"One grandmother is worth two M.D.s." Robert Mendelsohn, M.D.

The DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWSLETTER  Vol 2, No 14,  May 24, 2002
"Free of charge, free of advertising, and free of the A.M.A."
Written by Andrew Saul, PhD. of http://www.doctoryourself.com , a free
online library of over 350 natural healing articles with nearly 4,000
scientific references.

ALTERNATIVE HEALTH vs. ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: Big Difference

Complimentary Medicine, or Alternative Medicine sure sounds good. It sounds
like progressive, real health-care reform. "Alt Med" seems like an ideal
marriage of the best of the old and the new, the scientific and the
holistic, the technological  and the natural, the doctor and the patient.

But for those of us who favor wellness self-reliance, it is a far cry from
Alternative HEALTH.  Alternative Health is different, first in the obvious
way: the word medicine is not there.  That means the medical and
pharmaceutical professions are cut out. And since they don't want that, this
is why they are willing to accept some of the "natural" stuff as long as
they maintain control the writing of prescriptions and the filling of
prescriptions.

But they will not support you when you go off on your own, to your own
garden or to your local health food store or to your own library or Internet
research.

If you've ever met a plumber or electrician or appliance repairman or auto
mechanic who said, "Here: let me show YOU how to do this" then you have been
singularly fortunate.  Rare as this experience may be, it is infinitely
rarer for a health professional to teach you exactly how to dispense with
their services. An underlying assumption implicit in fee-for-service medical
care is that you CAN'T do what the doctor does, dummy, and you are a fool
for thinking you can.

I disagree.

Decades ago I once was stranded out-of-state with all my car's radiator
fluid bleeding out around me, staining the parking lot nicely green.  It was
Sunday, I could not find a mechanic who would come to the car, and I had no
money for a tow or, for that matter, for an overnight stay to wait for the
job to be eventually attended to.  So I pleaded with, and ultimately
convinced a gas station attendant to loan me a few tools and drop a hint
about how to replace coolant hoses. Might sound like small potatoes to you,
but I was a 19 year old egghead and up until then had never worked under a
car in my life. The prospect actually frightened me.

But I learned that desperation and elbow grease will loosen even the frayed
plumbing of a big old Ford. I replaced the hose. (The large-diameter one, at
the very bottom. What a mess.) I filled the radiator; I returned the tools;
I drove away.

By golly, it worked.

Not long ago I discovered that you can call some appliance factories and,
for a fee, they will walk you thorough the repair over the phone. Outback
Australian children have been taught by radio for decades.  I am convinced
that doctors could do this with us, by radio for free or by phone for a fee.
I've been saying for years how much I'd like to see neighbor hood health
instruction co-ops
( http://doctoryourself.com/motherearth.html )

Car self-repair, appliance self-repair and health self-repair require a
common attitude: "This is learnable, this is doable, and I can learn to do
it."

Then consider the financial aspects of all this: what if we were determined
to pretty much do without doctors? Alt Med Assumption: Certainly we can't.
Alt Health assumption: Maybe we can.  The difference? The health homesteader
takes back control.  No longer a patient, the health homesteader gains
knowledge, experience and self-reliance, in that order.

Now don't go off saying that this is silly, breathlessly citing crisis care
as requiring physicians.  It is granted that there are times when we
absolutely do indeed require a professional.  But we can act to greatly
reduce the frequency of those times, far beyond what we've been told.

The word "Doctor" is derived form the Latin word for "teacher."   If your
physician is a good health coach, great.  If he is not, then you absolutely
need to doctor (teach) yourself.

Here is a quick way to evaluate your doctor's alternative HEALTH potential.
Ask her if she agrees with this statement:

"There is a natural substitute for nearly every drug. I do not want to use
nutrition and vitamin supplements along with drugs. I want to use them
INSTEAD of drugs."

If your doctor is intolerant of such a position, or simply not up to speed,
you can help fill the void with the following information.

