Is it a con or can it help my sick child?

[Nightswimminginoldpants]

Homeopathy?

Feeling a bit vulnerable at the moment, so not sure if it’s clouding my view.

Dd is ill and I’m getting desperate. Have been talking to a homeopathist online, she is very intent that homeopathy will help my Dd get better.

Does it work?

How can the NHS say this on their website and then, at the same time, offer homeopathy in some locations? Ridiculous!
I don't believe in homeopathy, by the way.
I think it is beyond a joke that the NHS spends any money in something not scientifically proven

Absolutely agree with this post, many alternative medicines and treatments are well worth while. Herbal medicine can be very affective, but homeopathy no.

People who swear by homeopathy need to realise the correlation doesn't equal causation.

I had awful eczema as a child but it got better all by itself. If my parents had given me water/homeopathy that wouldn't have been the cause of the improvement.

Same for any other condition treated by homeopathy. Either it got better by itself or by an unrelated change (diet/exercise/rest etc).

In Europe they prescribe homeopathic remedies.

I used to give homeopathic remedies to my horses and it always worked.

Maybe it was the placebo effect with them too.

ON MN everyone will tell you that anything alternative is bollocks as if allopathic medicine from your GP works every time 'because science' 🙄 yet they get paid to prescribe you stuff. Just look how many people are on statins for no good reason, or who are prescribed blood pressure medicine that never improves anything and you stay on it for life.

It's not in the interests of the world of allopathic medicine to advocate for the alternative when they can make so much money selling you their toxin laden tablets. Just look at America.

Not everything works for everyone same as any medicine.
I would find a good herbalist OP.

@SirRaymondClench you're making the same mistake other have on this thread - mixing up homeopathy with herbal medicine.

Some herbal medicine DOES work (although if it's studied and tested enough it just become 'medicine' ).

Homeopathy is bollocks.

I’m a complete sceptic but I had a friend who was a homeopath. I had been mentioning to her my child’s verrucas that had been going on for years and I had tried everything they just would not budge. She gave me two small pills which I gave to my child thinking what harm can it do and I was astonished that within a couple of weeks the verrucas had completely gone. I have never used homeopathy before or since but it did always make me wonder. Also I noticed that at Great Ormond Street Hospital they had a homeopathy hospital which also surprised me. What harm can it do to try it?

Homeopathy works for some conditions where the placebo effect would work. The worried well, for example. It's safer than taking medicine

You've never heard of homeopathy? It's a completely made-up thing, invented in the nineteenth century, based on the idea that water has memory. So you can put a drop of the substance that will supposedly cure something into water, but then dilute and dilute and dilute until there isn't a molecule of the original substance left in each dose, then claim it will still work. Homeopaths are charlatans who make money by preying on people like the OP who are desperate and worried and not getting their problems fixed by real medicine. (Or people who only had very minor issues to start with, which were always going to get better on their own anyway). There ought to be a law against it.

In my experience no, it doesn’t work. Neither does kinesiology. What worked with my daughter was me paying for her to see a paediatrician privately. (He correctly diagnosed abdominal migraine.)

But I was very sceptical about the homeopathy to begin with. Maybe it works if you believe it will (though the practitioner I took my daughter to see told us our scepticism would make no difference because "it even works on animals").

It's crap, OP. They're purveyors of snake oil who take advantage of the vulnerable and desperate. Don't give your money to a charlatan who is trying to profit off your concern for your sick child.

If you want to really understand why it's nonsense I strongly recommend the homeopathy chapter in Bad Science by Ben Goldacre (if I could pick one book to issue to every schoolkid at about GCSE age, this would be it).

Stick with real doctors. I hope they can find the solution soon.

As I understand it, homeopathic remedies are diluted to such a minute concentration that they just couldn’t possibly work. E.g. you can buy homeopathic arsenic which has such a tiny quantity of arsenic that it isn’t poisonous and can’t do anything to the body. Even this site selling it says it doesn’t have approved therapeutic indications. Wikipedia says concentrations beyond 12C are unlikely to have a single molecule of the active ingredient in, so I believe it’s all just belief. I wasted time and money on things like these when I was ill and desperate years ago before I realised it was all a con ☹️

https://www.weleda.co.uk/arsen-alb-30c-125tabs-302008

I think homeopathy can have it's place - pre exam nerves, pre driving test nerves, travel sickness if you need to drive after - given with the right convincing tone and the promise of no side effects works wonders but for an actual proper illness no way

Have a look at @parenting_pandas if you’re on IG, she is using homeopathy I believe with her child amongst other things and does (free) phone calls with pans parents for support and advice.
No one should make such definitive claims that something will help your child, I’d find a different person if you do go with homeopathy. Personally anecdotal accounts of something being helpful would be enough for me to give it a go, esp as it won’t do any harm either way.

Ok. I better tell my horses then.

Spend the money homeopathy would cost you on making another aspect of your/your child's life a little easier or happier instead.

Do you generally not trust conventional medicine, is that why you’re going down this route?

Of course they'll encourage you to use real medicine - in the hope that'll fix you and then they can take the credit.

I'm sorry you have a condition that probably can't be completely cured. But you're exactly the sort of victim they go for. Variable symptoms, can go up and down, some of it possibly relating to stress and / or environmental factors and some stuff that isn't even fully understood. And maybe sometimes you'll think you're feeling a bit better today than you did yesterday and give the credit to the sugar pills. And you'll keep buying them because it's human nature to clutch at straws when you're suffering and can't find a solution. But they're lying to you, and exploiting your illness. Spend the money on a weekly veg box or a meditation app or anything else that might conceivably do your body or your mind some good.

What indigenous tribes? It was invented by a German in 1796.

I think it's often worth exploring alternatives alongside conventional medicine. But would always do both alongside each other.

I've had a recent experience with homeopathy that's made me more open to it. 4yo DD had had a wart / verucca on her big toe since she was 2. Last year they spread to her other foot, her hands, knee and even her mouth. We tried salysilic acid on pharmacists advice but it just seemed to make things worse and caused painful cracks in the skin and we couldn't use it on her face. GP offered a dermatology referral and to continue using salysilic acid. I was reading a thread here where someone recommended Thuja. I felt like we didn't have anything to lose so started giving her the tablets with vitamins. Within 6 weeks the majority of the warts had disappeared and the last two are shrinking daily. We are still waiting for dermatology referral to be picked up.

For anyone wondering, allopathic means "proven to work".

I once knew of a child whose mother swore by homeopathy. Said child was taken on a group trip and mum sent all the 'gear' with the group leader. As it was not official medication, this was not administered as the mother had determined for child's anxiety and child just ate normal food, did normal activities at activity centre and loved every minute. No anxiety, good food, plenty of exercise and fresh air. Just goes to show. This was many years ago but still.

How come allopathic medicine fails to cure so many illnesses?

Why are so many people on antidepressants for all manner of conditions? I was prescribed them for PMDD even though it's a hormonal condition.
Why are millions prescribed statins even though they do nothing?

It couldn't be anything to do with the money GPs are paid by reps to prescribe them could it?

herbalism maybe, homeopathy no

that said placebo is mighty powerful in many, often surprising, cases

If you are looking at alternative medicine, try

https://www.uclh.nhs.uk/our-services/find-service/integrated-medicine

They are an nhs service which combine mainstream and alternative medicines safely.