Posts Tagged ‘Health’
Alternative Health Remedies – A Useful Tool?
The famous inventor Thomas Edison once said “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, however will interest his patient in the concern for the human frame, in diet, and in the reason and prevention of disease.”
A number of people view natural alternative health remedies as a temporary fascination that will fade into the sunset over time while others distinguish alternative health treatments as the way of the future. But the idea that they might lead the way seems the more plausible of the two theories, with preventative medicine replacing that of reactionary medicine.
One of the great myths about alternative natural remedies has been there is no strict scientific evidence confirming the efficiency of natural treatments. To dispel this all one has to do is pick up any believable natural health reference guide or naturopathic medicine manual. And despite the attempts of many major pharmaceutical companies continuing to marginalize the use of alternative natural remedies they continue to develop medicines based on the extremely natural treatment that they wish to harm the reputation of.
Lets assume that John is an abstract individual. John is already on a several of medications and goes for his annual physical only to find that he has high cholesterol. His doctor tells him he actually should quit smoking and then writes a prescription for a statin medication and asks John to come back in three weeks for a follow up. In the follow up tests it is shown that the statin has crashed Johns cholesterol too low resulting muscle aches and pain. The doctor makes the needed adjustment in dosage and suggests mild pain relievers if pain continues.
Now let’s look at the naturopathic approach. John hasn’t smoked in years due to the advice of his natural health expert. He uses exercise as a moderate tool to help him relieve stress and boost immune system functionality. Upon testing high for cholesterol levels his doctor suggests eating fish several of times a week and reducing his intake of saturated fat to below 10 percent of total calories and suggests a fish oil supplement. He tells John that diet modification should bring his high cholesterol numbers down but tells him there are few of natural remedies available if required.
If you eat a high cholesterol high fat diet, don’t exercise, smoke, are overweight, and are constantly bombarded with stress chances are you will likely be very unhealthy. This will in the end lead to numerous conditions and medicines being prescribed, as is the case with John. And quite truthfully the use of alternative natural health remedies likely wouldn’t do much good anyhow, since they are most effective as a part of an overall approach consisting of diet, exercise, and supplementation. In other words alternative natural health remedies should be exercised in addition to a healthy lifestyle rather than a tool to continue to make unhealthy lifestyle actions.
The two examples above are the push and pull involved. The question is does the use of prescription medication enable bad behavior or is a necessary tool in the struggle against disease? The answer likely falls somewhere in the middle, leading us back to the discussion about the usefulness of alternative homeopathic remedies.
Abdominal Migraines And Acupuncture Straight To The Cure
Abdominal Migraines
Anyone who has ever had a migraine will say they do not just happen in the head. The headache is usually the worst and most painful part of a migraine, but there’s more. Most migraineurs (people who suffer from migraines) will talk about photosensitivity (sensitivity to light), phonosensitivity (sensitivity to sound), scent sensitivity, gastric pain, cramping, and vomiting.
Sometimes the abdominal symptoms show up without the other typical migraine symptoms. When they do, a patient is said to be experiencing an abdominal migraine. An abdominal migraine is pain, usually varying from mild to medium, in the abdomen. The pain is either along the midline or unspecified and is frequently accompanied by abdominal tenderness, cramp-like spasms, bloating, vomiting, and loss of appetite.
Since abdomen pain can be caused by a wide variety of conditions other causes need to be ruled out before a diagnosis can be made. In a classic abdominal migraine, no gastric cause for the pain can be identified. Migraineurs need to let their doctors know about their migraines when they experience unspecified abdominal pain so that the doctor knows abdominal migraine may be a possibility.
Abdominal migraines are most common in children. Children who experience abdominal migraines frequently grow up to be migraineurs. While abdominal migraine is not unheard of in adults, it is rare. Like most other types of migraine, it is also more common in females than in males.
While the exact cause of abdominal migraines is unknown, it is highly likely to be related to serotonin deficiency. Serotonin deficiency has been linked in several studies to migraines, and 90% of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gastric system. Serotonin deficiency causes cascading waves of nerve reaction in the brain when triggering a migraine and a similar process may be in effect in the abdomen.
Acupressure and Migraines
Acupressure is a completely non-invasive treatment option that has a high success rate among migraineurs (people who suffer from migraine headaches). It has a proven track record as a successful pain abatement technique. Acupressure is also efficacious in reducing both the frequency and intensity of migraine attacks.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there are over 800 vital energy points in the human body. These points lie along meridians that run throughout a person’s body. Chi, or life energy, flows along the meridians and through the energy points in healthy people. Chi that is blocked or overabundant near particular energy points causes illness and pain.
Acupressure massage applies pressure to these energy points in order to release chi and stimulate the body’s own healing mechanisms. The energy points are massaged with the fingers, thumb, or occasional blunt object with medium pressure in a circular pattern.
The simplest acupressure a migraineur can learn is an all-over head massage. This technique just requires the practitioner to massage the scalp as though they were washing their hair. Sit with the elbows resting on a table to prevent arm strain and the head resting lightly in the hands to perform head and neck acupressure.
Moderate pressure applied to the GB20 points offers the best relief for migraine pain. They are on either side of the neck, approximately one inch to each side of the spinal column just below where the skull and neck muscles connect. GB20 also goes by the more romantic-sounding Chinese name “The Gates of Consciousness”.
Migraineurs seeking to relieve their headache and neck pain should practice deep breathing while using the thumbs of both hands to press firmly on the GB20 points for one to two minutes. If this is painful at first, home practitioners can start out by pressing and releasing the points in five to fifteen second intervals.
Get information to stop migraine pain Also read about the condition on Tonsil Stones and a natural cure for tonsil stones