POWERFUL WEAPONS AGAINST DISEASE
VITAMIN C in sufficient quantity can substitute for antibiotics, antivirals,
antitoxics, antipyretics (fever-reducers) antihistamines, and
corticosteroids such as Prednisone.
http://doctoryourself.com/titration.html
http://doctoryourself.com/klennerpaper.html
http://doctoryourself.com/vitaminc.html
http://doctoryourself.com/vitaminc2.html
http://doctoryourself.com/ortho_c.html
http://doctoryourself.com/klenner_table.html
http://doctoryourself.com/immune.html

NIACIN substitutes for various tranquilizers, sleeping pills,
antidepressants and antipsychotic medications.
http://doctoryourself.com/hoffer_niacin.html
http://doctoryourself.com/hoffer_anecdote.html
http://doctoryourself.com/niacin.html
http://www.doctoryourself.com/psychiatry.html
http://doctoryourself.com/hoffer_psychosis.html

The team of Vitamin E, coenzyme Q10, stress reduction, vegetarian diet and
minerals such as magnesium beat any a cardiovascular drug on the market.
Angina:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/angina.html
Arrythmia:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/hearta.html
Congestive Heart Failure
http://doctoryourself.com/congestive.html
High Blood Pressure:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/hypertension.html
Dr. Abram Hoffer's comments on cardiovascular disease:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_shute.html

READERS ASK:
"Any advice on how blood clots (thrombophlebitis) can be treated without
Coumadin?"

Yes.
http://www.doctoryourself.com/drugalt.html , the second half of the article.

INTRAVENOUS VITAMIN C REFUSED
"My doctor refuses to provide my elderly father with a vitamin C IV to help
both control cancer and relieve his pain. Is this legal?"

Please bear in mind that I am not a physician, and am not sufficiently
familiar with every state's doctors' licensure laws to give a precise
answer. I would think that, in the absence of a clear medical cure, that
witholding vitamin IV therapy would be more serious a legal issue than
trying it.
 http://www.doctoryourself.com/strategies.html
 http://www.doctoryourself.com/hospitals.html

SUSTAINED RELEASE NIACIN SAFETY
Timothy Simmons, M.D., http://altdoc.250x.com writes:
"Concerning niacin saturation: In a previous issue, I noticed you didn't
warn about possible liver damage with extended-release or sustained-release
niacin. Was that just an oversight, or do you have a different opinion on
that?"

My personal view is that while sustained release niacin is safer than often
perceived to be, I suspect that people can take too much of it without
getting the prompt saturation indicator of the "flush." I therefore prefer
and recommend manual, regular doses, not sustained release. I also recommend
regular liver function tests to be on the safe side. In my own experience, I
am yet to see a problem. Additional niacin dosage information at
http://www.doctoryourself.com/niacin.html

Abram Hoffer, M.D., says:

"About Megadose Niacin:

"The factoid niacin causes liver damage is analyzed thoroughly by William
Parsons Jr, who shows that niacin will often increase liver function tests
but that these increases do not arise from liver pathology. (Parsons WB Jr:
Cholesterol Control Without Diet: The Niacin Solution. Lilac Press,
Scotsdale, Arizona 1998. Reviewed in Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine,
Volume 14, 1999, 3rd quarter.)

Since I began using megadoses of this vitamin in 1952 I have seen a few
cases of obstructive-type jaundice which cleared when niacin was stopped,
and in one case I had to resume the use of niacin because the patient's
schizophrenia recurred. He recovered and the jaundice did not recur. I have
seen so few cases of jaundice that there is little evidence that the
jaundice arose from the use of the niacin. Jaundice has a natural occurrence
rate and from any series of patients a few will get jaundice from other
factors. In rare cases too much niacin causes nausea and vomiting, and if
this persists because the niacin is not decreased or stopped the dehydration
might be a factor. I have seen no cases in the past fifteen years. The main
danger from taking niacin is not jaundice, it is that people will live
longer. "
(more at  http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_factoids.html )

INFLAMED STOMACH
Dorothy writes:

"About 1or 2 years ago, my mother-in-law had a terribly inflamed stomach.
The doctors put a scope down to take a look and said that her stomach was
bright red. They did all kinds of tests and tried all kinds of things, but
nothing helped. Every time she tried taking just a tiny bite she suffered
SEVERE pain.

"I suggested she try oatmeal broth (as suggested in the book BACK TO EDEN by
Jethro Kloss, pages 82-83, 549-550). She drank this for a couple of days
before trying to eat anything else and worked her way slowly back to eating
normally. When she was ready to try to start eating, she would drink this
about 10 minutes before eating. I suggested that she start with fruits
first. It has worked wonderfully.

"Later she returned to her doctor and told him what had finally
helped...you'll never guess his reply. He had "heard of that before" and was
glad that she was feeling better.

"Amazing that nothing else that the doctor had done or prescribed before
(for months) had helped, yet he never once mentioned about the POSSIBILITY
of trying oatmeal water."

