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Preventative Medicine

Preventative Medicine is really what it should all be about: far better to prevent a malady of the health rather than wait for it to happen, and then have to seek drug treatments which are expensive and which, most probably, will not cure the condition anyway.

Just how popular is ‘Preventative Medicine’? How much do people really care about ‘Preventative Medicine’?

Today is the 30th August 2010, and there are only 11 searches recorded for the day in Google’s search engine for ‘Preventative Medicine’, which is nothing really, considering that there are 177 searches for ‘warfarin’ and 177 for ‘side effects of warfarin’. Imagine that – 177 people in a day looking up the side effects of warfarin, and only a portion of that – only 11 people all over the world, looking up ‘Preventative Medicine’.

Warfarin in my opinion, is one of the worst modern drugs. It is dished out to people willy nilly, and once you begin taking it, it seems you are on it for life. I don’t know of ANYONE who has taken warfarin just for a while until they get better. Warfarin is a blood thinner.

Now – Calcium Ascorbate is a natural blood thinner. So is Garlic a natural blood thinner. So is Ginger. So is Cayenne Pepper. So is grapefruit a natural blood thinner. There are many foods which thin the blood naturally, without having to take Warfarin for life.

One of the bad things about taking Warfarin is that you have to avoid all the naturally occuring blood thinners like grapefruit and other high vitamin C foods. This is not good for the liver or the gall bladder – or anything else, I should imagine.

I know somebody who began taking Warfarin in his early 30’s and has been taking it for almost 40 years. He has recently had his gall bladder removed because of cancer, and is now waiting for a liver operation to remove some of the liver, because there is now cancer in his liver. There was still time before the last operation for an alternative treatment, if only he had realized, however now that he has entered the cycle of operations which remove vital organs, or parts of them, his vitality is decreasing rapidly, and so alternative cures would have a hard job revitalizing this man’s body. Also, he has taken Warfarin for so long now that he cannot imagine being able to live at all without it. He believes his life depends on it.

Why is this? Why are people not so tuned in to thinking about preventative medicine?

I quote from the 2005 ‘Touch For Health: The Complete Manual’, written by John Thie, the founder of ‘Touch For Health’, and his son Matthew Thie. It is published by DeVorss and Co, P.O. Box 1389, Camarillo CA 93011-1389:

page v of the Introduction reads “…..The Touch for Health book and educational program was my way of providing some simple tools and processes that each of us can use to regain a role and authority in our own care.
Today, more than 30 years later, things have by and large gotten worse. While awareness of these problems has increased, and there is a resurgence of traditional and alternative approaches to healthcare, drug companies have become more aggressive in their advertising, manipulative of research, whether public or private, and there is ever greater emphasis on “conditions” requiring long-term and even life-long medication. Our profit driven, high-tech medicine, arguably the most advanced crisis care ever developed, has become costly and dangerous, while simpler preventative measures seem to have fallen by the wayside.
In fact, the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States.”

These authors give some alarming statistics on the practices of modern American orthodox medcicine. They claim that:

“Tens of millions of people unnecessarily take antibiotics, 9 million people are unnecessarily hospitalized, 7.5 million unnecessary medical and surgical procedures are performed, 2.2 million people have adverse drug reactions to prescribed medicines, and 783,936 deaths are caused by conventional medicine each year.

The fact is, that most disease can be prevented. There are a wide range of alternative health practitioners who can advise on methods to prevent disease becomoing established, and whose methods are effective in treating even more serious disease. However, preventative medicine is really the key.

The idea is to increase body vitality so that the immune system is strong and your powers of resistance to disease are working optimally.

Yoga exercise which teaches good breathing, meditation exercises such as yoga nidra, good diet, positive thinking including Reiki healing, the Power of Prayer and Spiritual healing, and Music therapy, are so important in helping to prevent disease. Acupressure techniques, including DoIn, Tsubo, Shiatsu, Qi Gong, and the more modern Touch For Health, are all ways in which your Prana, or vital energy can be maximized, and so they are all helpful in restoring health and preventing disease.

Visiting an Ayurvedic health practitioner, or a Chinese or Tibetan herbalist, or a homeopath are some of the alternatives which can improve the vitality and immunity and prevent a serious disease from setting in.

