homeopathy

[tshirtsuntan]

Does anyone have experience of this for asthma/eczema in children? My son is 4, has asthma and has recently developed eczema too. I was speaking to the health food shop lady when I went in to buy some bath stuff & cream for him and she reckons homeopathy is the way forward. I'm a bit sceptical and find it a little woo! Any experiences?

not something I would waste money on really.
water doesnt have a memory.(I cringe totally when i hear that stupid phrase) and the small inactive stuff they add to water doesnt do anything.

however placebos do work.

I would be cautious about some of the non prescription eczema treatments. I would avoid tree nut oils, peach stone oil, esp for eczema baby, or if food allergies are suspected.

Ingredients are often the same as prescription emoilients, but may have scent or a small amount of something natural (e.g aloe vera) which would be ok if you are aware that its NOT an allergen for your child.

That said, some over counter creams are ok, Aveeno (no oat allergies?) has been recommended.

skin/eczema is a complicated individual thing iyswim!

what have you done so far to control eczema?
How bad is the eczema? What support have you got from your GP?

This is from Ben Goldacres blog, bad science. I think it nicely sums up why homeopathic medicine is not worth bothering with.

It doesn’t all add up …
The ‘science’ behind homeopathy
Homeopathic remedies are made by taking an ingredient, such as arsenic, and diluting it down so far that there is not a single molecule left in the dose that you get. The ingredients are selected on the basis of like cures like, so that a substance that causes sweating at normal doses, for example, would be used to treat sweating.
Many people confuse homeopathy with herbalism and do not realise just how far homeopathic remedies are diluted. The typical dilution is called “30C”: this means that the original substance has been diluted by 1 drop in 100, 30 times. On the Society of Homeopaths site, in their “What is homeopathy?” section, they say that “30C contains less than 1 part per million of the original substance.”
This is an understatement: a 30C homeopathic preparation is a dilution of 1 in 10030, or rather 1 in 1060, which means a 1 followed by 60 zeroes, or – let’s be absolutely clear – a dilution of 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000.
To phrase that in the Society of Homeopaths’ terms, we should say: “30C contains less than one part per million million million million million million million million million million of the original substance.”
At a homeopathic dilution of 100C, which they sell routinely, and which homeopaths claim is even more powerful than 30C, the treating substance is diluted by more than the total number of atoms in the universe!

www.badscience.net/2007/11/a-kind-of-magic/ scroll right down to the bottom.

Be really really cautious about using homeopathy for asthma in children. Children can and do die if an asthma attack doesn't get proper treatment and placebos are not going to do anything for a pair of non-functioning lungs. Natural treatment methods for asthma which include breathing exercises to strengthen the lungs can be useful, but this is no substitute for proper medicine which your son needs to stay healthy so should only be used in conjunction with whatever treatment your GP prescribes.

If I may "By definition, Alternative Medicine has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work. Do you know what they call 'alternative medicine' That's been proved to work? Medicine" (e.g., the quote continues, that natural remedy derived from the bark of a willow tree, Aspirin - if it works reliably, it isn't alternative medicine and your GP will presrcribe it)

eragon it's not awful, quite localised at the moment, seems to be the usual places - crooks of elbows, back of knees and also inner thighs. Gp prescribed oilatum bath oil and epaderm cream which seemed to help for a while until elbow patches began to look almost grazed. Pharmacist recommended double base gel which seems ok, I have dropped frequency of baths to every other day and am using a liquid wash stuff made from oils from the organic shop. I'm just wondering why it doesn't seem to be improving? Not getting any worse but should I be expecting it to clear up? Thanks

Think I'll give the homeopathy a miss, thanks all you have confirmed my initial feeling about it.

I have used it, and so have my children. It has worked for us, quite dramatically in one situation. Not for asthma and eczema. The queen uses it all the time, so I am in good company.

Yes [riprap] the queen does use homeopathy but the company she uses were investigated by the MHRA for selling sugar pills as a cure for swine flu and for selling homeopathic 'vaccinations'.

Fine to use homeopathy for non life endangering conditions if you choose to as you aren't hurting anyone but I agree with [iris] best use conventional medication for things like asthma.

Don't take it personally [riprap] just don't want this ladies DS to get poorly.

I would never have replaced the medicine prescribed by the gp with homeopathic medicine, just gathering opinions on if it can help alongside the conventional treatment. As it is I think another trip to the gp is in order re the eczema, poor little lad, his inner elbows are now weeping and grazed looking.

Of course not. You can use it alongside.

I was a 25 year old mum who had never heard of homeopathy, when my GP, held his hands up and said he could do no more, and said try homeopathy. I then saw a retired GP, who had become a homeopath.

Please don't Ben golacre/guardian reader bash me.

Didn't mean to offend. Apologies

My DS's eczema was improved dramatically by Aveeno bath oil and Dermol, which were prescribed by a dermatologist. Oilatum didn't help at all. Good luck, it's very upsetting when they have sore itchy skin.

Thanks, someone else recommended aveeno bath stuff, is dermol the been bottle one? Going to make another gp appt tomorrow.

i think another trip to gp is required. to rule out infection or to go to next step and apply very low dose steriod cream. perhaps a short term application may bring eczema back down to being controlled by emollients.

this may of started because of the time of year, winter , centrol heating drying out skin, and may clear up in spring.

people are often concerned when steriods are mentioned but the days of permanent skin damage from over use/application were in my childhood !

sensible cautious use of steriod creams are ok.
my son had them for first five yrs of life, due to severity, now outgrown and has ongoing dry skin, (v allergic person) has no skin damage.
However my hands are a different story, due to over use of high strength steroid creams and no moisterisers.

www.howdoeshomeopathywork.com/

Dermol is in a sort of turquoisey green container. Agree definitely with sensible use of steroid cream to get skin back under control, it's not the super strength skin thinning stuff of the 70s now.

Lol indigoviolet

Thanks all! Doc's appt for tomorrow so will take it from there.