if you are familiar with homeopathy, please help me

[kfeusse]

I have been dabbling with homeopathy for a while now...off and on. I REALLY want it to work for our family...and sometimes we find a remedy that is amazing and that is fabulous. But I have a couple questions:

 

1) my daughter has been having itchy eyes that last couple weeks. The outside allergens are high right now. I gave her the Hyland brand of "allergy for kids" and it worked well a week or so ago. But now, today...it's doing NOTHING for her. Why would that be? Is there something else I can try for her? She is miserable...she can't do her school work and her eyes are puffy and itchy. I am nearly certain it is allergies...our whole family suffers...but with a variety of symptoms...stuffy noses, runny noses etc. (which they are taking OTC meds for those and I would LOVE to find a homeopathy that would work for them too...but haven't.)

 

2) Also, why does homeopathy seem to stop working more quickly than OTC meds. For example: both the allergy one I gave my daughter last week would work like a charm for a short time and then she would have to take more for it to make her feel better. We had the same thing with her car sickness. The Hyland brand motion sickness tabs work quickly and well...but wear off quickly too. Where 1 Dramime would last for 6 hours, the homeopathy would last only a hour or less. Is that "normal"?

 

thank you for your help.

[JNW]

Have you ever tried local honey for seasonal allergies? We lived in a "hippie" town for a few years and the locals raved about it. Might be worth researching.

[kfeusse]

I have heard of that too...and we do have local honey, however, doesn't that have to build up in your system to work...I want something to help her NOW...

[JNW]

I have no idea... sorry.

[Jean in Newcastle]

My son likes Allergiemittel http://www.amazon.com/Boericke-Tafel-Allergiemittel-AllerAide-Allergy/dp/B0009ET4ZY How often he takes it depends on the pollen count of the day. Some allergens (like cottonwood) are worse than others too.

[Guest ChristyRedd]

I've used homeopathy for many years and have found it extremely successful for all kinds of serious, chronic problems, acute conditions and injuries.

 

In order to be completely effective, and especially in chronic conditions like allergies, homeopathic remedies must be prescribed by a trained homeopath. The homeopath will take a full medical history and match the totality of your daughter's symptoms to the one specific remedy most suited to her and her physical constitution. The compound remedies like Hyland's contain a number of remedies one of which would probably suit most people. They can be very helpful but aren't individualized to meet the needs of any one specific person. Also the correct dosage and potency must be chosen for your child, and quite often the potency will change as treatment progresses. It isn't possible to change the potency of the remedies in the compound products so this limits their usefulness.

 

Best wishes to your and your daughter!

[Elfknitter.#]

I have heard the same as above regarding homeopathy. As we don't have someone trained in homeopathy close by, I gave up. I've found vitamin supplements and herbal remedies to be more effective, especially with chronic issues.

[Guest ChristyRedd]

For people who want to pursue homeopathic treatment but don't have a practitioner in their area, there are some homeopaths who will treat the person by seeing them on video tape or via Skype. It is important for the practitioner to actually view the patient in order to come to a full understanding of their constitutional type and note their characteristics. Two people I know of who work via video or Skype are:

 

Steve and Aviva Waldstein

Denver, Colorado

www.homeopathy-cures.com

 

Dana Ullman

Berkeley, California

www.homeopathic.com

[justasque]

Well, homeopathic remedies are not the same kind of thing as pharmaceuticals, thus you should not expect them to work in the same way.

 

With pharmaceuticals, the goal is to get a specific amount of the active ingredient into the patient, where it will have the intended chemical/physiological affect on some aspect of the patient's body. (Ideally, the active ingredient's chemical effect will be narrowly targeted to help remove the cause of the illness, minimize symptoms of the illness, and/or help the body heal, all without any negative side effects. Of course, most pharmaceuticals fall short of this ideal; nonetheless when the pros outweigh the cons the use of pharmaceuticals can be beneficial.)

 

In contrast, as I understand it, when a homeopathic remedy is prepared, the chosen substance is diluted many times, perhaps to the point where none of the original substance is left. So, unlike pharmaceuticals, any effectiveness does not come from a chemical affect caused by the chosen substance (because there may not be any of that substance present in the remedy).

 

So that raises the question of how *do* homeopathic remedies work. Some folks feel that any relief associated with homeopathics comes largely from the placebo effect, and/or from the nurturing care that goes along with it. (These results are very real and useful, and should not be dismissed.) Others feel that the remedies work even beyond a placebo effect, but the mechanism through which they work is at best unclear, from a scientific viewpoint.

[Guest ChristyRedd]

It is true that the mechanism of action for homeopathic remedies is not well understood although current scientific research is opening up our understanding of how they might work. Using an EEG and medical analyzer shows the effects homeopathic remedies have on things like blood flow and heart rate. A 1991 global meta-analysis of 105 studies with 81 positive for homeopathy concluded that the results homeopathy achieves cannot be attributed to placebo (or the consultation process). 17 positive systematic reviews and meta-analyses since 1991 conclude the same.

 

Homeopathy is an energy medicine based in quantum physics rather than chemistry. It works by stimulating the immune system to heal the body naturally. The lack of gross amounts of substance in the remedies is what makes homeopathy the safest system of medicine in the world.

 

There have been 200 studies published in 102 respected, national and international peer-reviewed journals showing that homeopathy produces significant to substantial health benefits in a wide array of conditions. Some of them can be seen at the web sites of the National Center for Homeopathy, extraordinarymedicine and avilian.co.uk.

 

Here is just one: "Treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis using homeopathy preparation of common allergens in the southwest region of the U.S.: A randomized controlled trial". This study showed significant positive changes from baseline to four weeks in the homeopathically treated group. Subjects reported no adverse side effects.

 

Annals of Pharmacotherapy, 2005, 39:617-624

 

One study of chronically ill patients who were followed for 2, 6 and 8 years found that patients who seek homeopathic treatment are likely to improve considerably and that the positive effects lasted for at least 8 years.

 

"How healthy are chronically ill patients after 8 years of homeopathic treatment", A long-term observational study

 

Witt, C., et al.

BioMedCentral, 2008

[Guest ChristyRedd]

It is worth noting that we don't know how many conventional treatments work either. We don't know how anesthesia works, but it's used safely and successfully every day. We didn't know the mechanism of action for aspirin until 1971, but doctors prescribed it and patients used it successfully before 1971.