The Happy and Prosperous Blog

In the preceding parts of this short series about homeopathy, I gave an introduction to homeopathy, talked about homeopathic remedies, the action of remedies and described a typical consultation. In this final part I’ll give my opinion about why homeopathy is not more widely used in the UK.

High Success Rate

Homeopathy has a high success rate. What I mean by success here is that it has a positive impact on patients’ health. I’m not saying that homeopathy can cure all illnesses in all people all the time. Nobody can claim that about any form of treatment. What I am saying is that the majority of people who receive homeopathic treatment experience an improvement in their health. This statement is based on my experience and that of homeopaths I know. It is also supported by research as we saw from the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital study mentioned in Part 3.

So Why is Homeopathy More Popular ?

So, I hear you ask, if it’s so successful and it’s safe and gentle in its action, why is it not more popular ? I think the answer has to do with money and trust.

Let’s talk about money first. Pharmaceutical companies have no interest in homeopathy; homeopathic remedies are quite cheap to produce compared to pharmaceutical drugs and there is little profit there. Also, the more people that are successfully treated using homeopathy, the less pharmaceutical drugs are needed, thereby threatening profits. The other point about money is from a patient’s point of view – they often have to pay for homeopathic treatment (unless they are fortunate enough to get funding from the NHS). I charge £65 for a first consultation and £45 for a follow up (which I suspect is around the average fee) which includes remedies. Some people are unable or unwilling to pay this money. To those that are unwilling to pay, I would ask them to consider how much they pay to have their car serviced, or how much they spend on an evening out, or pay to see a football match. How much is your health worth ?

The other issue is trust. Since a potential client needs to reveal something of themselves in a consultation, how do they know the homeopath is trustworthy and will maintain confidentiality ? Some homeopaths are medically qualified doctors, however, the majority are not. This latter group (which includes me) have been to college for 3 years full-time or 4 years part-time to study homeopathy. All professional homeopaths are members of a professional body (e.g. the Society of Homeopaths). These organisations all operate a strict code of ethics by which members are bound. These include rules on confidentiality. Complaints procedures are defined and homeopaths can be struck off the register if they fail to observe the code of ethics. Homeopaths do merit your trust.

Green Medicine

One final point I want to make is that homeopathy is ‘green’ medicine, i.e. it is an ecologically sustainable form of medicine. You can find more details about this here.

Find a Homeopath !

I have deliberately not gone into some of the principles of homeopathy such as ‘like cures like’ as I doubt whether these would convince you of the benefits of homeopathy. I hope, however, that I’ve been able to explain a little bit about the practicalities. The only way in which you are going to be convinced is for you to experience it for yourself. So, why don’t you go and find the name and number of a local homeopath (use the internet or Yellow Pages) and book an appointment. Go on, do it now and get moving towards better health. Homeopathy is not a myth, it’s not magic (although it may appear to be so at times) – it is medicine.

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Having mentioned rapport between homeopath and client in Part 3 of this series yesterday, I’d like to talk about what a consultation is like. I’ll describe the sort of thing I cover in a consultation which is typical of homeopaths.

First Consultation

Firstly, I would like to find out about your symptoms now – what are they like exactly, when did they start ? How do you feel when you experience these symptoms ? Is there anything that helps relieve them (heat, cold, pressure, lying down, fresh air etc. etc.). I’d also like to know about your personal medical history – previous illnesses, accidents, operations, emotional traumas.

I also need to know something of your personality – how you react to situations, how you would describe yourself, how others might describe you, etc. I would ask about more general things like sleep, food likes and dislikes, thirst, body temperature, nature of periods (if applicable !). I will also ask about any drugs (prescribed, over the counter or recreational), herbs and supplements you may be taking too. This generally takes an hour or an hour and a half. Of course, this is fine for adults, but must be varied for children and especially for infants where information from the parents coupled with close observation will be the principal sources of data.