Our health practitioners, ideally, should recognize the symptoms of a disease early in the piece so that remedial action can be taken, the vitality improved, and a natural recovery is assisted.

Modern medicine, on the other hand, tends to define a disease which people get stuck with, along with the expensive drug which people believe is necessary.

Most people have a reverence and respect for the doctor’s word. The doctor, backed up by the drug company who is making the profit, tells them that they must take a certain drug for a certain condition, and that they will need to keep taking that drug for goodness knows how long. People usually don’t know any better, so they accept treatment without question, and the drug companies like it this way.

Some people like it this way too, as it means they do not have to DO anything about their condition if they believe that a medicine-drug is all that they have to take to manage their disease. Disease, unless you are unlucky from birth or some unusual freak event, often comes at us through our own poor lifestyle choices – bad living, poor nutrition and negative thinking.

However, the biggest causes of disease in our modern society are:

Environmental toxins, medical drugs, poisons and preservatives in our food, and electromagnetic radiation from modern technology such as cell phones and living close to excessively high power sources: these all lead to disease. This is really why alternative therapies such as detox diets which help you to detoxify chemicals from your body, and foods and methods which improve your vitality and immune function, are so important in preventing disease.

The authors of ‘Touch For Health’ refer people to the article entitled “Death By Medicine” at www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/mar2004_awsi_death_01.html

Herbal Remedies For Depression

Uplifting Herbal Remedies:

There are many herbal remedies for depression which are easily obtainable, and which have been proven to be effective in treating depression.

It is a good idea to get professional help if you are depressed. Go to your doctor, your acupuncturist, naturopath or health professional for advice. You should discuss the information below with your health professional before beginning any treatment.

First of all – check that you do not have SAD, or seasonal affective disorder. If SAD is the reason you are depressed, then increasing exposure of the body to natural sunlight on a regular basis, and supplementing the diet with Vitamin D rich foods, or a supplement, should help the condition. Deficiencies of sunlight and Vitamin D accompany this type of depression.

Diet For Depression: The best foods are alkaline greens, fruits and vegetables. Avoid sugar, preservatives in food, and avoid wheat products and dairy foods except for butter. Prepare your meals at home fresh. Eat plenty of salads, brown rice instead of wheat bread and pasta, cooked green vegetables. Make sure you have enough protein – organic free range eggs and meats and chicken. If you are vegetarian, then you need to eat plenty of sprouted seeds and grains to get adequate protein and vitamin B. Vitamin B deficiency, lack of Vitamin D and iron deficiency can lead to depression.

Protein In The Diet: Choose any of this list to complement your diet: Egg yolk, Sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, avocado, almonds and nuts. These are importan additions to the diet if you do not eat any meat or fish.

Gotu Kola (Hydrocotyle asiatica) is a natural stimulant. It is considered to be a helpful herbal remedy for depression. This herb benefits the central nervous system, and brain and hormone function. Gotu kola has been used to treat schizophrenia, epilepsy and memory loss, which are related to brain function. It also helps the body to rid itself of toxins via the kidneys. Gotu kola contains Vitamins A, K, and the mineral magnesium, which is another nervine. Gotu kola is not recommended for expectant mothers, or nursing mothers, though, because of its diuretic effect. People with intestinal disfunction, such as irritable bowel syndrome, or colitis, are best to avoid this herb.

Ginseng (Panex spp), that wonder of Oriental medicine, is another stimulating and reviving health herb which is useful in treating depression. Ginseng helps brain function, increases vitality, and nourishes the nerves. It is a good restorative medicine. Ginseng root has been used in Chinese medicine for over 5000 years. It is mineral-rich, and contains Vitamins A, B12 and Vitamin E.

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is another popular stimulating Chinese herb which is used to counteract depression, in combination with other treatments. It is reputed to be a great memory herb. However, this herb lowers the blood pressure dramatically, and so ginkgo should definitely be avoided by people with low blood pressure and avoided also by people who have disturbances with their sugar metabolism. I would recommend that you take this herb only under the guidance of a qualified health practitioner. My experience of this herb is that it certainly improved memory function, and increased alertness, but it had an unpleasant and disturbing side effect in that it made me feel terrible because of lowered blood pressure.

