If you have rheumatoid arthritis you may have often thought about seeking an alternative health practitioner, but have not known how to approach the matter. You may be considering alternative medicine now for your arthritis because you have been treated unsuccessfully for years by conventional medicine.
Having been treated for rheumatoid arthritis over a lengthy period your condition may be rather advanced, that is not to say that alternative medicine would be unable to treat it, but rather the treatment would be slow and steady in order to avoid any aggravation of your arthritis.
Unfortunately, patients often expect fast results from their chosen alternative practitioner, however, this will most certainly not be the case, for years of taking prescription drugs will have more than likely left you in a debilitated condition.Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with prescription drugs fails to treat the cause of your disease, it only treats symptoms, this results in suppression, and you spend the rest of your life with intermittent flare-ups and exacerbations of your disease with no cure ever in sight.
Rheumatoid arthritis is considered to be an auto-immune disease, with an unknown cause. This diagnosis rather absolves you of all responsibility for your disease, having received your diagnosis you then proceed unquestioningly to commence a regime of potent drugs for your rheumatoid arthritis without doing any research on the disease yourself.
Have you ever asked why your immune system has decided to attack you, rather than protect you? If you gave this some serious thought you might decide to make some lifestyle changes in order to help your immune system regain its innate intelligence. You may ask what lifestyle changes you might have to make in order to regain your health. Basically, there really is only one change, and that is your diet. The answer is simple, eat fresh organic fruits and vegetables, eliminate fast foods, highly processed foods, aspartame, MSG, saturated fats, refined carbohydrates, cigarettes, alcohol, diet sodas, and all other sodas.
If you would prefer to keep your rheumatoid arthritis, your junk diet and prescription drugs then that’s your choice and you will undoubtedly pay for your choice with lifelong sickness. However, if you make the effort to change your diet you will reap the benefits, and you will be richly rewarded with vibrant health.
To relieve hemorrhoids first look for ways to get your bowels moving easier and more frequently so they produce softer stools. I have suggested ways, in other articles, to do this by changing your diet.
Any straining and puffing you do to push hard or even soft stools out during a bowel movement will aggravate your hemorrhoids and can lead to bleeding and pain.
When completing a bowel movement, make sure you are using the softest tissue available so that when you clean yourself you don’t scrape or aggravate your hemorrhoids. You can also use a pre-moisten tissue. Just make sure that the tissue you use is not colored or scented because these chemical additives can aggravate your hemorrhoids. You may have to take a shower a couple times a day to keep your rectum area clean.
Here are three natural remedies that you can use to aid in eliminating your hemorrhoids.
Aloe Vera
Aloe Vera gel is an astringent that helps to heal open wounds. It is useful in hemorrhoids by applying the gel directly onto your anus. The best type of gel for this is directly from the aloe plant. If you don’t have one, then 100% organic whole leaf aloe gel is second best. You can get this organic aloe at a health food or nutrition store.
If you have a fresh plant, wash a leaf thoroughly with distilled water. Peel it on one side, bend it with the peeled side outward, and slip it into your anus. This will provide you with pain relief and reduce your hemorrhoid bleeding. Just trim down the leaf so it slides into your anus easily.
Aloe Vera juice, that you drink, is also good for hemorrhoids. It helps to soften your stools and to activate peristaltic action. If you like aloe juice, then drink around 1/2 a cup of Aloe Vera juice three time a day.
You can add 1/4 or 1/3 part aloe juice to a cup of apple juice to make the taste easier to handle. To make this aloe-apple juice more effective, add 10 drops of barberry extract.
Barberry is an astringent for blood vessel congestion along the colon and rectum. It will improve blood circulation; it stimulates the immune system to resist disease, and will tone body tissues. It also is capable of stopping bleeding hemorrhoids.
Bilberry’s active ingredients are flavanoids. Bilberry contains chemical called “anthocyanosides.” This fruit like herb has been used in Europe for a long time. In clinical studies, it has shown to be effective in treating weak capillaries by strengthening their walls.
Buy the 25% standardized formula and take 100 mg three times a day of bilberry. Bilberry will give you hemorrhoid relief.
Butcher’s broom, an evergreen bush, has a history of being used for varicose veins and hemorrhoids. As an extract, it contains “ruscogenins”, which can narrow blood vessels and decrease their inflammation and swelling. It strengthens and tones veins and capillary walls. Take 100 mg of butcher’s broom three times a day. Use the type that has 9-11% ruscogenins.
Now you can use either of the three herbal remedies for hemorrhoid relief. If one is not working to good, try the other. Once you have gotten the hemorrhoid relief that you want stop using the herbal remedy.
There are many forms of healing available to us today and many different ways in which the word “healing” is used. When one looks at healing as a return to wholeness, all uses are correct. A person who is healing from surgery is experiencing their body knitting itself back together physically, just as one who is healing from heartbreak is in some sense knitting back their sense of self and security after an emotional loss. We all have an urge towards healing, even as most all of us have ways in which we act when we are wounded and are not always ready, willing, or able to expose the wound to allow the healing to begin.
