arnica (sorry another arnica question)

[sophieandbelly]

ok sorry i no i have read about arnica on here before but cnt find thread!

iam having c-section weds, i have brought some arnica tablets, when should i take them? and how many? not sure they will help but worth a try, my dr atcually laughed in my face when i asked her!

Are they a homeopathic dosage? I am assuming so. Arnica cream in a non-homeopathic dosage is a herbal remedy so I am less sceptical about that.

I always post the same thing in response to this type of question but what the hell, I will do it again -
HOMEOPATHY DOESN'T WORK!!
See the following information sheet from Sense about Science which explains all you need to know -
www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/pdf/SenseAboutHomeopathy.pdf

No doubt loads of people will come and post that arnica helped them recover - how can they possibly know how quickly they would have recovered without it?

I am not surprised your doctor laughed! Having had the benefit of medical school she will understand why there is literally no possible way in which taking arnica tablets can make a surgical wound heal. Its a bit mean to laugh though, I can understand you want to do anything you can to get well quickly, but this particular option won't help. Try and boost your immune system in advance with vitamin supplements and eating as well as possible, and keep that up after the birth. Much more likely to make a difference.

Good luck with the CS.

can you get arnica in non-homeopathic doses then? Is there any good evidence for this working?

You can buy arnica in a cream form -
www.boots.com/en/Nelsons-Arnica-Cream-50g_2233/
what I don't know is what the amount of arnica in that cream would actually be. If its a homeopathic dose, it can't possibly work. If its not a homeopathic dose, then it is a herbal remedy, and there is good evidence that some herbal remedies do work, although it would depend on the individual remedy. I don't know what research has been done about the efficacy of arnica cream as a herbal remedy so I am afraid I can't help with that.
In any event, I would have thought that the primary ingredient in any cream like the one on the boots website would be mineral oil, or something petroleum based, and so the cream wouldn't be suitable to apply to a surgical wound anyway.
So far as the tablets are concerned - if you have bought them already then it won't do you any harm to take them (because it won't do anything at all! they are just sugar pills). Some people think is justifiable to market homeopathy products on the basis that studies show they produce a positive placebo effect - personally I disagree with that but its up to you!

I would start taking htem the day before and take after the op 4 times per day for a week.

Who ares if they don't work, if they have a positive effect on your mind and you hthink they work it is incredable what you can do to yourself if you have a positive thinking.

I had acupunture and it was fab after I had dd2 and I healed up really nicely and quickly - Of course you will never know if it was the arnica and acupunture - the midwives were visable shocked and said so about the speed of which I healed - we will never know though if I hadn't had had the acupunture whether I would have taken much longer to heal - so why not go for the sugar coated tablets

agree with ivykay44's sentiments- who cares how it works even if its utilising the power of the mind the thing is whether they help you.

only thing to add is the advice above is if you are taking strength 6c or 30c. i bought 200c on the internet, those you take 1 a day

and to all the anti homeopathy MNers, i know 200c had less in it!!!

TBH it doesn't matter which ones you get or how many you take because none of the tablets contain any active ingredient. You could swallow an entire bottle full with no effects whatsoever... except a very small rise in your blood sugar level

And acupuncture doesn't work either... except via the placebo effect.

Actually there is evidence that accupuncture can help with pain relief and nausea. No proper evidence that it can help anything else, but it's not in the same category as homeopathy (eg total bullshit!).

It doesn't matter. If you're going to take them, don't spend too much money (although spending more money may increase the psychological effect!) and just do whatever they suggest or what it easy for you.

If you're going to use the gel (which does contain arnica) check with a healthcare professional first.

I took Arnica pills,I got them from Boots and the dosage was on the side of the bottle.

I think I read somewhere that pills with any real arnica in them would be highly poisonous, so no, they are probably not available. Homeopathic ones don't contain anything directly therapeutic - donalddraper is right. Homeopathy is a complete load of old bunkum.

But hell, if it makes you feel better, it certainly won't do you any harm (unless you have gestational or type one diabetes, in which case you might want to bear in mind the sugar content )

I took arnica after the birth (I was advised to wait till after but then I didn't have a c-section so might be different).
Each to their own I think, and I personally think it helped me.

Homeopathic "arnica" pills will not contain any arnica. It's toxic if ingested, so no pills will. However, you can get actual arnica in creams and gels to apply to bruised skin.

My mum had a biopsy and didn't use arnica, then had the lump removed and did take arnica - the bruising from the biopsy was far worse than the lump removal which suggests they do make a difference.

Well,i absolutely believe in Homeopathy..Could tell you my reasons, but it would take too long
Some people do, some don't, each to their own!

Depends on dose of pills.. 30x one before,2 after but not together, space them out by @an hour.. 200x 1 before, 1 after.. try not to touch them ,tip into lid and then into mouth.

Hypericum will help the healing process afterwards, and help with any threat of infection.

Yes your doc would laugh cos they don't understand it, and it's not funded or pushed by pharmaceutical companies.some would laugh at acupuncture too, yet it's available at my nearest hospital!

Docs do sometimes understand it, that's why they laugh (although I'm not sure it's helpful to laugh at people's beliefs).

Flamingo4, do you have any idea how much the alternative remedy and supplement industry turns over in a year? Huge amount, and all without even the excuse of research and development to fund....because there is generally none in relation to homeopathy.

