Shirl,

Really, the thing is, a practitioner should be so knowledgable in cases like this that a patient should never have to wonder what she should do next in terms of her treatment. As Divina aka ChaChaHeels pointed out, we can't do homeopathy without doctors. We need their cooperation, we need to know test results so we can adjust our remedies, potencies, frequency of repetitions, etc. and in turn, the doctors have to be of a mind that they're willing to adjust their prescriptions because they accept that their patient is on alternative treatment that might make test results change. A homeopath not working with an MD in a case of autoimmune disease, and an MD who may be unaware of or unsympathetic to alternative medicine makes me nervous--I can't see a good outcome if these are the circumstances.

In answer to your question, I think you already know that homeopathy can cause harm; but so can conventional medicine; and the idea in both systems is to find a competent practitioner. I know you're thinking, How can I judge whose competent? We can help you with that. There are certain practitioners whom we can all agree on, as they have reputations, authored many books and run schools; for example, we could all recommend Roger Morrison, and Nancy Herrick at the Hahnemann Clinic which I think is in Albany, California--check "Directory" on the homepage; again with Timothy Dooley, Luc De Schepper and there are others, if you check the directory and see who's near you, we could be of help in that way.

Snoopy