Ayurvedic Medicine: However, the reason this herb is not suitable for everyone might have something to do with the different mental and physiological types, known as doshas in Ayurvedic medicine. Vata, Pitta and Kapha are the three dosha types:

Vasant Lad, is the author of The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies, A Comprehensive Guide to the Ancient Healing of India. In this book, Vasant Lad recommends Ginkgo tea for Pitta depression. You obviously need to know your body type if this herb is going to be effective. Vasant Lad’s book is published in the UK by Judy Piatkus (Publishers) Limited, 5 Windmill Street, London W1T 2JA, 1999. Reprinted 2002.

Hawthorn Berries have a tonic and stimulating effect on the digestion, the heart, and the nervous system. Hawthorn is useful, in combination with other herbs and modalities in treating depression, as it helps improve kidney function and aids in the elimination of waste products.

Cayenne Pepper (Capsicum frutescens) is a safe herb to take to help drive those blues away. Cayenne pepper helps melancholia, mainly because it has a marked beneficial effect on the blood circulation, and also the digestion. You can use it in your food, or use it in foot baths to gain benefit from this stimulating herb. Cayenne contains the Vitamins A, C, and also has traces of iron and calcium.

The following are some other stimulating herbs which are safe to use in treating depression:

The mint family; marjoram, lemon verbena, thyme and basil. These can be used in your food, as herbal teas, as herbal treatments for the bath, or for use in a foot bath.

Herbs which Calm and Help With Natural Hormone Production:

Borage (Borago officinalis) Borage is the herb of courage, according to John Gerard, who quoted: ‘ego borago gaudia semper ago’, “I Borage, always bring courage’. Borage is a safe herb to use, and you can grow it easily in your garden. Just collect a few borage seeds after the purple flowers have died down, and sprinkle them around your garden, or your flower pots. They grow easily, as long as they are watered. Bees love this plant, especially bumble bees. Borage stimulates the adrenal glands, and healthy adrenal glands help promote that feeling of ‘joie de vivre’. Borage is rich in silica, which helps to soothe and heal the nerves. Make herbal tea with borage, or use a few leaves every day in your salad.

Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) is an herb which has been used in traditional medicine by the North American Indian people. It is often used for treating depression, as it is helpful in regulating hormones, and benefits the central nervous system, the brain, and emotions. Black Cohosh has nervine minerals calcium and magnesium. Black Cohosh is one of those herbs which should really only be used under the guidance of a health professional.

Dong Quai (Angelica Sinensis) This is another herb which, like ginkgo and ginseng, has been used in Chinese and Tibetan medicine for thousands of years. It is a valuable women’s herb, as it helps to restore estrogen levels. It is regarded as a general tonic for the female glandular/endocrine system. It also has a beneficial effect on the central nervous system. Dong Quai contains Vitamin E, B12, cobalt and iron, which contribute to its tonic effects.

Chaste Tree (Vitex agnuscastus) This herb helps the pituitary gland, which in turn, regulates hormone function. Vitamin B is recommended to supplement Chaste Tree berries.

Other Nervine herbs to Help Calm and Soothe: (Use under guidance from your health professional)

Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis) (Note – chamomile tea is safe to use at any time); Pasque Flower (Anemone pulsatilla); Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora); Wood Betony (Stachys officinalis); Vervain (Verbena officinalis); Valerian Root (Valeriana officinalis); Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnata); Lavender (Lavandula spp.)

Herbal Bath With Uplifting Herbs:

Lavender Bath: Put a handful of fresh lavender flowers into your bath as it is filling.

Rosemary Bath: Alternatively, you can use a sprig or two of rosemary. Leave the herbs in the bath to infuse as you soak in the water.

Homeopathic Arsen alb. 30x is very useful homeopathic for alleviating depression. Other ones which might be considered are Lachesis, or Ignation, Nat. mur, Lycopodium, Aconite, Belladona or Pulsatilla, depending on what the other symptoms are. Generally, you would choose just one, or maybe two, to treat the individual. Best to see a professional homeopath for advice, of course.

Varicose Veins Treatments

Techniques which improve the circulation are the most important of Varicose Veins Treatments.

