Entering college is a fun and exciting rite of passage and new chapter in life. However, my adventurous college experience would be marred if I didn't have one essential item: a home remedy pack with garlic and 100% tea tree oil. That's right, some good ole’ home remedies and naturopathic know-how. Your school may bombard you with Sudafed or the very popular NyQuil and DayQuil or other pharmaceuticals to keep you hopped up and going to class day after day, but once you find out the utter uselessness of those man-made products and the expense once you get hooked on them, then you will be glad you know how to support your body into healing itself. Naturopathy has been around for way over a hundred years, its a branch of the medical field where only natural materials and formulas are used to heal or treat patients from the common cold, to anxiety or cancer. For many, college is the first time away from home and the first time living with roommates. Many people will be taking care of themselves for the first time. This is why I encourage ALL college students to take a garlic when they are sick and use tea tree oil for topical dermatological care. Garlic is like bleach for your body, seriously. If you have a bacterial or fungal illness garlic will help. If you have food poisoning, garlic will help. You should take 2 cloves (that a little wedge like segment, not to be confused with a head of garlic, thats the whole bulb) of garlic, diced into pill size, don’t chew them, swallow the diced piece whole with a large cup of orange juice. Do this 3 times a day until you are better for at least 48 hours. If you have a skin condition that is fungal, or acne, or itchiness, or even sensitive skin, tea tree oil can help. It can soothe and disinfect. Its also a good idea to keep hydrogen peroxide on hand, it’s great for gargling with! Don’t just take my word for it, make sure you do some research via internet or your school library to see the use and benefits of this items. You will find they are way more cost effective then visiting the pharmacy all the time and better for your body in the long haul. Mai sources come from Natural Health, Natural Medicine: The Complete Guide to Wellness and Self-Care for Optimum Health by Andrew Weil.
User login
Like This Site?
If you would like to see ProgressiveU continue to grow, why not donate?
Have You Seen This Yet?
Recent blog posts
- He was a Drizzle, she was a Hurricane
- Obama, A New Nixon?
- Flaming
- Two boys, one girl, one trip to Virginia
- so give me my life that I may live longest
- Why should people stop smoking?
- Faith-Based Initiatives to Provide Social Welfare Services
- Cloze Procedure
- "Hip Hop devalues America!!" Haha..Or does America devalue hip hop?..
- A Healthy Dose of Ethics: Crack Babies
Navigation
Who's online
There are currently 2 users and 291 guests online.
Online users
- dragonwolf
- chellbee
Progressive U Features
Poll
Do you agree with the decision to try suspects linked to 9/11 in New York?
Yes
25%
No
38%
Undecided
19%
No opinion
19%
Total votes: 16
Vote
but once you find out the utter uselessness of those man-made products and the expense once you get hooked on them
I use nyquil/dayquil sometimes. I won't lie. I use them because they work. They may not be your preference, but they certainly aren't "useless." And I'm not really hooked on them either... I don't even think they're addictive. As for expense... a bottle is about $4-6. Tea tree oil (which I also own) cost about the same for a 10ml vial.
I don't want to bash naturopathy, but what's best for some people isn't the best for others. Garlic, for example, keeps your blood from clotting. So, if someone is taking aspirin or warfarin or some other anticoagulant, and they're also taking garlic, it can have some potentially lethal effects if they start bleeding. Garlic also causes heartburn and flatulence. It also passes through breast milk and causes colic in infants.
Tea tree oil is something I use for some things, but what some people don't know is that it can be toxic if ingested, even a little bit. If you have eczema and put tea tree oil on it, you can do a ton of damage to your skin. If you use too much tea tree oil, it can cause muscle weakness and tremors, as well as poor brain function.
Eucalyptus is another thing I use. I burn the oil to clear my head when I feel stuffy. I mix it with peppermint and lavender oils to burn when I have a migraine. But I know if I ingest any of it, it can be fatal.
Naturopathy isn't a horrible thing. It can be awesome for some people. But it is a form of medicine. Just because these things are from nature doesn't mean they can't be dangerous. They cannot cure everything, and they do interact with other drugs. It's always best to consult your doctor before self-prescribing things to cure yourself. Most good doctors should be willing to work with you to figure out the best way to take something if you don't want to use synthetic drugs.
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Read my Blog!
