Alternative Medicines & Therapies: Miscellaneous

Big and bad — that’s the wolf, according to a tale told to children in too many countries and languages to count. You’ll find him and his terrors in silver-screen hits like Liam Neeson’s The Grey and in the haunting songs of indie-rock icon Neko Case. That wolf — he’ll eat your women and steal your livestock. And his image is everywhere, in news and culture. One place you might not expect to find him, though, is on your therapist’s couch. At least, until now.

That’s right: Hopping into the mental-health-care ring with Freud, Lexapro and the self-help section on Amazon is the feared, fearsome, fascinating wolf. New therapy and recreational programs now let humans other than Kevin Costner dance with the wolves — or at least snuggle with them in a supervised environment. Wolf Connection, outside Los Angeles, runs a program for addicts through some rehab centers and also works with veterans. Shadowland Foundation in Lake Hughes, California, which has a wolf-size dog door into the house, specializes in business retreats, veteran services and the occasional wolf wedding. They may sound gimmicky, but such programs are expanding. Wolf Connection, for one, has by its own account doubled in size every year for the past five years and plans to double its wolf pack in 2015. ...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wolf-therapy-the-latest-in-mental-health-care/ar-BBkhjQD
 
Naturally occurring clay from British Columbia, Canada—long used by the region's Heiltsuk First Nation for its healing potential—exhibits potent antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens, according to new research from the University of British Columbia.

The researchers recommend the rare mineral clay be studied as a clinical treatment for serious infections caused by ESKAPE strains of bacteria.

The so-called ESKAPE pathogens—Enterococcus faecium, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species—cause the majority of U.S. hospital infections and effectively 'escape' the effects of antibacterial drugs.

"Infections caused by ESKAPE bacteria are essentially untreatable and contribute to increasing mortality in hospitals," says UBC microbiologist Julian Davies, co-author of the paper published today in the American Society for Microbiology's mBio journal.

http://phys.org/news/2016-01-ancient-medicinal-clay-today-worst.html
 
Pablo, 27, says his survival after terminal diagnosis is down to special diet
By RDoddHerald | Posted: July 14, 2016

Pablo Kelly was given months to live after doctors found a terminal tumour in his brain.
He rejected chemotherapy in favour of a specialist, meat and fat-heavy diet and is still alive two years later.

At 25 years old Pablo, from Wrangaton, was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme - a terminal brain tumour. Due to the tumour's position in Pablo's brain it was also inoperable.
"I was devastated," Pablo said.
"I hadn't slept in weeks just waiting for the results. I was quite calm that morning, I knew the news wasn't going to be good.
"My partner went white and nearly threw up and my mum was just squeezing my hand so hard.
"Within 10 minutes it hit me and I went crazy, I was just really angry. They told me to just let it out."

Pablo's symptoms had begun that year with migraines. He put them down to the summer heat, but after nearly fainting at work one day he decided to book an appointment with his doctor.
"All they could suggest is that is was a migrainous aura which is feelings and symptoms you notice shortly before the headache begins," Pablo said.

"Then a few days later, I was walking to meet my partner, it was scorching hot and I went to take a drink. My mouth started to droop on one side. My left side was dropping. I thought, why am I having a stroke? I'm 25 years old. I'm healthy
"I went to my doctor and he said he could prescribe some painkillers. It happened again a week or so later. After not going to work I went back pushed myself and then I had another seizure."

Pablo was concerned and asked for a CT scan and when that came back showing only 'haziness' he got a second opinion from a neurosurgeon. In just two weeks, he found himself at Derriford being given the shocking news that he was dying.
"I decided it wasn't going to break me, that we would figure something out," Pablo said.
When doctors offered Pablo radiotherapy and chemotherapy, he decided he didn't like the idea of a diminished quality of life and opted for a treatment that is not recommended by the NHS - a high fat, low carb food plan known as the ketogenic diet.

"The doctors said the only option they could give me was chemotherapy," Pablo said.
"The survival statistics for people my age were about three per cent and that's for a maximum of 15 months with chemotherapy, without it, based on my health and age, they gave me six to nine months."

The ketogenic diet relies on measuring ketones - an acid remaining when the body burns its own fat. The theory is that by reducing the intake of carbohydrates it is possible to starve a tumour of fuel and therefore stabilise it.
"Doctors told me the ketogenic wouldn't help me in any way," Pablo said, "I've had five stable scans since January 2015 on this diet."