You can look at merrilyn’s posts entitled ‘Causes of Varicose Veins’ and ‘Yoga for Varicose Veins’ for more information on how to improve the condition of varicose veins.

Here are some more ideas for varicose veins treatments which have not been covered fully in the other posts.

Hydrotherapy: The Foot Bath: The simple foot bath can be done at home at any time to help relieve aching varicose veins. The foot bath on its own will improve the circulation, and help to reduce swelling and pain, but we can enhance the therapeutic action by adding certain herbs and spices.

Try and do this hydrotherapy treatment once a day, or twice if your condition is very bad.

Get two large bowls or buckets, big enough for your feet to sit in comfortably, and more. Half fill one of the containers with cold water. Half fill the other with hot water which is at a comfortable bathing temperature.

Add half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and half a teaspoon of ginger to the bowl of hot water. Cayenne pepper is very good for improving varicose veins, as it helps to shrink them and reduce pain. Both ginger and cayenne pepper boost the circulation.

Begin with the feet in the cold water. Leave for half a minute, then transfer the feet into the warm-to-hot water. Leave in the hot water for a minute. Put the feet back into the cold water bucket for another minute, then return to the spiced-up hot water. You may need to add a touch of boiling water to the hot water bucket after a few minutes. Be careful to add just enough boiling water to heat up the water to a comfortable heat again. Do not have the water too hot, as this will harm your legs and possibly burn you.

Finish the hydrotherapy off with the feet soaking in the warm-to-hot water.

You can experiment using other herbs and spices in this footbath treatment. Herbs and spices which increase circulation are the ones to use here. I would use cayenne pepper in combination with either cinnamon, or ginger, turmeric, or cloves.

Note on Varicose Veins Water Temperature: VERY HOT water should never be applied to the varicose veins. Hot baths are best avoided. If you are taking a bath, then the bath water should be only warm to medium hot. Showers are considered best for people who have prominent or painful varicose veins, as showers do not prolong heat to the legs.

Massage to Soothe Veins: After the foot bath treatment, massage the legs gently with almond oil which has a few drops of rosemary oil added to it. This will soothe the veins, but also help circulation.

Cold Herbal Compress for Painful/Swollen Varicose Veins: Make up an infusion using healing herbs. You can use either comfrey, or borage, marigold flowers, chamomile flowers, witch hazel flowers, or use a combination if you like. Take up to half a cup of the fresh herbs. Put into a pot and add two cups of boiling water. Put on the lid. Leave on the stove to gently simmer for just one minute. Take off the heat, and leave to cool.

Soak a piece of white linen or cotton in the cold liquid. Wring out the cloth and apply it to the sore or swollen varicose vein. Put on a piece of plastic, and wrap lightly with a bandage. Leave the leg up for 20 minutes while you let the compress do its work. Take off. Repeat throughout the day as necessary. You can keep the mixture to dampen the cloth again before each application. Make up a fresh herbal mixture each day for use as compresses.

Drink Silica-rich Teas to help strengthen the veins and heal them from the inside. Silica-rich teas are those made with oat-straw, comfrey, borage, nettles, horsetail, chamomile and rosemary. Drinking plenty of herbal teas such as these will not only provide you with silica and other nutrients, but also cleanse the kidneys, improve your hair growth, and help the intestinal functions.

Homeopathic Hamamelis is considered to be one of the best remedies for healing the veins. Witch Hazel is made from the same plant. You can use Witch Hazel externally on the legs, and take the Homeopathic equivalentof Hamamelis internally. Just three or four drops of Hamamelis 30x, three times a day until relief is felt.

Vitamin C and Vitamin E are also great supplements for helping to relieve varicose veins.

Vitamin C Dosage: Between 1000mg to 3000mg of Vitamin C, preferable a non-acidic type, could be taken until better. Calcium Ascorbate or Ester C are good ones to go for.

Vitamin E Dosage :Take the standard dose as stated on the bottle for Vitamin E – best not to give large doses of Vitamin E.

Castor Oil: To clear the liver, gall bladder and bowels, use castor oil once a week as a remedial measure for the veins. Congestion in the digestive system, over time, will lead to the veins becoming distended. So to prevent varicose veins from forming, take 2 tbsps of castor oil in the morning, once a week.

