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.

If there are alternative medicines and natural treatments that really work
why don't we hear more about them? I don't think there are many true conspiracies around
but this is one of those areas that makes me wonder. The movement between government posts and positions in the pharmaceutical corporations is well documented. This easy movement between the boardrooms and the FDA and other agencies certainly leaves room for abuse and "back door agreements."

More often than not
though
there is just a conspiracy-of-common-interest that prevents safe alternative medicines from coming to market
or from becoming widely known. For example
drug companies don't want the competition of safe alternatives to their drugs. Meanwhile
it is politically safer for the FDA to not allow a product
because if they approve something and it causes any problems
they get the blame. This is a convenient coinciding of interests.

Also
natural products
like silymarin (Milk Thistle Extract)
which is used all over Europe to treat poisonings and to protect the liver
are legal here
but not well known. This is because
as a natural product
there is no way to patent it. Without being able to exclude others from selling it
no company can afford to spend the millions it would take to get it approved as a medicine here.

A natural product also can't be marketed heavily. Imagine if a large company spent millions to promote a medicinal herb. As soon as they got the public's attention
all the smaller companies could undercut them on the price
since they spent nothing on marketing
and a plant product is usually the same no matter what the name on the label. No company wants to spend big money on a product they don't have an exclusive right too.

When a plant isn't approved as a natural treatment
there are no pharmaceutical reps out there educating doctors about it (Didn't you know that's how doctors keep educated?). In addition
even if a doctor has read about a useful plant
he is more likely to face a malpractice suit for an allergic reaction to an alternative medicine than from killing someone with a "standard and accepted" treatment. Which do you think he'll recommend?

Companies face the same issues of liability. In addition
the companies are limited in what they can say about these natural products. This is why you can look all over the box that some plant medicines come in
and never once see a mention of what it is for. It is tough to learn about these natural treatments
isn't it?

In other words
if you want to know about alternative medicines and medical treatment
you have to look outside the mainstream for your information. You have to read the magazines that cover these alternatives
and sometimes
when it is safe
you have to even experiment a little on yourself.

As for my own approach
I like to see that there is actually some real research that demonstrates a benefit. Anecdotal evidence doesn't mean much. People get better all the time
and credit whatever they happened to be using at the time. On the other hand
if it is inexpensive and safe
like eating blueberries to improve vision
I'll try almost anything once.

Do natural treatments work? Sometimes. I have twice removed skin growths from my face that may have even been pre-cancerous. They were there for many years
yet it took just weeks to make them disappear using a simple and cheap natural product. I have also witnessed the fastest healing of a cut (on my foot) that I've ever seen
after applying a common plant to it. Some alternative medicines really do work.