I'm a firm believer in trying alternative medicine before prescription ones. Vitamins, herbs and homeopathic medicines are much cheaper than prescription medications. Many work in the same way without dangerous side effects. In fact many of the prescription medications are made from parts of natural ones. Take statins for example. The drug company can't patent Red Rice Yeast, so it takes a component of it and markets it into a expensive statin drug.

Homeopathic drugs contain only minuscule amounts of anything besides water. They are cheap. They do work according to research (although it can't be explained why they do work).

If I decide to take a prescription drug or any natural medicine I do my research first. Why take something where the side effects are worse than the original problem? If a vitamin or herb can cure me, why not?? I've never had a bad reaction to anything BUT pharmaceutical drugs that were prescribed to me (plus a couple OTC ones like pseudoneferine).

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Rice Yeast (Dr. Weil)

Sorry, but homeopathy does not work, at least not any better than a placebo.

I did want to say that I do use prescription medicines when I need to... such as antibiotics for an bacterial infection. I do also take prescription thyroid hormones (as well as a herbal formula). I will however try alternative remedies first for most other things.

As far as homeopathic remedies... I'm on the fence personally. I always thought they wouldn't work, but I recently bought some and am trying them. There are studies that say they work (some that say they don't too). I had a good link, but lost it when my old computer died. Here is info on a couple studies that says it does work.

Here is a link that might be useful: Homeopathy

Sorry, but homeopathy does not work, at least not any better than a placebo.

I disagree, and have had plenty of personal experience to back me up. The key is to find a good homeopath, willing to take the time to find the right remedy. With one exception, I have never bought a homeopathic remedy off the shelf. (The exception is arnica, which I've taken in advance of oral surgeries to minimize bruising and pain.)

My daughter Gillian suffered from frequent migraines from the age of four. When she was ten, a one-dose "constitutional remedy," prescribed by a board-certified MD who is also a homeopath, eliminated her migraines completely for eight years.

I've had lots of good experiences with homeopathy. I guess the Queen of England has, too, as her physician is a homeopath.

As for the rest of my answer re prescription drugs and their alternatives, I'll ditto Lydia.

Ummm..for starters,Homeopathy is NOT chemical..it is based on energy and the proper remedy being used to strengthen your own immune system

I CANNOT take chemical meds and have used Homeopathy for years..over 20 in fact,and at no time did I ever feel I was in danger..certainly not like the danger I am in when some pill pushing doctor thinks he knows the "cure" for me.

Naturally,there are precautions,there had better be,FDA or otherwise-but if one uses a good,reputable Homeopath,and sticks to the one like you would a medical doctor,you wouldnt have issues

JMHO

Since Homeopathy is based on dilution,often to the point of diluting something into nothing then it is apt to be harmless but any improvement is due to it's placebo effect. Ineffective but harmless unless really sick people are led to believe they are made well by it and their real illness advances further. But a lot of people who practice this stuff convince themselves they are sick with something they don't even have so of course when they treat nothing with nothing they believe they are on to something.

Herbalogy on the other hand can be dangerous for some people who have a real illnesses who need real medicine to control them. If a herb is making one feel better it is because of it's chemical properties. if enough of the chemical is present it can just as easily do harm as good. People who are taking herbs and nutritional supplements along with prescribed medications without their doctor's knowledge are playing Russian roulette with their health.

So I agree with you Gibby but I've found that people don't want to be bothered with facts,especially scientific ones. Science bad, woo woo good.

I just found a sheet of holographic mylar wrapping paper. WOW the energy "crystals" I can make with it. I could make a fortune on eBay. LOL Unfortunately I'm too honest to push snake oil so I guess I won't be getting rich off the fools who would buy them anytime soon.

I know that herbal medications aren't regulated, and I don't jump on the bandwagon with anything and everything herbal.

This is the first time I've tried black cohosh or anything herbal.
I have a bottle of Vitamin E that I had to see if it helps the hot flashes, as some people here had good luck with it.

That's all I have in the house.

I did not want to pay the price of a prescription drug....have no drug plan, and when my doctor recommended the black cohosh I figured it must work.

He's specializes in menopause so he would see a lot of different treatments.

Ont Gal, a girlfriend of mine opened up her own alternative practice. She's helped people incredibly with pet and food allergies, and other sensitivities, and did a treatment on me for my Restless Legs. What an amazing difference!!!! 99% better.

Understood jasdip...and fortunately for myself,Homeopathy works for me...I suppose I am one of the lucky ones..if it werent for Homeo,I would have been dead years ago

Two herbal type medicines I've used with success are : 1. "Ecchinaccea (sp) when I feel a cold coming on. Doesn't work for allergies, but it has stopped sore throats and nasty colds. And 2. zinc losenges for any sign of a sore throat. The zinc melts and coats your throat and vocal cords. I gave half a pack to a co-worker when he had laryngitis and he swears by them!

