Can homeopathic gelsemium calm nervous tension associated with public speaking? What if we pretended it could?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boiron claims to be the world leader in homeopathic ‘medicines.’ Their BoironUSA website has an article dated December 10, 2020 that is titled Uncovering the Mystery of Yellow Jasmine. The first paragraph says:

 

“The bright blooming flowers of the yellow jasmine vine are a welcome sign of spring, but they also hide a mysterious dark side. Throughout history, this plant has held power to both heal and harm. Read on to uncover more about this intoxicating botanical and how the homeopathic preparation can help calm nervous tension associated with public speaking.”

 

The last paragraph says:

 

“You will find lots of yellow jasmine growing in southern gardens today, but it is only used medicinally in homeopathy where its toxic properties are removed. Made from the tincture of the root, homeopathic Gelsemium sempervirens is used to relieve apprehension with trembling, headaches, and dizziness.* It’s a valuable medicine for those who suffer from stage fright or fear of public speaking before a speech, event, or presentation. Five pellets can be taken twice a day before or after the event.”

 

What about that asterisk? It leads to a disclaimer at the bottom of the page:

 

“*Claims based on traditional homeopathic practice, not accepted medical evidence. Not FDA evaluated.”

 

There is a more recent article by Heidi Weinhold at the BoironUSA web site on March 3, 2021 titled Homeopathy and the New Age of Communication. Her second paragraph opens by saying:

 

“The homeopathic medicine Gelsemium sempervirens 30C helps to relieve stage fright or situational stress.”

 

But at the end there is another weasel-worded sentence:

 

“Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Boiron.”  

 

Also, there is a 37-second YouTube video from October 16, 2018 titled Gelsemium sempervirens – Homeopathic Medicine to Relieve Apprehension. The text says that:

 

“Gelsemium sempervirens helps relieve apprehension.* Learn more about its uses in this video featuring Dr. Gary Kracoff NMD, Reg Pharm.”

 

Again, the asterisk is for that first disclaimer:

 

“* Claims based on traditional homeopathic practice, not accepted medical evidence. Not FDA evaluated.”

 

In that video Dr. Kracoff wears an impressive white coat. He holds up a package showing a 30C dilution and says:

 

“It’s a useful medicine for stage fright that will not affect alertness.”

 

Are they going back to traditional practice because there isn’t any medical evidence? No, it’s even worse than that. Back on December 15, 2011 I posted on this blog with the title Can homeopathic gelsemium reduce anxiety about public speaking? It does not. In that post I discussed a magazine article from 2012 in Fundamental Clinical Pharmacology titled Effect of Gelsemium 5CH and 15CH on anticipatory anxiety: a phase III, single-centre, randomized, placebo-controlled study. It found no significant difference between a placebo and the two dilutions of gelsemium.  (Anxiety was induced using the Stroop Color and Word Test). Authors of that article were Adeline Paris, Sophie Schmidlin, Sandrine Mouret, Enkelejda Hodaj, Phillipe Marijnen, Naoual Boejedaini, Mircea Polosan, and Jean-Luc Cracowski. Both Marijnen and Boejedaini are listed as being with Laboratoires BOIRON, St Foy-lès-Lyon F-69110, France.

 

The disclaimer really should have said:

“Someone once thought this works, but accepted medical evidence says it does not. Nevertheless we will continue to pretend that it works.”

 

 To paraphrase Daffy Duck, that’s just despicable.

 

Finally, what do 5C and 15C homeopathic dilutions mean? C means the the substance was diluted by a factor of 1 to 100, and 5 means that process was repeated five times. The end result is a dilution of 1 to 10 to the tenth power, or 10,000,000,000 times. For 15 C it is to the thirtieth power or  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times.

 

And 30 C means the end result is a dilution of 1 to 10 to the sixtieth power, or an outrageously tiny factor of 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

 

The image of gelsemium is cropped from one by David Stang at Wikimedia Commons.