Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Does homeopathy work?

199 replies

arbitraryarsehole · 12/03/2023 16:12

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 😊

OP posts:
QueenOfHiraeth · 13/03/2023 23:14

AlisonDonut · 13/03/2023 11:54

I know what arnica is.

People saying arnica is homepathy don't actually understand what homeopathy is.

It is using the thing that triggers whatever the symptom is, diluting so much that nothing exists any more and telling people that the memory of the thing will allow the body to build up resistance to the thing, enabling the body to build up defences so that it can deal with the actual thing in larger amounts and resolve the thing.

Arnica is an actual herb used in tinctures and creams. Unless someone has a reaction to arnica that they are trying to overcome, it wouldn't be used in homeopathy.

You are the person not understanding!

Arnica is a herb and is used in herbal remedies like Arnica cream.
It is also used in homeopathic remedies for bruising and trauma. It is probably the most widely used homeopathic remedy

sashh · 14/03/2023 02:24

ArabellaScott · 13/03/2023 12:19

Placebo effect can work even if you know it's a placebo.

Our minds are amazing.

Yes.

And injected placebo works better than pills.

@QueenOfHiraeth I've just followed your link, the pills you picked were out of stock so I checked the alternative.

It says this

Full ingredients
Arnica 30C homeopathic potency on 100mg Lactose/Sucrose tablets
Always read the label before use

30C doesn't mean there is any arnica in it, it is literally sugar pills.

Buzzinwithbez · 14/03/2023 09:05

QueenOfHiraeth · 13/03/2023 23:14

You are the person not understanding!

Arnica is a herb and is used in herbal remedies like Arnica cream.
It is also used in homeopathic remedies for bruising and trauma. It is probably the most widely used homeopathic remedy

I thought I'd made a clear distinction between herbs and homeopathic potencies but I don't mind being told I don't understand. 😂

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Orangello · 14/03/2023 10:01

It is probably the most widely used homeopathic remedy

Yes but there is no arnica in homeopathic arnica. Just 'memories of arnica'. Which is different from remedies that have actual active ingredients.

arbitraryarsehole · 14/03/2023 18:10

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

arbitraryarsehole · 14/03/2023 18:13

& just to clarify, I was never considering homeopathy as an alternative to medical treatment. I was interested because of a parents experience of it helping with sensory sensitivities.

OP posts:
ShapesAndNumbers · 14/03/2023 18:30

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

PermanentTemporary · 14/03/2023 18:35

I was given homeopathic treatment for a cluster of verrucas as a teenager.

I don't have verrucas any more. However, they appeared to die some years after I stopped taking homeopathic pills.

Homeopathy doesn't work. Seeing a person who spends an hour discussing your problems and confidently dishes out a remedy is remarkably effective. Though not ime for verrucas.

shikshasharma · 07/07/2023 18:28

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

CurlewKate · 07/07/2023 18:39

Homeopathy is brilliant at curing vague minor illnesses that you have had for about a week.

WildFlowerBees · 07/07/2023 18:43

Homeopathy has been brilliant for treating my endometriosis. I tried it as a last resort before having to have surgery. It's been a year and I'm still pain free.

Marynotsocontrary · 07/07/2023 19:19

Please note that scientific consensus on the efficacy of homeopathy is still debated, and further research is needed.

The scientific consensus is that it's ineffective, that it doesn't work. There may be a placebo effect of course, but the 'treatment' itself is useless. That's the scientific consensus.

MrsTerryPratchett · 07/07/2023 20:05

Marynotsocontrary · 07/07/2023 19:19

Please note that scientific consensus on the efficacy of homeopathy is still debated, and further research is needed.

The scientific consensus is that it's ineffective, that it doesn't work. There may be a placebo effect of course, but the 'treatment' itself is useless. That's the scientific consensus.

This. Double blind studies show no significant effect over control. SCIENCE.

IsThePopeCatholic · 07/07/2023 20:21

No. It’s a load of hogwash.

