicine’ that you choke down in the hope of getting better a little faster?

Here are the facts. Homeopathy is, in definition, a remedy consisting of a series of dilutions, each of which consist of one part of some substance, in 100 parts of water. Now, if these dilutions take place 6 times, there will be a ratio of one part of the original substance to 1 000 000 000 000 parts water.

Now the question is, logically, does it make more sense that homeopathy, with its one trillionth of a part of some substance, is really building up your immune system? Or, perhaps you’ve heard of a thing called the placebo effect?

This is the effect by which apparent healing can occur devoid of a medically active substance because the patient believes they are healing.

Actually, some studies attribute the positive effect of homeopathy in some individuals on the practitioner’s assessment alone, leading the patient to believe the treatment will be effective.

Keep this in mind next time you reach for your $15 bottle of Traumeel to dispel your aches and pains or not.

It will probably work better that way.

Jessica Lowry

Prince George