Hi All,

I went to the doctors last week complaining about a cough which I've not been able to completely shift following a bad time with Bronchitis and told him that I think the cough is coming back and starting to get worse. Given how bad it was last time i wanted to make sure i dont get it again and end up ill over xmas

instead of giving me some antibiotics he suggested Homeopathy and gave me a small envelope with a few tiny while balls in....

At first i thought he'd forgotten to put them in there as i couldn't see them as they were so small.

the problem i have is that there's no instructions or anything, so i don't know what they are or the side effects so if i had a reaction to them i wouldn't know what it was I've even taken.

Is this normal in CH to get these home remedies with no details? in the UK they always tell you to keep the instructions and read them carefully.

I'm tempted to go to a walk in doctors

A lot of Swiss Dr's are trained in Homeopathy. You either believe in it or you don't so if you don't go to the walk in doctors. BTW there are no side effects. But don't expect antibiotics unless you really have a bacterial infection, Dr's only tend to prescribe them when they are sure and will probably do a test first.

I suspect that the giving of placebos here, for illnesses such as the common cold, where antibiotics is not appropriate, is considered 'good practice'.

Some of the homeopathic stuff is quite 'effective' - 20% alcohol throat spray for example...

My doctor in France uses homeopathy in addition to traditional medicine. Despite the fact that I have no belief in homeopathy whatsoever, I do have faith in the guy.

Years ago (many many moons ago) I worked as a vet nurse in England. The vets didn't believe in homeopathy either - and they said as much every time they dusted a newly-sewn up incision with arnica powder.

Arnica powder isn't anything to do with homeopathy.

Oh, well it was a long time ago (and my memory for names and labels is dreadful). I do know that it was a homeopathic powder, that was the point.

*Edit: It WAS a homeopathic product, it may have been arnica I think it was, but it was definitely a homeopathic product because the vets were making the point that they didn't believe in it for a second but were happy to use it.

Wiki on arnica:
Homeopathy

Homeopathic preparations of Arnica are widely marketed and used. In the UK, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has registered the product for sprains and bruising under the National Rules for Homoeopathic Products (2006). These rules allow claims of efficacy for these conditions to be made on the packaging in the absence of similar evidence to that required for conventional medicines under the Medicines Act 1968 and 1971.[12] A systematic review of clinical trials showed that homeopathic Arnica was no more effective than a placebo.[13] In some quarters, the fact that homeopathic Arnica has been the subject of published clinical trials at all has drawn criticism grounded on the allegation that the basic premise of the high dilutions used in homeopathy would be inherently flawed.[11]

Not true. One can get both homeopathic and non-homeopathic arnica preparations.

Neither form has been shown to have any medicinal benefit

Neither work homeopathy nor antibiotics. Try honey and lemon...

Sorry no, this isn't true. Arnica is a herb which has been used for a long time for bruising etc. It's true that scientific studies haven't found it to be statistically effective for this. Arnica homeopathic remedy contains no arnica in it, like all homeopathic remedies. To know the difference, try seasoning your food with oregano and then homeopathic oregano. Both won't do much for your bruising but that doesn't mean they're anything at all alike.

Herbal Arnica is very effective for quicker healing of bruises etc, this I know from many years of usage. It's probably one of the better known herbal remedies and like TCM, does work and needs to be studied better.

What did I write that isn't correct? I didn't say that they were the same thing

With whiskey and warm water.

You lot are seriously picky. Especially when the point I was making was that I've known medical professionals who don't believe in homeopathy but are happy to use it. Let me amend my statement:

"The vets didn't believe in homeopathy either - and they said as much every time they dusted a newly-sewn up incision with homeopathic 'arnica' powder.

Not true, antibiotics can not be used for upper respiratory infections caused by viruses, but they do work if you have a bacterial infection.

Sometimes an infection starts out as viral, and then you catch a secondary bacterial infection on top.

Homeopathy is utter nonsense for respiratory infections.

@OP, if you've had an infection that required antibiotics, it is perhaps best to now get a chest x-ray to find out whether it's cleared up.
You really should find different doctor for another opinion.

take care

My point was that arnica and homeopathic arnica aren't in any way related because one is 100% arnica and one is 0% arnica. You responded "not true".

Yes, sometimes we are picky indeed, and that for good reasons.

Google "homeopathic arnica powder" (in quotes, of course). You will get exactly one hit, and that's this EF thread.

In other words, there is no such thing as homeopathic arnica powder. There are homeopathic arnica preparations (which, of course, contain no arnica), but what your vets used was regular "arnica powder" (1690 Google hits). And you may guess it: That was because they wanted to use something that works even without believing in it.

Antibiotic don't work any more...

Not exactly an article published in Nature....

sorry, not provoking

Don't worry. When you've seen thousands of posts by chapps, you'll understand that being right, somethings through quite semantic twists and turns, is important to him.

Best just to let him win

Wow.

OK

- it was over 25 years ago
- it WAS powder
- it WAS homeopathic (part of my job was looking after medicines)
- I'm fairly sure it was arnica
- it was in a town that had/has its own homeopathic hospital

either that or I'm lying.


Once again, moving on.