Regalhen · 07/07/2023 20:40

I didn't think it would work but found them helpful when accidentally going cold-turkey off anti-depressants.

Was having awful withdrawal symptoms and anxiety but used some old homeopathic remedies for anxiety in a cupboard and it helped. I wasn't expecting it to work; didn't believe in it, and only picked them up because the chemist had reduced them and it would be a placebo remedy for my son.

But, it worked. It was just enough to get through the weekend without having constant panic attacks

ehb102 · 08/07/2023 10:12

Do you know what make the homeopathic remedy work? The homeopath bangs it twelve times on a saddle covered board (the originator of homeopathy was a saddler). (Source: the book Bad Medicine). The books also shows that in some "tests" of the efficacy of homeopathy the people involved would have got better anyway, as a percentage of people.do.

We have electron microscopes now. Water has no memory.

The placebo effect is at 60%. If paying money to someone, being listened to and having a pill helps you, rock on. Getting human attention and sympathy is rare these days and is definitely good for mental health. It won't fix things though so you might as well see a psychic or a personal trainer or a counsellor.

Orangello · 08/07/2023 11:10

I wasn't expecting it to work; didn't believe in it
Well you took them so you must have had some belief in it, otherwise you might have tried just a sugar cube. Might also help if feeling anxious.

englishkiwi · 04/12/2023 16:20

Homeopathy definitely works and is amazing at helping all kinds of illness

FourTeaFallOut · 04/12/2023 16:23

englishkiwi · 04/12/2023 16:20

Homeopathy definitely works and is amazing at helping all kinds of illness

Well, they do say the placebo effect can be seen, even in sceptics.

CurlewKate · 04/12/2023 16:25

No.

MrsTerryPratchett · 04/12/2023 16:51

englishkiwi · 04/12/2023 16:20

Homeopathy definitely works and is amazing at helping all kinds of illness

Tell me how it works. I could do with a laugh.

Keepingongoing · 04/12/2023 17:27

I think the OP asked for personal experiences. I used to use homeopathy, and at one point I lived with a homeopath who was both practicing and teaching homeopathy.

It has never worked for me. Regular homeopathic treatments did nothing at the beginning of a very serious chronic illness, which I still have. Instead, I got worse and worse. Later, I was given it for an ear infection ( by a practicing GP, no less, with daily, personalised remedies). I endured about a week of increasing agony with him saying’ it should be getting better by now….wait, I’ll give you a stronger ( ie more dilute) remedy’ before I finally gave up and went to my usual GP. He sent me straight off to ENT , same day, where they cleaned out my ear and popped in some antibiotics . Instant relief, but I have permanent hearing loss in that ear and sometimes wonder…

Over the years, through reading and also remembering my homeopath friend, I began to understand it more. The ‘in depth’ consultation looking for the ‘real causes’ of your ailment is actually, in part, an exercise in fitting you into one of a number of ‘constitututional’ remedies….the theory being that, because ‘like cures like’ , giving the ‘constitutional’ is therapeutic. Feel better at the seaside? You may well be a Nat Mur. Nat Mur is….seasalt.

I won’t go on about the theory behind homeopathy, enough to say that in my opinion it’s based on magical thinking. Magical thinking is far more common than we realise, and is something to which nearly all of us are susceptible. The placebo effect is also very mysterious and powerful.

Most people tend to respond well to being given lots of time to talk about themselves, and sympathy. This is what you get in a consultation with a homeopath, and is probably the true therapeutic mechanism of homeopathy.

CurlewKate · 04/12/2023 17:51

Homeopathy is brilliant for illnesses that are just about to get better on their own. Also for vague non specific feelings of unease and disquiet that need you to drop your shoulders and talk to someone kind for a little while.

15PiecesOfFlair · 04/12/2023 17:56

englishkiwi · 04/12/2023 16:20

Homeopathy definitely works and is amazing at helping all kinds of illness

Well that's me convinced. L 1000 sugar pills, please, doctor!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page