There’s a reason why the Queen had a homeopath

On the pernicious rewriting of homeopathy’s history, and how well-crafted research is revealing what many have known all along: homeopathy works

Let’s start with the lies and misinformation about homeopathy. Here’s how the internet’s propaganda factory Wikipedia currently defines it:

The entry then describes homeopathy as ‘quackery and fraud’ and goes on to state:

Reader, are you suffering from ‘chemophobia’? I think I may be, though I would argue that a preference for natural products is entirely rational. Out of curiosity, I thought I’d look at what the Wikipedia entry for homeopathy used to say. Here’s what it said on 31 October 2003:

Homoeopathy is a method of treating diseases and medical conditions invented, or at least popularized, by the German Samuel Hahnemann in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is based on the theory that each naturally occurring element, plant, and mineral compound will, when ingested or applied, result in certain symptoms. Hahnemann believed that, by diluting these substances in a standardized manner, one could reach the true essence of that substance. Hahnemann described this process of dilution as "potentizing" (German: "potenziert") the substance. These dilute amounts could then be used to treat the very symptoms they were known to produce.

Hahnemann and his students approached their treatments in a holistic way, meaning that the whole of the body and spirit is dealt with, not just the localised disease. Hahnemann himself spent extended periods of time with his patients, asking them questions that dealt not only with their particular symptoms or illness, but also with the details of their daily lives.

Well, that’s quite a shift in perspective isn’t it?

It continues to amaze me how successfully  nefarious influences can redefine how we see the world. We have seen this in technicolour over the past three years, with respected dictionaries redefining words such as ‘vaccine’ to comply with a big pharma narrative, and people described as ‘variant factories’ in a clear attempt to demonise a specific group.

I was reminded of this recently, when I spoke to Dr Philippa Fibert, my next Tess Talks guest. Philippa is a practising homeopath, and also Research Fellow at St Mary's University, Twickenham here in the UK.

She pointed out to me that the intense scepticism about homeopathy is actually a recent phenomenon. It wasn’t that long ago that homeopathy was fairly mainstream, and is still available on the UK’s National Health Service, albeit in only two locations: the NHS Centre for Integrated Care in Glasgow, and the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine.

The latter used to be called Royal London Homeopathic Hospital; this was where Philippa’s great aunt, Dr Lena Banks, and her great aunt’s partner, Dr Marjorie Blackie, worked. Dr Blackie was the Queen’s Homeopath. Here’s the bouquet of flowers, plants and seeds used as sources of homeopathic remedies that Philippa’s Aunt Lena created for the Queen when she visited the hospital (of which she was a patron):

Isn’t it exquisite? Careful though, excessive appreciation of these beautiful medicinal flowers and herbs may be a symptom of chemophobia ;-)

I share this, not because the queen is someone we should all look to as an authority on health – we are each our own sovereign when it comes to our health and our lives – but isn’t it interesting that homeopathy was considered conventional enough for the Monarch to be a patron and be so openly supportive? Until recently in France, homeopathic remedies were fully funded by the State, with 38 million of its people using homeopathy to treat their ailments.

In India, homeopathy is a well-established medicine used by over ten million people. The Wikipedia editors may dismiss its popularity as nothing more than the placebo effect, but that would be to dismiss the significant body of evidence proving otherwise.

Like many safe, natural alternatives to pharmaceuticals, homeopathy has been under a sustained and calculated attack for some time. But I do believe that is about to change – and Philippa is playing a key role in its rehabilitation as an accepted and respected form of medicine.

Homeopathy for Long Covid

Those suffering from Long Covid have been turning to homeopathy – and so Philippa has led a service evaluation project to document the outcomes. The results have shown that people are experiencing improvements with homeopathic treatment so now, Philippa is spearheading a well-designed randomised controlled trial to evidence the outcome of the homeopathic treatment of the symptoms associated with long Covid.

You can find out more about the trial here, and Philippa shares more about this in our conversation.

This is a clear instance where Covid, despite its challenges, has also opened up an opportunity: the chance to clear homeopathy’s name. Philippa and her team are building the evidence base that will help restore homeopathy as an accepted and respected treatment.

It’s exciting, and I’m very much looking forward to sharing this conversation with you all this coming Sunday.

There is a Better Way – and homeopathy is 100% part of it.

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