There are many reasons why people are starting to turn to natural health remedies instead of the conventional prescription drugs. If you went out onto the street and ask lots of people what they think of natural and alternative therapies then you’d get varying answers. Some will talk about what they’ve read in a magazine or watched on TV whilst others might have personal stories to tell.
Although I have been lucky enough not to have dealt with any real health ailments in my life, I have taken a keen interest in health supplements, food, exercise and all of these types of topics. The reason is because of what I’ve had to witness from my own parents.
My mum was officially diagnosed with Multiple Scleroses (MS) 13 years a go. There were many different tests done at the time including a lumber puncture and brain scans. When the doctor told her that it was MS he effectively said for her to go home and forget about it. If you have ever watched anything on tv about ms or read about it, you will know that it is a degenerative condition which leaves people in wheelchairs, or even in much worse conditions. Simply going home and acting like everything is normal is not at all possible. Because of the lack of help from conventional medicine, my mum and dad both read considerable amounts of information about this condition via books. They read about nutrition, exercise and natural health supplements. They also had consultations with natural health practitioners (including Jan de Vries) who said that it wasn’t as bad as MS and it was actually ME. They are both 2 of th e many different types of autoimmune condition.
I won’t go into a great amount of detail about what natural health therapies that were used but there were many vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids (evening primrose oil and fish oil). Although she still gets tired and has to take a nap every day, she has never needed to use a wheelchair or anything like that.
My dad’s health problems were back pain and digestion problems. First of all he hurt his back whilst taking heavy carrier bags from the shopping trolley and placing them in the boot of the car. Carrying the heavy weight whilst twisting round caused him major pain. His doctor told him to go home and rest but my dad wasn’t happy with this medical advice. So he got lots of books on back pain and they said that he should exercise. This advice is now common practice but at the time my dad’s doc wasn’t happy about him going against his professional opinion.
The other health problem related to digestion. My dad had put anti freeze into the car but realized he put in too much. SO he got a straw and sucked some out and then spit it out before he swalled any. Unfortunately some of this got into his system and it made him very ill very quickly afterwards. It’s thought that it damaged in the inside of his stomach causing food and nutrients not to be absorbed as well as they should. Luckily after a lot of different health advice and supplements he is now able to eat properly again. When he had this condition he couldn’t eat a single thing with yeast or wheat in it. Now is body had recovered.
It’s funny that when a doctor can’t see with his own eyes what is wrong with a patient they think that the patient is a hypochondriac. The doc had asked about his symptoms, when the occurred and if there was any pattern. My dad wasn’t sure so he decided to take a diary of everything he had eaten along with how he felt. The doctor said that he was thinking way too much about his condition and that he should stop. Instead of looking for proper treatments, he wanted to give my dad antidepressants.
Although you should always take the advice of a trained medical practioner, you can also ask if you can receive alternative treatments. Here in the UK, my gran gets acupuncture for nothing on the NHS because of her joint pain. Luckily there are more and more natural therapies being used and they aren’t seen as being mumbo jumbo. Unfortunately I think we still have a long way to go before your doctor will look at alternative therapies before prescribing any drugs.
Unfortunately not everyone in the health care industry can be trusted and it doesn’t matter whether they are self-employed or work for the NHS. I don’t know if they do this on purpose or whether they just aren’t very good at their jobs but my mum has been having a lot of trouble with her neck recently and has gone to various people. There was an osteopath who really didn’t help at all and charged her a small fortune for the privelage. When my mum described the treatment she received to a physio she was told that it was of no help what-so-ever. Luckily things are getting better due to the physiotherpay.
Smoking is a big problem that so many people try to stop. There are so many different tips on stopping smoking. I’m afraid I really don’t know what is good as I have never smoked before. There are people who have done well with hypotherapy but even this doesn’t always work over the long term. If you do give up smoking make sure that you keep away from people who smoke a lot because they will badly influence. Apart from acupuncture and hypnotherapy I’m not sure about any other natural health remedies that can help.