There are many different kinds of healing systems in the world, from the medical systems of TCM, Ayurveda, and Allopathic (western) medicine. There are spiritual and energetic ways of healing as well, and there are systems that walk between both of those worlds. The healing star system, specifically the Rising Star system of healing is one of many sacred healing systems that has been brought to us here on earth to heal with energy.
It works on physical, emotional, mental and spiritual issues, bringing in the energy necessary to release old dis-ease and help to transform one’s life into a loving, joyful, and energizing experience. The experience that people have tends to exceed their expectations, and often they find themselves eased of hurts so old they had forgotten how life felt without it. The energy of Rising Star healing goes wherever it is needed in much the same way that Reiki energy is drawn to where healing is needed without being physically directed.
Healing one's inner self-has an outward rippling effect to other areas of one's life. Also when you heal yourself, you may also begin to heal others as well. Those around you are affected by this healing state and can themselves begin to heal anew. You also cease to interact with them out of old patterns and so they can meet and interact with your new self, a self that is hopefully committed to continuing on the healing path.
Having a profound healing experience can change your life in ways you never imagined, and this goes for someone who is experiencing any type of healing, not just healing star. There is always room to grow and expand into a more healed state-we never stop having opportunities for healing as long as we are alive.
When you are in need of healing, you should look into all the options available to you.
The bear and the eagle, Father Sun, and Mother Earth. Nope, this is not an animal or environmental write-up. But rather, this short write-up is about Native American medical practices and how it can be combined with another Eastern technique called Reiki to come up with a healing method that channels the life force energies of everything that surrounds us.
Practitioners refer to this as Medicine Reiki, a technique which combines the medicinal approaches of Native Americans and the rather spiritual approaches of Japanese Reiki.
But medicine Reiki was not created to surpass any other forms of Reiki but it was created because of a realization that there is a way to broaden and deepen the understanding of the energy that binds us all together. It can be seen as a natural course of action, from a general concept as Reiki, to more specialized forms like medicine Reiki.
By integrating Native American concepts of healing, beliefs, and practices to the knowledge of channeling the life force energy of Reiki, healing takes place faster than when using regular Reiki or ordinary Native American medicines alone. How so, you might ask? The answer all lies on how these two elements work.
We take medicines to heal our physical ailments. But because medicines heal only the physical aspects of our body, the possibility of the illness or disease striking twice is not that far off. Medicines offer merely temporary relief. Reiki, on the other hand, is an encompassing discipline which targets the physical, mental, spiritual and mental aspects of our existence. Reiki practitioners use the infinite energy that surrounds us, channels that energy and allow it to flow to anyone or anything that needs healing.
By combining these two elements of healing, you"ll get medicine energy that heals beyond its normal capacity. The combination heals both the physical state and the inner dispositions of the body faster as well.
The concept of medicine Reiki is relatively new. It was K'sitew who founded this branch of Reiki in the late 90s. From then on it grew and the practice expanded to include other energies.
The good thing about medicine Reiki is that it can only be used for healing. Unlike when taken alone, medicines can be good and bad, a dualistic energy source. Reiki is a monadic energy which means it is only good energy thus cannot do any harm. When Reiki is integrated with medicine, the dualistic energy of the latter is converted into a monadic energy resulting to a positive form of energy whose only capacity is to heal and not damage or hurt someone.
What also makes medicine Reiki different is that the healing process is done in groups or in small communities. Participation of the community is necessary during the healing sessions creating a closer bond between individuals which is great for sharing energy. The closer the bonds between the members of the group, the greater the energy flows within the group, the better and faster the healing process.
Since the founding of this Reiki technique, more healing methods have developed which draws its origins from Native American medicines.
And as long as practitioners exist, this Reiki healing technique will continue to grow and expand bringing forth new healing methods or techniques that will help people challenge their health and energy levels.
Today's world can fill the very busy individual with a lot of stress. Without some way of removing this stress from your system, you're placing yourself in danger from a lot of stress-related diseases. You might suffer from insomnia or headaches or very serious heart diseases.
You could take anti-stress pills to help you relax but, like me, you might also be worried about the side effects these pills could have. The good news is that you could try acupuncture at least once to see if it could help you manage the stress. It certainly couldn't hurt to try acupuncture if all you're after is stress relief.
If you find it doesn't work for you, then you can just easily stop taking acupuncture treatments. If it works, though, then you can say you've found a good treatment for stress that doesn't rely on those dangerous chemicals and pills.
How does sticking needles into your body help manage the stress?
In traditional Chinese medicine, much of the treatments depend on an understanding of the balance in our bodies and its internal organs. The sicknesses we sometimes develop are seen to be caused by imbalances in our lifestyles and environment. Stress is also affected by this imbalance. That is why when there is something wrong with your body, you'd typically have less of an ability to deal with stress. You'd get more irritable and find it really to difficult to relax.
