Off topic is that a hippy? homeopathy

[London Calling]

I am definitely sympathetic to homeopathy.

Our 2 year son is now suffering from eczema or a skin disease on his little legs.

We went to a Doctor today who was only willing to prescribe a emollient ( I agree with) but also steroids.

I stated we weren't happy with steroids, there was huge amount of research including official research, that identified steroids as being harmful, can damage young skin and that suppressing of eczema often leads to Asthma. At a later time.


Doc wasn't impressed. We live in a poor part of London and I generally feel our GPs like their patients to be subservient.

I also asked whether we could have an allergy test, obviously to see if we could identify whether Sam could have allergies. Doc again was not happy and reluctantly after much discussion said he would arrange it................but his PC wasn't working.

When I mentioned that I might also prefer going down the homeopathic route to solve Sam's eczema, Doc first lied to me saying that the practice didn't make referrals. I had to point out that one of his colleagues had only two days before told me if homeopathy was my chosen route that would be my choice and he would arrange it. And then Doc said we must go down the NHS route first. and if that didn't work then homeopathy could be a option but not through him

Again I had to say that in London the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital was a NHS hospital and the local trust funded referrals to it.

**** sake all I wanted was to look after my son. Not for a ****ing battle with my GP.

Anyway, what's your opinion and any top tips for going forward.

 

[SpongebobSquarepants]

When I was a kid (we are talking 30 years ago) I suffered from Eczema + asthma as did my Mum. Started having stomach problems as well and having got nowhere with local GP Mum took me to see a private homeopathic person (which was pretty radical in them days!!
When I met her I was a bit nervous but she took me off did a couple of tests and about 10 minutes later she proceded to tell my parents exactly what the problem was, what I was allergic to and varoius other stuff re personality that were spot on.
Had to give up all dairy products for a couple of years but she really sorted me out and I imagine it's a lot more advanced now - hope this helps.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

I believe that it's hippy hippy, but if it works for the person then thats ok!

St Johns Wort, however is the evil of this world!

 

[dannyboy]

i feel for you on this one mate.

we had a similar experience with alex when he was 1. All of a sudden he developed terrible ecxzema and asthma . so serious he was pulling his skin off , had have adrenalin to stop him fitting, he turned blue cos of the asthma. this went on for ages with trips to the hospital to try and get it sorted out. We went to great ormond street and various specialists trying to help him.

all we got from the gp was wet wraps , ie wrap him up like a mummy head to toe in wet bandages at night and loads of creams. our gp didnt want to give us steroids for the reasons you stated although they did work really well.

in the end me and his mum split up , prob partly due to the stress of this, she went back to sweden and fnally there they got to grips with it , although age is a big factor. He is now 9 and doesnt have it all really anymore.

in sweden they did aleergy tests and it was down to the usual things , gluten , dairy, fish etc etc which im sure you know about. he was basically allergic to everyhting.

The good thing about this is that if they get it when they are young its 95 % likely to go by about the time they are 6 or so .

Problem is that in this country your bog standard gp knows nothing about skin issues and they dont want to refer to a specialist cos of the shit state of the nhs , budgets etc.

we tried every other 'alternative ' treatment we could and to be honest it never worked. whatever you do dont let it infect cos then it will really infect,

diprobase is good

if you need any more info pm me and i can get more info from the ex in sweden as she was the one who finally got to grips with it over there.

good luck with it

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Sounds like your GP prefers to take the cheapest option. Allergy testing and referral to a homeopath must come out of the practice budget so writing a prescription is preferred to get rid of you at the least cost and onto the next patient. I also get the impression that a lot of doctors like to talk down to their patients with the added bonus of earning £150,000 p.a.

 

[London Calling]

i feel for you on this one mate.

we had a similar experience with alex when he was 1. All of a sudden he developed terrible ecxzema and asthma . so serious he was pulling his skin off , had have adrenalin to stop him fitting, he turned blue cos of the asthma. this went on for ages with trips to the hospital to try and get it sorted out. We went to great ormond street and various specialists trying to help him.

all we got from the gp was wet wraps , ie wrap him up like a mummy head to toe in wet bandages at night and loads of creams. our gp didnt want to give us steroids for the reasons you stated although they did work really well.

in the end me and his mum split up , prob partly due to the stress of this, she went back to sweden and fnally there they got to grips with it , although age is a big factor. He is now 9 and doesnt have it all really anymore.

in sweden they did aleergy tests and it was down to the usual things , gluten , dairy, fish etc etc which im sure you know about. he was basically allergic to everyhting.

