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?

No, herbal is what we had. Its not the same

I don’t have much experience with homeopathy but do have several friends who swear by it. The one thing I do use it for is hay fever for my 7 year old DD and it works for her. It’s a relief not needing to give her antihistamines any more. I wouldn’t write it off and just see how you get on with it.

My DD was also on long term antibiotics several years ago and I think building up her gut health was really important. There lots of info from Dr Spector at Zoe health and nutrition about gut health.

Good luck, I really feel for you 🤞🏻

Maybe try these support groups to see how other parents are managing.

https://panspandasuk.org/events/

But Homeopathy is a con.

If she has difficulty absorbing b12 through the stomache due to lack of intrinsic factor, oral supplements won't work, she'll need injections. I would look further into this as an underlying cause or your daughter's illness. There is a clinic in Guildford that will assess and treat children for b12 deficiency as the NHS is woefully inadequate here x

This just reminded me of when I was 14 and having lots of issues at school, my mum took me to the gp and he gave me a homeopathic treatment - turns out I had ADHD and autism and it didn’t help of course.
In Germany Heilpraktiker ("healing practitioner") is a naturopathic profession in Germany. It is recognised as an alternative and complementary health care profession by German law. it’s definitely taken more seriously there and I find the Germans to be much more health conscious than in the UK.

I do believe in alternative treatments alongside traditional medicine - but homeopathy I’m not convinced about.

Something I am interested in at the moment is healing ourselves through thought (regularly telling yourself you are well despite not feeling it - look up Louise Hay ‘heal your body’) and the practice of healers who use their own energy to heal others - I believe it could be something you could learn to do yourself and treat your daughter.

Has she had B12 loading injections? My B12 deficiency can't be dealt with using ordinary vitamin tablets, it takes an intensive course of injections (6 over two weeks) to get my levels up. These are maintained for a few months with tablets but then I need another round of injections to get it back up again.

"Homeopathy used to be all we had"

The concept of "homeopathy" was conceived by Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) in 1796.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy

@Nightswimminginoldpants look into the nemechek protocol. There is a international facebook group with more information x

When homeopathy "works" it is a placebo effect - so you could give your child smarties, say they were a new and powerful medicine and if placebos are going to work it would. It would be cheaper and just as much/ little a chance of working.

However I doubt a placebo will help you. Research is beginning to catch up on the importance of gut bacteria in medicine but it'll be a long road. I would start your child on optibac gum health gummies (often 3 for 2 in several places) or a similar product. Then start looking into herbal remedies. These dont quickly become medications because there often isn't a big enough financial incentive to make them into medicines.

I’ll leave this here…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0

I don’t know if she has difficulty absorbing it, how would I find out please? We are awaiting our Gi map test next week

No injections, i’m just trying the vitamin supplements

As a pharmacist who used to work in a pharmacy that dispensed homeopathic medicines (at great expense to NHS I might add!) I can tell you that people would often try the homeopathic medicine then be back with a prescription for a clinically proven treatment the following week!
What seems to work is the time the doctor spent with the patient talking to them rather than the medicine. So “seems to work” for mental health for example, rather than say impetigo

If she's retested then her levels will still be low despite the tablets. If I don't have the injections then I have zero B12 in my body and a whole range of weird symptoms.

Do you do a blood test for this? Should I ask for this?

She'll need testing by a Dr who understands b12 deficiency, likely MMA, homocysteine levels, her folate and ferritin levels need to be optimised too. There is a group on FB specifically for parents with children with b12 deficiency, the admin is working alongside the NHS to further knowledge and understanding amongst Dr's..if you find Vitamin b12 Wake Up on FB, you can be directed to the separate children's group where you can be signposted for further information Edit, it's called Vit b12 Wake Up for Parents. X

My GP does regular tests every 4 - 6 months

Hi OP. My 9 year old had suspected PANDAS. It worked amazingly on her. Sleep problems, tics, fears all went within a week.

Hi OP. My 9 year old had suspected PANDAS. It worked amazingly on her. Sleep problems, tics, fears all went within a week.

Chronic illnesses are really hard, especially if the cause isn’t well known. My DS has been on and off school for over 2 years and has had to pull out entirely without Alevels (we will have to find another path). We have a diagnosis but no idea what caused it, treatment has been trial and error and a lot of crossing fingers!

As a parent you desperately want to FIX the issue. But sometimes you just can’t. We don’t know everything about the human body and individual responses to common situations.

PANS/ PANDAS is controversial and not fully accepted, which makes life harder for you. But in a lot of ways is irrelevant- you just deal with the symptoms in front you and muddle along as best you can. I think that children grow out of it as well.

Homeopathy is nonsense, designed to part you from you money. If it works for some it is either a placebo or the illness was self limiting and came to an end.

This is a fun book on homeopathy and how no matter what evidence is provided that it doesn’t work - it keeps on bouncing right back up.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Attack-Unsinkable-Rubber-Ducks-Parlabane/dp/0349118817

my dog was limping for a few days. I have a vet appointment this afternoon. Dog woke up this morning, no limp whatsoever. If I had given her homeopathy yesterday, I would also think it works.

I can understand why you'd want to reach out for any lifeline when things feel so bleak. You ask me what I'd suggest, I'd lay off the antibiotics unless strictly necessary and focus on diet. If the trigger is from getting ill, you'll want to minimise the chance of getting ill.

It's quite possible that the regular courses of antibiotics have contributed to the problem. Each time your child takes antibiotics, she's leveling her gut microbiome. Poor gut health is linked to a lot of the kind of behaviour that PANS parents report. It can often be recovered with a good diet rich with fibre.

Also the more times a person takes antibiotics, the weaker their immune response, making future infections more likely. (Don't get me wrong, they're really great when necessary, but should be a last line of defense.)

If her B vits are low, have they checked her vit d levels ?

this hospital at gosh isn’t for homeopathy, it’s for alternative medicines, like acupuncture and herbal remedies.

no.
you're confusing homeopathy with herbal medicine. Homeopathy is an invention by a guy who a couple of hundred years ago thought that as he was feeling ill after taking quinine and quinine can be used when feeling ill, therefore small dose of illness cures bigger illness.
Yes it can certainly hurt, if people choose water memory over actual medicine.
And everything is a chemical.