Pablo restricts his calories and fasts regularly. His only source of carbohydrates comes from green vegetables. He cannot eat processed foods, refined sugars, root veg, starch, breads, or grains. He also has to measure his blood sugar twice every day and takes supplements and anti-inflammatories to ensure his body gets everything it needs.

"It's all quackery in the eyes of modern medicine but it's clearly helping because I'm still alive," Pablo said.
"To my knowledge, I'm the only person with this type of brain tumour that isn't having therapy or surgery and is still alive today."

Pablo isn't able to take a job as his seizures prevent him from working and his supplements and therapies cost an estimated £11,000 a year which he has to pay for using his disability benefits. This often means that Pablo has to analyse which supplements are imperative to his survival and which he can live without. He refers to an American company, Nutritional Solutions, for advice in these matters.

"This brain tumour is trying to kill me right now. This diet involves a lot of work, but it's a matter of life and death for me. The next step is to try and shrink it. Hopefully I can be an advocate for people to use this diet.
"The tumour is still there, but I can live and love my family and hopefully start my own family one day."

Pablo, his family and friends fundraise constantly to pay for his supplements, food and therapies. To support The Pablo Fund, visit www.gofundme.com/fkft14. You can also follow Pablo on Twitter @pablosbrainjourney

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/pab...special-diet/story-29513297-detail/story.html
 
Watch out for the con artists. Yiu might lose more than just money.

Beware the snake-oil merchants of alternative medicine - your life could depend on it
Market for unproven alternative medicines worth over €30bn worldwide
about 7 hours ago

For as long as people have fallen ill, there have been others only too keen to exploit them.

History is littered with charismatic hucksters and misguided fools eager to peddle useless elixirs and ineffectual trinkets for every manner of malady imaginable, from bear-bile to magnetic bracelets. The term “snake-oil” has become something of a catch-all term for any ineffective remedy, sold with a litany of empty promises. While the phrase itself conjures up images of 19th-century fairground shysters, the troubling reality is that we live in an era where snake-oil is more abundant than ever before. And it has never been more imperative that we are able to spot it.

The sheer ubiquity of odious cranks throughout the ages is exemplified by the abundance of terminology for such individuals, all with diverse etymology.

The French word charlatan dates from the 1600s, referring pejoratively to one who peddles a medicine with elaborate theatrics. “Quackery” is at least two centuries old, derived from the Dutch “quacksalver” – one who hawks salves. The term “snake-oil” itself originated in 1860s America, during the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad. This massive undertaking linked Iowa to San Francisco, requiring over 3,000km of rail-track to be laid. This was backbreaking work, and pain afflicted the entire workforce. Among the labourers was a sizeable Chinese contingent, who relied on folk remedies for their aching muscles – including snake-oil. ...

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and...dicine-your-life-could-depend-on-it-1.3405985
 
There used to be a product on sale in my local market called Dog Oil, which was supposed to be for rubbing into the limbs of whippets to improve their performance. Humans swore by it for their acheing backs.
It's only just occurred to me that surely nobody thinks dogs are the source of the oil. Do they?
 
escargot said:
There used to be a product on sale in my local market called Dog Oil, which was supposed to be for rubbing into the limbs of whippets to improve their performance. Humans swore by it for their acheing backs.
It's only just occurred to me that surely nobody thinks dogs are the source of the oil. Do they?
Click to expand...

There are some strange people out there.
 
escargot said:
There used to be a product on sale in my local market called Dog Oil, which was supposed to be for rubbing into the limbs of whippets to improve their performance. Humans swore by it for their acheing backs.
It's only just occurred to me that surely nobody thinks dogs are the source of the oil. Do they?
Click to expand...

I tried that dog oil - I could run like the wind & had a lovely wet nose.
 
escargot said:
There used to be a product on sale in my local market called Dog Oil, which was supposed to be for rubbing into the limbs of whippets to improve their performance. Humans swore by it for their acheing backs.
It's only just occurred to me that surely nobody thinks dogs are the source of the oil. Do they?
Click to expand...

Mason's original Dog Oil is made with mineral and vegetable oils. ... And it's still being manufactured ...

http://www.dogoil.co.uk
 
I find it so sad that science set itself up as judge and jury.