Glad it helped; it certainly can't hurt to try. Barley water can also be a
great gastrointestinal healer, as is pure fresh aloe vera juice, and cabbage
juice.
http://www.doctoryourself.com/colitis.html

SUGAR ADDICTION
C. R. writes:
"All my 45-plus years I've fought against sugar, refined carbohydrates, and
the fatigue and mood swings they bring about. However, like an alcoholic, I
always seem to end up craving, and then getting back with sugar products.

"I read the following post on an Internet newsgroup:

""In order to control your addiction, follow the protocol for alcohol at
http://www.doctoryourself.com/alcohol_protocol.html    My daughter treated a
sugar addiction nutritionally exactly as alcoholism is treated, and it
works. Many people who have sugar addiction have alcoholics in the family.
When alcoholics go off alcohol, they nearly always start eating lots of
sugar. Unfortunately, this usually keeps the addiction going."

"I'd love to see a diet and tactics suggested to get off a sugar addiction.
I am the son of alcoholics, and addicted to a terrible sugar and refined
carbo diet that leaves me exhausted and stressed out. Your assertion that
alcoholism can be "cured" really is heresy to my way of thinking, but, hey,
maybe you might be right. I sure would like to find a nutritional key that
might help me in my ongoing white-knuckled struggle as I hurry past the
baked goods and candy."

Probably the most reliable and most powerful help for the sugar junkie is
indeed to diligently follow Dr. Roger J. William's nutritional program for
alcoholism. Large quantities of the B-complex vitamins are a cornerstone of
the treatment.  The cheap and easy key is to take the entire B-complex at
least six times daily. Chromium, vitamin C, lecithin, the amino acid
L-glutamine, and a vegetable-rich, high-fiber, complex carbohydrate diet are
also very important.

Detailed dosages are posted at
http://www.doctoryourself.com/alcohol_protocol.html
A case story is posted at
http://www.doctoryourself.com/alcoholism.html

Books by Roger J. Williams include Nutrition and Alcoholism (1951),
Alcoholism: The Nutritional Approach (1959), Nutrition Against Disease
(1971) and Physician's Handbook of Nutritional Science (1975).

And for some good anti-sugar motivational reading, don't forget Sugar Blues
(1975), by William Dufty (NY: Warner.)

HEMORRHOIDS and Ways to Be Done With Them
(or, at the very least, stop the itching and go on to some other aspect of
your life that has got to be much more fulfilling)

How to relieve, or better yet prevent, a sore heiney.

1. First, we can stop killing sharks (among our newest endangered species).
"Preparation H" and its clones are made from shark liver oil. Use topical
vitamin E instead. Medically speaking, "topical" means "applied directly to
the surface." This really works, oh hemorrhoid sufferers. Make sure the anus
is clean, and even more important, dry. After a shower or bath, blot the
area with a clean, white tissue and wait ten or fifteen minutes. Then,
puncture a vitamin E capsule with a push-pin. (You might even like to keep a
push-pin in the bottle, as long as it is out of reach of children and
brightly colored so you can spot it, too.) Place the opened end of the
vitamin E capsule right up against the anus, and squeeze the capsule. Spread
the slightly oily vitamin E around and you will be pleased with the prompt
results. Repeat twice daily.

2. Eat more fiber. This means softer, easier to pass stools. Just lovely,
this chat we're having here, isn't it?

3. Drink more water. You need water for fiber to work. The bowel is your
water recycling center, by the way. A human bowel movement usually contains
only about 150 ml (that's about half a Dixie cup) of water. The rest, and
we're talking quarts, is reclaimed by your body, which is itself made
two-thirds of water. Dry stools are an adaptation for land animals,
especially birds and reptiles, that conserve water super efficiently.
Although we are capable of forming a very solid stool, it is better for your
butt if you don't.

4. Eat less meat. Meat contains no fiber. Even lean meat has a lot of fat
compared to grains, beans, vegetables and fruit, which are loaded with
fiber.

5. Avoid surgery by doing the four steps above. My Dad had several
hemorrhoid operations during his lifetime. (He actually watched them perform
the surgery, thanks to the wonders of local anesthesia and cleverly placed
mirrors. Now there's a ready answer for "What did you do today, dear?") The
simple fact that he had the same operation more than once tells us much
about the value of operations.

All right, let's take this discussion even lower (if that's possible) and
let you in on the proctologist with a secret: his custom-made wallpaper had
a novel, abstract design. Turns out it was a pattern of assorted anal
sphincters. This was in the man's professional office, and I am not making
it up: my Dad told me. Of course, there is a slim chance that he might be
making it up, and let's hope so.

The rest of this newsletter has been pretty much on the level.

Mostly.

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