Are Herbal Remedies Natural Medicine, Worthless Pipedreams, Or Voodoo?

[Musician4God1611]

Just curious to know if any of you out there use herbal remedies and why or why not.

[HappyChristian]

We use them all the time.  Because they work better and don't harm the body like other stuff does.  That doesn't mean we don't go to the doctor. We do when we need to. But we've saved a boatload of money we didn't have through the years because of it.

[Ukulelemike]

Well, herbal, as well as vitamins and minerals, proper nutrition-they all work together. Holistic, not so much-mostly New ge clap-trap, there.

[Standing Firm In Christ]

Eat healthy, exercise daily...

... Die anyway. LOL

[Ukulelemike]

Eat healthy, exercise daily...

... Die anyway. LOL

perhaps, but in the mean time we keep the temple of the Holy Ghost up as well as we can.

[No Nicolaitans]

I would get a severe case of Bronchitis once...sometimes twice a year.  I started drinking Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar about two years ago, and haven't gotten sick since.  Coincidence? Maybe...but I'll stick with it.  

 

It has A LOT of health benefits besides boosting your immune system.

 

Two important points to consider if anyone decides to try it...

1. Just any Apple Cider Vinegar won't work...it needs to be the Bragg's brand.
2. DON'T DRINK IT STRAIGHT!!!   Dilute it with water!!! They recommend 2 or 3 Tablespoons in a glass of water.  I mix mine a little stronger...about 3 tablespoons in a coffee cup of water.

[OLD fashioned preacher]

Almost failed DOT physical due to high blood sugar and high blood pressure. Began cinnamon and a couple of other things. Blood sugar and pressure under control.

 

6 years later got busy and didn't take aforementioned "meds" for about 5 months, almost failed DOT physical due to elevated blood sugar and pressure.

[quinkie]

Almost failed DOT physical due to high blood sugar and high blood pressure. Began cinnamon and a couple of other things. Blood sugar and pressure under control.
 
6 years later got busy and didn't take aforementioned "meds" for about 5 months, almost failed DOT physical due to elevated blood sugar and pressure.

How do you use the cinnamon?

[OLD fashioned preacher]

How do you use the cinnamon?

4 capsules (500mg each) twice daily (total 8 capsules / 400mg). Purchased at Wal-Mart.

[Steve Schwenke]

Agree with all of the above.  We use a lot of herbs and vitamins - rarely have to go to the doctor....in fact about the only time we go is in an emergency (i.e. broken arms, that kind of thing...)

Holistic medicine is New Age, but the home remedies are not "holistic."  They are home remedies that have been around for centuries.

 

Some people go overboard with this stuff, and find their own personal "cure all" and then try to sell it to everyone they meet.  They are more zealous about their latest "cure" than they are about the Lord, unfortunately. 

  Me? We do our own thing, and let people do their own thing.

[Musician4God1611]

I have seen a few posts about holistic remedies. What exactly do you consider holistic remedies and why is it right or wrong?

[No Nicolaitans]

I'm not an expert, but Holistic medicine practitioners claim that for a person to be balanced...a.k.a. healthy...the body, mind, and spirit must all be healthy; therefore, they treat all three areas.

 

The body - anything from herbs to acupuncture to yoga (and many more)

 

The mind - psychotherapy

 

The spirit - In short, it's a doorway to the occult.

[swathdiver]

Our family buys raw honey from the local beekeeper.  When the first signs of a cold came on, someone in our church suggested taking a few spoonfuls.  We did and cold went away.  I take a couple spoonfuls every week and whereas I used to easily get bronchitus and colds all the time, so far so good this year despite the enormous stress we're under.

 

Being diabetic, will definitely try the cinnamon pills.

 

One friend gave me some natural pill to fall asleep with.  It worked but also aggravated my gout!  Melatonin.

 

How about stuff for arthritus, nerve damage and general pains?

 

How about a book or two written by real Christians?