I'm a firm believer that nature provides everything the human body needs to thrive. I think that the vast majority of people have polluted their bodies so much through poor nutrition and environmental toxins that the natural remedies don't work as they are meant to.

I believe that most diseases and ailments are caused by toxicity of the body in some form or another. We've moved so far from how humans are supposed to eat, our soil is so depleted, and there are chemicals all around us. It's no wonder our immune systems go down and we develop all the horrible auto-immune diseases, cancer, pain in general.

I think traditional medicine has it's place, especially with so many people with health problems that are too far gone for other options. But I think most people quickly dismiss the idea of nature providing because it's way easier to pop a pill than to correct a lifetime of bad habits.

There will always be exceptions to everything, and I am in no way saying people who are suffering from conditions brought it upon themselves. Just my general opinion on the matter.

I agree with wildchild and gibby.

Regarding herbs, etc: If something can help you, it can harm you. I prefer my drugs to be approved, regulated and prescribed by a doctor who knows my other health problems (and medicines). Herb remedies are not safe for all. I'm not against them if a DR. advises them -- You just need to be cautious...black cohosh can be dangerous for pregnant women...echineacea can be extremely dangerous for those on some heart meds. There are so many combos with other meds and health conditions that it is scary that people are medicating themselves. These herbs are just one more thing you are putting into you body... so be sure they are safe.

As far as homeopathy. It doesn't make sense to me.. other than to suggest that some people are highly suggestible and will respond to placebo methods. I find aliments that I hear are cured by homeopathy are generally in the mind or stress type ailments to begin with... I don't doubt the cures.. I think the mere suggestion and hope of being cured is enough for some... I'm not sure how many have read up on homeopathy... but the dilution process makes no sense to me (and I even liked science in school).

I think the site someone else posted about Homeopathy was from a site that sells stuff.. I thought the wikipedia article may be a little less biased if anyone is interested in reading about it.

Here's a a little section of it..

"Depending on the dilution, homeopathic remedies may not contain any pharmacologically active molecules,[23] and for such remedies to have pharmacological effect would violate fundamental principles of science.[14][24] Modern homeopaths have proposed that "water has a memory" that allows homeopathic preparations to work without any of the original substance"

WATER HAS A MEMORY!! Wow, who knew!! Possibly I just have an odd sense of humor...but I kind of find that funny...

Here is a link that might be useful: Homeopathy

You need to check with your doctor about any conflicts
with herbs and your prescripions. You need to know what
you need to know what to stop taking before any medical
tests and or surgery. The chemicals in food have been
known to adversely effect prescription medications.
KNOW what you are taking, what conflicts with other meds.

Interestingly, my ONCOLOGIST suggested (11 years ago) that I take
MILK THISTLE to help improve my liver functions
while taking chemo. Because there is no regulation,
I try to buy mine from a well known company.

My doctors, more and more, are recommending various homeopathic treatments for arthritis, high cholesterol and blood sugar control. I've been told to take pro-biotics, vitamin D, triple strength fish oil, honey, almonds, flax seed, glucosamine chondroiton, and more. I've added a few others along the line, as my research broadens.

All of these have proven, for my husband and myself, to be incredibly helpful. We are both 'results driven' people.

To those who claim homeopathy's success is due only to the placebo effect.......

I don't know if you read my post above, but do you really think a ten-year-old child could eradicate her debilitating migraines by believing the remedy was going to help?

For the record, she knew nothing about homeopathy. All she knew is that she was introduced to the doctors her mom was seeing, and she enjoyed talking to them for a couple of hours. (Good homeopathy practice requires knowing a lot about the person's health and life.)

For myself, some remedies did nothing, and various others had to be tried before we saw some action. I don't know Ont_gal's situation, but I'm willing to bet her life wasn't saved by the placebo effect.

Alisande, placebo does indeed work on children. One need not know about the placebo effect for it to work. That's why rigorous scientific method requires double-blind studies.

Anecdotal stories are not scientific studies.

I have a friend that is constantly "bragging" about not going to doctors or having to take any prescriptions...In the mean time, she is filling up on 1 pill after the other for any ailment know to mankind, all from either the health food store or from ads on the radio.....Almost every other day, she has a sore throat, bad knees, upset stomach, head aches, etc., always something...I just let her talk, she's putting out big money instead of going to a doctor and maybe getting a RX....
To each his own....

Sushipup, for the placebo effect to work, doesn't the patient have to know what ailment is being treated?