There is some limited scientific evidence from randomised, controlled, double blind trials that accupuncture is marginally more effective than placebo or sham treatment for the management of chronic pain and nausea.

Narmada..As previously stated ..Some people believe, some don't..
I rest my case..

Errrrrr how can you "believe" something that has been conclusively proven by those more knowledgeable than you or I to be false? If you want to waste your money through being wilfully ignorant that's up to you, but homeopathy objectively doesn't work, it's not a case of differing subjective opinions!!

Errrrrr how can you "believe" something that has been conclusively proven by those more knowledgeable than you or I to be false? If you want to waste your money through being wilfully ignorant that's up to you, but homeopathy objectively doesn't work, it's not a case of differing subjective opinions!!

Of course it's a case of differing opinions!

Errr , In case you hadn't realized most of the testing of drugs are financed by the drug companies themselves!..
Seroxat, Thalidomide? Yeah, they were tested!

My doctor may understand the mechanics of how my body works better then me, but i know my body and how it reacts to certain situations,foods, etc better than him.You trying to tell me that doctors never misdiagnose? Their word is law is it? Funny, only 3 weeks ago, i took my DS2 to the docs for reoccurring headaches, doc couldn't find anything obviously wrong, I asked if it was worth checking his eyesight, doc said "Oh there's nothing wrong with his eyes,i wouldn't bother".. optician discovers the same day, hes shortsighted, glasses, headaches gone..

If homeopathy doesn't work, how come people keep nipping into "Boots" to buy them?.. I'm sure that company isn't stupid enough to stock goods that don't sell,year after year, a lot of people must go back to restock!

Narmada by supplements, i presume you refer to Vitamin, Iron,Amino Acid etc tablets??

If alternative therapies don't work' perhaps you better go and tell other some other cultures all over the world too..universal users of traditional Chinese medicines,The traditional Red Indians,..

Oh and while you're at it the existence of a god hasn't been "scientifically proven" either..The science versus belief debate is a very very big subject is it not?..I'd go off to have a nice cup of Chamomile(thats a herb you know)tea now to calm down, but don't like the taste personally..

flamingo4 I was minded just to call this debate a day but I found your response a bit patronising so couldn't stop myself.

Re people nipping into Boots to restock, hope fuels lots of purchases. Let's not forget that people used to willingly pay money to have holes drilled in their heads without anaesthetic (trepanning) because they though it was a cure-all for just about anything. Just because people kept having it done/ paying good money for it doesn't mean it works - surely you can see that?

I don't for a minute think doctors never get it wrong. Oh no. They do, and quite frequently. And of course you can know your body better than others, but one person's experience of something like a drug is a notoriously bad indicator of whether it will generally work across a population.

I made the mistake in my post of lumping together homeopathy and other alternative remedies because I thought you were implying that it was only big bad evil pharmaceutical companies that made money dishonestly. I just wanted to make the point that the non-pharmaceutical 'industry' can be very pushy and agressive with marketing, too. That is probably why it makes so much money.

I did not meant to imply that herbal remedies and vitamins, etc, are all useless. That's not the case. Homeopathy is totally different from herbal medicines. The former consists of sugar and water pills, the latter often contain active ingredients.

Tori27 Anecdotes aren't evidence.

Boots continue to sell homeopathic pills because people keep buying them. Earlier this year one of Boots' top people admitted in front of a House of Commons committee that they know they don't work and only sell them because people want them.

If you buy them you're wasting your money. They don't work. They can't work. There's no possible scientific way they could work as they have no active ingredient in them.

As for acupuncture, the lastest review by the Cochrane Collaboration indicates that although a very small pain relief effect has been observed it is impossible to distinguish this from bias and/or psychological impact (i.e. placebo effect).

Yep,Narmada,people used to pay to have holes drilled in their heads, around the same time as
strong women were drowned to see if they were witches,and unmarried mums had to live in the workhouse..We've progressed since then!

Personally i couldn't give a stuff what some top exec said to a bunch of politicians.

NoCake,With regard to the Cochrane collaboration,Here is just one of their statements(from website) i have found;
"Drugs are only partially effective in preventing post operative nausea and vomiting and may cause adverse side effects.Alternative methods such as stimulating an acupuncture point on the wrist have been studied ,and can reduce the risk of PONAV with minimal side effects"...

Think we should agree to disagree, ladies!

flamingo - your ranting about multinational pharmaceuticals/doctors etc is of absolutely no relevance whatsoever to the question of whether homeopathy works. It has been conclusively shown by scientific evidence that it does not work. See the link further up the thread. I can only assume that you don't understand the difference between objectivity and subjectivity from your post about how this is a matter of opinion. Its not. The facts are clear.

Also, no alternative medicine other than homeopathy is being discussed - as you will see from the thread there is broad agreement that therapies such as acupuncture work for some problems. This is because they have been proven to work by something slightly more scientific than the fact that people "buy them in boots". Do you think everyone who buys a slimfast drink in boots gets thin? There is no correlation between what people will buy and what actually works. Homeopathists and all sorts of other alternative therapists are peddling "therapies" that don't work, making money out of other people's hopes for a cure when they can't make anyone better.
As for the remainder of your comments - they are so incoherent its not worth responding. You are battering on about acupuncture working for nausea when two people, further up the thread, have already pointed that out. It has nothing to do with homeopathy.

Blimey...

Spontaneous combustion anyone..???

That's an intelligent response, I can see why you believe in homepathy now..........