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Home Remedies

When I lived in America everyone seemed to get a lot sicker in the winter than anything I've seen in Aus, with these respiratory and heavy cold deals. I have literally never been as sick as you describe, and yes if you could not sleep because of breathing problems fixing that so you can sleep, and get better, would be a good idea.

I blame the snow, EVIL STUFF.
 
My advice? Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor, and I don't play one on television.
 
^ :lol: So true. The only thing that sometimes speeds up my recovery is crawling into bed with a vaporizer as soon as I feel the cold coming on. Which I should've done last week. I'm on day nine of a cold. :(
 
Wish something worked for me... My latest bout with sinuses started back in October! It's March and about five months later as well as on the fifth round of antibiotics later. I never go to the doc first thing, and try OTC stuff, teas, baths and saline first before I go for antibiotics. This time... I think I spaced out treatments too long. That said, today I tried spicy nachos for lunch to clear things up. Didn't feel a thing above my tongue and throat.
 
^ Hope you feel better. I've been pretty resistant to the cold up until recently. The first sign I get is a sore throat. Normally, after I melt some Airborne tablets in my mouth, the symptoms go away, or the duration of the cold is shortened.

Whatever strain of the rhinovirus I got this year must've been pretty strong.
 
I used to take Airborne until I researched it. I really think what you're experiencing is the placebo effect, because Airborne doesn't do anything except dose you with toxic levels of vitamin A. It is especially dangerous for diabetics because it is harmful to the kidneys, so I'd really urge you to stop taking it!
 
Here's an article that explains why Airborne is allowed to continue sales even though it is dangerous: basically, through legal loopholes.

It's too bad, because I actually really liked the taste of the stuff! :)
 
thestrangequark said:
Here's an article that explains why Airborne is allowed to continue sales even though it is dangerous: basically, through legal loopholes.
Click to expand...
That's one thing I've been finding as I dig into this: that there are a heck of a lot of these purveyors of the fringier herbal remedies and "nutraceutical" products who turn out to have either paid large fines or paid large settlements to avoid going to court. Ditto for the various "doctors" who develop said products, and many of these have had license to practice medicine revoked, suspended or denied in one or more states for shady doings. They pull back a little, maybe relocate or reorganize the company structure, rework the wording on their brochures and websites as a faint gesture towards compliance, write each other a new lot of glowing testimonials, and go right on selling the same old unregulated snake oil.

And that Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 which allows them to do it was almost certainly written by people in the employ of that industry and passed with the aid of the elected representatives to whom the industry make regular campaign contributions.
 
M'Sharak said:
thestrangequark said:
Here's an article that explains why Airborne is allowed to continue sales even though it is dangerous: basically, through legal loopholes.
Click to expand...
That's one thing I've been finding as I dig into this: that there are a heck of a lot of these purveyors of the fringier herbal remedies and "nutraceutical" products who turn out to have either paid large fines or paid large settlements to avoid going to court. Ditto for the various "doctors" who develop said products, and many of these have had license to practice medicine revoked, suspended or denied in one or more states for shady doings. They pull back a little, maybe relocate or reorganize the company structure, rework the wording on their brochures and websites as a faint gesture towards compliance, write each other a new lot of glowing testimonials, and go right on selling the same old unregulated snake oil.

And that Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 which allows them to do it was almost certainly written by people in the employ of that industry and passed with the aid of the elected representatives to whom the industry make regular campaign contributions.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's really horrible, and I hate that I, like millions of others, bought into it (literally and metaphorically), which is why I'm so vocal about it now.

Marketing to the tendency for people to appeal to nature, in the form of alternative "medicine", diets, foods, supplements, etc. is probably the most successful ploy of all time, but that's what it is: a ploy. It's just so damned appealing. Even though I know that the Appeal to Nature is a logical fallacy, that natural things are no better or worse than "unnatural" things, that the distinction between the two is basically arbitrary -- even though I know all that, I still feel like these things are somehow good for me. And some of them are outright dangerous.