[HappyChristian]

Apple cider vinegar is great stuff!  I use if for my acid reflux - works amazingly.  So true, No Ni, Braggs is the best. Other brands will work on reflux, but not as well as Braggs - and it's not as harsh tasting, IMO.

 

I can't handle cinnamon pills, though.  It is also supposed to be good for reflux, and I know it helps a number of people. Just not me.  It's good for a lot of things, too.

 

swath - honey is marvelous!  It is a natural antibiotic that you can't OD on (like you can chemical antibiotics - and by OD, I mean that your body becomes immune to them and that's why they stop working).  Since yours is local (the very best kind!), if any  of your family has allergies to hay fever, pollen, etc., the honey will eventually help clear them up.  As for arthritis, one of the things I've heard is to soak apple cider vinegar on a cloth, and put the cloth on the part of the body that has arthritis.  I have never tested it, but it's worth a try.  ACV is also supposed to be good for arthritis if you drink it (and so is cinnamon, now that I think about it).  As for nerve pain, depending on what kind you have peppermint oil rubbed on it can help (that will also stop restless leg syndrome & some types of headaches).  Don't use much, though - it spreads well, and is very strong smelling (oh, it will also keep spiders and many other bugs away).  

 

Holistic medicine, as was mentioned, is the practice of looking at every aspect of the patient.  While holistic medicine has (rightly) been linked to the New Age movement, many doctors of days past practiced this style.  The doctor usually knew the patient very well, and even knew the family, etc., so was able to go about a diagnosis from that.  That said, though, the New Age practice is not the same as what used to be (even though the style is trying to mimic it). Holistic practitioners do use both conventional and alternative treatments, even including surgery. 

 

While I would never use acupuncture, I do go to a chiropractor.  Chiropractors fall under alternative treatment - a lot of people don't like them, but I can honestly say that I wouldn't be walking were it not for the chiropractors I have gone to.  As does massage therapy, something which can be used for good or bad. The massage therapists who talk about draining the bad energy need to be avoided like a plague. But someone who is trained to do a massage who just does the massage isn't part of the New Age goofiness.  Chiropractors tend to use more natural products because they have actually studied to that end whereas medical doctors haven't.  But a good chiropractor will tell you to go to your medical doctor if there is a need, while a medical doctor will never (or rarely) send someone to a chiropractor.

 

So, realistically, we could link anything under holistic if we wanted to... We have to be careful not to engage in the New Age garbage that is out there, but we also have to be careful of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, as it were.  Steve is absolutely right - many (or most) of these remedies have been around for centuries.  God created the remedies inside much of his creation.  Man has polluted it, to be sure, but to just throw something out because a wicked person uses it would be wrong.  Else we wouldn't be able to use/do anything!  Discernment is the key.

 

I just wanted to add this: homeopathy falls under the holistic umbrella, in many people's minds.  It is simply the practice of finding what the body needs and providing it.  Granted, people can go too far with it (as in everything), but homeopathy has a good principle.  Two homeopathic products that have been co-opted by the medical establishment are quinine (for malaria - in point of fact, it was the discovery of the efficacy of quinine that started the study of homeopathy) and nitro-glycerin for heart problems.  There are others, I'm sure, but those are two biggies that I know of.

 

Again, discernment is the key.  And just because a person uses a remedy that a nut-case might use doesn't make the remedy wrong.  The wrong would be in joining up with the kooks.

[TheSword]

My wife has gotten into whole natural/organic/non-chemical thing. Not really in a hippy/save-the-earth kind of way, but in recognizing how many things are loaded and processed with chemicals and hormones. She's a nurse and definitely not anti-medicine by any stretch of the imagination, but if she can find a natural remedy for something (health, cleaning, or otherwise) without the use of chemicals, she'll go with it every time. I'm amazed at all the things she can clean and fix with vinegar and/or coconut oil...boggles my mind. In an era where science supposedly offers the answer to everything, we're constantly sold the idea that we need a man-made solution for whatever our problem is; so much so that we've forgotten all the incredibly effective uses of what God has given us through creation.

 

And yeah, she saves us tons of money with this kind of stuff.