The good thing about this is that if they get it when they are young its 95 % likely to go by about the time they are 6 or so .

Problem is that in this country your bog standard gp knows nothing about skin issues and they dont want to refer to a specialist cos of the shit state of the nhs , budgets etc.

we tried every other 'alternative ' treatment we could and to be honest it never worked. whatever you do dont let it infect cos then it will really infect,

diprobase is good

if you need any more info pm me and i can get more info from the ex in sweden as she was the one who finally got to grips with it over there.

good luck with it

Thanks very much, If its OK I will at a later stage and if appropriate get in touch.

I was prepared for the meeting, I had already checked with the Homeopathic Hospital that our Trust would make referals etc.

I had also done a far bit of research myself, I also suffer from mild eczema.

But I really was taken back by the agruement and lies!

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

I also get the impression that a lot of doctors like to talk down to their patients with the added bonus of earning £150,000 p.a.

Which is why the best way to deal with doctors is to kick up a stink, it's quite a skill, but you have to make them not be paternalistic

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

It's real bad science tho innit? The more you dilute a homeopathic remedy, the more potent it becomes. How does that work then?

 

[edna krabappel]

Homeophobia?

 

[Starry]

We are currently mid-battle with our local NHS trust over our daughter, she is not vaccinated and her NHS GP who I made an appointment for pretty much told me she would not treat her unless she was vaccinated.

I am not popular at our GPs surgery because unlike most I chose to educate myself on our choices and all treatments and will not be fobbed off with the first prescription and flimsy diagnosis. I think it all goes back to when Anastasia had cancer and the trust refused to fund treatments that she desperately needed.

I assume even though the PC was not working today the referral will go ahead when it is working? I would contact your practice and make sure the referral has gone through and find out to whom the referral is made and then I would contact them and find out the waiting time/procedure from there. I learnt the hard way waiting for a referral for Anastasia to go through and I will never rest on 'the doctor is doing it' again.

Anyway. Romilly also has excema. I did not even go to the GP and skipped right onto the homeopathic stuff because I don't really believe in steroids for such conditions. We have a healthcare policy because of Paddy's company and so we went private purely because I didn't want to have to deal with the situation you did today. I use a variety of different things for Rom depending on how severe the break out is - I put nettle, calendula or chickweed (sometimes all) in her baths, I use a small amount of lavendar oil when her skin is red and really sore, it seems to take the sting out, I use Hypercal (made by Nelson's) as a cream on her skin. She takes some stuff orally as well which helps, she doesn't take it all the time just when needed. Also, we have cut out bananas on the advice of the clinic and that has helped as well.

I hope you can work something out for your son.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

We are currently mid-battle with our local NHS trust over our daughter, she is not vaccinated and her NHS GP who I made an appointment for pretty much told me she would not treat her unless she was vaccinated.

I am not popular at our GPs surgery because unlike most I chose to educate myself on our choices and all treatments and will not be fobbed off with the first prescription and flimsy diagnosis. I think it all goes back to when Anastasia had cancer and the trust refused to fund treatments that she desperately needed.

I assume even though the PC was not working today the referral will go ahead when it is working? I would contact your practice and make sure the referral has gone through and find out to whom the referral is made and then I would contact them and find out the waiting time/procedure from there. I learnt the hard way waiting for a referral for Anastasia to go through and I will never rest on 'the doctor is doing it' again.

Anyway. Romilly also has excema. I did not even go to the GP and skipped right onto the homeopathic stuff because I don't really believe in steroids for such conditions. We have a healthcare policy because of Paddy's company and so we went private purely because I didn't want to have to deal with the situation you did today. I use a variety of different things for Rom depending on how severe the break out is - I put nettle, calendula or chickweed (sometimes all) in her baths, I use a small amount of lavendar oil when her skin is red and really sore, it seems to take the sting out, I use Hypercal (made by Nelson's) as a cream on her skin. She takes some stuff orally as well which helps, she doesn't take it all the time just when needed. Also, we have cut out bananas on the advice of the clinic and that has helped as well.