Follow up Consultation

I like to see clients again about a month later to make a detailed assessment of how they have reacted to the remedy. At this stage I may repeat the remedy, change the potency, change the remedy or do nothing. It depends entirely on the patient’s reaction. This follow up consultation usually takes 30-45 minutes. The number and frequency of follow ups thereafter depends very much on the client and their ongoing reaction to the remedy. I just need to see some people twice, others I may see 6-8 times over the course of a year. Rarely I will see someone for 2 or more years on an increasingly infrequent basis. I make myself available by phone and by email for any questions of concerns patients may have throughout their treatment.

Deciding on a Remedy

Using the information that a client has told me, I will then analyse this looking for themes and connections between the various pieces of information. I will use this and some of the specific symptoms to find an appropriate remedy. There are books and computer programs that can help with this process. The analogy I often use with clients is a lock and a key. I imagine the client as the lock - a complex lock with all sort of levers and mechanisms - and it’s unique. My job is to find the key (the remedy) that fits that lock which can help to turns things around.

Part 2 of this series, which I published yesterday, talked about homeopathic remedies. Today let’s have a look at how they work.

I’ve already said that remedies act as a stimulus or a catalyst for changes in a person’s internal health system. That’s fine as far as it goes but exactly how this happens is unknown. There are theories around concerning how homeopathy works – but that’s all they are – theories.

No Scientific Explanation ??

I’ve come across a few people who have said to me that homeopathy must be a complete load of nonsense because there’s no scientific explanation for it. This argument does not hold water to me – I cannot see how the premise leads to the conclusion. Gravity was working very happily before the apple fell on Newton’s head, the ancient Chinese were using lode-stone for navigation before there was any explanation for gravity, hearts were pumping blood before Harvey discovered this fact. Homeopathy is like gravity in the pre-Newtonian era. It’s an observable, reproducible phenomenon, we just don’t have a detailed explanation of the empirical facts as yet.

And it may be some while before we arrive at that position as there are no companies, institutes or individuals with the interest or the money to finance research programmes. But that’s OK – homoeopathy, like gravity, still works.

Placebo ?

How do I know it works ? Couldn’t it be just the placebo effect ? First question first. I know it works because I see it working in my practice. Other homeopaths report the same. Homeopathy has been going for over 200 years and there’s a large body of literature available which includes a huge array of cured cases. There have been some studies published in the recent medical literature which show that homeopathy is more effective than placebo and I’ll talk about one of those in a minute.

Trials

Designing trials for homeopathy is not easy. Since homeopathy treats individuals and not their symptoms, then, for example, 30 people with asthma might each need a different remedy to reduce or remove their respiratory symptoms. It’s not one size fits all ! So if remedy X is the right remedy for one of these people and we do a randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled trial, giving 30 people placebo and the other 30 remedy X, then only one of the 60 people in the trial is likely to show an improvement which is not terribly impressive (apart from the lucky one person !). Homeopathy is individualised so a different type of trial is needed.

On type of trial that is often used is called an outcome study in which clients are asked to rate the improvement they have had since starting homeopathic treatment. This doesn’t help us understand how homeopathy works, but it does give evidence that it does work.

One of the most comprehensive outcome surveys was done at the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital which involved over 6,500 individual patients. More than 70% of these follow-up patients reported clinical improvement following homeopathic treatment. Many of the patients in the analysis had previously received mainstream medical treatment and had either failed to respond satisfactorily or had been unable to tolerate the medication prescribed. Homeopathy showed positive clinical outcomes in a whole range of conditions (e.g. Crohn’s disease, depression, eczema, headache, menopausal syndrome). Read an abstract of the article.)

Rapport

It’s also worth noting that homeopathy is not a mechanical process with a fixed set of questions and answers which lead to a remedy. The rapport between homeopath and client is important so that the necessary information can be elicited to allow an accurate prescription to be made. A homeopath with poor interpersonal skills is likely to get consistently poor results. (I’ve not met such a homeopath as yet !) So personality plays a part but I don’t accept that it is the placebo effect. Infants and animals improve under homeopathic treatment. Surely the placebo effect is not working there. Also clients don’t just say they feel better after treatment, there can be measurable improvements in signs and symptoms which are indisputable. So, no, I don’t believe that the placebo effect is the reason remedies work.

In the next part of this series, I’m going to talk about what’s involved in a homeopathic consultation and what you should expect !