Homeopathy to boost immune system pre-dialysis?

[JanA]

hi , I've just joined the forum. My husband has IGA Nephropathy,has just been put on the donor list and is likelyto start CAPD in the next few months. THe last few weeks he has noticed a considerable reduction in energy and is struggling through the work day. He also has had a cough since CHristmas which the GP has treated with 2 lots of anti-biotics and steroid nasal spray for the phlegm - with no effct. THe GP also suggested consulting a homeopath for something to improve his immune system, but having read some of the posts suggesting it takes much longer to get over coughs colds etc before dialysis I am wondering if there is any value in this. Any thoughts on homeopathic treatments to boost immunity?
Thanks

[Marion]

Hiya Jan,

Welcome to the board. There a lot of very knowledgeable folk on here who always have some useful info and are absolutely invaluable.

I'm sorry your husband's life has taken this turn. I use homeopathy for myself and my animals on a regular basis and it certainly could help your husband as well. Echinacea is the classic thing to use for immune system boosting but I would head for your local well-qualified Homeopath and do a proper job on it.

Lots of luck - let us know how things go.

Marion.

[lashy]

my boyfriend was diagnosed with IgA Neph 3years ago (he is 7 months post transplant )and was told he WAS NOT to take any homeopathic medicine/herbs/vitamins etcc including massage oils. I am not sure if this applies to everyone with this condition but I would check and double check with the renal nurse and consultant and next appointment.

Hope your husband and you keep well
emma x

[Marion]

Hi Emma,

I'm curious - what was the reason given for using no homeopathy, herbs etc?? I've never heard of a total ban on such things before and I'm interested to know why......

Marion.

[lashy]

sorry,we never asked. we were told when he was first diagnosed. he was diagnsed and dialysing within a week so never had time to question anything really. he was specifically told no homeopathic or herbal remedies.
maybe someone could ask at a clinic appointment thisweek and let us know,
sorry I was no help
emma x

[JanA]

Thanks for the comments - I think we'll check with consultant first before trying anything jst in case.

[amanda in CA]

I think that there are maybe two reasons why doctors recommend not to use homeopathic remedies:

1) doctors seem to be generally wary of anything alternative

and 2) homeopathic remedies do not go through any testing to test their safety. that said, it could be argued that testing of regular meds. is not adequate. For this reason, I imagine that the excretion pathways and any metobolites produced are not known. If one of these alternative remedies are excreted through the kidneys, then it is possible that they may build up to toxic levels within the body.

Just my pennyworth, maybe others know differently.

[squiggles]

http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=123

[lashy]

thanks squiggles i though i was going mad but i knew we had been advised against using them
emma x

[Helen Rambaut]

Years ago when I was a kidney patient but nowhere near ESRF my consultant suddenly asked if I had ever used Chinese medicine. I said No and he explained that then there had been several cases of people entering ESRF after using Chinese medicine.

I didnt go into at the time but I have never forgotten it. Similary my mother in law is interested in homeopathy. But I have always declined to use it on the grounds that I want my Doctors to prescribe medicine for me and in that way between the renal and GP everyone knows what is going on. And when my blood was tested there was nothing else other than prescribed drugs to monitor the different levels of creatinine, phosphate, calcium, albumin etc etc.


Helen

[eliznew412]

I thought homeopathy meant using tremendously dilute solutions - some equivilant to a molecule in a swimming bath.

Toothpaste contains flouride, drinking water as well - my mum was a nurse and she said kidneys don't clear floride. I don't suppose consultants will argue with water authorities and toothpaste manufacturors. I reckon most homeopathic remedies are less harmful than flouride. The paste for sensitive teeth contains strontium - don't suppose kidneys chuck that out either. Best not clean our teeth or drink water then.

[lashy]

i just think all we can do is listen to the advice offered and make our own minds up. no noe is saying it is harmful or beneficial just that its not known the affects

[Chris Wright]

Homeopathy, PLEASE! All the proper evidence says it is nonsense on stilts.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/commi ... y-inquiry/

https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/health-topics/ ... thy-review

And here's an explanation why:

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRel ... homeo.html

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economis ... t-explains

Believers, will point to trials which, when examined closely, are poorly done and normally very closed minded, i.e they start with the premise it works and try to prove it. Proper science/medicine starts with the proposition that what they want to show is false and then see if the facts fit that assumption. Other studies are pure "observational" studies, which are basically anecdotes.

Interestingly, when you look at one of the comments above " The high content of vitamin C in dragon fruit can enhance the immune system." and then look at high quality organisations who examine this such as the Cochrane Collaboration, Harvard Medical School, or the Mayo Clinic they will show that there is either no, or little evidence that this is so. The Mayo Clinic has the best summary:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplem ... b-20060322

And may i suggest that the reason that Doctor's don't recommend using homeopathy, is the same reasons airline pilots don't recommend flying carpets.

There is a story that pre the second world war, GPs used to give a scrip to a patient for a great drug called called ADT, which the pharmacist would happily dispense. This of course was Any Damn Thing, the aim was to get the patient out of the surgery 'cos he just wanted to feel he'd got something (much like antibiotics for colds today). Homeopathy is an equivalent these days, give'em something harmless that may have a placebo effect but Dr's need time to sort the genuinely ill and curable.

Over 35 years i've looked into this a huge amount, in an open minded way, and as i get older i get more and more shocked,and depressed, by the greed and cynicism of the alternative medicine industry.

Just a thought.

C

[wagolynn]

Hmm, donating to a charity will help your immune system, and is far less risky than homeopathy.

Generally, consultants do not approve because they need a level playing field to, A) make a diagnosis, and B) monitor the prescribed treatment.
If, and it is a very big IF, if homeopathy having any effect it would cloud the issue.

All the double blind trials I have read about have concluded there is no effect.

Which demonstrates the power of the brain over your body, because you chose the homeopathy, and you think it should do you good, you feel good but nothing has really changed.

I watched a friends dog die a painful death of cancer, it's owner spent large amounts of money on homeopathic treatments, to no avail. The vet who originally diagnosed the cancer wanted to put the dog down...

NB. this is only how I look at it.

[spex]

The principles and effectiveness of homeopathy are largely questioned. I would suggest looking into herbal remedies, which have more clinical evidence, but still not as effective as chemical drugs.