homeopathy treatment on private or nhs

[forgetandforgive]

Hi. Has been a long time since ive posted here. My son 11 has severe eczema and just recently his dermatologist prescribed him 2 months of antibiotics and oral Steriods as a form of treatment. He has had many infections for the past years and Im concern that too many antibiotics and Steriods is harming his body. Id like to know if anyone has any experience with homeopathy treatment for eczema, if so would it be covered by the nhs. We live in the london borough of bexley. Ive been googling and is thinking about taking him to see one. However, I would love to know if there are clinics or hospital which specialised in this field.

meta it the sucussion (sp?) that makes the ingredients active and potent. As tap water doesn't get slapped against a saddle, it's inert. Please, stop willfully misunderstanding how homeopathy works in direct opposition to all the rules of physics.

LOL @ "As tap water doesn't get slapped against a saddle, it's inert."

Dougal - Your link doesn't work. Just like homeopathy

Maybe you need to slap your link against a saddle to make it potent.

dougal I think we are entitled to be robust in our dismissal of nonsense.

The dubious motivations of some pharmaceutical companies does not mean homeopathy works.

At best people with a collection of vague and non serious symptoms get some relief via placebo. At worst people are paying for "treatments" they can't afford and missing out on actual medicine which would make them better. It's disgraceful and every bit as immoral as the practices of some corporates.

Don't you have to jump up and turn around 3x to activate the saddle slapping
I hate this just because you don't understand it crap

"I'm well aware of what solid scientific evidence is"

Clearly not.

What solid scientific evidence is: Study after study after meta-analysis after meta-analysis clearly showing beyond any doubt that homeopathy works no better than placebo. Which is to say about the same as prayer, wishing on a star, and mother's kiss on a boo boo.

What solid scientific evidence is not: I think it works and my friend thinks it does and "Big Pharma" wants us to spend money on their drugs, so that means homeopathy works.

dougal why on earth would it be necessary to pander apologetically to people who think modern medicine is elitist?? Modern medicine stops people from dying, surely that's sufficient. If people don't want to avail themselves of that option then that's dumb tax, surely?

Try reading "The Eczema Solution" by Sue Armstrong Nd getting a referral to the clinic she mentions at the Chelsea and Westminster. The book has made a huge difference to me.

It advocates using stronger steroid creams and continuing them for many days after the rash has cleared. Also, moisturising many, many more times a day.

Failing that, many European countries refer severe patients to hospitals on the Dead Sea, for bathing in the curative waters there. You can buy the salt (beware of buying it from some places, it needs to be the real stuff, I got mine from the Sedbergh Soap Company) and bath in it. However, saving the money you spend on woo and nonsense might pay for a short break there for DS to swim in the sea.

Trying that link again. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/17/homeopathy-idiots-science-jeremy-corbyn

Also, OP, I wasn't suggesting you try coconut oil or tea tree on your son (certainly not without doing your own research).

Rather I was giving a practical example where I have, through my own research, found a better approach than the standard big pharma / medical suggestion.

Do your research. Consider, if you want to try an alternative approach, which one to go with.

I don't know a lot about eczema, but I do know that for some time of chronic conditions the western medical approach is control / contain rather than to unravel and address perhaps a number of causal factors.

This help me address chronic IBS where more than one doctor shrugged their shoulders and told me that was how it was.

It's about taking responsibility for your life and health, not assuming it's external and binary.

I'm not anti western medicine. It has saved my life (acute appendicitis - both routine and life saving) but there are some conditions where not only does it have poor answers, but for some people it is part of the problem. My adult IBS was partly cause by over prescription of antibiotics as a child and teenager.

OP if I were you I would do some in depth online research first. I'd read that book in the second link of my first post on the importance of digestive health. I'd be looking too at environmental stuff like dust and house mites etc. I'd be looking at stress in our lives and what changes we could make to reduce that.

Good luck. And don't let the arrogant shouty people on this thread get to you

If you need a recommendation for Chinese herbalists use Avicenna.co.uk

Highly recommended by many of my medical colleagues, one of whom researches efficacy of chm treatments.

'Modern medicine stops people from dying, surely that's sufficient'

It does, sometimes. Including me.

But it, and our current healthcare systems (two different things) can also be ineffective, and can cause harm, whether chronic (overuse of antibiotics creates other problems) or acute (mistakes etc).

The 'modern medicine can do now wrong' mindset is simplistic, supremely arrogant, and a barrier to making our healthcare systems better.

I listened at school and also have a physics degree. I was fooled by homeopathy for a while, (hangs head in shame but it was a long time ago) because the remedy was sold in Boots. It did work for a minor condition - then I found out what it was and it stopped working. Placebo in action.

here are the 'sense about science' people on homeopathy: please read so you don't make my mistake:

www.senseaboutscience.org/data/files/resources/54/Homeopathy.pdf

science is not arrogance. Herbal medicine is real, so are some unorthodox and alternative medicines. When they are proved to work they become 'mainstream medicine'.