The only alternative medicine/therapy I know something of is Ayurveda. Ayurveda is based on principles outside the realms of science as it deals with subtle energies in the body and environment undetectable by science so in this case there can be common ground with the scientific method.
 
kesavaross said:
I find it so sad that science set itself up as judge and jury.

The only alternative medicine/therapy I know something of is Ayurveda. Ayurveda is based on principles outside the realms of science as it deals with subtle energies in the body and environment undetectable by science so in this case there can be common ground with the scientific method.
Click to expand...

What is "outside the realm of science" now may not remain so forever. And I can't see why the scientific method could not be applied to every topic of knowledge or wisdom. The only thing we should care in doing so, is never to jump to hasty and definitive conclusions

Chinese medicine in theory also deals with subtle and invisible energies, circulating through canals you can't find when you dissect a body. But that's not an issue as long as you can check its results. Efficiency is measurable, so we can always start an assessment with that. Why couldn't it be the same with Ayurveda ?

I mean, if 100 % of people treated with the xxxx therapy aren't cured from their condition, we can assume that it likely doesn't work ... or that the physician was an extremely unlucky guy ! Now if 50% get cured (while those who aren't treated remain sick), there is something to investigate and scientific research is a valid way to do it. Maybe we won't find out why and how it works for sure, but it may help progress toward a greater understanding of the phenomenon.

Maybe I already told this somewhere in this forum but once, one of my colleagues who suffered from an enduring pain in the left shoulder asked me to practice acupuncture on him because his doctor did not know how to relieve him. I reluctantly agreed to puncture him on the shoulder. This colleague was of Moroccan origin and did not know anything about Chinese medicine. And yet after 20 to 30 minutes, he started to describe having strange feelings "moving" upwards from the shoulder to the head. I asked him to describe the precise path taken by this feeling and the path he described was exactly the path of the acupuncture meridian of the gallbladder. For a guy who knew nothing about Chinese medicine, to be able to describe with such precision an acupuncture meridian ... I found this astonishing. And what's more, after this treatment, my colleague's shoulder pain completely vanished, never to come back again ... So somehow, something happened. I don't know how, but I know that it happened. And I am sure that someday, some research will bridge the gap between the Chinese traditional explanation of Qi / prana moving in invisible canals / nadis and a more "scientific" one.
 
AmStramGram said:
What is "outside the realm of science" now may not remain so forever. And I can't see why the scientific method could not be applied to every topic of knowledge or wisdom. The only thing we should care in doing so, is never to jump to hasty and definitive conclusions

Chinese medicine in theory also deals with subtle and invisible energies, circulating through canals you can't find when you dissect a body. But that's not an issue as long as you can check its results. Efficiency is measurable, so we can always start an assessment with that. Why couldn't it be the same with Ayurveda ?

I mean, if 100 % of people treated with the xxxx therapy aren't cured from their condition, we can assume that it likely doesn't work ... or that the physician was an extremely unlucky guy ! Now if 50% get cured (while those who aren't treated remain sick), there is something to investigate and scientific research is a valid way to do it. Maybe we won't find out why and how it works for sure, but it may help progress toward a greater understanding of the phenomenon.

Maybe I already told this somewhere in this forum but once, one of my colleagues who suffered from an enduring pain in the left shoulder asked me to practice acupuncture on him because his doctor did not know how to relieve him. I reluctantly agreed to puncture him on the shoulder. This colleague was of Moroccan origin and did not know anything about Chinese medicine. And yet after 20 to 30 minutes, he started to describe having strange feelings "moving" upwards from the shoulder to the head. I asked him to describe the precise path taken by this feeling and the path he described was exactly the path of the acupuncture meridian of the gallbladder. For a guy who knew nothing about Chinese medicine, to be able to describe with such precision an acupuncture meridian ... I found this astonishing. And what's more, after this treatment, my colleague's shoulder pain completely vanished, never to come back again ... So somehow, something happened. I don't know how, but I know that it happened. And I am sure that someday, some research will bridge the gap between the Chinese traditional explanation of Qi / prana moving in invisible canals / nadis and a more "scientific" one.
Click to expand...
Thing is,
  1. Most people would have alternative therapies/medicines alongside whatever scientific medicine (for want of a better description) they are on. You can't know that the alternative medicine made any difference to the outcomes.
  2. You can't ethically leave people to suffer with no treatment to be a "control" group.
  3. The numbers of people purely using alternative medicine are too small for that data to produce enough/statistically significant evidence I suspect....
  4. I hear mostly anecdotal evidence from believers - but actual statistically significant/scientific results are where?
I am afraid the more I found out about the texts behind the integrative/complementary therapies/treatments/medicines, the more I was convinced that it was based on ancient beliefs that had no basis on science or fact. Very faith-based.
I saw books describing herbal/food medicine related to treating conditions purely because the item looked slightly like a kidney or whatever - how reliable/safe is that as a method of deciding what to use?
Similarly, some of the theories might have been developed at a time when they weren't able to look at the human body/dissect bodies.....so they seem more based on an idea of what was going on than reality.....
The use of the term "subtle energies," leads me to ask if they are so subtle they can't be detected, how can they have huge effects on the body? It seems similar to me to the idea of water holding memories of the herbs or whatever has been in them, even when diluted....
I am a skeptic.
I know plants have been used in scientific medicine development. I would rather have the scientific medicine - where they have isolated the specific compounds from the plant etc, medicines are tested, and you get a measurable dose you can rely on to do the job it needs to do.
I would like to be proven wrong in my skepticism.....but so far I have not been convinced.
 