For serious conditions, you could follow the Gerson programme, which uses castor oil every second day. Gerson used this method to cure cancers, mainly, but he insists it will cure any disease if his recommendations are followed to the letter.

What Happens When You Stop Smoking

You can imagine what happens when you stop smoking.

Giving up smoking is very difficult for most people. A few people manage the cold turkey approach to giving up smoking: something makes them decide one morning that they are just sick of the coughing fit which is experienced every morning upon waking. And that coughing fit is always followed by the crazy routine of going straight for the fags, the cause of the problem. They decide, on the spot, that they’re never going to smoke again, and that’s it. They don’t.

For most of us, achieving our goal of being a non-smoker is far more difficult. It certainly takes a lot of perseverance, in my experience, to keep going on the no-smoking tack, when you repeatedly disappoint yourself by breaking your vow to stop. Read about some helpful tips in Merrilyn’s post http://merrilynhope.com/giving-up-smoking/

It is important to keep motivated and positive about your intentions. All you have to do really, is to Keep on keeping on – Keep believing that you will finally become a non-smoker, despite the slow progress. If you keep believing that, then it won’t matter whether you take three weeks, three months, or three years, as long as you get there. Of course, sooner is better, rather than later, but don’t be disappointed in yourself if you break your vow of abstinence.

Feeling guilty about your failure to quit actually makes you likely to smoke more. Pick yourself up again, and continue trying to give up. Finally, one day, you will have become a non-smoker.

So – finally, you manage to do it. What happens when you stop smoking – how do you feel?

Of course, you will feel proud of yourself. And justifiably, too. Giving up smoking is, along with giving up alcohol, one of the best achievements you will make in your life time. Giving up smoking will improve your health, prolong your life, and give you and your family a better quality of life. The whole family will benefit because there will be more money for good food and outings. Your family, and your friends too, will also be happier, because they are not subjected to your smoke, and because they do not see you getting closer to death with every puff.

Initially, after you have stopped smoking, you will most likely feel more stressed and bad-tempered. This is partly because all those tobacco and combustion toxins which have been stored in your body suddenly begin to be expelled. The body is jolted into throwing off the stored poisons, because of the sudden withdrawal of tobacco. These poisons which suddenly begin to be expelled can cause you to feel very sick, if not irritable.

As the poisons get expelled, and flood through the bloodstream, you might experience heart palpitations, a fluctuating blood sugar level, dizziness, a foul tasting mouth, a yellow-furred tongue, profuse sweating, and other disturbances of the metabolism.

Over Eating can be a a problem for many people. Initially, though, you should not worry about this, unless you are excessively fat. Generally, smokers are malnourished. They have a deficiency of many of the important vitamins and minerals on which our good health depends. So eating up at the beginning of your adjustment to a smoke-free life should not be of concern. The main thing is to eat nutritious food and avoid eating bread and wheat products and fried foods: if you susbstitute brown rice for any bread you might eat, you won’t get fat, and your cholesterol levels will remain healthy.

Avoid Getting Fat: The thing you have to do, is not so much to curb your eating, but to ensure that you are not eating any crap foods. Nourish your body and nervous system. If you are hungry between meals, then try to make the effort to make yourself a carrot juice, or an apple juice. Or simply eat an apple, or a banana – something which will provide sustenance to your body and your brain and your nervous system.

How To Minimize Withdrawal Symptoms

The classic symptoms which you experience when you stop smoking can be remedied very quickly if you take measures to expell the tobacco poisons as quickly as you can. The more quickly that you can rid the body of these harmful toxins, the more quickly will your health be returned to normal and your mood be happy and constant.

Castor Oil to Eliminate Poisons One of the most efficient ways to get rid of poisons in the body and brain is to take castor oil every second day, for a week or two. An irrigation of the bowel is recommended during this time, especially if you have not done a cleansing diet in a while. This washes away the poisons from the bowel immediately, so that you do not reabsorb the poisons back into the bloodstream. These reabsorbed poisons keep the tobacco drugs in your blood. Getting rid of theses poisons from the bowel and blood increases the liklihood that you will quit the tobacco habit forever.

