We’re proof HOMEOPATHY works. So why has the NHS scrapped it?
Scientists insist it’s just a placebo. Patients say it’s changed their lives. With no sign of the war ending, a passionate cry . . .
There is no doubt that many people — including the vast majority of scientists — regard homeopathy with extreme scepticism. With its medieval-sounding ingredients, such as poison ivy, cat’s milk, common toad, all delivered in highly diluted, vanishingly minuscule amounts, how can it possibly work?
Developed in the 1790s by Samuel hahnemann, a German physician, homeopathy is based on the idea that, in tiny doses, like cures like. So if you have inflammation, for example, then very small amounts of substances such as bee sting or poison ivy could reduce it.
remedies, often given as a tablet, but sometimes as a tincture or drops, are used for a particular problem — muscle pain or asthma, for instance — or for general wellbeing.
‘Like cures like’ may not sound a million miles from some more conventional medical treatments, for instance in immunotherapy for allergies, where a patient is exposed to a tiny amount of the allergen (such as pollen) in a controlled way, or vaccines which expose someone to a safe dose of a particular virus to train the immune system.
however, homeopathy operates on the controversial principle that the more diluted the remedy, the more potent it becomes. So the raw material — whether a plant, a mineral or part of an animal — would be diluted thousands of times.
The mainstream scientific view has long been that it’s impossible for such a dilute substance to contain any meaningful amount of the beneficial ingredient: it would be just water, and any benefit felt by the patient is simply a placebo effect.
even so, homeopathy has been available on the NhS since the health service was founded 70 years ago — although this could be about to change. earlier this month, the high Court rejected a legal challenge by the British homeopathic Association following the decision by the NhS to no longer routinely fund homeopathy.
NhS england has recommended that local health authorities stop paying for it on the basis that there is ‘no clear evidence to support its use’. NhS chief executive Simon Stevens welcomed the verdict, saying that homeopathy is a ‘misuse of scarce NhS funds’.
This is disputed by some pro-homeopathy experts. ‘As a cost- cutting exercise it may well turn out to be counter-productive,’ says Dr elizabeth Thompson, a palliative care specialist and CeO of the Portland Centre for Integrative Medicine in Bristol.
‘Most homeopathic remedies cost around £5 and last for three months. If patients are reporting benefits for, say, pain control, withdrawing funding could push them back onto high-strength opioids, which cost the NhS from £45 to £55 a week.’
As for the lack of evidence, some proponents of homeopathy argue that major reviews of the scientific evidence have failed to include research that shows better results than a placebo.
Then there are the patients who say homeopathic remedies have worked when conventional treatments have failed them.
here we speak to people who say it helped — for all sorts of conditions, from nasal polyps to migraines. While not proof that homeopathy works, their stories raise questions about what is going on . . . FOr as long as I can remember, I’ve suffered with sniffles and hayfever. In the warmer months, my nose would be completely blocked, and if I caught a cold it would last for weeks.
It made me miserable and affected my work. As a sports therapist, part of my job is massage but I’d have to cancel clients’ appointments because no one wants to be sneezed on while having a massage!
I’d tried over-the-counter nasal sprays and antihistamines. Steroid nasal sprays, which I started getting on repeat prescription from my GP in my early 30s, would stop the symptoms if I used them every day — but that made my nose bleed.
Around five years ago, my GP referred me to an ear, nose and throat (eNT) specialist who diagnosed nasal polyps ( swellings in the nasal lining). he said the only treatment was an operation to remove them, but they were quite likely to grow back.
I wasn’t keen on an operation, so I carried on with the steroid sprays and the occasional short course of prednisolone tablets ( another steroid) but my nose always got blocked again.