I hope you can work something out for your son.

Can I ask why you've chosen not to vaccinate your kids?

 

[Starry]

Can I ask why you've chosen not to vaccinate your kids?

I haven't as such, we pick and chose and if we do chose to vaccinate it is done on our schedule and not the governments, something built to suit our individual children and not the 'Average'. Romilly and Oisín are completely vaccine free right now, Cal has had some (polio and tetanus,) but certainly not all the suggested ones, Francesca has just had tetanus.

We have done things the way we did for various reasons - some we not believe are necessary, some (at the time) were/are chock full of nasty stuff I would rather not put into my babies, some because I will only do one jab at a time. Different reasons for each jab.

 

[London Calling]

It's real bad science tho innit? The more you dilute a homeopathic remedy, the more potent it becomes. How does that work then?

Quite easy, not always the strongest solutions work together and for some homeopathy, poisons are used which in full % would kill but dilation can trigger a body response.


Traditional medicine often use similar concepts, classic ones are the immunity injections we have?

Cow pox being used to immune small pox is based on the same principles as homeopathy.

Point is especially with eczema, that NHS method continually suppresses eczema; it comes back in a more virulent form and very often will lead to asthma. In fact no NHS treatment actually cures eczema.

So if homeopathy doesn’t always work here at least its better than the crap offered by traditional GP’s.

 

[London Calling]

Starry,

Lavender oil?

Research i've done indicates that lavender dries skin and can acute eczema?

Have you tried wheatgerm oil as a substitute.

 

[Starry]

Yes, I mix a few drops of lavender oil into a good vitamin E cream and massage it in. This was recommended by the clinic and hasn't made Romilly any worse. Of course, I only use it when she has no open sores. They also suggested tea tree oil as it can help to keep sores from getting infected but this made her worse.

I have used wheatgerm oil but the oil didn't help much direct (or in a cream) onto her skin, we have had much better results giving her wheatgerm baths.

Excema is rotten. One week something works great for Rom and the next week it makes her worse.

 

[dougdeep]

I'd give up an arm to be clear of skin problems. They make you feel like a leper. xxx

 

[beorhthelm]

Sounds like your GP prefers to take the cheapest option.

i dont think its as simple as that, its more about professional pride and partly to do with the fact that there is a lot of crap with homeopathy. Im not against it, im agnostic, it works for some people for some ailments. Doctors arent expecting people to question their expertise and dont know how to deal with that properly and probably need some training in this area. If someone your junior at work asked you your opinion then said its a load of shit and how about doing their way, you'd probably be a bit miffed too.

 

[London Calling]

Yes, I mix a few drops of lavender oil into a good vitamin E cream and massage it in. This was recommended by the clinic and hasn't made Romilly any worse. Of course, I only use it when she has no open sores. They also suggested tea tree oil as it can help to keep sores from getting infected but this made her worse.

I have used wheatgerm oil but the oil didn't help much direct (or in a cream) onto her skin, we have had much better results giving her wheatgerm baths.

Excema is rotten. One week something works great for Rom and the next week it makes her worse.

i have just tried oats in the bath for me and seems great so far, but not yet on Sam

 

[London Calling]

i dont think its as simple as that, its more about professional pride and partly to do with the fact that there is a lot of crap with homeopathy. Im not against it, im agnostic, it works for some people for some ailments. Doctors arent expecting people to question their expertise and dont know how to deal with that properly and probably need some training in this area. If someone your junior at work asked you your opinion then said its a load of shit and how about doing their way, you'd probably be a bit miffed too.

partly true I imagine, though I cannot believe I am the first person to say, I am not happy with X and what about y.

 

[Starry]

Doctors arent expecting people to question their expertise and dont know how to deal with that properly and probably need some training in this area.

And that is the problem. There is absolutely nothing wrong with questioning your doctor about XYZ and if you are not satisfied asking for a referral for a second opinion. Any decent doctor should not have a problem with that, knowing they have done a thorough examination and are confident in their diagnosis/treatment.

London Calling - I really feel bad for you. I know how miserable little ones with excema can be. Have you kept a food diary and noted when his excema seems worse? We did that and that was how we found out the bananas were triggering Romilly.