Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "Des Higgins" contains these words:

Anyone who HAS tried homeopathy is likely to be a bit of an enthuasiast to
begin with.

Not at all. IME, cynical disbelief and no expectation of success (by
both the patient and the referring doctor) is a common way in to
treatment. I'd never even heard of it before the first time a GP
suggested it as a last resort; which she did in terms of utmost
cynicism. A year of various different conventional treatments had all
failed. So, I had no positive expectations anything else would succeed.

The NHS in Scotland would not have sunk funding into moving the (NHS)
Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital from its previous, Victorian premises to a
brand new, purpose built centre, if the service it has provided for
decades was ineffectual or uneconomic.

http://www.adhom.com/adh_download/evid82.PDF

Janet

I'm a bit divided on that one. In France, where I hail from,
homeopathy is quite well recognised, and moslty practiced by qualified
GPs. Medicines are refundable through the National Health system.
Pharmacies all sell a pretty impressive homeopathic pharmacopea, which
you would not find, as here, in "nature shops" selling brown rice and
evening primrose oil capsules.
As a kid, I too took arnica for cuts and bruises, oscilococcinum as a
flu preventer/cure, and all manner of many other homeopathic medicines.
My entire family makes common use of it. And most of us have to say
it has worked for us.
How exactly it did, I honestly cannot say, because as Des highlighted,
the whole idea is taht you treat with levels of dilution of the active
principle such that there isn't even a molecule left in the tincture
you are consuming. I don't really buy into that idea of "memory of
water", which as a common garden cartesian I find a very far fetched.
But I must agree that it works, it has been found to work for some
complaints in farm animals, and pets. So whether it is the placebo
effect or something else, I am not sure. But in some cases, it does
work. Just perhaps not the way we are led to believe it does.
And it does no harm. My sister used to say her kids could swallow the
entire contents of the family's medicine cabinet, and get away with a
little diaorrhea.

Cat(h)