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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Homeopathy

30 replies

User8721643839 · 13/02/2022 14:56

My friend doesn't go to a GP at all, for anything. She relies on homeopathy to treat everything and tbh, she always seems healthy, but then she hasn't had anything obviously wrong in all the time I have known her like appendicitis for example.
YABU Yes of course it works
YANBU No, it's all mind over matter

OP posts:
PonyPatter44 · 13/02/2022 14:59

If she hasn't had anything 'wrong' with her, what is she using homeopathic treatments for?

Homeopathy is best saved for the gullible healthy, rather than sick people, tbh. Its just sugar pills and water.

Aimee1987 · 13/02/2022 15:02

There have been multiple clinical trials on homeopathy and in every single one they have performed on par with placebos.
If theres noting wrong with her then a sugar pill will certainly do her no harm but yeah if your appendix is bursting you need a surgeon.

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 13/02/2022 15:03

Cheaper to have a very small drink of water, really.

ohhooh · 13/02/2022 15:06

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Cheaper to have a very small drink of water, really.
😂 😂
Thelnebriati · 13/02/2022 15:09

I have never had appedicitis, but I drink a lot of water. There must be something in it.

#DadJokes

Homeopathy
AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 13/02/2022 15:10

@Thelnebriati

I have never had appedicitis, but I drink a lot of water. There must be something in it.

#DadJokes

(falls about laughing)

Ooh, that's really cheered me up on a grey dreary afternoon, that has!

Inertia · 13/02/2022 15:11

It’s absolute bollocks.

Why would water retain the memory of (say) lavender, but not the umpteen digestive systems/ sewers it’s passed through before it reaches you?

Thelnebriati · 13/02/2022 15:12
Grin
User8721643839 · 13/02/2022 15:21

When I say nothing wrong with her, I mean she treats headaches with homeopathy, and uses arnica for bruises etc. I just wondered what others btjought on a rainy Sunday afternoon!
I took some Star of Bethlehem as I was panicking about going on an airplane, and although I don't really believe in it, my panic attack did subside within 10 minutes so I guess it was my mind that believed it would work 🤷

OP posts:
CoilWatershed · 13/02/2022 15:26

Hopefully if she ever develops a serious health problem she'll use actual medicine.

QuiteAtALoss · 13/02/2022 15:30

Placebo effect is real, measurable, and in many cases, very powerful. I would put prayer under the same category as homeopathy, as well.

While neither of these options cause any harm, in and of themselves, if they are chosen over and above medicine that is confirmed to work, that's a problem.

pigsDOfly · 13/02/2022 15:32

What is she relying on homeopathy to treat exactly?

I very rarely visit my GP either because I'm rarely ill with anything that requires a doctor.

If I were ill enough to need to see a doctor I wouldn't be messing around with bollock like homeopathy.

If your friend did have anything wrong with her, other than a trivial illness that's going to go away on its own anyway, drinking a small amount of water that some charlatan tells her is going to cure her because it has a 'memory' of something efficacious just isn't going to cut it.

blobby10 · 13/02/2022 15:34

Any genuine homeopath would never advocate using homeopathy instead of conventional medicine for a serious illness but they may advocate using homeopathy to help alleviate side effects. eg I know someone who was going through chemo and used homeopathy to help alleviate the nausea and exhaustion. it helped her and tbh who the hell cares if its a placebo or not? Its her money to spend (£30 a month for anyone who's interested) and made her feel better during a really shitty time of her life.

WhatTheWhoTheWhatThe · 13/02/2022 15:37

Growing up our GP was also a homeopath and we were never given that lovely banana antibiotic medicine that envied my friends for!

I do think it’s nothing more than a placebo affect but I think there’s a place for that if it helps people with anxiety based woes but that’s about it.

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 13/02/2022 15:44

@User8721643839

When I say nothing wrong with her, I mean she treats headaches with homeopathy, and uses arnica for bruises etc. I just wondered what others btjought on a rainy Sunday afternoon! I took some Star of Bethlehem as I was panicking about going on an airplane, and although I don't really believe in it, my panic attack did subside within 10 minutes so I guess it was my mind that believed it would work 🤷
Arnica isn't really homeopathy, though. It's herbal medication, which is different thing. And quite a lot of herbal medication has a good scientific reason to work, like say aspirin having the same active ingredient as willow bark.

At least, it's herbal medication if you rub arnica cream on the bruise; arnica works as an anti-inflammatory and is more effective than placebo -- they have done tests on that. Minuscule amounts of arnica in little pills are unlikely to have any effect whatever really.

PrincessNutella · 13/02/2022 15:51

Oh, I say if you're going to have a small glass of water have a huge one. Probably has much more of the good stuff in it.

TeenPlusCat · 13/02/2022 15:54

herbal medicine - fine
homeopathy - smoke and mirrors

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 13/02/2022 15:56

@PrincessNutella are you encouraging homeopaths to overdose? Shock How very irresponsible of you Grin

Laiste · 13/02/2022 16:01

I haven't voted 'cos i don't know much about it (apart from the strength = one drop in umpteen olympic size swimming pools thing) but ...

Folks swear it works on animals. Horses a lot round here. That can't be a placebo effect? So what's happening there?

TeenPlusCat · 13/02/2022 16:02

Laiste Possibly regression to the norm? ie things tend to get better?
Or again are you confusing homeopathy with herbal?

ChateauMargaux · 13/02/2022 16:04

Her body, her business. She does not seek medical intervention for routine illnesses, you have no idea what she would do if she needed surgery.. maybe she doesn’t either, yet.

Ballcactus · 13/02/2022 16:05

It’s a con

crj123 · 13/02/2022 16:07

(I know this is a cheap shot but...)

If water has a "memory", and they buried Bin Laden at sea, aren't we all a bit Bin Laden-y by now?

Though I do agree fwiw that the placebo effect is a thing, not so much that it'll actually cure you but enough to be really interesting

BestKnitterInScotland · 13/02/2022 16:08

Homeopaths are quacks and charlatans.

Laiste · 13/02/2022 16:08

@TeenPlusCat

Laiste Possibly regression to the norm? ie things tend to get better? Or again are you confusing homeopathy with herbal?
Not herbal - def. homeopathy, little bottles, little droppers ect.

It's interesting isn't it? I guess the rest and the literal rubbing in of the treatments would help on it's own with lameness.

Sometimes it's digestive though. And skin treatments.

No idea!