To be looking so differently now at Drs, schools etc etc

That's exactly what happens.

People try different treatments and then they get better.

But if they take a placebo (including homeopathy) they claim that is what worked.

Alternative therapy is like beauty therapy, it isn't about treating or curing anything. It can make you feel better though.

When my mum had cancer she would go to a 'Women's day' at the hospice. It was all women with cancer, they did arts and crafts, often had a guest speaker (the man with the guide dog was my mum's favourite) they had a nice lunch with a glass of wine then had their nails done.

Did my mum and the other women feel better after it? Absolutely. Was it curing or treating the cancer? Absolutely not.

I used to be able to cure anything with a kiss when my kids were little. I should have made hay while the sun shone and set up stall. Sadly I didn't try it on anyone other than my kids.

Homeopathy is not even snake oil - it's just water. (And sugar balls).

You know what the herbalists also give you (not sure in the UK)... things like paracetamol etc - crushed and put into some 'herbal' mix. It really works.

Ditto St Johns Wort. Taken in winter when sun levels are lower no problems. Taken when sun levels are higher it can cause skin eruptions.

‘after clean water, vaccination is the most effective public health invention in the world for saving lives and promoting good health’
Gov.uk

The placebo effect is very powerful.

Homeopathy is not. And has been clinically proven to be a load of codswallop.

Read up on how it supposedly works. It's nonsense.

Doctors do actually sometimes deliberately use the placebo effect in some situations.

For example there is a drug used for two different uses. I forget what they are but they use yellow pills for one use because psychologically they thought it had an impact. However they used pale green pills for anxiety because it's associated with calming. Same drug - but the choice of colour for the pills made a difference to it's effectiveness for different uses.

The point here being, understand what's going on.

It may be beneficial to you, BUT it's not a replacement for traditional medicine and trusting unproven alternative medicine may be dangerous. Alternative medicine can only be as effective as the placebo effect.

As long as you understand this, and use alongside traditional medicine where appropriate, it may make a difference.

But using alternative medicine to say cure cancer, will not end well.

France has not covered homeopathic treatment for a while because it doesn't actually do anything. It IS used in Europe but the use of it is changing, like a lot of things that are shown to not actually work.

Definitely not placebo for my Dd at the moment, I can see the effects, may depend on what it’s treating

It is most definitely a placebo.

Agree with this entirely

I also believe more firmly in rote learning and "old fashioned" education now than i did prechildren which surprised me.

@GnomeDePlume

Alternative therapies recognise this. Good ones will fill in the gaps left by conventional medicine. You come away from your weekly massage, counselling session or whatever feeling better.

But why not just have a good therapy session or a massage?

Its so dishonest: both in terms of what the practitioner is “selling” and what the patient is telling themself.

Stop the faux naivety
You know fine well that it is a pseudo-treatment.
More to the point, it is fucking dangerous and anyone selling it should be removed to the Steppes

Yup my in-laws love their homeopath because he sits and listens to their ailments, they still take the drugs from the doctor but apparently the homeopath is whats making the difference 🙄.

Where are you based? I don't want a turf war. I'm currently runn7ing across country lines, but those damn Evening Primose Oil (1 part per 400 trillion) bastards are getting arsey...

I think we’re in such an incredibly privileged position if we’re able to discount, in many cases, life saving medicines. A dear friend of mine keeps talking (disparagingly) about ‘western medicine’ has really high cholesterol and won’t take statins because her ‘energy’ doctor has told her she should be healing herself with meditation. But, she’s a grown up and if that’s what she decides to do there isn’t much I can do about it but I do have to keep quiet when she talks about ‘big pharma’ all the time.

interestly though she was referred to the homeopathic hospital attached to great Ormond street but said that did nothing to help. My sister also was post chemo and she said she found it quite helpful although well aware almost definitely the placebo effect.

A relative was suffering with appendicitis. His grandmother decided the best treatment was a (boiling hot) bread poultice.

He ended up in hospital with a dangerously infected appendix and minor burns.

I tried homeopathy for allergies but it didn’t work at all. Unfortunately, not even the tiniest bit of placebo effect.

Some conventional medicines have unpleasant side effects. Stop taking them and you may feel better for a while.

But the underlying condition is no longer being treated. This can have serious or life limiting consequences.

Conventional medicine can feel cold and impersonal. Patients can feel like they aren't being listened to. The reality is that it is impersonal and you aren't really being listened to because you aren't that special. The disease you are suffering from, the side effects from the treatment you are receiving are known.

Alternative therapies recognise this. Good ones will fill in the gaps left by conventional medicine. You come away from your weekly massage, counselling session or whatever feeling better.

So long as you don't then give up on the conventional medicine, that is fine.

I think it has its place. But not as a replacement for cancer drugs or other serious illness. As a complementary remedy, yes.

Home remedies, Homeopathy, Traditional Medicine whatever people want to call it q sounds good in theory until it all goes wrong then they are picketing their GPs, going to A&E when it all goes wrong and who has to pick up the pieces then?

Not much difference to people who go get cheap surgery abroad then come back home and the NHS has to fix it

Homeopathy and herbal extracts aren't the same thing.

Despite countless trials, there is absolutely no evidence that homeopathy works. (This is in contrast to acupuncture.)

Some people think if a medical procedure or medicine sounds exotic e.g. Indian, Chinese (or is "natural") it must work, ignoring the health statistics from those countries.

There are a lot of charlatans around.

Yeah I should be clear that as @Boobygravy has definitively stated that arnica works and she was was replying to a post talking about a homeopathic medicine that @Autumnweddingguest guest was given, I mean evidence that homeopathic arnica works.

Each to their own, but what puts me off all supplements is the lack of the oversight and regulation that they have.

This can be a problem because a) there is no guarantee of active ingredients actually in them and b) and what doseage level they are. Pharmaceuticals are tightly regulated and issues are picked up as early as possible.

Homeopathy is not based in reality. The reasoning that is used is simply not accurate. If water could memorise all of the properties of the other molecules that it comes into contact with then that would include all the urine, faeces, blood etc. from all time. Its deeply flawed and prevent someone from getting more effective treatment at the right time.

There's two sorts of arnica. One has measurable arnica extract. The other is homeopathic. Impossible to judge without knowing which sort it was. There's some evidence that the topical products with actual arnica in them may work for inflammation and swelling. The homeopathic version works as well as homeopathic anything else, which is to say, it does nothing.

(Keep in mind: measurable ingredient does not equal safe or effective. In the US several years ago there was a scandal because of a product called Zicam which did have measurable zinc. It turned out that the nasal spray version could damage your sense of smell.)

Evidence that it works outside of the placebo effect?

Probably Arnica.
Arnica does work for inflammation.
Lots of people use it.