I'm a big fan of empirical evidence, myself.

Knowing the FDA has approved something does NOT give me the warm fuzzies! Give them enough money and they'll approve anything thrown their way!

The child certain knew that she had headaches, didn't she? And she talked to doctors for a couple of hours? Spontaneous remission of migraines is also not unknown. There are many reasons why her headaches may have subsided.

country_bumpkin, I feel the same way ! And the side effects they list on drugs scares me, too...sometimes it includes "death" in the description.
I really like Dr. Weil and I believe he is trying to change the way some doctors treat their patients.

irishdancersgram I have a friend that does the same thing, but with prescription drugs. She is constantly going to the doctor for minor aches and pains and each time she gets a new prescription drug, and I am sure some of them are not good, taken together, so it can work both ways, maybe ?
The way I see it, each person believes in what they believe in and what works for one may not work for someone else.
I feel so blessed that I dont have to take much of either, but we do take Vitimins and believe in them.

I'm a big fan of empirical evidence, myself. Me too.

The difference in opinion regarding natural treatments probably has a lot to do with our own personal past history. I imagine some of you have had good doctors or limited health issues. I went undiagnosed (by MD's and specialists) for over 10 years (thyroid disease) and have both autoimmune and uncurable conditions. Why wouldn't I look into alternative treatments?

I take cranberry (capsules) for UTI, acidopulous or digestive enzymes for digestion / heartburn and dandelion root for water retention.

I've had excellent results and swear by all of them.

I don't take them all the time only when symptoms exist.

Now, having said that, I recently went on a nutritional cleanse and was sick to my stomach and got a wicked migrane that lasted 3 days. It was a blend of all natural substances, but never ever again will I do it. My dh did the cleanse with me and he was fine and felt great.

Just my 2 cents worth of experience on the subject. :-)

Bluejeans - you may have had a herxheimer reaction which is just a overload of toxins leaving your body faster than your body can process it. I had that once and almost quit the cleanse too... but about 4 days later I felt better than I ever had!

Here is a link that might be useful: Herxheimer

Prescription meds certainly have their place and have saved countless lives, but in many cases, the side effects are unpleasant. So for more minor ailments, if it's safe to try something more benign first, why not.

I started taking d-mannose for occasional bladder irritation/discomfort instead of antibiotics, and it works very well. Of course, if I had a fever or back pain or other symptoms of a severe bladder infection I would run to the doc for antibiotics. But i've taken the d-mannose once or twice a week for almost 2 years and have had no bladder problems at all, so I am going to stick with it.

On the other hand, I tried various herbal remedies for asthma, and they did not help at all. So, I went on inhaled steroids.

Re. homeopathy, I was very skeptical until I tried homeopathic allergy pills for my persistently itchy, stuffed-up nose. I did not expect them to do anything and was very surprised to have a clear, non-runny, non-itchy nose after a while. Now granted, Benedryl also relieved the problem, but it made me really drowsy and sleepy, so I much prefer the homeopathic pills.

I was talking to my neighbor, a (retired) R.N.for many decades. She told me that while she was trying to save money to attend nursing school in Wisconsin in the early 1950ties, she got clerical job working for their small town doctor.

Many of their patients were middle-aged & older women complaining of arthritis, rheumatism & other bodily pains. This was still years before such over-the-counter remedies such as Tylenol and even much pharmaceutical pain relief prescription drugs were around. There was little between aspirin & morphine.

In any event, this M.D. gave out red & green coated sugar pills, which, of course,his patients never knew. (I understand that this was not uncommon back then & there was even a very scientific-sounding name for this product).

My neighbor told me that she was astounded on how well they often "worked", although the famous 1955 paper on the "placebo effect" hadn't yet been written. There were discussions in the waiting room amongst patients as to whether the "red" or the "green" pills were more effective for pain relief & whether they should switch. And, of course bottom line, they were ALL sugar pills...only the color was different.

My grandmother was on sugar pills for many years (unaware of course) and she bragged about them being the cure all for everything from headaches to constipation. This was in the late 60's, early 70's. She never went anywhere without her little blue pills!

Lydia1959, thank you so much for that information on herxheimer. Someone else had mentioned that it was the toxins leaving the body, and I didn't believe them, but I'll believe a complete stranger! LOL I do feel 200% better today, as this is the 4th day. We are suppose to do it again next week, I may give it another shot afterall. It kind of scares me that there are that many toxins in my body. **shudder** And I have been weening myself off coffee, so that could also be a factor.

Thanks again, Lydia!

BJ

You may have had a herxheimer reaction which is just a overload of toxins leaving your body faster than your body can process it.