H
Thanks for taking the time to give us some of your thoughts on natural medicine. I am not willing to stand behind everything you've said (esp w/o source info), but its definitely welcomed to have a cautious POV. I've cited my sources (Natural Health, Natural Medicine: The Complete Guide to Wellness and Self-Care for Optimum Health by Andrew Weil) which anyone can go to their public library and give a look over. People do react to everything different including food and medicine of all kinds. And I would hope only responsible (and if possible literate) adults would take any medicine and therefore know you shouldn't ingest anything you aren't sure is digestible/edible (i recommend tea tree for topical skin conditions not for things inside your tummy :). So read labels thoroughly. And NyQuil/DayQuil, we'll keep in mind that this blog is geared towards college students, and I've seen from first hand experience many college students abusing those, Robotussin, Dimatap etc... They often think more is better, sometimes taking it only to stay awake. I'm not so silly as to think ALL people do that. But I think its a good thing to give young adults a lil bit of advice to help them out. After all, my family uses these methods ALL THE TIME, yet I was only introduced to this 6 yrs ago. Boy, I wish I had read a blog like this a long time ago, even to just get me thinking about my healthcare options.
My approach to medicine is to do what works. I don't know why people get so hung up on the natural vs man-made thing,
There are some good natural remedies. I am a big believer in homemade chicken soup. I'm not sure that it cures anything but it is great for the symptoms and generally makes one feel better. I also believe that echanachea boosts the immune system. And garlic is proven to have several beneficial health effects. And a healthy natural diet is important preventative medicine. Orange juice is very healthy stuff.
But I see no reason to be predjudiced against man-made products. Nyquil makes no claim that it will cure a cold. Its purpose is to give relief from the systems and it does this pretty well. It often relieves the misery enough so that one can sleep and sleep is a very important natural cure.
When I start getting a cold at the first sign, I start gargling three times a day with something that has a lot of alcohol in it. I take Zycam. I take mega doses of Vitamin C. I suck on zinc losenges and I drink a cup of echanachea tea morning noon and night. I don't know which of these things is responsible or if it is the combination but I do know that it is rare for me to get anything that progresses beyond the most minor sniffles even when people all around me are sick as dogs. I used to get sick but not very often anymore.
Man made medicines have been a tremendous boon to humanity and I can't imagine being against them. A lot of them are derived from natural sources or are synthesized versions of natural compounds. But there is a valid place for natural medicines too.
Whatever works!
H
Thanks so much for your positive comment! I really enjoyed reading about your healthcare regimen. Keep it up! It is very very important to note that just because someone is a naturopathy advocate doesnt mean that they think allopathic (conventional medicines) are evil. I wonder why soooo many people ASSUME that. Thats not a wise thing to do... assume... I belive that everyone is hindered in a world that would only promote one or the other... why not both? These two branches of the medical field support and compliment one another. I endorse trying naturopathic medicines first, and then following them up with allopathic meds if nessicary. Let me tell you why:
1. naturopathy is more cost effective than pharmaceuticals. (do some pricing of your own)
2. naturopahty is non invasive and generally gentler than synthetics (the first principle of naturopahy is Do No Harm to yourself or the environment, who doesnt love that notion?!?
3. pharmaceuticals are often pushed on people as their ONLY option.
4. allopathic physicians often dont take the emotions or intangible spirit of their patients into consideration (i feel some flak coming on behind that statement :) however this point is stressed by naturopathic physicians
I believe (not that anyone else has to) that pharmaceutical companies are big business often monopolies that want people to take expensive drugs for no good reason. Do you know anyone that takes 6 plus pills a day? Ask them how they feel about it? Often times, they feel burdened, weighed down, and saddened by this. I believe that naturopathy can help relieve a lot of this.
I wasn't assuming. I was responding to this statement
Your school may bombard you with Sudafed or the very popular NyQuil and DayQuil or other pharmaceuticals to keep you hopped up and going to class day after day, but once you find out the utter uselessness of those man-made products and the expense once you get hooked on them,
It seems to me that you expressed a very negative view of these medicines that I use from time to time to good effect.
H
It seemed you were inferring that I'm "prejudiced" to all man made meds when I've actually only commented on 3 (the DayQuil/NyQuil duo, Dimatap, Robotussin). Or that I was waging some war (my words, not yours) against allopathic meds. Not the case. Its so exciting to receive this feedback. Yip Yip Horrah! Blog On.