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I am not a medical or homeopathy professional but have tried to put into plain English what I have learnt.
I wanted to share my experience with homeopathy, since
I know that many people who might otherwise give it a try are skeptical about it:
I used to feel that same but I have been "converted". A few years ago, my
asthma had got so bad that I was no longer able to work. I was on oral steroids,
the highest dose of inhaled steroids and used my Ventolin inhaler many times a day
(I got through 2, 200 dose inhalers per month). I was out of breath all the time and my doctor's prognosis was dismal.
I was told I had "brittle asthma", which is the most dangerous kind and symptom wise is similar to emphysema.
People with brittle asthma can have a fatal attack with no warning whatsoever. I didn't expect to have a long life and
I seemed to be getting rapidly worse. I couldn't walk 100 meters without taking a rest and I struggled to climb the stairs of my house.
But I had a crazy ambition to be a mother. I was told that pregnancy would cure my asthma temporarily, but I was one of those
rare women who actually got worse (see the story of that in my article Asthma and Pregnancy). Thankfully,
the pregnancy went relatively smoothly with a few hairy moments (a bad asthma attack 6 weeks before Emma
was born, which could have killed her and me).
In the end, Emma was born easily and safely, in perfect health but I was not my breathing was constantly poor and I was miserable.
I was recommended to see a conventional doctor who practiced homeopathy as complimentary medicine (with conventional medicine).
I only tried it out of a sense of despair because my GP just kept prescribing more and more steroids and they told me it was
dangerous to continue breastfeeding (which I later discovered wasn't quite as true as I'd been lead to believe).
The homeopathic doctor had originally been an obstetrician/gynaecologist, but got disillusioned with Western
Medicine and started dabbling in homeopathy. When he found it really worked he started using it more and more until
he went totally over to homeopathy. He was happy to use homeopathy with conventional medicine,
although he explained that steroids are particularly bad for damping down the effects of homeopathy and he couldn't
guarantee any success. He hoped he could at least reduce my steroid doses somewhat, but he kept my expectations pretty low.
The consultation was 1 hour long and covered all aspects of my personality, lifestyle, health and family history.
I found that aspect of it very useful kind of counselling with someone to whom I didn't have to explain the medical terms
I was using. My doctor told me this was a vital part of homeopathy, which unlike Western medicine, doesn't distinguish
between mental and physical problems. Research has shown that counselling with a remedy, be it conventional or alternative boosts
the effectiveness significantly. People are very scathing about the placebo effect, but in my humble opinion, it is a very powerful force for good.
After this consultation, my homeopathic doctor was able to prescribe an individualised remedy, which took into account mental
and physical aspects. He said that it was as if my immune system was "derailed" and the remedy would get it back on track.
However, I thought it didn't work because my nose just ran and ran and I felt constantly sick for about three days after taking it.
My homeopath told me that this was the effect of the remedy but would ease within a few days. This indeed happened and
miraculously, my asthma just went. That's the only way I can describe it. Since then, I've required a booster about
every 6 months and my steroid dose was gradually reduced as my condition improved.
My homeopath insisted that I checked my lungs daily with my peak flow meter (I noticed and immediate improvement, btw)
and we went very slowly on the reduction of the steroids, first getting me off orals and then gradually off the inhalers as well.
I still keep an emergency supply of steroid tablets just in case of emergencies.
I recently discovered that the diagnosis of brittle asthma was incorrect I had unstable, uncontrolled asthma but not
brittle asthma. These days, my asthma is exceptionally mild and before my pregnancy I was able to work out at the gym with no
excessive breathlessness. I have used one Ventolin inhaler in the last year.
What I have learned about homeopathy is that there are a few decent studies out there
looking at it's use in conditions like asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, eczema etc and all the studies show it is beneficial.
It is perfectly possible for a skilled practitioner to use it with conventional medicine and I personal feel that is the ideal
scenario. Homeopathy is not magic, even though we don't really know why it works (but then, according to conventional science,
a bee can't fly either). Neither is it faith healing it works equally well (or not) on skeptics, babies and animals
(there are vetinary homeopaths, even working on large farm animals). It is very complex, which is why you need to consult with
a skilled practioner and even then, it may take trial and error to discover what works for you and that makes it relatively expensive,
but at least homeopathy is safe homeopathic dilutions make it totally harmless even if it fails. This cannot be said of any other form
of natural medicine, especially herball medicine and aromotherapy (which I have also used, by the way).
My main problem with it is that it is dreadfully expensive, especially seeing a medical doctor who practices
homeopathy, as opposed to just a homeopath. I would use it far more if it were cheaper or if it were easier to treat yourself.
Question (from a member of the Parent L list): What is the difference between herbal medicine and homeopathy.
Could you explain exactly what homeopathy is?
I am not an expert, which is why I consult with one and hand over large quantities of money to him so he has the
worry and not me. But what I have learnt is that homeopathy is about treating like with like ie if you have a runny nose,
the homeopathic remedy will be something that naturally gives you a runny nose, only mega diluted.
I suppose it acts kind of like a vaccination. The remedies are very, very dilute often one drop in a whole litre of water,
so that statistically you don't even get one molecule of the substance in your remedy. The diluted substance is then dropped
onto some sugar powder or on a sugar pill, which you dissolve on the tongue. The more dilute the solution, the higher the homeopathic potency.
This is where many conventional scientists part company with homeopaths. I must confess I don't understand it but I do
know that very often it works. The actual remedy chosen differs not only according to your physical condition, but also
according to your personality type, the way you handle the illness, your lifestyle etc. For instance, my homeopath asked me if I
prefered hot or cold food; if I found my relationship with my parents stressful; if I drank a lot of coffee etc.
You'd be amazed the questions a good homeopath will ask!
Classical homeopathy uses very few remedies at one time - mixing them up or using too much
can negate the effects. I took 3 powders of Medorrhinum (sp?) 600C (very potent because it is diluted 600x)
over a 24 hour period and it lasted for at least 6 months. So I suppose in that respect it didn't work out that expensive.
I also had to avoid things that can stop homeopathy working: peppermint, coffee (including decaf) and garlic.
Homeopathy not only cured my asthma symptoms, the consultations also taught me that I was using Ventolin as a
kind of crutch, not just when I was truely breathless. I feel the need to use Ventolin if I'm stressed or sometimes
if I even think about asthma. As Ventolin increases your adrenaline (ephedrine) levels, taking it to relieve stress
is somewhat counter productive! So in a funny way, the anti-asthma drugs could actually have been making my asthma worse.
I now try to examine my motives for taking it, and only take it if I genuinely have breathing problems. Using my peak
flow meter to measure my lungs is a good way for me to do that, so I am not just taking silly chances by refusing to use my
Ventolin when I need it.
My first "dabble" into homeopathy was homeopathic Arnica 6C (fairly non- potent, generalised remedy for bruising etc).
Arnica is one of those homeopathic remedies that works for most personality types, which is why it is widely available OTC.
There are various teething remedies that also work on the majority of personality types.
