[polyfractal]

No, homeopathy is 100% a scam. The principle is that a compound (say, penicillin) has some amount of vibrational energy that is imparted into the surrounding molecules. As you continually dilute out the original "active" molecule, the "energy" of the molecule is imprinted onto the remaining solute.

Even better, the more you dilute, the more potent it becomes. You literally get to a point where there is no active molecule left...just H2O.

What you are saying (exposing your immune system to a small threat so it can safely build a response) is a valid argument. In fact, that's how vaccines work. Give your body a little bit of non-infectious virus so it can build appropriate antigens before you encounter it in real life.

I have no idea what you are saying about Japanese Americans though.

[Mz]

What I mean about Japanese Americans is that they were rounded up wholesale. There was no sorting. The immune system works like that. After years of being sick, as I grew stronger, exposures resulted in wholesale roundup of both the new germs and old ones which had been quietly flying below the radar for years.

I am not a big fan of vaccines, but that's a bear I usually try to not wrestle. Still, I appreciate the acknowledgement that the principle is valid.

[VMG]

Don't forget that a particularly "strong" immune system causes allergies and auto-immune diseases.

[Mz]

I really dislike that mental model. I dislike the entire concept of "we don't really know what is going on, so we will claim your body is merely attacking itself for no real reason". I cannot prove it wrong, but I believe it to be wrong. For my edification, can you list some of the specific conditions which are viewed as "auto-immune disorders" caused by a "strong" immune system?

[VMG]

There is a list at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoimmune_disease

Why is difficult to accept that a system that evolved to attack certain cells can misidentify targets, especially if the real targets have selective pressures to mimic friendly cells?

It happens all the time in other systems (friendly fire, false positives in anti-virus-software)

[Mz]

They say that about my condition. It doesn't explain what is going on. If it were accurate, it should be actionable.

They say people with CF "overproduce" mucus and are "drowning in their own mucus". It isn't true. They are drowning in phlegm because they underproduce healthy mucus and become highly infected. Unlike skin, mucus membranes do not keep out infection when dry. One study found people with CF produce too little mucus, yet this crazy idea persists, even though it isn't logical and doesn't fit the facts.

[VMG]

Well maybe your specific condition is more complex, but I have a pollen allergy and antihistamine alleviates the symptoms. You didn't address the general mechanism at all.

[illuminate]

"I dislike the entire concept of "we don't really know what is going on, so we will claim your body is merely attacking itself for no real reason". "

Likely because you have an unrealistic expectation for how the immune system actually works. One that works "too well" is not advantageous. "No real reason" is silly, because that is the job of the immune system, to attack invaders. If it misidentifies your own systems as invasive, it will attack your own systems. The mechanism is not in question, how to treat it best is.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/more-boosting/

[Mz]

And the conclusion about how to treat it will be strongly shaped by the mental models framing the inquiry. A lot of our current mental models are actively hostile to the body. There have been articles posted to HN about the fact that most medical research is highly biased from the get go to confirm the researcher's pre-existing bias.

Thanks for replying.

[illuminate]

"A lot of our current mental models are actively hostile to the body."

Because plenty of the conditions are due to the body's hostility to itself, or because what may kill invaders will also injure the body.

There are rarely, if ever cure-alls that do not affect the body's normal function, and assuming that the body's function is at all times beneficial is a mistake, a flaw in your "alternate" models.

The body can generally take care of itself, but does not always, in every person and situation. We are not perfect beings and clinging to those assumptions hurts humanity more than any flaw in the dominant model.

Reform is a wonderful, necessary goal. Tossing aside evidence-based medicine to do so is utterly foolish.