Castor Oil, or Ghee Oil Put either of these two oils into your nostrils at night. Ghee oil has been used in Ayurvedic medicine to help many health conditions, and ghee oil to stop smoking is one of them. Castor oil has a similar effect and is another well-tried remedy.

These oils will help your mucous membranes to heal, and also deter youfrom smoking. Put just three drops up into each nostril and inhale it into the sinuses. You can smear a little of either of these oils into the nostrils during the day time as well. Every time you get an urge to smoke, just put a little of either castor oil or ghee into the nostrils.

The Apple Diet

If you do not wish to tackle the castor oil treatment, you might try fasting on only apples for a day. Eat normally for a few days, then do two days on the apple diet.

The Grape Diet

Grapes work just as well as apples. Just eat grapes whenever you are hungry. Grapes and apples eaten raw will have a cleansing effect on your whole body.

Carrot Juice Diet

Another way to cleanse the body quickly is to take a glass of carrot juice every hour for the whole of the day. Again – eat normally for a few days, then try two days on the carrot juice diet.

Natural Tranquillizers

Of course, your brain has been relying on the tobacco drug, to help with your stress levels. Now this is what happens when you stop smoking: your brain does not make the adjustment to a drug-free existence so lightly. It will tell you that you ‘need’ something. You will fell restless, and perhaps anxious. See the paragraph below on the effects of Vitamin C and Vitamin B, which help to de-stress your body while you get used to doing without cigarettes.

Yoga Breathing, and Yoga Nidra can help greatly in destressing the body and in oxygenating the blood and brain so that you will feel great.

Read merrilyn’s posts entitled ‘Yoga Nidra’, and the ‘Ha Ha Ha Breath/Quit Smoking’ for some simple yoga techniques you can use in quitting smoking.

Alternate Nostril Breathing is of great value in calming the emotions and in acting as a deterrent for smoking. Simply block off the right nostril with the right hand thumb. Breathe in through the left nostril. Hold for a second, then release the thumb from the right nostril and put the ring finger over the left nostril. Your middle finger and ring finger should be resting above your nose on the eye-brow center.

Exhale through the right nostril. Breath in through the same nostril you have just exhaled from , that is the right. Hold the breath for a second, then swap the fingers over so that the left nostril is released. Breatheout through the left, then in again through the same nostril. Change the fingers to release the other nostril and repeat, exhaing through the right nostril, then breathing in again through the right nostril.

This can be done in bed at night. It helps to bring restful sleep and calm the brain.

Diet and Vitamin Supplements

Generally, a low carbohydrate/ high protein diet is the one which is recommended for people giving up smoking or alcohol.

You can give your brain that ‘added something’ by nourishing it with foods and vitamins and minerals which will negate those unwanted cravings. You can improve your stress levels enormously with the following specific vitamin supplements.

Vitamin C, especially the non-acidic form such as Ester C, or Calcium Ascorbate, will work not only as a detoxifying agent, but as a soothing, mild tranquillizer. This makes Vitamin C especially useful when you are giving up smoking, or alcohol. Take 1000 mg three times a day to begin your smoke free life. A dose should be taken last thing at night, as this will help you to sleep well.

Vitamin B Complex is another important supplement for giving up smoking. This nourishes your nerves and brain so that you do not suffer the effects of giving up smoking so intensely.

Zinc, Magnesium and B6 are essential to good health. You need an extra boost of these minerals when you are giving up smoking.

Calcium is another important mineral which helps us to sustain good health. Alcium also acts as a mild tranquillizer, so this is another one to add to your diet. If you ate a small can of sardines, or some mackerel, every day, then you will be getting plenty of calcium from the small bones in these fish.

You might experiment with merrilyn’s recipe for home made calcium supplement in the post “Best Calcium Supplement’. This supplement is better absorbed than calcium tablets are, or even dolomite powder, because it is naturally mixed with other minerals like magnesium and zinc, which aid the absorption of calcium.

Iodine is another important mineral, and you will get this in ample supply from eating sardines or any sea food.

Look at merrilyn’s posts entitled ‘Giving Up Smoking’, ‘Giving Up Alcohol Vitamins’, and ‘Detox Diets’. Also:

‘Homeopathic Remedy To Reduce Craving For Tobacco‘