More likely you have suffered an electrolyte imbalance that can lead to organ damage or even death. Glad you recovered OK.

But giving it a fancy name and turning it into a "positive" (see it's working) allows the scam to continue.

More likely you have suffered an electrolyte imbalance that can lead to organ damage or even death.

Wow.......that's a rather strong statement from someone with such limited knowledge of the situation and no qualifications (that I know of) to make this assessment.

By the way, I herxed (yes, it's a real phenomenon, recognized within the medical community) during my first week on antibiotics last month. All my Lyme symptoms escalated dramatically. It was the result of a large number of dead spirochetes in my bloodstream.

I'm in the 'placebo' camp. The only non-prescription meds I take are Vitamin D-3 and fish oil (both suggested by more than one MD). If I get indigestion from antibiotics, I take pro-biotics.

Exercise helps a lot with my sinus troubles -- increased blood flow is my guess as to 'why'. I still have to take Advair for my asthma.

Anyone know of scientific evidence for taking Co-Q-10?

Alisande is right Wildchild.

Jarisch-Herxheimer reactions are listed as a possible side effect on most (if not all) pharmaceutical antibiotic (plus anti-malarials, anti-yeasts etc.) inserts.

Well she wasn't suffering from Lyme disease now was she? The pushers of these Detox systems are using this yes, real phenomenon,as an excuse for the dangers of taking these wacko detox products. They are telling people to ignore dangerous side effects in the name of selling their snake oil.

How come does of us that don't do snake oil treatments seem to be healthier a over all? Hmmmm. Seems to me that a lot of people on these things go from jumping from one illness to another putting out these little fires whether real or imaginary.

There is no real science behind d the opinions of woo woo medicine. there are scientific documentations behind my opinion.

Kind of like all those morbidly obese people who go around pushing their miracle diets. "I lost 20 lbs. in two weeks". Sure but what about the other 350?

I agree there are 'wacko detox' products being sold out there. BJ didn't say what she used. She said she is feeling better now at the 4th day.. that is pretty typical of a Herx. The point is that if the pharmaceutical drugs can cause a Herx reaction, why couldn't natural products do the same?

So along these lines, I just tried taking some melatonin to help me sleep. I'm really paranoid of prescription sleeping meds though I have tried them and they work wonderfully with no apparent side effects. I'm still concerned about becoming dependent on them. In any case in spite of doing all the other recommended practices to sleep - exercise but not too late, quiet, dark, etc. sometimes I get very little sleep - maybe 3-4 hours. I then have to go to work at a very demanding job for 10 or more hours and I simply cannot function like that.

So now I'm avoiding prescription meds and taking something that could be just as dangerous. I've done some reading of what I consider to be fairly reputable sources - lots of potential side effects and possible drug interactions with other meds (none of which I take from what I can tell). It seems to have become more effective after using it for a few days - works great. Interestingly my mother tried taking it years back and she thought it did nothing. Maybe I'm experiencing the placebo effect.

It's an interesting dilemma....whether or not to take anything at all to treat a "problem" and if so what. I've also taken Zicam which considers itself to be homeopathic. I find it works really well at heading off cold symptoms - unlike anything else I've ever found. If I didn't have to go to work every day I'd probably be more inclined to just suffer with my ailments but I need to be able to go to work and be functional.

Just a note on Q-10. I tried it several years ago hoping to help my brain remember more but I had the worst nose bleed and almost ended up in the hospital. Not sure if it was that or because we were traveling, tried it again and I almost could not stop the bleeding.
Why--because I was on high blood pressure meds. At that time we had a very good health food store and lousy Dr's and the store told me that is a blood thinner and not to use it. Sure scared me. But I did take Change of lite instead of ? for menopause--very seldom had a hot flash.
Sometimes we have to try, research, and get them from a reliable source and use our common sense.

Many times people don't consider herbals "meds". But as you can see by Marie's posting, they can sometimes have very bad side effects, especially when used in conjunction with other medications or herbals. Please tell your doctor what you are taking, and don't forget to tell your anesthesia provider what herbals you are taking as they can interfere with anesthesia drugs.

my husband announced Bad News, that he was coming down with a cold. Now, from past experience, when he gets a cold, it really is bad in that it goes into a viral infection with a prescription drug needed. As it happened, it never happened.

Three times I recall during the past couple of years, & including a month prior to my husband's" cold annoouncement", I had all the symptoms of a bad head cold, the runny nose, slightly aching muscles, sore throat. Took a hot shower, went to bed & little more than a day later, I was back in fighting form.

It has often occurred to me that IF either of us had taken anything to medicate at early symptoms, be it over-the-counter, herbal or homeopathic, we probably would have considered "that's what cured us". It's just human nature.