Earthly oddity said:
Thing is,
  1. Most people would have alternative therapies/medicines alongside whatever scientific medicine (for want of a better description) they are on. You can't know that the alternative medicine made any difference to the outcomes.
  2. You can't ethically leave people to suffer with no treatment to be a "control" group.
  3. The numbers of people purely using alternative medicine are too small for that data to produce enough/statistically significant evidence I suspect....
  4. I hear mostly anecdotal evidence from believers - but actual statistically significant/scientific results are where?
I am afraid the more I found out about the texts behind the integrative/complementary therapies/treatments/medicines, the more I was convinced that it was based on ancient beliefs that had no basis on science or fact. Very faith-based.
I saw books describing herbal/food medicine related to treating conditions purely because the item looked slightly like a kidney or whatever - how reliable/safe is that as a method of deciding what to use?
Similarly, some of the theories might have been developed at a time when they weren't able to look at the human body/dissect bodies.....so they seem more based on an idea of what was going on than reality.....
The use of the term "subtle energies," leads me to ask if they are so subtle they can't be detected, how can they have huge effects on the body? It seems similar to me to the idea of water holding memories of the herbs or whatever has been in them, even when diluted....
I am a skeptic.
I know plants have been used in scientific medicine development. I would rather have the scientific medicine - where they have isolated the specific compounds from the plant etc, medicines are tested, and you get a measurable dose you can rely on to do the job it needs to do.
I would like to be proven wrong in my skepticism.....but so far I have not been convinced.
Click to expand...

Please, do not misunderstand me. Basically I agree with you. But some of the points you make do not prevent scientifically studying traditional therapies :

You CAN measure the effect of a therapy even when the patient undergoes another treatment alongside. This is already routinely done within the scope of western medicine, when researchers assess the efficiency of a new molecule when taken alone, and then in combination with another one. I've seen this done time and again in clinical trials for cancer cures.

This means in turn, that you can use people treated with modern "serious" medicine only as a control group. So you don't have to let people suffer without a treatment ....

The issue is that, if people start with thinking that assessing a traditional therapy is useless, only "originals" will try to scientifically study them, so there won't be enough statistical data to conclude anything, and all will end up in a circular argument : "There is only anecdotal evidence, so I don't make any research, so there is not enough data, so I leave it alone and stay in my zone of comfort". And in the end the only debate is between "believers" and people who believe they know better.

I don't "believe" anything, although I did study Chinese medicine and its weird theories, made up hundreds of years ago by people who did not have the same technologies as us but who had lots of clinical experience (and clinical experience is usually what makes the difference between a good and a bad physician). They did their best with what they had and still manage to find a few useful things.

They did find useful treatments that we still use today, but under a new guise. For instance, in most western countries, common cold symptoms are treated with pseudo-ephedrin. Did you know that this molecule is a synthetic version of ephedrin, the active principle of the plant ephedra, which was used for centuries for treating colds in China ? (And yes, I know that ephedrin can be toxic, as is the case with most drugs when taken in excessive quantities - so some will say that Chinese traditional medicine is harmful because some morron used crazy amounts of a drug, against all traditional prescriptions, to treat his patients claiming this was "Chinese medicine).

