To be looking so differently now at Drs, schools etc etc

[Loveafridaynightchippy]

Has anyone else had a change of opinion about things that they’ve not really questioned and always just accepted before, in the last few years?
It could be since a became a mum, but I’m wondering if it’s more.
My Dd has been very ill recently and I’ve gained much better help, advise from less traditional Drs-think medical Drs who focus on naturopathy too, homeopathy and so on, I never knew anything about homeopathy before my Dd got ill. The results I’ve seen are incredible and much more positive that traditional things like antibiotics, painkillers and so on.
I used to be a teacher and loved it, but I’ve found myself really questioning if this is the right system and the right way of doing things and am increasingly doubting traditional schooling. Even the way the majority of us work, the 9-5, the commutes, snatched weekends with loved ones, the yearly holiday.
Maybe I’m just becoming an old hippie! 😂
Does anyone else feel like this?

There's a finite amount of water on the planet and now it all contains (or not? if that's how homeopathy works) an extremely diluted amount of the cure for everything so just keep drinking it.

A lot of people say homeopathy when what they mean is natural medicine. The former is a theory with no evidence based and it also doesn't make sense. But natural medicine is a lot wider a category and does include things that probably do work. I think what can often make those practitioners effective though is taking more time to talk to the patient and try to get at what's going on. A lot of conventional doctors are too rushed and in the end treat everyone like a number, it's like taking your car to the garage at the dealership.

Anyway OP - yes, I have changed my view on doctors in recent years. A lot more than I realized seem quite stupid, and have little or no relation to evidence based medicine or, it seems, science.

I agree with you to an extent - homeopathy is valid for some health concerns - I would treat covid or viruses or minor wounds with herbal extracts etc but the worry is when you listen to quacks, they will persuade you to treat EVERYTHING with it. A balance of both is good - you shouldn't mess around with an infection that has progressed too far, anything with the young or old that could progress to being fatal if not treated etc.

And the question—“We can’t all be wrong, can we?”—yes, that’s entirely possible. Until less than 200 years ago, bloodletting was a common practice. All those people were wrong!

OP your argument would make more sense if you meant HOLISTIC treatments rather than homeopathy. You talk about the gut/brain relationship. Yes. Very interesting stuff and worth exploring. It is real science though.

You sound like a teenager who has thought deeply about something for the first time and now feel superior to the ‘sheeple’ with their blind trust in government and science.

I also have Parkinson's and my neurologist has never mentioned anything to me either about AI having practically cured it. Also, if that is true, why do I keep on having strong drugs 4 times a day, which do help some aspects of my Parkinson's, but which also have some very unfriendly side effects?

I will be very interested to see or read about these amazing advances as well if @harrumphh replies to you @AllTheChaos!

Mumsnet hates homeopathy

Mostly people just hate quacks and charlatans.

OP, the homeopathy may well be working. If it is (or you think it is) and you are still pursuing traditional medical routes as well, there's no harm in it. It's just sugar pills/water. The risk comes if you decide to go against the advice of doctors and not give your daughter traditional treatment.

As others have said, the placebo effect is actually amazing (it even works in animals*), as is the effect of having someone spend time and listen. If you have the money, and it's working for you and your daughter, go with it. Just please don't start to use it instead of real medicine.

Naturopathy is more dangerous. There are absolutely alternative medicines and therapies that do work. It's just with alternative medicine it's not just sugar pills - they might conflict with medication your doctor has prescribed and vary in intensity so you do need to consult your doctor (not your natropath). Where a 'natural' medicine/treatment has been proven to work it normally becomes 'real' medicine. For example, you can get acupuncture on the NHS.

• Multiple studies but eg https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19912522/

Oh dear -- I saw PANDAS/PANS mentioned. This is a minefield.

Don't get me wrong: It's very real. However there is a subset of the internet that is dedicated to suggesting that PANDAS/PANS is the cause of all sorts of issues that it is not. In some cases I think it is desperation to avoid diagnoses like OCD or Tourette's.

The other issue is that it can be quite difficult to diagnose and treat and that is a ripe field for quacks. You see this also with Lyme disease, particularly in the USA though there is a very suspicious clinic in Belgium.

Homeopathy simply doesn't work. The theory is bad, there is no evidence, absolutely nothing adds up. Practitioners often conflate various forms of herbal medicine with homeopathy because herbal medicine can work (it's not inherently superior just because it's natural, but some of the remedies do work). But there's no active substance in homeopathic remedies. It's a completely bonkers theory about water having a memory.

