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

I don’t really care what you think to be honest 🤷‍♀️

And yes I’ve spelt it wrong but I’ve a feeling you know what I mean and are being disingenuous so crack on by all means.

I second acupuncture.
gut issues I’m guessing you are taking probiotics but I highly recommend finding a reputable colon irrigation therapist and clearing yourself out as old stuff can interact with new incoming stuff. Do you get bloating? My stomach dr is testing me for an inbalance of bad bacteria vs good bacteria.

Lots here saying acupuncture is different from the other fake treatments. It isn't. Meta-studies show that not only does it cure nothing, practitioners don't raven agree what it is. Trial showed someone randomly poking a patient with needles had the same effect as so-called qualified therapists. It's not even an 'ancient' system. Its slightly older than antibiotics. Mao couldn't see how he would provide healthcare for such a huge population so encouraged any old fake 'traditional' medicine. It's a mish-mash of astrology and blood letting and is as laughable as homeopathy.

@Teaandtoast3
You didn't spell it wrong, you used a meaningless term. You are peddling dangerous nonsense. Share one peer reviewed study showing reiki to be effective and I'll apologise on here and give £100 to a charity of your choice.

I was cynical about homeopathy until one of my DCs was ill over several months and the NHS couldn't find the cause. In desperation I turned to a homeopath. The condition cleared up immediately.
I've no idea how it could have worked but it definitely did.

Some complementary therapies have basis and merit, such as acupuncture, massage and herbal remedies (after all, many medicines are derived from natural sources).

Homeopathy isn’t one of them. Load of bunkum. Neither is reiki for that matter.

I’m a clinician and open to complementary therapies that have some merit, especially alongside medicine. However peddlers of snake oil and delusion such as homeopathists and reiki practitioners enrage me. Fleecing desperate people out of their money.

Logically I couldn’t see how homeopathy worked, it did seem like airy fairy but a friend who’s a homeopath gave me some of the tiny tablets ( they call them something else but can’t remember) and I was amazed that they worked.
I have a long standing, permanent health condition that the NHS are well known to be crap with. GPs have actually done me more harm than good when I’ve consulted them about it so I treat myself with various vitamins and health products. Not killed me and I’m not in a wheelchair yet so if you can afford it it may be worth trying.

I think you should consider a new hobby. One that will make you happier so you don’t need to continuously take pot shots at random people on the internet.

All I said was that if I were in pain like the OP then I would try everything once… and I would. That is my personal opinion. Off now though so the OPs thread isn’t derailed completely.

It IS placebo but I think there's a place for nonsense (reiki, tarot etc) in healthcare.

If it makes you feel better, who cares.

I always thought that homeopthy was a bit woo, but when one of my daughters was a child and she had a long standing persistent cough which the doctors couldn't diagnose nor stop, I took her to a local (qualified) homeopath. It could have been a coincidence, but after a short course of drops, the cough disappeared completely. Then, when I was having nasty menopause problems and deciding against HRT (living in another part of the country by then), I visited a different homeopath. Problem solved. So - both times it could have been a coincidence and I'd certainly go to a doctor for my first port of call with any complaint, but I'd definitely go back to the homeopath if necessary.

@Teaandtoast3
So you won't back up your ridiculous claims? Recommending someone with genuine health concerns goes to see a charlatan is dangerous advice. It seems your hobby of lining the pockets of fraudsters is the one that should be stopped. I'll never stop calling out liars. I'll up it to £500 to a charity of your choice for a link to a peer-reviewed, scientific endorsement of reiki. Easy win for your favourite charity if it's not you that is, in fact, being disingenuous.

Sorry - not drops - tiny tablets to dissolve under the tongue.

Time to bring out the wonderful Tim Minchin again, I think, (from his poem, 'Storm').

'It's a miracle! Take physics and bin it!
Water has memory!
And while it's memory of a long lost drop of onion juice is infinite
It somehow forgets all the poo it's had in it! '

I think you'd be better off trying hypnotherapy - depending on your health issue!

@Hobbi the vast majority of people were talking about the placebo affect. I agree that the OP just needs to find something that works for her.

I did find this interesting however:

“Reiki is better than placebo in activating the parasympathetic nervous system, as measured by reduced heart rate, reduced blood pressure, and increased heart rate variability. For patients with chronic health conditions, Reiki has been found to be more effective than placebo for reducing pain, anxiety, and depression, and for improving self-esteem and quality of life.”

From

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871310/

There are many many treatments which are effective for people that aren’t prescribed by doctors (largely because there’s no money in them from drug companies.

You have to consider exactly what you’re getting out of this. Maybe the “just being listened to” every month will help your healing, maybe the power of just doing something will help.

Bit research into all alternative therapies some are perhaps more helpful than others

I would spend it on private healthcare, therapy or on an osteopath (if pain/joint related)

Might be worth trying an elimination diet if gut related. And always pro and pre biotic foods, gentle exercise and plenty of calm. I find mine through meditation and time in nature, but for you that calm might be from having a massage or reading a book or having a nice bath filled with Epsom salts.

Have you had your vitamins and mineral levels checked? Are you taking vitamin D? A lot of people are also deficient in minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron or b vitamins etc. so worth investigating any vitamin deficiencies

From the Journal of Complementary Medicine? Ok.
I'll take this quote from Cancer Research Uk, 'Research into Reiki for people with cancer
There is no scientific evidence to show that reiki can prevent, treat or cure cancer, or any other disease. Only a small number of studies have looked at reiki and there were limitations to all the trials. This means they are not conclusive and we need further research.'

If it worked then it would be used far more widely, including in the NHS.
Of course she sounds lovely - it is a marketing strategy to relieve you of large amounts of money.

If it had actual evidence to back it up, it would be called medicine. That's how medicine became a thing.

Could you put the money you would have spent on this into seeking care through the private system?

The 'no money in it for drug companies' cliché doesn't really hold up if you see what the OP was being charged for unqualified counselling, accompanied by small amounts of water.

I did it maybe about 10 years ago and got the tests and tinctures and nasty tasting herbal mixtures. Probably spent 1500 on it for a year. It's bunk.

What type of health issues do you have? Maybe someone on here could point you to a legit specialist.

You would also feel listened to and not rushed if you decided to look into private healthcare, instead of the NHS for your condition. The difference is these people are running a business unlike your salaried NHS Doctors and Nurses.

She's basically told you to expect to pay at least £300 quid before you can expect to see any changes. It's win win for her because if your condition naturally starts to ease, chronic illness can ebb and flow, then you will think its done something and spend more money. If you don't feel any better then she will already have your £300 quid.

I can't remember what comedian said it, but you know what they call alternative medicine that's been proven to work? Medicine.

I have a friend who enrolled on a course in hypnotherapy. After 10 weekends she was 'a professional' and dealing with people whose problems were far, far out of her knowledge. Dangerous. She too has fallen down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theory, anti-vaccine, phone masts et al.