complementary medicine

There is a lot of hype about alternative medicines
and some of them are certainly without much value. Of course there is a lot of hype about regular medicines
many of which do as much harm as good. The fact that natural remedies and treatments rarely hurt people as much as prescription drugs is one reason to at least try them. Here are a few that I can vouch for from experience.

Tea Tree Oil

I had a lump on the side of my nose
growing slowly
bleeding at times. I had it for years
and the one time I asked a doctor about it
he wasn't sure if it was actually cancerous. I read somewhere that tee tree oil might work. I bought a bottle at a health-food store for $6. I applied a drop to the lump each day
and in less than six weeks
the lump was gone completely.

Coincidence? After having the growth for years? I don't think so. In fact I had another growth years later on my neck
and for several years
I couldn't remember what I had used the first time. When I found a clue in some old notes
I used tea tree oil on that growth
which was even larger than the first one. It was gone in about six weeks.

St. John's Wort

When hiking in Canada
I cut my foot. The gash was deep. I found St. John's Wort (Hypericum perfolatum)
which has been proven to have anti-bacterial
anti-viral and anti-fungal properties. I mashed up a few leaves and bandaged them to the cut
replacing them occasionally. I have honestly never seen a cut heal faster.

St. John's Wort is one of the better known alternative medicines now. It is used as an anti-depressant
with numerous studies showing it's effectiveness. It is also used by some as a temporary mood-elevator. This effect isn't proven yet
but whenever I've had tea made from the plant
it tasted awful and left me happy for two hours. Anecdotal and subjective evidence (I'm not even entirely convinced)
but interesting.

Valerian Root

When my wife has cramps and pain
nothing works better than a cup of tea made from valerian root. You can get the tea in many stores now. I wouldn't try driving after having valerian root. This is a powerful relaxant.

In fact
valerian root is too strong for some people. A gentler herb that will relax you is chamomile. You can find this as tea too. It makes a great drink with honey
just before you are ready to go to bed.

There are so many alternatives out there. I have stopped a headache just by chewing on willow twigs. I have stopped diarrhea with oak bark (careful - this can hard on the liver in large doses). I have watched a friend's poison ivy rash disappear overnight with the application of jewelweed juice.

I am sure that I have tried just as many alternatives that didn't work
too
but you know what? Put all the ineffective ones together and the cost probably doesn't add up to the cost of one visit to a doctor. As for the effective ones
well
no doctor yet has introduced me to one of them. You have to do your own research on alternative medicines.