By sticking these very thin needles past the surface of our skin, the acupuncturist stimulates nerves in our body. These nerves send signals to our brain and scientists believe that the brain then releases its natural painkillers into our system. This immediately causes a feeling of relaxation for many people.
The needles could also help your body by stimulating its circulation. With the circulation between the organs of the body improved, a lot of the body's wastes could be cleansed properly. Your organs would also receive the full benefit of the oxygen from your lungs making its way into the cells of your body without any blockages. This makes your organs much healthier and leaves you feeling much better in the long term as well.
You can think of a session with the acupuncturist as very much like massage therapy. A good massage would help give you a very relaxing sleep that night and an acupuncturist could help you with your sleep as well. You might immediately start to feel drowsy as soon as the right nerves are stimulated by the acupuncturist's needles.
You might be asking yourself how you'd be able to relax if you're suffering from the pain of the needles attached to your body. What you might not realize is that because of the thinness of the needles, you would hardly feel anything. The most that many people claim they feel is a kind of tingling feeling where the needles are. And that is actually a sign that the process is working,
Acupuncture is a practice that helps you use your bodies' own ability to manage stress properly. This leaves you healthier, and more importantly, prevents any of the serious diseases that could come from unbalanced, stressful lifestyles.
It might not be something to replace regular trips to the doctor but with its many possible benefits, acupuncture might be worth trying out very soon.
Bitter Melon is reported to help in the treatment of diabetes and psoriasis. It has also been reported that Bitter Melon may help in the treatment of HIV. Bitter Melon is the English name of Momordica charantia. Bitter Melon is also known by the names Karela and Balsam Pear. Bitter Melon grows in tropical areas, including parts of East Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and South America, where it is used as a food as well as a medicine.
It is a green cucumber shaped fruit with gourd-like bumps all over it. It looks like an ugly, light green cucumber. The fruit should be firm, like a cucumber. And it tastes very bitter. Although the seeds, leaves, and vines of Bitter Melon have all been used, the fruit is the safest and most prevalent part of the plant used medicinally. The leaves and fruit have both been used occasionally to make teas and beer, or to season soups in the Western world.
Bitter Melon was traditionally used for a dazzling array of conditions by people in tropical regions. Numerous infections, cancer, leukemia, and diabetes are among the most common conditions it was believed to improve. Bitter Melon is reported to help in the treatment of diabetes and psoriasis. It has also been thought that Bitter Melon may help in the treatment of HIV, but the evidence thus far is too
weak to even consider. The ripe fruit of Bitter Melon has been suggested to exhibit some remarkable anti-cancer effects, but there is absolutely no evidence that it can treat cancer. However, preliminary studies do appear to confirm that Bitter Melon may improve blood sugar control in people with adult-onset (type 2) diabetes.
The blood lowering action of the fresh juice of the unripe Bitter Melon has been confirmed in scientific studies in animals and humans. At least three different groups of constituents in Bitter Melon have been reported to have hypoglycemic (blood sugar lowering) or other actions of potential benefit in diabetes mellitus. These include a mixture of steroidal saponins known as charantin, insulin-like peptides, and alkaloids. It is still unclear which of these is most effective or if all three work together. Nonetheless, Bitter Melon preparations have been shown to significantly improve glucose tolerance without increasing blood insulin levels, and to improve fasting blood glucose levels.
"Don’t feed the trolls" is a common synonym for someone who likes to create havoc on the internet. Trolls normally use chat rooms, posting boards or Forums to provoke and intimidate people by sending confrontational messages. People who feel harrassed and provoked and find the time to argue with these people are “Feeding the Trolls”.
It’s just a theory, but it can be said that once the mind is infected by worry, you are opening the doors for the trolls.
Learning how to come to terms with worry is like having to learn to fly a jet. You have to be a pilot to fly it. To be a pilot you have to learn. Sounds kind of immature to comment that anyone can learn to fly a jet if they are really set on doing so. It’s just a matter of being educated.
You may disagree with me on this matter but I am certain you could learn to fly a jet if you really had to. It may take hundreds of hours of instruction and countless tests and exams but theoretically, you could fly a jumbo jet if someone taught you how to.
Using the information above it can be said that everyone can learn to cope with worry. Like learning to fly, you have to be taught how.
Worry can have great power and influence if it finds a suitable candidate to feed from. Worry is an emotion which means it can be manipulated.
Being worried is normal. It’s a way of protecting ourselves. People who do nothing BUT worry are feeding the trolls! I still catch myself feeding my own trolls but I’ve learned to keep it to a minimum. The worse thing about worry is that you can’t change the outcome of a certain situation by simply worrying about it.
What are you worrying about at the moment? Maybe your company isn’t doing too well and the sales figures are down and people are being told to find new jobs. That’s something to worry about though isn’t it? In fact it’s not. It’s perfectly normal to be concerned about something ( or someone ), but that is as far as it should go.
Deep rooted worrying can and will ruin your life. It will control you.