Gryffindorian has said he's diabetic, and the last thing a diabetic person needs (speaking as one) is toxic levels of vitamin A poisoning their kidneys, yet he's been taking Airborne, and it probably hasn't even occurred to him that it could be doing him harm. It's "all natural"! It's not a "drug" or a "chemical"! It was created by a schoolteacher, not a nameless pharmacy! It all seems so wholesome and safe. But the reality is that it is no more or less "natural" than an aspirin (or a speedball, for that matter), herbs can be just as much drugs as anything produced by big pharma, everything is chemicals, and it was created and tested by literally three people with absolutely no experience whatsoever.

Plus, it's ridiculously overpriced (like most of this shit), and all it is is a multivitamin. You can get the same thing for a fraction of the cost. But there's growing evidence that suggests that, except for in specific circumstances (diagnosed deficiency or pregnant women), vitamins do more harm than good, so I don't know why anyone would want to.

It just gets my goat, all this!
 
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It's not medication or for sickness, but the most "non-traditional" thing I do is transcendental meditation.
 
'It's all natural' that is an appealing rallying cry, take hemlock (dropwort) or aconitum (wolf's bane) that's all natural. It seems more a cult of fear, not unlike any conspiracy theory, in that there is a fear bred of ignorance of what is unknown and beyond control. In this case, the unknown is partly the science of medicine and the large industry that operates around it. Fear which is stoked by the media and word of mouth. This isn't just the fault of the public, but also an industry where competition almost compels false claims for the value of a drug, or dangers, in order to protect profits which leads to distrust of the industry due to those conflicting signals. The herbal medicine industry has been able to appeal to people made fearful of the pharmaceutical industry even though the herbalists and their peddlers are often no better than snake oil salesmen.
 
thestrangequark said:
I used to take Airborne until I researched it. I really think what you're experiencing is the placebo effect, because Airborne doesn't do anything except dose you with toxic levels of vitamin A. It is especially dangerous for diabetics because it is harmful to the kidneys, so I'd really urge you to stop taking it!
Click to expand...

I had no idea. Again, it's a supplement, not a drug, and I figured it wouldn't do me any harm. I will take your admonition under consideration, after I finish the last bottle of Airborne, possibly in a couple of days. ;)
 
Gryffindorian said:
thestrangequark said:
I used to take Airborne until I researched it. I really think what you're experiencing is the placebo effect, because Airborne doesn't do anything except dose you with toxic levels of vitamin A. It is especially dangerous for diabetics because it is harmful to the kidneys, so I'd really urge you to stop taking it!
Click to expand...

I had no idea. Again, it's a supplement, not a drug, and I figured it wouldn't do me any harm. I will take your admonition under consideration, after I finish the last bottle of Airborne, possibly in a couple of days. ;)
Click to expand...

I'm glad you're considering it! I'd really encourage you to look at the research yourself, you don't have to take my word for it, that's for sure!

Supplements are drugs, in every sense of the word. I can't say it enough: supplements are drugs. Remember that, it's vital. They have the same kinds of side-effects, same kinds of risks, and they can interact with your other medications just like other drugs, you can overdose on them, just like other drugs. They are only called "supplements" so they can be sold with out getting FDA approval for safety and efficacy.

Do you know what is the most common cause of poisoning for children in the US? Vitamin overdose.
 
Why would they put so much Vitamin A in it anyway?!

I have a relative who is some kind of almost doctor (can't remember the term, different country) and she swears by the stuff and talks about it like it really does stop colds, the plane story, whole shebang. Which I thought was bullshit having grown up in a health food supplement mad household.. my mother literally took at least 30 vitamins a day and I was surrounded by people for whom the search for magical supplements was serious business. Once I saw it for the industry it was, no different than anything else someone can make money out of I lost all belief or interest in it, to the point of probably ignoring perfectly good products.

I've been thinking lately though that in some ways being so cut and dried rational you miss out on the Placebo effect. My other relatives who are Korean have very strong magical beliefs about certain foods, really every food has a particular value.. and being around this it's occurred to me that psychologically feeling like you are benefiting your body in wonderful and specific ways every time you eat a nice hotpot is going to be a positive thing. It's literally a story of health and your ability to make yourself healthy.

I have one food item I feel this way about, like a glow of beneficial healthiness suffuses me whenever I eat it :lol:
 
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