Mainstream medicine does not have all the answers (we wish) but the charlatans who prey on people like the OP revolt me. At least she has now saved her £100! I hope a solution is found for her child.

The 'modern medicine can do now wrong' mindset is simplistic, supremely arrogant, and a barrier to makingr healthcare systems better

You might have a point if anyone had ever said such a thing. Nobody has. I doubt anyone would.

However anyone who uses the phrase big pharma in a rant against medicine can automatically be ignored anyway.

As tap water doesn't get slapped against a saddle, it's inert.

Ah yes, sorry, of course. I forgot.

I'm not anti western medicine. It has saved my life (acute appendicitis - both routine and life saving)

Funny that when you were ill, your magic water wasn't powerful enough. Homeopathy: "medicine" that doesn't cure, for people who aren't ill.

Third time lucky. Links not working on the iPad it seems: Don't call believers in homeopathy idiots it just pushes them further from science

Their headline, by the way, not mine. But so very apt for this thread.

anyone who uses the phrase big pharma in a rant against medicine can automatically be ignored anyway

And it's not as though the alternative medicine people aren't getting very rich. Like selling untested, uncontrolled creams for 450 quid a litre, as a random example.

They can't be pushed much further from science, there isn't much further to go. And they never listen anyway, so why not just call them idiots, since they are?

"Don't call believers in homeopathy idiots it just pushes them further from science"

How much farther can you possibly be pushed away from critical thinking and science, really, if you are already at the point where you believe that solutions get more potent the more they are diluted?

I don't call homeopathy fans idiots. I'd like to think that they don't actually know what it is - i.e. an impossible fantasy whereby stuff gets stronger the more it's diluted, and water remembers its ingredients with beneficial effects and conveniently forgets about all the rotten stuff, excrement, etc that it has previously been in contact with.

If you value your child's life OP please, please don't be taken in by this pile of disproved old bollocks.
Your child deserves so much more than this

That article doesn't even make any sense. Mainstream medicine is.....mainstream. How can it also be elitist?

sigh

Look my point is, while modern medicine does save lives, that's not what the OP is posting about.

What I am challenging here is the binary attitude of x works, y doesn't. As that most recent article describes really well, our lives and our health is much more complex than that.

And chronic conditions like eczema, as the OP's son has, or IBS which I had / have and scoliosis which i had, are all more complex. For both IBS and scoliosis I have had the experience of doctors essentially shrugging and telling me to live with it. I learned about and managed both myself, to the point where i wouldn't say I have IBS any more, and where my spine is in better shape than many many others. Homeopathy was the start of my journey for IBS, which also took in accupunture, major diet and lifestyle changes. For scoliosis I do a combination of regular yoga practice with exceptionally knowledgeable teachers and osteopathy.

Funny that when you were ill, your magic water wasn't powerful enough. Homeopathy: "medicine" that doesn't cure, for people who aren't ill.

If you read my original post, you'll see I didn't say homeopathy was a cure. I said I found, and I do find, the process helpful. For me, it operates like a physical and mental counselling process. For me, a lot of what is helpful about it is that it enables me to reflect on how I'm living, and the choices I'm making, and changing them to bring about better outcomes.

I can't speak for all homeopaths, but I was in touch with mine throughout my appenditics. She didn't claim she could cure it, she encouraged and supported me through the medical treatment and recovery afterwards. A lot of her support was psychological, a lot of the psychological damage was caused by deficiencies in our healthcare system. (I was separated for nearly a week from my four month old baby that i was breast feeding). When I left hospital I hadn't slept in 5 days (hardcore antibiotics, noisy ward). She helped my long term mental recovery from all of that.

Personally, I'm not that bothered about the homeopathic remedies, although i do take what it suggested. What I appreciate is the time and space to get perspective on my health, my mental state and in the interrelation between the two.

Also, all this 'its just a placebo' dismissiveness. The placebo is powerful Harvard magazine The Placebo Phenomenon '“We have to transform the art of medicine into the science of care.”

"What I am challenging here is the binary attitude of x works, y doesn't"

How on earth can you challenge that?

If something works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. There is no such thing as "x works but not really, or maybe it does when the moon is ascending" or whatever.

I can totally believe that your spine and posture was significantly improved through yoga, because yoga is a practice that strengthens, stretches, and helps properly align the body. I can also totally believe that your IBS was helped by a change in diet and lifestyle. These are probably the first recommendations you would get from a doctor about these conditions.

Homeopathy, on the other hand, works no better than placebo. This is fact, proven over and over again through multiple studies and especially meta-analyses. You must know why the latter are so important, since you are so well-versed on the subject of "solid scientific evidence".

A lot of her support was psychological

No one doubts the merit of counselling.

But homeopathic medicines are sold over the counter at Boots as a commercial endeavour. Not much counselling going on there.

and the alternative scene doesn't have to bother with the expense of research
They are free to make wild claims and rip off desperate people