Okay, let’s imagine for a minute you’re worried sick about losing your job. There are good reasons to worry about losing a job. No one likes to be unemployed. The reasons are obvious and don’t have to be repeated. In fact, you can’t sleep, you can’t eat, you are nervous, aggressive…in fact you become physically sick. If you look at this from the outside, there are only two things that will happen:
A: you lose your job.
B: you keep your job.
Let’s say you do lose your job. Ask yourself if your pain, anguish and apprehension could have possibly altered the outcome of the situation I will answer this for you…….NO. No worrying in the world could have influenced the outcome of you keeping your job or not. All you did was feed the trolls. Be honest, would it have really been worth worrying yourself sick about something you couldn’t change anyway? Let’s say you didn’t lose your job. Did your worrying have any effect on the outcome ? Let me answer this too…….…NO
In other words, you can’t trade your worries for a change in destiny. No one is going to re-write the books just because you like to worry. I found the best way to deal with worry is to obtain the basic facts and determine what the core of my worry is.
If you are worrying about losing your job, what is it exactly you are worrying about? If worst comes to worst, what is the nastiest thing that is going to happen to you ? The answer is: You will be without a job and have less money. There is nothing ecstatic about loosing your job, but it NOT the end of the world.
Please don’t get me wrong and please don’t think I am ignorant ( I am facing the same dilemma ), I don’t know anyone on the Earth who dreams about being unemployed.
But if I can accept that it’s not the end of the world then I can learn to come to terms with this situation when it arises. If I can learn in advance to prepare myself for the worst, then it will be easier for me to accept the worst when and if the time ever comes.
I use to worry myself sick about my loss of hearing and tinnitus until it dawned on me that worrying is part of the cause.
In fact, I fed THOUSENDS of trolls until I realized what I was doing wrong. It took me 18 months of suffering to finally wake up and realize that it was I that was causing the stress.
I allowed tinnitus to rob me of my identity and place a firm grip on my life. Had I only known! Everyone knows that you just can’t stop worrying at the drop of a hat or because people advise you to. You may require hours and hours of therapy.
But you can learn to come to grips with a "chronic worrying syndrome.” I can only speak for myself here and I know that medical world won’t agree with me on this one but I want to recap on the title of this book. I called it "Tinnitus my best friend."
“How can tinnitus be my best friend” you say.
I used its power to create a new person in myself. I am using its power to create this very Article I am writing. Nothing has ever compelled me to sit down for hundreds of hours and write a book. Nothing has ever been worth the effort.
I learned how to register a domain, set up my own homepage and promote an e-book with the sole purpose of trying to help other people overcome their fear of having to live with tinnitus for the rest of their lives.
Where else did I use it?. I managed to stop smoking, I lost weight, and I taught myself to start caring for myself. I know how to keep myself fit. I know what to eat ad what not to eat. I used its energy and made something of it.
You can do the same.
Looking back, it took me a long time to accept that tinnitus actually helped me change my life. Once I realized that tinnitus was nothing but a warning signal, I found ways of coming to terms with it and used its energy to help me out of this pitfall. Tinnitus helped me get my life back on track and for that I’m thankful. In fact I would probably feel lonely without it ( just kidding ).
But I am still aware of it because I have accepted that the noise won’t disappear. I just learned to take no notice of it. That’s the key to success. Learning to ignore. It’s a learning process that needs time and patience.
Maybe it’s hard to explain how to ignore sounds you think you can’t escape but the trick is retraining your brain to distract your attention away from the tinnitus thus making the sounds obsolete. This mechanism is still present regardless of how long you have been suffering from tinnitus. It’s kind of hard to explain how it works but it really is very easy to demonstrate.
You will be bluffed how easy it is to ignore Tinnitus. I will explain this in my next article.
Iridology is the science and practice of analyzing the iris, the most complex external structure of the human anatomy. The practice of Iridology is expanding rapidly as it is becoming known as a valuable tool for preventive healthcare. The iris is connected to every organ and tissue of the body by way of the brain and nervous system. It is in direct contact with the bio-energetic, biochemical, structural, hormonal, and metabolic processes of the body via the nerves, blood vessels, muscle fibers, and lymph. Holistically, it is used to accurately assess the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual patterns and weaknesses for a complete health analysis. It is completely painless, non-invasive, and economically viable while providing valuable information for restorative and preventive health care.
The iris of a human eye. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Most Iridologists also incorporate the study of Sclerology into their assessments. Sclerology is the study of the whites of the eyes as they relate to the person’s health. Interpreting the red lines, colorations, and markings in the sclera is closely associated with present pathology of the body. This is based on the twelve meridians and the yin and yang aspect of each meridian. The Chinese saw the lines in the sclera as a reflection of the lymphatic fluid which bathes every cell in relation to the principles of acupuncture. This principle concludes that imbalances in the meridian energy register in the sclera. Native American Indians also analyzed the eyes to get a better understanding of the stresses affecting a person’s health.