So, to sum up, I would like to point out that :

1/ Modern medicine deserves respect.
2/ Skepticism is great.
3/ But a truly scientific mind should remain open (while remaining scientific) and focus on research, with endless curiosity. It should never be a matter of "Belief" versus non belief.

In this regard, the IG Nobel, who look like a joke , are great, because they focus on weird / original scientific research. They marvellously illustrate that there is no "underscience"

Great discoveries are still waiting for those who dare to investigate rarely taken paths.
 
AmStramGram said:
Please, do not misunderstand me. Basically I agree with you. But some of the points you make do not prevent scientifically studying traditional therapies :

You CAN measure the effect of a therapy even when the patient undergoes another treatment alongside. This is already routinely done within the scope of western medicine, when researchers assess the efficiency of a new molecule when taken alone, and then in combination with another one. I've seen this done time and again in clinical trials for cancer cures.

This means in turn, that you can use people treated with modern "serious" medicine only as a control group. So you don't have to let people suffer without a treatment ....

The issue is that, if people start with thinking that assessing a traditional therapy is useless, only "originals" will try to scientifically study them, so there won't be enough statistical data to conclude anything, and all will end up in a circular argument : "There is only anecdotal evidence, so I don't make any research, so there is not enough data, so I leave it alone and stay in my zone of comfort". And in the end the only debate is between "believers" and people who believe they know better.

I don't "believe" anything, although I did study Chinese medicine and its weird theories, made up hundreds of years ago by people who did not have the same technologies as us but who had lots of clinical experience (and clinical experience is usually what makes the difference between a good and a bad physician). They did their best with what they had and still manage to find a few useful things.

They did find useful treatments that we still use today, but under a new guise. For instance, in most western countries, common cold symptoms are treated with pseudo-ephedrin. Did you know that this molecule is a synthetic version of ephedrin, the active principle of the plant ephedra, which was used for centuries for treating colds in China ? (And yes, I know that ephedrin can be toxic, as is the case with most drugs when taken in excessive quantities - so some will say that Chinese traditional medicine is harmful because some morron used crazy amounts of a drug, against all traditional prescriptions, to treat his patients claiming this was "Chinese medicine).

So, to sum up, I would like to point out that :

1/ Modern medicine deserves respect.
2/ Skepticism is great.
3/ But a truly scientific mind should remain open (while remaining scientific) and focus on research, with endless curiosity. It should never be a matter of "Belief" versus non belief.

In this regard, the IG Nobel, who look like a joke , are great, because they focus on weird / original scientific research. They marvellously illustrate that there is no "underscience"

Great discoveries are still waiting for those who dare to investigate rarely taken paths.
Click to expand...
I am glad we are able to discuss things like this, disagree with each other, and not get angry with each other.

I used to be less skeptic. I would still love to be proven wrong.

What worries me most about the complementary medicine provision is people who refuse "regular" treatment and go entirely complementary - against medical advice, people who don't discuss things properly with GP/practitioner and who take treatments alongside each other that may harm them or make their "regular" medicines inactive, and bad practice.

This recent case with the Chiropractor doing a neck procedure and the terrible injuries that young lady has suffered - so tragic. It sounds like she is not going to be able to recover fully - and is lucky to be alive and recovering at all.
 
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Forteanly enough, yesterday evening, the French Public Television (France 2) broadcasted a 2 hours' programme ("Les Pouvoirs Extraordinaires du Corps Humain") on the rise of "integrative medicine", e.g. the association of standard medicine with alternative therapies / techniques, such as hypnosis (and its use during cerebral surgery), acupuncture & meditation (as pain-killers), "fire-cutters" working in hospitals (in emergency services), and so on.

Most of the broadcast focused on examples taken from Swiss hospitals (mainly Lausanne), where these practices seem to be on the rise.

They also dealt with a few "unexplained", and sometine impressive, cases :

* a Belgian businessman who had his pituitary gland extracted in the course of a surgery 15 years ago, and who managed to survive almost normally without taking any drugs, supposedly because of the lifestyle he had adopted : sports, meditation, healthy food, nature baths ...

* a French biker left paraplegic by an accident (major vertebral subluxation between L1 and L2, with a severed spinal cord), who had regained control on most parts of his legs through self-inflicted "mental training" (as he could not move, he imagined moving until ... his body really started to move). It's as if his body had regained its abilities under the influence of his own willpower. This guy still spent part of his time on a wheelchair, but he could awkwardly walk alone for short distances when required (he actually became a paralympics swimming champion).

