Rearranging my pantry last weekend i came across some herbal medicine i used to take. One bottle of valerian and one of echinacea. I used to take the valerian against insomnia, it’s supposed to be stress and anxiety releaving and the echinacea i took when i had a cold, to strengthen the immune system.
Because i felt a bit run down and stressed anyways and because i wanted to use up to bottles i decided to start taking some of it. I don’t drink alcohol at all, and they are in a ethanol solution, so i usually put them into a freshly brewed tea, to get rid off that. The valerian, if i take lots of it, makes me really woozy, but that wears off real quick, so when i take it i need to try to sleep asap. I haven’t had any side effects from taking natural medicine, but just do some research before you try them.
Now, why do i take natural medicine? Coz i don’t take any pills, Ever. Ok, in the last ten years i took pain killer on two occasions to get rid off some tootache, coz i couln’t afford a dentist. Other than that, never.
I hate it that it has become so normal to take all these meds at the slightest occasion, that most doctors don’t even really care about you as a person anymore and just give you a prescription and that, depending on what country you live in, the pharmaceutical industry is really tied up with doctors and gives them incentives to push their shitty products onto their customers, uhm, ..i mean patients. Big Pharma, is another post for later and it’s gonna be a bit of an angry one!
That’s the reason i also don’t trust doctors and because of my personal experience. Let me tell you a story which might make it easier to explain why.
About ten years ago i got a pretty bad cold and i had to see the doctor to get one of these papers you need for work and the conversation went kind of like this.
After asking me about my symptoms and not even looking up..
doctor: I’m gonna prescribe you these antibiotics for your cold..
me: Uhm.., is there anything else i could take against my cold? Anything a bit more.. uhm, harmless..?
doctor: Ok, i’ll give you a prescription for these pills and some drops..
me: .. well, ok, is there anything else i could take, anything natural? Like, if i don’t wanna take pills?!
doctor:(giving me the blank stare) Well, you can also drink herbal and sage tea and just stay in bed.
me: Thanks, i’ll rather do that then! I won’t need any of the prescriptions.
When i went out of the doctors office i was like “Wtf, just happened?” I had to haggle down a doctor to give me less pills? A doctor who wanted to give me ANTIBIOTICS just told me i could just have a good sleep and do with some HERBAL TEA?! Have you ever looked into or experienced the side effects of antibiotics, the shit is strong! And also you can’t even treat colds with antibiotics, you can have side effects, like yeast infections and diarrhoea and if you take them too often your body can develope a resistance.
Needless to say i also felt quite uncomfortable in that situation. Doctors obviously have this aura of authority, “We know what’s best for you, don’t question us!”, about them. I don’t wanna bag all doctors obviously, i just wanna bag the whole health system..
I’m not saying the health system we got in Western countries is all bad and obviously poorer countries have it even worse, sure.. When you have a medical emergency, go to the hospital! Some of the procedures and cures are live saving and shit.
What i’m saying is, don’t trust everything they tell you, do some of your own research about maybe more harmless, less invasive alternatives. Even if it’s just that you know what alternatives are out there for common sicknesses like cold, flu, headaches and nausea.If you’ve got something serious, ask other doctors, people who had the same sickness, maybe go to a self-help group.
And doctors also bear the responsibility not to turn into complete pill pushers for the pharmaceutical industry. And to stop cutting around on people at the smallest opportunity!
Do you take a lot of medicines? What are your experiences with the health system? What are your favourite alternative medicines?
The Forage 
I think people vastly overuse medical and dental services. I have written a few drug-related posts on my more ranty blog (Clouds) – roughseas is my nice(ish) face. I think you did amazingly well at the doctor’s, well done. They really treat you as though you are stupid when you say you don’t want drugs. I know, I’ve been there. As for dentists, let’s not go there either, literally. For tooth problems, we have a bottle of vodka that gets used as a mouthwash. Might not suit you, if you don’t like alcohol, but it does work. It was recommended to me by a dentist in the first place. Any other very strong alcohol would do, needs to be 40% proof or more. The other alternative is salt water, ie just dissolve some salt in water and use that as a mouthwash. If you get cold sores, or have any probs with lips – then vaseline works, but obv it’s petroleum-based. I’ve also used vodka on them. Back to the vodka – I had a friend who had some disgusting tooth thing, taking nerves out or whatever and was in agony, painkillers not working etc etc – she couldn’t believe how effective the vodka was, and promptly recommended it to someone else in extreme agony. Worth a thought – and I might blog about it at some point 😀
Wow, I just had a look, you DO have quite a couple of blogs! I’ll be checking out your rants! I could rant myself into a fit sometimes over issues like that! It enrages me!
Interesting tip with the vodka. I remember getting REALLY badly attacked by a swarm of horse flies once, which scarred me for life, and someone rubbed vodka all over my skin to make them go away and soothe it. More then 10 years ago and I still remember the sheer relief.(I basically had a nervous breakdown from being attacked, it was awful:(
So does the vodka heal the infection or what? That’s pretty amazing.
Great post! It’s very true, about the quickness with which doctors will prescribe something to get us out of their office. I have not been to a doctor in many years and I have no intention of going back. I know my body better than anyone and find a cup of tea to be a great preventative. Humans survived for thousands of years without pills! Why do we need them now? Thanks so much! You are awesome.