Nature has provided us with an invaluable insight into the vital status of the health of any individual through the sciences of iridology and sclerology. Through analyzing the eyes it enables us to ascertain the person’s genetic predisposition to health and disease, the general constitution, as well as organ and gland influence on other bodily systems. Personality tendencies, thought and emotional patterns, and deeper soul-level issues can also be recognized, making the eyes truly the windows to not only the body, but the mind and soul.
Iridology has progressed tremendously since the mid 1800’s. Numerous doctors and scientists have researched iridology on humans over the past 125 years and it has become a respected practice, used by many medical doctors and naturopaths worldwide. Dr. Bernard Jensen, renowned Iridologist and Nutritionist, pioneered the science of iridology here in the U.S. Dr. David J Pesek, PhD has continued and expanded upon Jensen’s work to develop one of the most comprehensive iris charts used today, integrating the thought and emotional patterns with the physical health, and improving the understanding of the ‘brain flare’ areas.
With today’s technology and the use of microscopes and fine digital imaging, many medical doctors, naturopaths, and psychologists from England, Germany, Italy, France, United States, Australia, Canada, and Russia have been advancing the field of iris analysis over the past 20 years with a seemingly unlimited potential. The brain areas, which are analyzed in the upper quadrant of the iris , have further defined emotional and spiritual health. Time-Risk assessment, has been documented, proven and shared with advanced iridologists around the world.
Time-Risk is a fascinating degree of exactitude, using the posterior epithelial cells which wrap around the pupil, to determine the actual time when imbalances in the body, mind, spirit may have occurred from childhood until old age.
Research projects are currently being done by many Iridologists/Researchers around the world. One study in progress is being done by the American College of Iridology which targets the markers in the corresponding intestinal area of the iris to pinpoint bowel disease in its early stages. This will rapidly bolster iridology in the United States as an integral part of the preventive health care system by understanding genetic influences and learning how to properly care for the body to avoid potential disease.
John Andrews, a top Iridologist and researcher from the United Kingdom publishes the Advanced Iridology Research Journal quarterly, including many works from Dr. Danielle LoRito, MD from Italy, Dr. Mikhail Dailakis, MD from Greece, Dr. Vincent Di Spazio from Italy, Dr. David Borow, an oncologist and medical Iridologist from Austria, Prof. Javier Griso Salome from Spain, Prof. Serge Jurasunas from Portugal, and many others. This Journal includes topics such as ‘Profiling Aging through Iridology’, ‘Multiple Sclerosis and Iridology’, ‘Hypoglycemia’, ‘Dysbiosis – Intestinal Immunology’, ‘Biophysics and Quantitive and Qualitative Biochemistry’, and ‘Iridology – Potential in Medicine’. Clearly we can see that Iridology is taken quite seriously by influential doctors who are open to progress of an alternative nature.
The iris will alert us to the early signs of approaching ‘dis-ease’; although any well educated Iridologist will be sure to warn that the iris cannot diagnose disease, but can recognize potentials for disease as well as toxic accumulations and tissue weakness within the body. As the evaluations are made, and the stress conditions understood, proper corrective measures can be applied. The body can then more easily adjust and alleviate the abnormal stress resulting in a greater degree of health, as well as enabling one to potentially avert any threatening disease.
Each eye gives us different information. The left eye correlates with the left side of the body and the right side of the brain, which is the feminine, creative, conceptual, intuitive side, relating to our emotional selves. The right eye correlates to the right side of the body and the left side of the brain, which is the analytical, practical, linear, masculine side and relates to our work and logical self.
Thus the eye is the very aware ‘informant’ regarding the CAUSE of body stressors. Iridologists trained in interpreting the indications portrayed in the eye have the advantage of occupying ‘command central’ rather than a peripheral monitor such as blood, hair, tongue, or urine analysis, which do not have full access to all of the body’s information (although each of these diagnostic systems provide specific valuable information). Practically speaking, the right hand may not know what the left hand is doing, but the brain centers know what both hands are doing simultaneously and the eye is privy to that information.
Knowing the various stressors on the body can be essential in preventive health care. These stressors may be simple, moderate, or severe and can represent conditions such as nutritional deficiencies, poor circulation, congestion, fatigue, pH acid/alkaline imbalance, infections (bacterial, viral, parasitic), nerve stress, toxic accumulations and abnormal cellular activity. Patterns may register an abnormal stress development long before any serious effects are experienced. With the stress conditions understood, proper corrective measures can be applied by nurturing the causative factors with natural therapies (nutrition, herbology, enzyme therapy, homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, counseling, etc.) leading to a greater degree of health.
Your Iridologist is an important part of a health care team. I encourage my clients to discuss the health care analysis and program I provide with their doctors or other health care providers. Some doctors understand the value in such an analysis and will refer clients to an Iridologist for a whole body assessment, often reducing the discomfort, costs, and time involved for the patient.
The eyes can also show us the cleansing and healing signs as the body adjusts to a more optimum state of health. All we need are the keys to understanding the symbols….and here it is, looking right into our eyes!
