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A Pseudo-Homeopathic Remedy

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 four-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 six months, though four 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:

  • 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.

*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*

Germs, Kids, And School

Everyone knows that when it comes to germs and kids, it can sometimes be difficult to limit the spread of infection — especially in a school or daycare setting. In this video, I talked with local TV news last week about germs and kids, and about preventing infections in college students during finals week:

 

If you find this video helpful, I invite you to check out my other videos at MikeSevilla.TV. Enjoy!

*This blog post was originally published at Doctor Anonymous*

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