Then three years ago I saw a different GP at my surgery who was also a trained homeopath. I hadn’t requested to see him — it was just coincidence — but he asked if I wanted to give homeopathy a go and I thought, ‘why not?’ I had an appointment on the NhS and he went into depth about my medical history before prescribing treatment which included lac delph tablets — literally dolphin milk. The way it was explained to me was it’s not that they give you a particular remedy for a particular problem, it’s more about your all-round health and personality. It’s very personal to you. It sounds insane and I was a little sceptical.
After the first dose — a single tablet — I actually felt worse than I’d ever done with my nose. It was blocked and I had nosebleeds for three days. But I’d been warned that may happen, so I didn’t worry.
Less than a week later, I felt better; my sense of taste and smell improved and I wasn’t sneezing.
Two weeks later I was told to take another dose. Again, I got a little bit worse for a while but then it cleared up.
After that, I took the tablets once a month for a few months and now I take a tablet just a few times a year — if ever I feel my nose blocking up slightly.
I don’t take any steroids at all and I haven’t needed an operation. I haven’t been back to the eNT specialist, but a doctor has looked up my nose with a light and can’t see the polyps. If it were a case of mind over matter, I don’t see how that could happen.
When I was given my first homeopathic treatment I thought, ‘how on earth are a few drops of that going to help me?’ But it has.
I’d had asthma since I was a child but as an adult it got progressively worse. For example, rather than having an occasional wheeze when I ran, by my 50s I was wheezing every single evening.
It was frightening, and I had to use inhalers daily. The noise of my wheeze would often keep Kay awake and just going on long walks would leave me fighting for breath.
I developed bad chest infections two or three times a year that would need antibiotics and I’d be off work for a couple of weeks.
Twelve years ago, I thought I can’t live like this and my GP referred me to an asthma specialist.
he took X-rays and tried me on lots of different inhalers. I was left with three: two which I used all the time and Ventolin which I used as and when I needed, which was most days. I got no better and gave up hope that I ever would.
In 2010, Kay suggested I try homeopathy and my GP agreed to refer me as an nhS patient to the Royal homeopathic hospital in London. The doctor spent over an hour talking to me and asking me about my lifestyle and the kind of person I was. She even asked me about my dreams. It was quite an emotional experience.
She gave me drops which I had to dilute in water and then take a 5ml teaspoon of, swilling it in my mouth before swallowing.
Four days later I felt as if I had flu, but I called her and she said that was normal. I had to repeat that process three weeks later.
I went back to see her and she talked to me again and gave me silica tablets made of some sort of plants. I had to put one under my tongue morning and night.
The effects were pretty dramatic. I haven’t had a day off sick with a chest infection since. Best of all, I stopped wheezing at night.
I go for check- ups every six months and the doctor measures my lung capacity — which has improved since taking the tablets.
These days, I only occasionally use an inhaler — for example if I go on holiday somewhere hot and dry.
I’m not saying it will work for everyone, but homeopathy has definitely worked for me. When I began treatment at the homeopathic hospital in London three years ago, I was under the care of eight different consultants and taking a variety of high-dose prescription painkillers — eight pills a day — in a vain attempt to find something that worked.
I had rheumatoid arthritis and peripheral neuropathy (severe pain in the hands and feet) and frequent severe migraines. I also had a big toe that had become so swollen and deformed that I’d been told it needed corrective surgery.
I was worried about the effects of all the drugs I was taking. The ones for migraine made my legs weak and gave me dizzy spells, and the painkillers didn’t even work well enough to allow me to type. I had to stop work seven years ago and was largely housebound.
My rheumatologist suggested homeopathy and my GP agreed because he’d run out of specialists to send me to.
I was given four homeopathic remedies on nhS prescription — and the effect has been remarkable. The swelling in my toe shrunk two inches and my rheumatologist said I no longer need an operation.
I am still chronically ill and in pain, but the homeopathy has really helped, especially with the side- effects of the drugs. My last migraine was six months ago: before, they were every few weeks. I can also use the computer again.
The withdrawal of nhS funding for homeopathy is a huge worry. I’m terrified I’ll soon be back where I was three years ago.