Homoeopathy. Know most of us have not found help with migraine.

It's not that I have no idea about the science behind it, but rather there is no science behind it.

An in depth explanation of why VEGA testing has no science behind it: http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/electro.html

Now like it or not 20 years ago I had VEGA testing and it may well have been a sham, but the guy using....scientist (biology) was very fond of it. To be honest he helped me a great deal and became a freind and we used to trade clients. He used auricular therapy, and it did seem to work, but of course it is acupressure points so we are headig off here.
VEGA it seem to me is a bit olike hypnotherpay., Hypnosis is a tool, anbyone can do it. But no differnt to say a carpenter.
We can all buy the tools but it is the skill that makes the craftsman.

Roger was very good and the VEGA worked for him. Sadly he has passed on, but I never heard anyone say a word against him and to be honest I never had migraines then, but if he was still here, I would go back to him in a heartbeat.

I do think like all these things the person behind it is very important.

BTW I asked you a while ago but I guess you missed it.
Do you think there could be two strains of migraine.
One a stand alone. And one an effect/symptom?
I have other problems, but no known triggers, didnt get the migraines until menopause, and can t find a single family connection. Others on my group are the same, but not all.
I would like your opinion.

I don't think there are two types of migraines. There is only one kind. The triggers are different but the process is the same. Those of use who have chronic migraines have real difficulty figuring out what our triggers are because they can be subtle.

When you add in an additional disease that stresses the body like fibro, IBS, or TN, your biggest trigger is going to be physical stress. Every time we have a fibro flare or IBS attack you are releasing stress hormones which can and many times will trigger a migraine. Add in other stressors such as environmental, emotional, food, whatever and we get more migraines.

We are so used to a certain level of pain and discomfort that we may miss the subtle cues that bring on the next migraine attack. That is why I stopped trying to figure out what causes them. The way I see my body, it is a cup that is always filled to the brim with stressors/triggers and all it takes is one extra teeny little thing and the cup overflows and I get a migraine.

So back to the pathogen "homeopathy". For this very reason, the cup overfloweth, I would not want to add anything to my body that is going to trigger my immune system. I can just see things getting worse instead of better.

Homeopathy is funded by the National Service also in other European countries. In France and Germany there are Departments of Hemeopathy in some public hospitals, too.

I have seen many homeopaths in my life but none of them used only the pure homeopathic remedies (dilued substances) to cure patients. All of them prescribe also supplements, herbal remedies and the like. So, it's quite difficult to understand if for a certain disease it's the dilued drops that help of the herbal extracts.
For instance, I once saw an omeopath for menstrual imbalance that seemed related to nothing in particular (hormons were OK, no cysts, no other anatomic issue). I was given 100 different vials and drops to take and also sage extract. My problems were solved but I found out later that the only thing that really worked because it contained an active principle was the sage extract. In fact, I used it also years later for amenorrea and it worked wonderfully also without all the other dilued stuff.

For migraine, then, homeopathy did NOTHING at all for none of the symptoms (nothing for the pain itself, nothing for the nausea, nothing for the dizziness)

Jamy, in response to what you said about that as taxpayers we are all paying for NHS homeopathic treatments. You are quite right of course. We do.
However, there are some other issues here:

the sums involved are very small indeed (£4 million was quoted) which is really minuscule against the whole ammounts spent or wasted on some, say, admin/mangemnt costs etc

the other point is that in paying for this treatemnt, NHS is also learning in a controlled environment, about efficacy - or otherwise - of any such treatments, so in a way a valuable research/assesment is actually taking place. And this is cheap price to pay for such knowledge.

The last point is that in UK we have a completely different attitude about our tax money being spent of NHS, since we all benefit so much.
We greatly value our NHS because no person ever needs to worry about money, or how to pay for expensive treatements when they are ill or dying and once you are retired all your medicines are also free. There are other benifits as well.
So, the truth is that we treasure our NHS, even if we if we know that it is far from perfect and that much can be improved. We know that some money gets wasted, as well - no system is perfect. And it would be unwise to think otherwise.

Also nothing in this life is free - we certainly would never accept the system of sky high private insurance and ever rocketing costs of health care that you have to put up with and still miss out on vital treatemnts. We would have riots in the streets, if anyone would ever suggest it here.
So looking at the whole picture, the money spent on homeopathy is really a drop in the ocean.

