How do you talk to people who are into alternative medicine??!

[Pruni]

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Why not try it, then you can evaluate it for yourself and make a more informed opinion on it?

Why are some of these "alternative medicines/therapies" available on the NHS if it just a money spinner?

Aragon- doesn't sound like homeopathy - remedies don't contradict formulas- and whilst a central thesis of homeopathy is that you give the minimum required dose you don't have adult and child doses.

Are you sure she wasn't using herbs? Very impoortant to check the credentials of a herbalist.

There was a drug in the USA recently licensed for "black" people (African-heritage), but not white people; it works on African Americans (I wonder how much of that is due to their native American heritage, too?), but not other racial groups. This was a first, a drug licensed for one racial group but not others.

Where's tamum when we need her? Cheeky mare, probably gone on hols, fancy spending time with her kids!

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I think (but I am a little out of date on this) that the drug livcenced for those of African American background is a blodd pressure medication. Black people have different levels of Angiotensin (a compound linked to the controle of BP) to white people, and ACE inhibitors have slightly different effects on them than on White people. This helps to explian why Black people are sometimes more prone to high BP and follow on Kidney damage than White people.

Black peolpe also need better matches for kidney transplants than white epole as their tissure rejections can be more 'vigerous'

I actually had very positive experiences with accupuncture, particularly w/joint pain from tendonitis, so I don't think it's bunk. BUT, it is costly.

you can get acupuncture on the nhs as well expat- my GP does it for his patients. (Acupuncture and homeopathy are meant to work in broadly the same way btw- which may surprise you). Both are energy medicine- which is why you need to look to quantum physics for explanations

I'd probably have more luck turning straw to gold than getting a GP to refer me for accupuncture.

Expat: Your GP might think that they are both pretty much the same thing ...

well my GP doesn't morningpaper. Have a look in google expat- you may find that you have a local GP who is a qualified acupuncturist. Register with him/her and you're well away.

Operations are carried out in China using acupuncture rather than anaesthetics.

dh's grandt father was a highly respected ob/gyn and once did a c section on someone using hypnosis as the anaesthetic. He was a POW and did many amputations using hypnosis as the anaethetic as well.

acupuncture and the NHS 1 in 5 GP's would like to see it available in their practice. It is worth looking around as the number of complementary therapists working with GPs is increasing (and the number of GP's trained in alternative techniques). My GP's an acupuncturist, I know homeopaths who work attached to GPs surgeries. etc etc.

I agree that the important thing is checking a practitioners credentials. Osteopaths are regulated by the General Osteopatic Council and you can check the register online. My DP is in the unusual position of being a registered osteopath and in the police, believe me there are plenty of bogus 'therapists' out there

I was going to argue for the scientific basis of homeopathy here, but Jimjams has done it so much better than I could.

There was one particular piece of research in the 80's which showed that a potentised form of a particular compound did have the chemical effect it was meant to, even though there was no discernable trace of the original compound in the potentised form.

As a homeopath in training, and a cynical, scientifically minded person, I do get very irritated with other people who talk of in homeopathy, and other alternative therapies, as if they were magic. IMO Homepathy, acupuncture, cranial osteopathy etc all work to somehow kick start the bodies own immune system into healing itself. But it's not magic. It's some form of incredibly complex and as yet not understood actual physical interaction between our brains (because even emotional states are functions of chemical/electrical impulses in the brain) our immune system and our physical bodies. Lumping these sort of therpaies together with crap like planting lillies to ensure a good birth is ridiculous.

prufrock - where are you training? am just launching into a homeopathic first aid course as a grounding as can't afford to do full course at the mo. Do you do any other therapies?

No - just homeopathy. I'm training at the London School of Classical Homeopathy, but doing the first year (it's a 4 year course) as home study

OK I'm going to make a terrible confession...

I do part-time work as a project manager for a complementary health centre offering holistic care.

I still think that certain practices (including homeopathy) it is a load of tripe. I think that people benefit HUGELY from the one-to-one attention and care of the practioners. I think that they relax and feel cared for and that does them a world of good. But in all honesty, I think that they'd be just as 'improved' if they sat and learned embriodery with an attentive and caring person for an hour a week.

My bosses don't know that I have these opinions.

how long is your course prufrock, and is it full time?

can the sceptics explain how homeopathy works on animals then?

saw an interesting program on the tv a couple of years ago, concluded that scientific proof is still lacking, but no doubt about results.

Ive tried a few homeopathic solutions, they have worked, but I didnt approach them like a religion.

sorry prufrock, posts crossed. it sounds interesting.

morningpaper that is an awful confession !!lol
I am an holistic therapist so I shouldn't laugh but I do accept that the was these therapies work is a big thing to get your head around - though science is catching up! - The Field by Lynne McTaggart helps if you are very scientifically minded (hard work for the first rew chapters if you're not!!

morningpaper- I was a complete sceptic until I tried a homeopathic remedy on ds1 out of sheer desperation. The effects were amazing and my scepticism vanished. haven't got time to explain what happened now but will later if anyone is interested. The placebo effect is a non-starter for ds1- he has no more understanding of what a medicine is than a dog.

There was also an interesting study done on cows and preventing mastitis using homeopathy. if I have time later I will try and dig it out.

You know that homeopathy is considered eligible for the James Randi One Million Dollar Paranormal prize?

But sadly no studies have been done that meet the (scientific) criteria.

i'm staggered by the ignorance of the assertion that homeopathy is about money....what and conventional medicine isn't????????? there is no comparison imo. a homeopath has trained for years, self funded, you are paying for the skill and experience of a person. if you think that £35 per hour is expensive, fair enough.

but if you think that somehow that is more money spinning than conventional drugs, then you live on another planet! there are many many many examples of use of drugs inappropriately, where drugs companies tout them, offer incentives to doctors to prescribe them, for example the widespread practise of prescribing a ventolin at the first sign of a cough that won't shift.

your post is so vociferous and aggressively anti something that isn't harming you, and that no one is suggesting you should use unless you want to that I'm sitting here wondering what it is about alternative (complementary nowadays ;) ) medicine that scares you?

I saw a program on this when the lab that reported the 'memory' effect tried (and failed) to reproduce it.

An honest question Jimjams, do you think that your ds1 can pick up on body language cues? If you are confident that the treatment will work it might change your body language? Or do you think that his difficulties would make this impossible? genuine interest, not having a 'go'.