A lot of holistic and natural practitioners rely on the feelings you get when you go. There's no being rushed in and out, no feeling like you've been given a standard remedy, 10 days of amoxicillin and off you go! They do a very in depth questioning so you feel like you have been truly listened to, that the plan has been thought out specially for you. This is really important to the placebo effect. Many conditions will improve on their own without treatment, so when you go to the doctor and get better, you attribute the improvement to the doctor rather than to the passage of time. This is an issue in standard medicine as well; it's why it can be so hard to explain to patients that they don't need antibiotics because their disease is viral (for example). They've had antibiotics before and got better; clearly the antibiotics worked.

Probably Arnica.
Arnica does work for inflammation.
Lots of people use it.

Probably Arnica.
Arnica does work for inflammation.
Lots of people use it.

Evidence that it works outside of the placebo effect?

There's two sorts of arnica. One has measurable arnica extract. The other is homeopathic. Impossible to judge without knowing which sort it was. There's some evidence that the topical products with actual arnica in them may work for inflammation and swelling. The homeopathic version works as well as homeopathic anything else, which is to say, it does nothing.

(Keep in mind: measurable ingredient does not equal safe or effective. In the US several years ago there was a scandal because of a product called Zicam which did have measurable zinc. It turned out that the nasal spray version could damage your sense of smell.)

Each to their own, but what puts me off all supplements is the lack of the oversight and regulation that they have.

This can be a problem because a) there is no guarantee of active ingredients actually in them and b) and what doseage level they are. Pharmaceuticals are tightly regulated and issues are picked up as early as possible.

Homeopathy is not based in reality. The reasoning that is used is simply not accurate. If water could memorise all of the properties of the other molecules that it comes into contact with then that would include all the urine, faeces, blood etc. from all time. Its deeply flawed and prevent someone from getting more effective treatment at the right time.

Yeah I should be clear that as @Boobygravy has definitively stated that arnica works and she was was replying to a post talking about a homeopathic medicine that @Autumnweddingguest guest was given, I mean evidence that homeopathic arnica works.

Despite countless trials, there is absolutely no evidence that homeopathy works. (This is in contrast to acupuncture.)

Some people think if a medical procedure or medicine sounds exotic e.g. Indian, Chinese (or is "natural") it must work, ignoring the health statistics from those countries.

There are a lot of charlatans around.

Homeopathy and herbal extracts aren't the same thing.

Home remedies, Homeopathy, Traditional Medicine whatever people want to call it q sounds good in theory until it all goes wrong then they are picketing their GPs, going to A&E when it all goes wrong and who has to pick up the pieces then?

Not much difference to people who go get cheap surgery abroad then come back home and the NHS has to fix it

I think it has its place. But not as a replacement for cancer drugs or other serious illness. As a complementary remedy, yes.

Some conventional medicines have unpleasant side effects. Stop taking them and you may feel better for a while.

But the underlying condition is no longer being treated. This can have serious or life limiting consequences.

Conventional medicine can feel cold and impersonal. Patients can feel like they aren't being listened to. The reality is that it is impersonal and you aren't really being listened to because you aren't that special. The disease you are suffering from, the side effects from the treatment you are receiving are known.

Alternative therapies recognise this. Good ones will fill in the gaps left by conventional medicine. You come away from your weekly massage, counselling session or whatever feeling better.

So long as you don't then give up on the conventional medicine, that is fine.

I tried homeopathy for allergies but it didn’t work at all. Unfortunately, not even the tiniest bit of placebo effect.

A relative was suffering with appendicitis. His grandmother decided the best treatment was a (boiling hot) bread poultice.

He ended up in hospital with a dangerously infected appendix and minor burns.

I think we’re in such an incredibly privileged position if we’re able to discount, in many cases, life saving medicines. A dear friend of mine keeps talking (disparagingly) about ‘western medicine’ has really high cholesterol and won’t take statins because her ‘energy’ doctor has told her she should be healing herself with meditation. But, she’s a grown up and if that’s what she decides to do there isn’t much I can do about it but I do have to keep quiet when she talks about ‘big pharma’ all the time.

interestly though she was referred to the homeopathic hospital attached to great Ormond street but said that did nothing to help. My sister also was post chemo and she said she found it quite helpful although well aware almost definitely the placebo effect.

Where are you based? I don't want a turf war. I'm currently runn7ing across country lines, but those damn Evening Primose Oil (1 part per 400 trillion) bastards are getting arsey...