References from : Holistic Iridology, by Dr. David J Pesek, The International Institute of Iridology, and Insights in the Eyes, an Introduction to Sclerology, by Dr. Jack Tips, ND, PhD, The International Sclerology Institute, and The Advanced Iridology Research Journal by John Andrews.
Skin irritation due to benzoyl peroxide (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Over the years acne has affected millions of people in their early teens and for many on into their adult life. Each year new acne treatments hit the market, each claiming to stop further acne breakouts. Yet no one medication for acne has been proven to do that.
If you're like so many acne sufferers, and have a medicine cabinet full of various acne medications that don't work, you need to stop and get back to the basics of acne care. Your first step is to become knowledgeable about what acne is and how it develops. Visit your doctor, or better yet consult with a dermatologist about your acne condition. Your dermatologist may recommend over-the-counter medications for acne or if your acne is severe, you may need perscription acne medication.
Much of the medications for acne available today consist of several products (systems for controlling acne), which includes an acne face wash, exfolliator or toner and some lotion. The combined use of these acne medications can have dramatic results in acne blemish control. Though they will likely not cure your acne, they will, when used properly, significantly lessen the number of acne breakouts.
These acne blemish control systems include:
Face wash or cleanser:
The face wash or cleanser is used to fight bacteria. Some are designed to combat bacteria, both on the surface and within the pores. At the same time many contain tiny granules to help exfoliate dead skin cells and impurities. The two most common ingredients of face washes is either benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid. Each of these ingredients approach acne control in different ways.
Benzoyl peroxide used as an antiseptic to lessen the number of surface bacteria and skin yeasts. It is available as a gel, cream, lotion or face wash in varying concentrations.
Salicylic acid helps to slow down shedding skin cells inside the follicle, which in turn reducing clogging. It also helps breakdown, both blackheads and white heads. Salicylic acid is available in varying forms, like gels, lotions and medicated pads (Stridex) and in varying concentrations.
Exfolliator or toner:
The purpose of this gel or cream is to remove dead skin cells, unclog pores and remove excess oil. This one step is essential to acne blemish control. While not visible to the naked eye, clogging of the pores are a major contributor to acne breakouts. Again, depending on the manufacturer, either benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid or another medication for acne may be included in this step.
Lotion:
The final step is applying a lotion. These lotions are usually oil free and used to moisturerize, re-hydrate and reduce irritation of your skin. Some lotions may contain benzoyl peroxide to heal inflammation, which helps prevent future breakouts.
No matter which medication for acne you choose to use, following the acne treatment listed above will help to lessen your acne breakouts. Each step is an important step in active acne blemish control. The combined use of these medications can help to keep your skin clear and acne free. As with use of any medications, you should always consult with your doctor or dermatologists before starting any acne care treatment.
If there are alternative medicines and natural treatments that really work, why don't we hear more about them? I don't think there are many true conspiracies around, but this is one of those areas that makes me wonder. The movement between government posts and positions in the pharmaceutical corporations is well documented. This easy movement between the boardrooms and the FDA and other agencies certainly leaves room for abuse and "back door agreements."
Supari Palm or Betelnut Areca catechu. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
More often than not, though, there is just a conspiracy-of-common-interest that prevents safe alternative medicines from coming to market, or from becoming widely known. For example, drug companies don't want the competition of safe alternatives to their drugs. Meanwhile, it is politically safer for the FDA to not allow a product, because if they approve something and it causes any problems, they get the blame. This is a convenient coinciding of interests.
Also, natural products, like silymarin (Milk Thistle Extract), which is used all over Europe to treat poisonings and to protect the liver, are legal here, but not well known. This is because, as a natural product, there is no way to patent it. Without being able to exclude others from selling it, no company can afford to spend the millions it would take to get it approved as a medicine here.
A natural product also can't be marketed heavily. Imagine if a large company spent millions to promote a medicinal herb. As soon as they got the public's attention, all the smaller companies could undercut them on the price, since they spent nothing on marketing, and a plant product is usually the same no matter what the name on the label. No company wants to spend big money on a product they don't have an exclusive right too.
When a plant isn't approved as a natural treatment, there are no pharmaceutical reps out there educating doctors about it (Didn't you know that's how doctors keep educated?). In addition, even if a doctor has read about a useful plant, he is more likely to face a malpractice suit for an allergic reaction to an alternative medicine than from killing someone with a "standard and accepted" treatment. Which do you think he'll recommend?
Companies face the same issues of liability. In addition, the companies are limited in what they can say about these natural products. This is why you can look all over the box that some plant medicines come in, and never once see a mention of what it is for. It is tough to learn about these natural treatments, isn't it?
In other words, if you want to know about alternative medicines and medical treatment, you have to look outside the mainstream for your information. You have to read the magazines that cover these alternatives, and sometimes, when it is safe, you have to even experiment a little on yourself.
