Recently, we travelled to India and consulted a homeopathic doctor who prescribed a powdered medicine and guaranteed that my daughter’s type 1 diabetes would be cured. He did not stop the injections and said that we keep injections and also take medicine he provided. Is taking both medicines right? Should I stop the medicine?

Most probably your daughter has type 1A (autoimmune) diabetes, in which case she is going to need to take some form of replacement insulin for the rest of her life. Sometimes, young people may have type 1B they may become insulin independent at least for a time. In no form of diabetes however, does any homeopathic remedy have a role in management. I personally think that you should get your daughter to discontinue such treatment even though it is almost certainly harmless.

This is not to say that alternative medicine is without a role in this disease. The leaves of Aegle Marmelos for instance have long been used to lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetes in India and quite recently an alcoholic extract of the leaves has also been shown to have significant anti-oxidant properties.

DOB