* several people cured of second and third degree burns by so-called "fire cutters" (a kind of "magnetizers", folk doctors, still common in the Alps) ...

The first two cases were the most impressive ones, as their physicians were really at loss at how to explain their (partial) cure.

It was still basically an entertainment programme, and some topics were covered with a lack of rigour. Yet, it was really interesting to see how some hospitals added alternative therapies to their approach in order to take better care of their patients. The use of hypnosis in cerebral surgery appeared especially helpful, as it allowed to keep the patient awake during the surgery, which in turn made it possible for the surgeon to immediately notice when he had to preserve a specific part of the brains he was working on.
 
Citizens in Colorado voted to allow people to use “ Magic Mushrooms “ or psilocybin under a doctor’s care.

The program will be similar to the Magic Mushrooms used in Oregon for anxiety and depression.

I think I could use some “ Magic” !
 
Here's an episode of BBC R4 series The New Gurus that touches on starfish-tanning, urine drinking etc.

Taking the Urine

Will Blunderfield grew up, he says, an unhappy, unhealthy kid. Now he feels great — as a “wild naked man” who drinks his own urine.

Across the world, wellness is a multi-billion pound industry, even though some of its practices are unproven, extreme or even harmful. So why are so many people unimpressed with what 21st century medicine can offer them, and turning to internet gurus instead?

The New Gurus is a series about looking for enlightenment in the digital world.

Written and presented by Helen Lewis
Click to expand...

Blunderfield is interviewed about his early trauma and heard drinking - well, not just his urine.
 
I have all but given up on medicine. After years of treatment my IBD is worse now than at any time in the last 50 years.
The drugs they treat me with all have side effects that require more drugs, and they all have a negative side.
Today I plucked up the courage to see an Ayurvedic practitioner. What she told me made a lot of sense. She correctly described how I respond to stress, noise etc without me having to tell her. She went through my prescription medication, what it does and how it interacts with other medications and how it could likely impact on my condition.
I have a relatively simple diet to follow with a few additional ingredients from my spice cupboard and a review in three weeks.
Is it all bollocks? Who knows, but at the moment I feel a lot more optimistic about overcoming this condition and getting back to a relatively normal lifestyle.
Placebo or not, I’m going to give it a good go.
 
If you have a good white onion you can releave sinus congestion by cutting a slice and putting it by your bed, close the bedroom door and you will be able to breathe when you sleep. It is an old remedy that my great grandmother used and we still use it as it actually works.
 
Tempest63 said:
I have all but given up on medicine. After years of treatment my IBD is worse now than at any time in the last 50 years.
The drugs they treat me with all have side effects that require more drugs, and they all have a negative side.
Today I plucked up the courage to see an Ayurvedic practitioner. What she told me made a lot of sense. She correctly described how I respond to stress, noise etc without me having to tell her. She went through my prescription medication, what it does and how it interacts with other medications and how it could likely impact on my condition.
I have a relatively simple diet to follow with a few additional ingredients from my spice cupboard and a review in three weeks.
Is it all bollocks? Who knows, but at the moment I feel a lot more optimistic about overcoming this condition and getting back to a relatively normal lifestyle.
Placebo or not, I’m going to give it a good go.
Click to expand...
Good luck with it. I get , fairly mild, IBS and that's miserable enough so try anything that might work; placebo, whatever - who cares if it works?
One thing I was told some time ago is that selenium is largely missing from our diet now (something to do with changing sources of grain) and it is supposedly necessary for gut function. That may be bollocks as well but I have tried taking a supplement.
 
Tunn11 said:
Good luck with it. I get , fairly mild, IBS and that's miserable enough so try anything that might work; placebo, whatever - who cares if it works?
One thing I was told some time ago is that selenium is largely missing from our diet now (something to do with changing sources of grain) and it is supposedly necessary for gut function. That may be bollocks as well but I have tried taking a supplement.
Click to expand...
Techy used to buy us chocolate Brazil nuts in bulk to munch but read that they'd make us overdose on selenium. No more nuts.
 
escargot said:
Techy used to buy us chocolate Brazil nuts in bulk to munch but read that they'd make us overdose on selenium. No more nuts.
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I didn't know that Brazil nuts were a source.