As for my own approach, I like to see that there is actually some real research that demonstrates a benefit. Anecdotal evidence doesn't mean much. People get better all the time, and credit whatever they happened to be using at the time. On the other hand, if it is inexpensive and safe, like eating blueberries to improve vision, I'll try almost anything once.
Do natural treatments work? Sometimes. I have twice removed skin growths from my face that may have even been pre-cancerous. They were there for many years, yet it took just weeks to make them disappear using a simple and cheap natural product. I have also witnessed the fastest healing of a cut (on my foot) that I've ever seen, after applying a common plant to it. Some alternative medicines really do work.
When a person is a little stressed, his body reacts and responds in situations instinctively and efficiently. But this can only be true to small dose of stress. When the dose arises, stress becomes unhealthy. It inhibits the person to perform well. With little stress, the body is pushed to work hard. This is in a positive way. While when the body is over stressed, the response is negative.
A person who is stressed out can’t perform normally. His body reacts differently in situations. Stress can even lead to body disorders and illnesses. Because the normal functioning of the body is affected, the person isn’t able to use his natural instincts when facing a situation. He becomes less creative and less efficient.
Battling Stress
Stress can make your life miserable so before it gets worse, you must battle it. The best way to combat stress is the use of stress management therapy. What is a Stress Management Therapy? This refers to the various strategies used by stress specialists and doctors to help people who are stressed out. The goal of stress management therapy is to help a person live life healthfully and stress free.
Why do you need to combat stress? Stress affects the whole personality of a person. It affects a person’s mental ability and sound judgement. It puts his social, emotional, spiritual and physical life in jeopardy. Worst, it can lead to serious health problems like phobias, heart problems and high blood pressure.
Stress management therapy makes sure that you don’t get these negative effects of stress. Generally, stress management therapy involves relaxation, counselling, exercises, yoga, meditation, and time management therapies. The key to combat stress is to manage it. If you can balance your needs and your abilities, there will be less room for stress.
Identification Of Stress
Before you can even start managing stress, you should first identify the factors that trigger stress. The stress management therapy will be based on your stress factor. The therapy will be designed according to your own needs.
Once the stress triggering factors are identified, measures will be taken to help the individual in facing the same circumstances. The stress management therapy may totally eliminate the factor that causes stress or if not, reduce it to a more tolerable level.
Stress management therapy is vital especially today where everywhere there seems to be a tough competition. This makes us want to get the best and thus, we become stressed. Through a stress management therapy, you will be able to enjoy life the stress free way!
This year it is of utmost importance that we pay attention to strengthening our immune systems naturally. Using certain herbs, foods, supplements and homeopathic remedies can help you avoid catching a cold or flu and build your immune system. If you do catch a virus, they can help
relieve the symptoms and shorten the duration and severity of the illness.
What most people don’t realize is how much your daily diet has an impact on the strength of your immune system. If you or your child are eating sweets daily, processed foods, junk food, drinking soda or other sweetened beverages regularly, you are weakening your immunity and will be more likely to catch virus’s. One teaspoon of sugar (soda has about 9-11 tbsp.) can weaken your immune system for 4 hours. I believe that this is why so many people are now having an extreme difficulty fighting illnesses. (Besides repeated antibiotic use)
Try eating more vegetables, at least 4-5 servings a day! Along with eggs for breakfast, how about a few pieces of steamed asparagus, some spinach, squash or a few tomato slices. Have a salad with lunch, and at least two vegetables with dinner. Fresh fruit can also bolster vitamin C and help build resistance.
Eat berries daily! Especially frozen - freezing berries breaks the cell wall and releases more color pigments containing the beneficial bioflavanoids. Avoid all white flour (eat only WHOLE grains), baked goods, sugary cereals, cookies, cakes, candy, and sweets. You’ll feel so much stronger than you realize!
It is very important to take a good quality, plant-based not synthetic, multi-vitamin/ mineral supplement daily which supplies you with vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, proanthocyanadines, bioflavanoids, green foods, enzymes and more.
Taking 2000-4000 mg. of Vitamin C every day will help you fight infections. Eating garlic regularly or taking odorless garlic capsules helps fight viral, bacterial, and yeast infections. Bee propolis is known as Russian penicillin and is often found in natural vitamin
supplements. It is collected by bees to protect the hives from infection.
Super Antioxidants
I HIGHLY recommend using Super Antioxidants daily! Not only because they help reduce the signs of aging, along with aches and pains, but they can greatly increase your immune system, being 20 - 50 times more potent than Vitamin C and E!
Using Echinacea (purple coneflower) herbal extract regularly can help you avoid or reduce the severity and duration of viral illnesses. 40 drops for an adult taken 4-6 times a day at the first sign of a cold can help you avoid it completely. Olive Leaf extract is proven more powerful than penicillin in fighting upper respiratory infections, sinus, strep and throat infections! Those with autoimmune diseases should consider using Astragalus instead of Echinacea to strengthen the spleen and immune system. It is a safe, long term immune system tonic.
