To cancel the appointment because homeopathy is a load of crap?

[HowdoIgetbacktothe80s]

I’ve had chronic health issues for years. These issues are getting worse and completely ruining my quality of life.
Despite lots of tests, consultant and GP appointments via the NHS, I am definitely getting worse not better.
I know and appreciate the NHS is on its knees but I am fed up waiting up to a year for consultation appointments, having them cancelled at last minute (one was even cancelled whilst I was in the hospital waiting room ffs!) and when I eventually get seen it is often a rushed 10 minute appointment. I am getting nowhere fast and pretty desperate right now despite investing so much in the hope of feeling well and trying many things myself. I don’t want to keep taking up NHS space when someone worse off than me needs the services, I would love to find someone out there who can help me heal.
I am contemplating turning to ‘alternative’ healthcare. I asked on my local town’s FB group for recommendations and several recommended a local homeopath.
I have had a 30 minute free call with her. She was so very lovely and for the first time I felt listened to and validated.
She explained how she had experience of my health issues herself and how homeopathy could indeed help me. She said that because my issues were long standing it would take some months to start to feel better.
So I have booked to go and see her in a month.
The consultation is £100 with the homeopathic tinctures being an additional £25 which she said would last about a month and I would probably need to see her for several months. Each follow up appointment will be £80 (probably every other month or so). She wasn’t pushy at all and it was left up to me to make any decisions.
I have told my dh and friends and they think it’s a utter waste of my money and homeopathy is nothing more than a placebo. They truly believe I will not get better via this route but am now having a wobble about it as it is a lot of money for me if it doesn’t help.
Of course if you look on the NHS website it will tell you much the same. But the NHS hasn’t been able to help me and I am now at a loss, stuck in limbo land and getting desperate.

What is everyone’s opinion or experience on homeopathy?
Should I pursue this route or cancel now?
I dare say that am going to get flamed on here. I know I am probably grasping at straws but I just want to feel better.

YABU - homeopathy is useless, you may as well throw the money down the drain don’t be so gullible!
YANBU - I believe in homeopathy, it works

If it was evidence-based it would be called "medicine".

The reason the practitioners are so nice and have all the time in the world is because they're making serious cash for no effort.

Please do not waste your money on homeopathy, it's absolute nonsense and the tinctures are little more than water.
If you want to try complementary therapies like acupuncture or reiki or even just try some herbal remedies there is absolutely no harm in that. But this woman is just taking your money and taking advantage of your desperation.

She said ''She explained how she had experience of my health issues herself and how homeopathy could indeed help me. She said that because my issues were long standing it would take some months to start to feel better.''

So if you want to do some due diligence, message the people who recommended her and ask if she said the same thing to them. If she has claimed to have 10 different health issues and cured all of them, does that sound feasible?

I believe it works for some. Scientifically it’s a load of tosh but, the mind is very powerful.

www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect

Placebos can be effective, especialy if you build up a positive therapeutic alliance with the practitioner, but I wouldn't do it if you don't believe in it - you're unlikely to gain any benefit apart from feeling listened to.

I do believe in alternative therapies: meditation, acupuncture, cold therapy etc. But homeopathy is a load of crap. It's just a placebo.

Why don't you create a post about your health issues and see if anybody on here has any suggestions of how to move forward?

if you're willing to put so much money into something that isn't classed as medicine, why not consider going private with actual medicine? Much better.

Also op if you feel you're getting nowhere with the NHS you might be far better off to use that money for a private doctor's consultation to get a second opinion.

If you felt better by being listened to and validated I would spend that amount on counselling personally.

Dont waste your money on homeopathy, it is absolute guff. Of coursethe homeopath was nice, she is going to fleece you!

Homeopathy is demonstrably ineffective from a scientific perspective. There’s no scientific basis for it whatsoever.

It may “work” for some people because they feel listened to and validated. If that makes you feel better then there’s no harm but I think you would probably find a good therapist as effective and probably cheaper.

I would honestly invest that money on seeing a private medical practitioner for whatever your condition is. Homeopathy may make some people feel better for a short time but it’s a long con.

This is a very concise synopsis of what I came to say! If homeopathy was real then we would all be cured of EVERYTHING by drinking tap water. Don't waste your money. And don't join homeopathy fb groups. It just encourages their delusion.

Everyone saying it's just a placebo is correct. But placebos do work for some people, so it's not quite right to say homeopathy doesn't work at all.
If you had loads of spare money it might be worth having a go. But as you say, it's a lot of money for something that probably won't do anything, and certainly has no scientific/pharmacological basis behind it.
I wouldn't bother.

I’ve been seeing a homeopath for my chronic health condition since 2015 and it’s helped me a great deal. I use it for acute issues for our family - it works really well for us all. Conventional medicine in the U.K. laughs at me. German doctors recommend it. Why don’t you try it? It’s worth a try 🙏

Homeopathy is a total waste of time and money.
It is utterly ineffective. It's foolish.

Thank you everyone, I knew deep down I had fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole in this situation but I have entered grasping at straws territory tbh.
I have, in the past, paid to see private consultants and have drawn the same blanks as with the NHS consultants, the only difference there is they have more time to discuss medications/options etc. I can only really afford consultation fees not further investigative tests so I just end up back on the NHS waiting lists.
I will of course cancel. If I am going to seek help outside the NHS then it’s no use putting my money in the hands of something which obviously isn’t seen (or proven) to be very effective.
Back to the drawing board, it is then.

Yes, and if homeopathic ideas were real, your hands would get dirtier the more you washed them 🤣🤣🤣🤣

So sorry you are this desperate with your condition.
Big virtual hug x

If you don't have problems with the ethics of lying to patients to potentially achieve a placebo effect (which can be a powerful thing! ) you could have tried it, but now you know it's all made up it's unlikely to work.

If you took the labels off homeopathic remedies no-one would have any way of knowing which ones were which, as they are physically all the same - homeopathy is based on the counterintuitive belief that the less of an ingredient there is in something (and bear in mind the ingredient could be anything, as long as it could be a said to resemble the affliction) the more potent it is. So under a microscope there's nothing there.

I prefer to use natural remedies. Natural anti biotics and anti inflammatory plants.

I would suggest doing the research OP.

To benefit from plant extracts it is essential that your diet and lifestyle is geared toward this and not a quick fix

I hope this link works- it explains everything you need to know about homeopathy

have had a 30 minute free call with her. She was so very lovely and for the first time I felt listened to and validated.

this is what works. The feeling of being listened to, not dismissed and having TIME to go through your health issues.

Not some tap water with the "memory" of something or other.

I would try shopping around for prices for the private tests etc as it sometimes works out cheaper to travel a bit further afield for them.

I hope you're able to get some answers OP.

A homeopathist told my Auntie that she had 'fed' my Uncle's cancer by giving him sweet treats to cheer him up. She blamed herself thinking she'd sped up his death trying to be nice.

No no no. That is a lot of money for literally nothing.

If she were charging £20 and giving you time and reassurance I would say go, because the placebo effect can be valuable. But she is charging what an actual medical professional would ask, and since you are already doubtful about the treatment, the placebo effect would not be great.

If you research alternative therapies there may well be something you can practice that would benefit your health without being exploited (not that I am suggesting the homeopath is doing it deliberately, because people do genuinely believe a lot of nonsense).