27th June 2010

Helen Llewelyn, 31, from Haringey, north London, suffered from chronic physical pain and depression as a result of endometriosis which conventional medicine, including surgery, failed to help. She was referred to the Royal London Homoeopathic hospital in 2007.

"My homoeopathic treatment includes two medicines for physical pain and one for my mental state. I saw a homoeopathist three times and it worked. I come from a very scientific background; I'm certainly not someone drawn naturally to homoeopathy. I didn't think the medicines would work but they did. I thought anti-depressants would work but they didn't. So I don't put a lot of merit on the placebo argument. To say that funding for homoeopathy on the NHS is a waste is extremely short-sighted. It will save thousands on useless medicines. More importantly, it saved my life. Isn't that worth something? I would still be clinically depressed otherwise. It made me much more productive in society."