Does homeopathy work?

[arbitraryarsehole]

Interested in views from people who have had homeopathic treatments please. I'm open minded to alternative medicine but also don't want to waste my money if there is no benefit. Thanks 😊

I find that this website offers a balanced view, based on unassailable facts.

www.howdoeshomeopathywork.com

The bit that always confused me was how the water is supposed to have memory of whatever weird this was added to it etc BUT THEN it gets used to make sugar pills which are dry? So the water evaporates? Maybe homeopaths should claim sugar has memory instead.

Have a read of the book Bad Science, I have not finished it yet but his points around homeopathy as well as other holistic and also mainstream meds is very interesting.

@TheNyx if alternative medicines and traditional Chinese medicines are heavily researched and shown to work via properly rigorous scientific studies... then is that not just... medicine? And in this global age with the benefit of the Internet, if robust research in Korea shows that an alternative/traditional medicine is effective at treating xyz then it will be noticed world wide and picked up by drug companies wanting to make a profit.

That covers all the key aspects really clearly, great resource.

Thanks for sharing!

Yes, imo. Especially arnica.

It's helped me tremendously.

No.

Mum was well into all that and made me try so much crap that didn’t work at all.

When I was old enough to spend my pocket money on painkillers and hayfever pills with actual drugs in them that actually work I was so happy.

Isn’t arnica etc more herbal so not homeopathic?

Arnica is not homeopathic.

My friend used those granules and they made her baby sick.

No.

What do you use for anxiety?

People will say it's a placebo but if you research you'll find trails on cows with mastitis, babies and on children with the remedies dissolved in their water - all with positive results, how can the placebo effect take place if you are unaware you have being given something?

I went to a homeopath July 22 for chronic migraines, at this point I'd had numerous medicines from the GP, brain scans due to family history of brain cancer, I tried hypnotherapy, energy healing, crystal healing, meditation - nothing worked until I tried homeopathy. It's been 8 months and I haven't had a single migraine. Why would this placebo work but nothing else did? Either way Iv got my life back - best £95 Iv ever spent.

Firstly in the countries that use them they are just considered medicine but natural medicine rather than synthetic

Secondly they are used by drug companies to some extent (lots of synthetic medicine is based on natural components and certain aspects of acupuncture are commonly used in routine physiotherapy right here on the good old NHS) not to mention that things like St John's wart as mentioned previously are commonly sold in pharmacies

They can not be fully monetised or picked up by drug companies because most are natural ingredients or rely on practitioners to administer (how would you expect a drug company to just suddenly 'own' ginseng root or an anti nausea pressure point etc)

Lastly most TCM practitioners will not claim that traditional treatments should be used instead of modern medicine in most cases , they are usually most useful for things that western medicine doesnt help with much (for example morning sickness, brain fog etc.), things that modern medicine can help with but that people want a gentler slower treatment (for example if you have eczema you could use steroid creams for a quick fix or you could use a slower acting herbal treatment) or in conjuncture with modern medicine (for example I have an autoimmune condition, at no point have I ever been told to stop taking my medication or that there is an alternative, instead I take it and have TCM treatments to work alongside on things like improving nerve regeneration and reducing fatigue)

I hope that explains what I mean.

In some ways I feel that the lack of understanding around traditional and herbal medicines is what allows people to feel they have to reject it all or trust it all like its all the same thing and that's where things like homeopathy (which is basically just fraud) can slip through

I think the people above who are confusing arnica with homeopathy just prove my point there 🤔

It's called placebo by proxy and is well documented. It works by a couple of well-documented routes. NOT medicinal.

If you are interested, read proper studies.

TCM is and can be great. It's just 'medicine' in the same way aspirin (willow bark) and digitalis (foxglove) are medicine. European traditional medicine became medicine. TCM becomes medicine.

For example, the TCM malaria prophylactic became the industry standard and won the woman who isolated it a Nobel Prize. Youyou Tu which is also the world's greatest name!

Not remotely similar to homeopathy.

@MrsTerryPratchett Your contributions to threads are always so insightful and balanced! I suppose that outs me as someone who spends far too much time on MN!

Me as well!!!

Ooops.

"Arnica is not homeopathic"

It is used in homeopathy

www.healthline.com/nutrition/arnica-homeopathic

I've always thought It's a mixture of placebo effect - which is still present even when you explicitly tell people 'I'm giving you a placebo' or Regression to the mean - you go for treatment when you are at your worst and then are on the way to get better naturally at the point you have the treatment.

Also I've always thought if you have a proper thorough homeopathic consultation you discuss all aspects of your health and how you are feeling which is bound to have a therapeutic effect vs 10 mins rushed appt with a GP.

How do you know they're not lying?

I know people it has worked for. Even if it is a placebo effect, the outcome is still good. I would suggest that it be seen as an add on to conventional medicine if appropriate. I understand all senior members of the royal family have homeopath doctors as well as medical doctors.