Questions In Need of Answers - No. 5: What Non-Traditional Medical Cures Actually Work?

After years of suffering through various types of ailments, using traditional prescriptions from traditional Western doctors, and going through various procedures at Dr.'s offices and Out-Patient facilities, I felt like I was at a dead end... like nothing worked for some of these persistent problems. Then I discovered the magic of ACV, or apple cider vinegar, which has, in some cases, cured my problems and in other cases greatly reduced the issue. Now, let's be clear here, I am not a medical doctor and Neatorama does not suggest that ACV is an actual "drug" that contains "magic" properties. Nor are we in cahoots with any ACV manufacturer. 

But I will say that it has changed my life. Without going into any great details of what the issues were/are, I can say that ACV has helped me with skin problems and stomach/intestinal problems. And you can read up on what others believe are the benefits of ACV here.

Soooo, my question this week is:

1) What persistent or otherwise irksome health issues have you cured or eased with non-traditional treatments, medicines or "magic potions" ? In other words: What works?!


Amber Teething necklaces work wonders!! My daughter has worn one since she was a few months old. They work so well that my husband, who is generally very skeptical, tells anyone who complains about their babies teeth to buy one! :)
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I can't make any specific cure recommendations off the top of my head, but a good resource when trying to judge how effective something might be is to check Pubmed to see if any formal work has been done. There are so many combinations of common materials and conditions, a lot of things might not have been actually studied in any detail or at all. But on the off chance it has been check, it could help you at least save money.

Of course, if it feels like it works, for many mild conditions, that is all that matters as long as it can't turn into anything more serious if ignored, and this is being done just for yourself. The actual effectiveness when done in a blind study might not matter, unless you are paying any significant amount of money for your cure. In that case, if it turns out to be as effective as just doing nothing or something really cheap, might as well not waste money. Sometimes it is not so much that something doesn't work, but that it is just as effective as using water, etc.
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Echinacea when I have a virus, whether a cold or flu. I've found one brand, Nature's Bounty (yep, the stuff you can buy at CVS), that works really well for me. Knocks the level of symptoms down and keeps me functioning. If it doesn't help, or doesn't help enough, I know I better go to bed and rest for a few days, or if I suspect a bacterial infection I go to my MD.

Arnica did help some chronic pain issues I have, but I had some side effects that caused me to have to stop it.

I developed chronic migraines, and suffered for years while they tried all types of meds (I was desperate enough to consider the Botox injections). It turned out I was deficient in B12. I have to use the sublingual tablets that dissolve, but my migraines have nearly disappeared; I usually have no more than one a month.
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Neti pot.
After years of refusing (seemed like an "old fogey's" remedy and even though I'm in my 40s I don't feel *that* old) I finally tried it this year to alleviate seasonal allergies. Works great!
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Before we bought large format digital copiers for the blueprint shop that I manage, we had blueprint machines that developed the blueprints with a certain type of ammonia (very caustic) and a specially coated paper. I swear the ammonia fumes from running the machines burned any viruses before they could take hold. Nasty stuff that ammonia.
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Vicks cured my toenail fungus. You have to rub in under the edge of the nail everyday. It stopped the fungus from growing and took about 6 months to grow out totally cleared. I buy the dollar store brand. Gargling with warm salt water will deaden the pain of a sore throat. They did a study on this old-wives-tale recently and found that the salt kills bacteria and viruses. It also shrinks the inflamed throat tissue and numbs the nerve endings causing the pain. Do this 4 times a day and by the next day your sore throat pain will be lessened. A teacher once told me gargling with peroxide would cure a sore throat. The most disgusting thing I ever tasted and it didn't work!
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ACV changed my life too! I swear by the stuff. I was in agony (skin issue), couldn't sleep, couldn't work, tried all sorts of prescribed medications, and FINALLY turned the corner when someone suggested ACV. Other life savers: neti pot (allergies and also at onset of a cold, prevents it every time) and a bar of soap to prevent leg cramps during sleep (i keep a bar near my feet under the covers).
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Leg cramps can be treated/prevented by simply keeping up on your potassium and calcium levels. That is something I learned early on in food service. Munch on the occasional Tums tablet, eat bananas regularly and back off on the coffee.
One of the chefs I worked for had a bowl of bananas in the kitchen--too spotted to serve-- not brown enough for banana bread. His rule? Help yourself to a banana a shift.
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So, do all these recommendations and suggestions need to have a disclaimer first?
If so... "Consult your dr before trying any of these things."