On the whole, I think I like to keep an open mind about such treatments and homeopathy is non invasive and seems safe - the worst that can happen is that it does not work.
I even had acupuncture for my M in the past - no, it did not work, in fact it gave me a most terrible M at the time - but I am all for trying and giving new approaches a chance provided that they are not physically harming.

Let's face it, in order to fight our painful heads, we are all poisoning ourselves with nasty chemicals called medicines which in many instances makes are feel even worse due to s/e.

So, in principle I like the idea that "less is more".
Does it work? I do not know - some people think it works for them.

Senna

I think natural and homeopathy are not differentiated. This thread made me think of this past weekend.

I was situated next to the "Emu Ladies". They sold concoctions containing emu oil and claimed some pretty wild successes. Frankly the stuff smelled like Icy Hot (Ben Gay - pick your menthalated cream) and made me want to yak after being forced to smell it all weekend.

But they claimed it could heal sores, get rid of all sort of aches and pains, lower cholesterol, eliminate diabetes and on and on. Frankly, snake-oil salesladies. The sad part was all the suckers that bought the stuff. I tried it out - after tying 20 leashes/tugs in 2 days I had some rope burns and it did absolutely nothing - didn't get rid of the pain and no miraculous healing. I also wonder how much of their successes were due to people actually...gasp...following doctors orders. Enough of my rant about them though - M all weekend and that crap made it worse.

I did buy some herbal packs (an eyemask and smaller bag) that can be heated or frozen. Not that I think it will cure anything but that it might feel good when my eyes are bothering me and maybe be a soother.

I would be open to trying some homeopathy because I do know it can work. Certain things have been around for hundreds of years to treat certain things and why try to reinvent things if "eat this root" works? Granted it doesn't but it's always worth a try. Even to get some temporary relief.

My horse had a type of skin cancer - just the very upper layer of skin was affected. The vet looked at it and said, they can't operate because then it metastasizes. She recommended a certain herb (can't recall the name at the moment - I remember it was stinky) and I found a place that made it. Horse no longer has any skin cancer - it worked. The herb only attacked cancer cells and killed them. They had some pretty gruesome photos but showed the healing process and it was gone.

Herbal medicine has solid science behind it and I have had great success with it. In my profession I have to deal with the energy/crystal practitioners that make all of us look like witch or voodoo doctors. They muddle up the boundaries between science and religion/beliefs. Their philosophies gets pushed as truth and people sometimes believe them without looking it up themselves.

So I stick with the proven science and credible research. that way the patients can go home and Google the info and verify what I tell them.

Brent,

Can you please give a quick definition of the differences? Just so I have it clear in my head.

I stay away from any of the energy type modalities. Reflexology, shiatsu, Reike, crystals etc. People have benefited from these but there is only some anecdotal experiences that anything is even going on.

I stick with the Scandinavian and Russian type massage therapy. And some of the more recent techniques that Ida Rolfe developed. All this has solid research and measurable biological and neurochemical results.

You can measure the Ph changes in muscles before and after treatment.

You can measure the O2 and electrolyte tissue saturation pre and post treatment.

You can measure the white blood cell increases.

The amount of cortisol (stress hormone) pre and post.

The decreased histamine (inflammatory chemical)

All of this and much more can be measured and repeated. How and why it happens and ways to test and improve the modalities.

Human chakras and energy meridians can not be measured or even detected by objective instrumentation. You have to believe they are there and then believe a human can actually do anything with them.

Thanks for that Brent. Nice to have it all explained.

Of the ones you stay away from, I havent tried them all, but Reiki has been an enormous help to me in general.
Not got rid of the migraines and it may be because it has been done by a close friend.
I wouldnt have got to my son's wedding without Eleanor's Reiki.
Also my daughters trained in Indian head massage and that has helped my pain many many times.

Funny story regarding Reflexology. A good freind of mine....entertainer in the US, is into Reflexology.
He called me from LV and "gave" me Reflexology for a migraine over the phone (he too had them).
Amazing; it worked....I have no idea what worked or how, but the pain got much better.

I also have healing from a friend once a week.
To be honest without the caring of these people, with all that has gone on, I don't think I would still be here, and it hasn't cost me one penny. There are some good people out there. They may not stack up scientifically, but the placebo effect, if that is what it is, for me, is sure worth having.