Is it a con or can it help my sick child?

One programme (did it have scientific principles ? Has the experiment been reproduced in a controlled environment? Is the data published somewhere?) is hardly 'balance' for the complete lack of any evidence elsewhere.

Not true. Some has been clinically proven to work.above the placebo effect.

Homeopathy has been clinically proven to have absolutely no effectiveness above the placebo effect.

Some herbal medicine if used correctly can have clinical benefits (Senna for constipation, Valerian for sleep).

Acupuncture is recommended by NICE for several conditions (eg chronic pain, migraine).

'magically effective' is an apt description. Magic isn't real either, nor is it magic!

I’m sorry, they have helped to seal the blood/brain barrier. Have they said why they won’t prescribe them?

Wow, you've linked to a film that you need to pay to watch. Thus proving the point that exponents of homeopathy are money grabbing charlatans.

@SirRaymondClench would you care to provide any decent references (peer reviewed by real clinicians, in a decent clinical academic journal) supporting your assertion that ‘statins don’t do anything’?! Asking on behalf of a national health service I know which is benefitting from statin medical treatment to hugely reduce CVD risks, but if that isn’t the case and other interventions work better or more cost effectively, there are a LOT of global medical directors who’d love to know what you know 🤣🤪

WHO:. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds)

BHF: https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/our-research/research-successes/statins-save-lives

And NHS pages has loads of good info. Adding these in case anyone thinks this PP might have a point. They truly don’t.

There's a reason it's no longer available on the NHS. Lack of proven efficacy.

I'm unaware of the King or Queens' scientific or medical credentials.

I'm so sorry your child is ill.

I have no skin in the homeopathy game whatsoever, but I saw a documentary a long time ago where a completely sceptical farmer was persuaded to try homeopathy on his ailing cows. They put the stuff in the water trough and the cows immediately showed significant improvement.
It wasn't a woo-based programme, more like Tomorrow's World or something.
It stuck with me as the cows' recovery was so swift.

Just added this for some balance

Homeopathy used to be available on the NHS, the king uses it and the Queen carried remedies in her purse.
Ive used it and still do for bumps and bruises, fevers etc, my son has used it for hayfever and my daughter when she was younger for worms. I think it does work. But you have to avoid mint and coffee if you have a prescribed homeopathic remedy as it can interfere. Also recommend naturedockids / Lucinda Miller on Instagram - she has a great blog and you can also message her for advice

Can I also just say, I am a huge fan of acupuncture. Tons of solid robust clinical evidence for its effectiveness. And it works in animals. (So rules out placebo, if it has a clinical observable benefit on a creature without ‘consciousness’ in the way humans have). So it isn’t that I am suspicious of all complementary therapies, just the bollocks and placebo which is all homeopathy offers.

It’s a con. I’m sorry about your DD.

Homeopathy doesn’t work. It’s a nonsense.

However, the placebo effect is well understood and recognised. Injections of water work more than water given orally as pretend medicine. Water administered by people in white coats has a stronger effect than administration by people in normal clothes. That is the effect of homeopathy; placebo. If you believe it, it could have some effect. Or even on others: ‘here’s extra medicine from mummy, it will make you feel better, now don’t you feel better?’ That is why there is in some places a very limited offer on NHS. On me it categorically wouldn’t.

You don’t say how old your DD is. If she believes the nonsense then it maybe could help. But be careful, she could then also feel obliged to lie to you to make you feel better about the illness, to reassure you she feels better and maybe mask symptoms, worsening symptoms, pretend, and that could be dangerous. You should be careful about projecting your anxieties about your daughter onto her, that is not fair on her on top of the burden of illness.

Of course the homeopath would say it would help, wouldn’t they? How much money will you be paying them? It’s unethical, but one approach is to treat your DD secretly then she isn’t burdened reporting benefits to you. I bet the homeopath wouldn’t be happy about that though!

Regular Antibiotics, steroids and anti-inflammatories. We still have flares and always will as it’s relapse remitting auto immune condition, but between flares she is 95% the child she was before developing PANDAs

Sorry to hear that your child is ill. Please don't waste money on homeopathy. It does not work. Its claimed mode of action has absolutely no scientific basis whatsoever.

OP.. I'm no expert... and apologies if you've already tried this, but I have found with various family ailments/conditions over the years that there are often charities which deal with coping with symptoms and new research and they can be a really useful resource.

There is a Pans/pandas UK association which might be a useful starting point.. maybe they have an up to date opinion... which your GP might not have details of. Or could suggest a medical professional who could give some advice on a variety of things that could help the symptoms.

@NOresponsibility
The very first word in the OP is "homeopathy?". If you don't know what that is, no shame in that, lots of people don't, but if you are interested why not just look it up, rather than come on a thread about the topic to proclaim that you don't know what the topic is? (This always surprises me!). If I saw a thread that started with a word I didn't recognise and I wanted to know what it meant the first thing I would do would be to look up the word! Very simple.

It is so good to know that unlike the big pharma companies the homeopathic companies and practitioners are offering their services for free. Thank you for highlighting this kindness and spreading the news as I am sure many people have been put off trying homeopathy because they assumed that they would be paying through the nose for bottles of water to finance fancy offices and packaging.🙂

Pandas mum here and respectfully disagree. They are not diagnosed speculatively, but through symptoms and rigorous blood tests. My child was a “classic” case who changed overnight and is 95% back to baseline with treatment and her condition is recognised and treated on the NHS.

Try Google?

There is also a danger in taking herbal remedies with other medicine, if your doctor doesn't know and so can't advise on interactions. For example, several antihypertensives and antidepressants have a dangerous interaction with a substance in grapefruit juice. Grapefruit extract tablets or drops, easily available, are used by some as an antifungal or antibacterial.

Oh and to add - in some ways herbalism is more dangerous than homeopathy because there's not much regulation of herbal products and it's not just sugar water. That means that you're not necessarily getting good advice on how much of a particular ingredient is in a product, or the impact of taking that product with another (or a conventional medication). Most of the time if it works in herbal form, it's already been included in conventional medical products - because why wouldn't conventional medicine use something that works!

Of course, sometimes conventional medicine takes time to catch up and so there are herbal remedies that can help. Just be very careful because unlike homeopathy (which is sugar pills) your daughter will be taking active ingredients.

OP - homeopathy doesn't 'work' but the placebo effect is real and incredible (it works on animals, and even on people when they know it's not real medicine!).

Using homeopathic remedies won't harm your daughter provided that you use them as an additional to traditional medicine, and don't ignore conventional medical advice to focus on homeopathy only. The placebo effect means they might actually help. Do check on ingredients though, and be very careful about who you're consulting - your money would be better spent on a private pediatrician than on a homeopathic 'expert'. If anyone you are working with suggests that you should not be using conventional medicine, run away fast.

I'm sorry for how ill your DD is. It sounds horrible.