Shredded organic white oak bark, boil in water and let steep until cool. Strain well and use as a douche (4x daily) for vaginal infections. They will be gone in 2-3 days if not sooner. Truly amazing.

Severe spring or hayfever allergies? The kind with an actual fever? Use Nasalcrom. I no longer have hay fever allergies.

Bee stings? (NOT wasp, hornet or yellow jacket stings) Scrape away the stinger and put 1 drop of REAL (local) honey on the sting and a band-aid for the sticky stuff to stay off your clothes. The pain will be gone in 5 minutes, if not sooner. At least it did for me.
FYI-lots of commercial honey is cut with corn syrup - up to 50% - and the FDA doesn't have to make the seller tell you that! My dad was a master beekeeper so that's how we found out about it.
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ACV is the only thing I have found to reliably beat back and eliminate my heartburn/acid reflux. Since first hearing about it and experiencing it's benefits myself I've recommended it to numerous people and in every case they have had the same positive results.
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Tea tree oil cleared up a nail fungus, it took about a month. Coconut oil, rubbed into my skin every day, cleared up my adult acne & occasional dandruff
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Vitamin D is the only thing that has done anything to take away the pain and let me walk. Stabbing pain developed gradually from years of standing in one place on hard concrete. The pain grew and spread to both knees. It became so bad I thought I would end in a wheelchair or having both joints replaced. Not a pleasant thought for someone only thirty years old. I tried different herbs and joint 'cures' like MSM and Glucosamine and added large amounts of onions and garlic to my diet to no effect. Boosting Vit. D to 2000 iu or more every day finally brought the pain down and improved my skin, hair and nails though they weren't in noticeably poor condition.
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The way the question is posed ("What works? I want your anecdotes") unfortunately really limits the usefulness of the discussion. Due to a large number of well-known and extensively documented cognitive effects and biases (placebo, hindsight, selection, confirmation, expectation, bandwagon, survivorship, etc.), anecdotes and testimonials are one of the *worst* known ways of deciding complex health questions.

The best known way to figure out if a treatment actually works, which we humans have perfected over the past 100 years or so, in the randomized controlled trial. (Having a plausible underlying physical mechanism also is a big plus.) Take a large group of people, randomly assign them one of two alternative treatments (or real vs fake treatment) and measure the results, without participants or researchers knowing which group is which. For example, you truly believe ACV or herb X or amber necklaces worked for you. How do you know it was that one single thing and not something else happening in your life at the time (or placebo effect, or random remission / cyclic nature of the condition)? How did you measure "working"? E.g., did you and 49 friends get 25 real amber necklaces and 25 fake amber ones, randomly draw them without knowing which was which, and then record a daily diary of the child's teething discomfort levels? Without a quality trial, then due to all the cognitive biases and effects mentioned above, we really have no clue whether it was effective. It's true that a collection of anecdotes is a great way of identifying treatments for further clinical testing; it's just not a substitute for testing.

Don't get me wrong, I know that many natural cures do in fact work, and I'm not some pharma-for-everything type of person. I just want people to remember how we really learn which treatments work: science! Not testimonials. So, I encourage everybody to re-pose the question in their minds: "What non-mainstream treatments are supported by strong evidence from high-quality clinical trials?"

Here's a nice, user-friendly starter: Snake Oil? Scientific evidence for popular supplements. And, The Cochrane Collaboration.
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There are only two "homeopathic" remedies that I have found to work for me and they are Similasan Earache Relief Drops and (surprisingly enough because I didn't think it would work but it did) Head-On.

I have worked in the medical field for 15 years and for the majority of the doctors I've known, not many vitamins and minerals do much good (unless you are anemic and take iron)(although a good multivitamin can't hurt) except for glucosamine and chondroitin which does seem to help joint pain.

If you think something works for you, it could be a placebo effect. However, if you think it works and there's nothing harmful to it (i.e., drinking bleach could get rid of a headache but might cause a world of other problems), then go for it! Everyone is different in how they react to things!
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Vitamin D. This is anecdotal, yet it is MY anecdote.

I have remitting/recurring MS. I was suffering through increasingly serious and more frequent attacks each year from the age of 25 through 37. That last year I was hit with five attacks with some tough repercussions. That's when my neurologist suggested checking my vitamin D levels, and found them deficient.

50,000 units per week (overdose is considered 70,000/wk, so I'm good) and I haven't had a single symptom since. That's four years, symptom-free.

I am positive it is not the cure for everyone, but please tell those with similar issues to have their levels checked!
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