Found this on the net.

"You can add just one Brazil nut a day to your diet with a meal of your choice, but it would be recommended to not exceed more than three in a day. Selenium intake should be limited to 400 mcg per day, with each Brazil nut containing between 70 to 100 mcg.”

That's not food, that's fekking medicine! Why isn't there a warning printed on the shell? Warning contains traces of selenium. Or, Warning this selenium may contain nuts.
 
Tempest63 said:
I have all but given up on medicine. After years of treatment my IBD is worse now than at any time in the last 50 years.
The drugs they treat me with all have side effects that require more drugs, and they all have a negative side.
Today I plucked up the courage to see an Ayurvedic practitioner. What she told me made a lot of sense. She correctly described how I respond to stress, noise etc without me having to tell her. She went through my prescription medication, what it does and how it interacts with other medications and how it could likely impact on my condition.
I have a relatively simple diet to follow with a few additional ingredients from my spice cupboard and a review in three weeks.
Is it all bollocks? Who knows, but at the moment I feel a lot more optimistic about overcoming this condition and getting back to a relatively normal lifestyle.
Placebo or not, I’m going to give it a good go.
Click to expand...
With IBD, and you may already be doing this, is to cut out all wheat. It means reading every label thoroughly as they use wheat as a filler in the most unlikely of food products like some brands of soya sauce and tomato ketchup.

I have also been to an Ayurvedic doctor on odd occasions. Being an ex Hare Krsna and being as the principles, practise and spiritual values of Ayurveda are based on the same books or scriptures that the Hare Krsna's go by, the Vedas, it seemed only natural for me to use an Ayurvedic doctor.

About 5 years ago I found I kept getting an itch on my arm just down from the shoulder. With a few days it became constant. Scratching only made it worse. A few days later when scratching it small incredibly itchy spots or whilst would appear. After that it progressed all the way down my arm to the elbow, then the same started on my other arm, then my chest and then my back.

The itchiness was day and night. If I lied in bed or sat in a chair as soon as the part of my body that was in contact warmed up, the unbearable itching would explode. I ended up almost not sleeping at all.

A Hare Krsna friend suggested seeing an Ayurvedic doctor. I didn't know there were any near me but there was so I went and saw him. Like you, after chatting for quite a while, and after feeling some type of pulse or something about a third of the way up from my wrist he told me about how I react to different situations, how I sleep, etc, what food I prefer to eat, etc, and more incredibly, what symptoms I had. I admit I was staggered by that. He also said about other symptoms of the same illness that I wasn't aware were even symptoms at all, like I'd wake up early in the morning sweating a bit and loads of other stuff.

Anyway, I was given a pile of tables that were mixtures of various herbs, plants and root and within a day or two the itching went completely and with a week or two all the large spots or whelts vanished. What I had according to western medicine was hives, or urticaria. According to the Ayurvedic doctor it was caused by a particular type of imbalance of the bodies energies which caused a build up of toxins in the blood which eventually overloaded the body.

Again, like you I got given a list off foods ok to eat and foods to avoid and I've stuck to it ever since. Other foods to avoid, anything processed or frozen and to throw out the microwave.

I hope it all works out for you.
 
kesavaross said:
With IBD, and you may already be doing this, is to cut out all wheat. It means reading every label thoroughly as they use wheat as a filler in the most unlikely of food products like some brands of soya sauce and tomato ketchup.

I have also been to an Ayurvedic doctor on odd occasions. Being an ex Hare Krsna and being as the principles, practise and spiritual values of Ayurveda are based on the same books or scriptures that the Hare Krsna's go by, the Vedas, it seemed only natural for me to use an Ayurvedic doctor.

About 5 years ago I found I kept getting an itch on my arm just down from the shoulder. With a few days it became constant. Scratching only made it worse. A few days later when scratching it small incredibly itchy spots or whilst would appear. After that it progressed all the way down my arm to the elbow, then the same started on my other arm, then my chest and then my back.

The itchiness was day and night. If I lied in bed or sat in a chair as soon as the part of my body that was in contact warmed up, the unbearable itching would explode. I ended up almost not sleeping at all.

