Homeopathy 'could Be Blacklisted'

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34744858

I know that £4 million is peanuts in the total scale of health spending
but it does seem too much to spend on medicines that are so diluted, that no trace of the original molecules remain. I'm sure that placebos can be obtained cheaper than this.

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

[gness]

Jim....I use homeopathy and acupuncture because they work.....I'm not daft you know.....
I will use conventional medicine if I think it's going to suit whatever is wrong and homeopathy or acupuncture won't.

You're partly right about trust....I am wary about doctors and hospitals...but then I have a dead husband and granddaughter to explain my lack of trust..........
They do have their place though......as long as I keep an eye on them.....just don't let them loose on you.............xx

[Retrochic]

jim you obviously have your mind well and truly zipped shut with regard to alternative therapies. I don't agree that people use them as a last resort, or because drugs haven't worked.

Anyway answer me this: If homeopathic medicines are less effect even than sugar and water (your analogy) why is it that they are contra-indicated when taking many mainstream drugs? I take a DMARD drug that on the instructions states in bold the homeopathic and herbal remedies I must NOT take whilst on this drug -why ?

[NellieMay]

Mikey, I know! I am not entirely thick. But it still is an alternative treatment and not given on the NHS, so that not regarded as credible medicine by many doctors. There are doctors that recognise homeopathy as credible.

[mikey4444]

Nelie...of course you are not thick ! I didn't mean to imply that and if I did, I apologise.

I have used an osteopath in the past and he helped me as well. But there is no great mystery there, as it involved manipulation of my spine. But just because one "alternative" treatment works, doesn't provide an excuse to believe that all the others types of treatments work as well. There is no relationship between these disciplines. Each must be evaluated on its own merits.

The difficulty with homeopathy is in the methods used. So-called medicines are formulated, so heavily diluted in water, that no molecules of the original ingredients remain....ie its just water. If plain water and these medicines are submitted to independent scientific tests, no difference can be detected between the two.

There is no reliable and trustworthy evidence that homeopathy works at all, beyond a possible placebo effect, despite many attempts to find out out. If some people have faith in this type of treatment, than let them believe what they will.

It is, in a word, a pseudoscience. We don't advocate sending NHS patients to religious nutters or faith-healers, and neither should the NHS be involved in spending any of its meagre resources on homeopathy, which was the original point of my thread today.

The Wiki entry says it all :::

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

[jomifl]

A friend of mine told me that whenever he gets a cold he takes a particular homeopathic 'cure'(the name of which escapes my memory) which always works. When I told him that when I get a cold I don't take any medicments and that always works, since I have recovered from every cold that I have ever had he smiled faintly and changed the subject.

[mikey4444]

jomifl...some people are just credulous !

[jim360]

Covering their backs? I'm not responsible for writing medical advice on the side of packets, but I imagine that things are put there based at least as much on fear of litigation as anything else.

Homeopathic remedies do not "work" in any meaningful sense ie there is no active chemical substance in the pill or treatment beyond water and sugar. That is as pure a fact as you can get. If people take such pills and get better on occasion it doesn't establish a causal link.

My mind isn't closed, so much as it is convinced by the overwhelming evidence against homeopathy as an effective treatment. I appreciate that anecdotal evidence can be powerful testimony but it's not a substitute for controlled scientific testing, in which homeopathy consistently fails to perform any better than placebo.

[Cloverjo]

Jomifl, was it echinacea? I work with a man who urges me to take this when I have a cold. I haven't bothered, as I also have recovered from every cold I've had. He also says that his gran used to eat a clove of garlic every day and never had a cold. That must be the cure scientists had been looking for all those years.

[gness]

Jim...if you had a complaint for say...ten or so years.....conventional medicine could usually ease it with an antibiotic that has horrid side effects (and who wants to be taking those six or seven times a year.....especially if you're a woman) but not rid you of it.....would you give homeopathy a try?

Mikey....I am having a go at Jim...but I'd be interested in your answer too...x

[jim360]

If a friend gave me a homeopathic remedy I might take it just to satisfy them, but I can't imagine many circumstances in which I'd actively seek it out -- decade-long pain or otherwise. Although that said, ask me after I've had the same troubling condition for well over ten years or so.

[gness]

A friend can't give you a remedy....you need to see a homeopath....would you?

[rockyracoon]

I'll be resorting to homeopathy soon if the hospital can't cure my stomach bug.

[gness]

If you do resort, Rocky......find a good one....and don't let them start by saying you may need lots of sessions...especially if it a long time problem.

I had that happen with the allergy one.....try to book you on a course. That may not be necessary.

The first chap I saw was fantastic......one appointment and no waffle....x

[nailit]

James Randi overdoses on homeopathic pills

[rockyracoon]

Thanks Gness, I'll be having a good look around before I try it. The hospital have one last chance before I give up with them.

[Peter Pedant]

Homeopathy has a special status in the NHS

it was recognised as a specialty in the 1948 Act

yup really and no one has got around to changing the status
There used to be the Royal Homeopathic Hospital in Queen Sq but I think it is now an office block ( next G O S H )