Maybe
Voltaire said it best when he wrote, ‘Doctors are men who prescribe
medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less,
in human beings of whom they know nothing’.
In these days of fast foods,
plasterboard houses, synthetic clothing, and hair extensions, who among us
doesn’t long to return to a more natural way of life? No longer just a
back to nature fad, but a growing philosophy, this wish to put nature back into
our lives above all applies two of the most important of human concerns --
getting and staying healthy.
From time immemorial man has
relied on plants and other ancient, alternative methods to treat sickness, as
well as to soothe chronic aches and pains. The same methods, employed by
ancient peoples such as the Neanderthals, were bequeathed along with the
family’s prized hides and favored position by the fire to the heir
apparent.
These extraordinary remedies
made their way through the ages to the medicine men and priests of the
Egyptian, Greek and Roman empires; by physicians and apothecaries of the Middle
Ages. Later by the settlers who came to North America, by the Indians who met
them there, perhaps by our own grandparents.
Many of the ancient remedies and
what we loosely refer to as alternative healing methods are still being used
today. Certainly by those of us with a desire to live much longer than the
currently accepted wisdom of seventy-five or so years.
Don’t misunderstand me.
I’m not talking about a broken arm, or the patently evident, bloody, open
head wound. There are many places where there simply is no substitute for
currently standard medical practices and those two definitely fall into that
category.
I’m not a health food nut
or vegetarian old hippie type either. However, I do want a more direct,
time-honored approach to healing my body of chronic problems such as sinus
infections, stress migraine headaches, and the like, than a broad-spectrum
antibiotic, and some very expensive guessing games.
Speaking of expensive, what have
the release from common muscle pain brought on by sitting for too many hours at
the computer, or other chronic ailments cost you over the past five or so
years, in money alone? If you looked at your productivity level, how long after
you return from your annual vacation, does it take before you start to feel
those old, familiar aches?
For that matter how long does it
take to lose them once you start a vacation? For a number of years I would
spend the first two days in bed, trying to exorcise a migraine at the start of
every vacation. This was before I discovered that regular massage, the
occasional chiropractic treatment and acupuncture would intervene before the
headache had a chance to take hold. But it happens to many of us. We all have
chronic disabilities on our list of life’s little annoyances to put up
with. More than likely this is because we walk upright and gravity insists on
having an effect on us.
I am amused at the current news
reports that taut the healing herbal teas. This is news? Some of us have been
using those products instead of prescribed drugs for most of our lives,
successfully. I can remember putting a lime slice on the insect bite of a small
boy’s foot, sitting with him as we watched the redness disappear, and he
ran off to continue playing.
The entire episode took five
minutes and nobody panicked. Of course, doc-in-the-box wasn’t an option,
we were in a third world country, medical attention would have been hours away,
and anyone who has ever read an herbal medicine book knows that citrus draws
poison
If you haven’t already done
so, isn’t it about time to explore some of the more prevalent alternative
methods and ways to a healthier, more productive you? Not only do these methods
cost less than conventional medicine, but also these practices have been
available since dirt was invented.
Have you ever wondered why the
business of medicine is referred to as practicing? Or the healing arts? Quite
possibly it is because the art of medicine consists mainly of amusing the
patient while nature cures the disease.
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