A Hare Krsna friend suggested seeing an Ayurvedic doctor. I didn't know there were any near me but there was so I went and saw him. Like you, after chatting for quite a while, and after feeling some type of pulse or something about a third of the way up from my wrist he told me about how I react to different situations, how I sleep, etc, what food I prefer to eat, etc, and more incredibly, what symptoms I had. I admit I was staggered by that. He also said about other symptoms of the same illness that I wasn't aware were even symptoms at all, like I'd wake up early in the morning sweating a bit and loads of other stuff.

Anyway, I was given a pile of tables that were mixtures of various herbs, plants and root and within a day or two the itching went completely and with a week or two all the large spots or whelts vanished. What I had according to western medicine was hives, or urticaria. According to the Ayurvedic doctor it was caused by a particular type of imbalance of the bodies energies which caused a build up of toxins in the blood which eventually overloaded the body.

Again, like you I got given a list off foods ok to eat and foods to avoid and I've stuck to it ever since. Other foods to avoid, anything processed or frozen and to throw out the microwave.

I hope it all works out for you.
Click to expand...
I had bought some Ayurvedic medicines/food supplements over the counter. Boswellia and turmeric. She advised me to stop these and asked if I knew of Ajwain and coriander seeds.
I explained I had all these in my spice cupboard and was a keen Indian cook. Great she says, Coriander water each morning and Ajwain water after each mid day and evening meal.
Thing do seem more settled after a few days, but I have had a great belief in holistic treatment and herbal medicines so it could be in my head.
I have a blood test this week and a trip to the hospital mid-June, if they don’t cancel for the umpteenth time, so I may be better informed by then.
Got to drop red meat and some fish for a while, but the practitioner says that I can start to reintroduce it later.
Luckily I love Indian style lentils and these with rice will be playing a prominent role in the next three weeks.
Absolute shame as I had pigs cheeks in the fridge (Vindaloo) and lamb shanks, which we will be having for dinner today. Then I am on my best behaviour.
 
The pitfalls and dangers of Medical Folk Wisdom.

When the city of London faced the bubonic plague in 1665, many people desperately sought a way to protect themselves and their loved ones from getting sick.

One widely adopted method consisted of mixing two small cloves of garlic in a pint of fresh milk. People believed that drinking this cocktail in the morning, on an empty stomach, would prevent the feared disease.

Like those living through the great plague of London, many people searched for remedies that would keep COVID at bay, which is why claims that garlic could cure or protect people proliferated on social media. The claims prompted an exasperated World Health Organization to post tweets of caution.

Unfortunately, despite laboratory studies showing that garlic does indeed have compounds with anti-microbial properties, the idea of ingesting garlic to prevent becoming infected with any bacteria or virus is mostly folklore.

Folk remedies may sound benign, but they can hurt people. A 72-year-old woman ended up with a chemical burn on her tongue due to her daily use of raw garlic in an attempt to protect herself against the coronavirus, for example.

The idea of garlic as a blanket cure has its foundation in medical folk wisdom, which is an umbrella term for unproven, widespread beliefs about anything to do with health and disease.

Folk wisdom often has a certain level of seductive intuitiveness and generally originates from cultural beliefs as well as long-held traditions.

Folk wisdom can involve herbal remedies, dietary recommendations and advice about following specific behaviours. It is often passed down by word of mouth through generations and may be one of the reasons myths about the causes and cures of diseases persist, despite the progress of medical science.

https://www.sciencealert.com/one-ty...mmonly-overlooked-as-benign-heres-why-it-isnt
 
Earliest known use of Ephedra pushed back to the Paleolithic era.

An international group of researchers led by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria have uncovered the earliest evidence of Ephedra use from the charred remains of the plant in a 15,000-year-old human burial site in northeastern Morocco.

Ephedra is a genus of shrubs native to arid regions that produces alkaloids like ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, substances utilized in traditional medicine across many cultures. Archaeological evidence of its use during the Paleolithic era is rare due to the fragile nature of plant remains.

In a study, "Late Pleistocene exploitation of Ephedra in a funerary context in Morocco," published in Scientific Reports, researchers detail their findings in an excavation of a cave occupied by modern humans for over 100,000 years.

Taforalt, also known as Grotte des Pigeons (Cave of Pigeons), served as a living and burial ground for the Iberomaurusians, Late Stone Age hunter-gatherers from 23,000 to 12,600 years ago. The culture is known for its microlithic bladelet industry and elaborate funerary customs. ...

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-earliest-evidence-ephedra-year-moroccan.html
 
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