My favorite is a high-quality, full-strength Oil of Oregano. It is a very powerful agent against bacterial, viral,parasitic, and fungal infections. I recommend keeping some on hand! It’s an excellent general tonic and immune stimulant. You can take one or two capsules a day, or
place one or two drops of the oil under the tongue to go immediately into the blood and lymph system. 4-5 drops can also be placed in juice andtaken several times a day. This can be your best defense against the flu!
Also consider using Colloidal Silver for excellent anti-viral protection! It works great to help avoid or reduce symptoms of colds and flu. The body has an innate ability to rejuvenate and restore itself to optimum health. When taken daily, Colloidal Silver acts as an optimal immune system supporter by helping the body fight invaders. Medical tests indicate no known adverse effects from the use of properly prepared Colloidal Silver, and there has
never been a recorded case of drug interaction with any other medication.
The body does not develop a tolerance to Colloidal Silver and no allergic reaction has ever been recorded.
How Colloidal Silver Works
The presence of Colloidal Silver near an invader disables its oxygen-metabolism enzyme, its chemical lung, so to say. Within a few minutes, the invader suffocates and dies, and is cleared out of our bodies by the immune, lymphatic and elimination systems. Unlike pharmaceutical antibiotics, which destroy beneficial enzymes, Colloidal Silver leaves these tissue-cell enzymes intact, as they are radically different than those enzymes of primitive
single-celled life. Thus, Colloidal Silver is absolutely safe for humans,reptiles, plants and all multi-celled living matter.
Not to be underestimated is the value of maintaining good colon health. The Chinese have long equated respiratory problems with poor bowel function. If waste product is not beingremoved in a timely fashion then toxins build up in the body, and particularly the respiratory system. Be sure to take herbs which perform a good bowel detox, as well as keep the intestines in fighting shape with friendly bacteria, such as acidophilus or bifidophilus. Enzymes are a must. Take a broad spectrum enzyme combination, both with meals and
between meals.
Regular daily exercise and fresh air will also keep your lymph moving and your immune system strong. Try rebounding (jumping on a mini-trampoline) everyday, even if it's just 2-5 minutes, several times a day.
Be sure to wear a hat when out in the cold. Getting plenty of sleep and daily relaxation to reduce stress will also help. Keeping your self strong and healthy not only protects you from the flu, but many other ills as well.
Doctors and scientists from the Irvine university of California have recently discovered a new method of lowering blood pressure. This method is based on electroacupuncture, which seems to have a significant effect in lowering blood pressure. The method has been tested on rats, by inducing low electric stimulation at the front of their legs, and their blood's pressure after the treatment was 40 percent lower than before(their blood pressure had been artificially increased before). This opens new doors for hypertension treatment, maybe it will even replace the traditional medical treatments with this ancient method.
These are all the methods that were tested :
Needles were inserted into:
-pericardium 5-6, and they were rotated every 10 to thirty minutes. While this procedure was performed, the rats' blood pressure was being raised by doctors.
-the rats' forelimbs, without any stimulation or twist, for 30 minutes.
Also, the pericardium 5-6 was electrically stimulated with frequencies ranging from 2 to 100 hertz.
During these tests the changes in blood pressure were continuously monitored, and the results carefully recorded. The most successful in lowering blood pressure were those tests which involved manual and electrical acupuncture, which had serious effects in lowering blood pressure, lasting up to one hour, and ranging from 33 to 36 percent. The best results were recorded at the rats which had been stimulated by electroacupuncture, especially at those treated at the electroacupuncture frequency of 2 hertz.
However, the best results were recorded at the rats stimulated at the heart (6-7) and stomach (36-37). Their blood pressure was lowered up to 44 percent for the heart stimulation, and 36 percent for the stomach.
An important observation that doctors made was that this electroacupuncture treatment can only lower blood pressure for the hypertensive people, it has no effect for healthy people.
We can only that these treatments involving acupuncture will soon be available to everyone, because they represent a very good way to lower blood pressure
available to us today and many different ways in which the word “healing” is used. When one looks at healing as a return to wholeness, all uses are correct. A person who is healing from surgery is experiencing their body knitting itself back together physically, just as one who is healing from heartbreak is in some sense knitting back their sense of self and security after an emotional loss. We all have an urge towards healing, even as most all of us have ways in which we act when we are wounded and are not always ready, willing, or able to expose the wound to allow the healing to begin.
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. A good massage would help give you a very relaxing sleep that night and an acupuncturist could help you with your sleep as well. You might immediately start to feel drowsy as soon as the right nerves are stimulated by the acupuncturist's needles.
daily! Not only because they help reduce the signs of aging, along with aches and pains, but they can greatly increase your immune system, being 20 - 50 times more potent than Vitamin C and E! 
. It is a very powerful agent against bacterial, viral,parasitic, and fungal infections. I recommend keeping some on hand! It’s an excellent general tonic and immune stimulant. You can take one or two capsules a day, or 
