Archive for the ‘Alternative Medicine’ Category

Aromatherapy – An Alternative Form of Treatment

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Posted 04 Mar 2011 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Diseases and Conditions

Aromatherapy is an ancient form of medicine that uses essential oils in treating various forms of illnesses. Instead of going for expensive medications to find relief in your medical condition, why not try the wonders of aromatherapy and see the relaxing results yourself.

Insomnia

Insomnia is a common problem. If you find it very difficult to sleep at night, do not go for sleeping pills. They have adverse reactions and they are very addictive. Instead try to massage your body with the Roman cammomile and geranium oil. You can also add a few drops of lavender, neroli and rose oil in your bathwater to relax your mind and body.

Depression

With the stressful environment, depression is one of the most dreaded causes of morbidity in the coming years. To avoid being a victim of this mental disorder, use jasmine oil to reduce your anxiety and extreme sadness. The relaxing and soothing scent of jasmine is a good treatment for depression.

Pain

Pain another unbearable condition that affects your daily life. On the first onset of the pain, be it a toothache, body ache or headache, get some oil of sweet marjoram and gently massage it in the affected area. The warm and sedating effect of the oil will help you relax and forget about your aching body.

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Meditation and Its Healing Value

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Posted 19 Feb 2011 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Keeping Healthy

Meditation- Yoga

Image Credit: topnews.net.nz

Meditation is fast becoming a healthy activity not only in the East where it originated from but also in the Western World and other countries, which were skeptical of the method at first. Yoga is one type of meditation that most people prefer.

It was only in the 20th century; however,  that the rest of the world became truly aware of the healing values of meditation and Yoga, and adapted this as one of their alternative healing treatment.

Researches have proven that meditation is useful if done properly under the supervision of an expert or able guide. Its healing value should not be disregarded and should be researched on continuously.

But first what is meditation? What are the types of meditation?

Meditation is a mind-body intervention that has the purpose of creating a restful state in the person thereby allowing his body to heal and enhancing the proper occurrence of biochemical processes in his body. This would relieve the person of stress and contributes to his well being. There are four general methods of meditation:

1. Transcendental meditation (TM)

This is usually done with the appropriate mantra for the person. The common position for this and the other three methods is a lotus position, but you can adapt any position that you feel most comfortable with, as long as the back is straight and you could maintain a good posture. The eyes should be closed to attain more focus and concentration.

2. Respiratory One Method (ROM) by Herbert Benson

This concentrates on the word “one” as you go on with the breathing exercise.

A word can be combined to act as the mantra.

3. Clinically Standardized Meditation (CSM)

This is considered the easiest by beginners to perform because the person is allowed leeway to select the mantra and not to follow the structured ones.

4. Mindfulness Meditation (MM)

This method does not encourage the person to maintain the “blank-out” state of the mind but allows “thoughts” instead.

What exactly are the beneficial effects of meditation?

1. Although meditation is not for everyone, Dr. Robert H. Schneider, Dean College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine, Iowa who leads the research on transcendental meditation’s effect on hypertension and cardiovascular diseases said that: “those individuals who practiced TM had regression of left ventricular mass and improvements in the function of their heart or essentially a reversal of the damage to the heart caused by hypertension. ” (From: Mosby’s Complementary and Alternative Medicine by: Freeman Lawlis). He went on to say that health care professionals could work in collaboration with a TM class for patients who have elevated blood pressures and those with heart diseases.

2. The level of anxiety is significantly reduced and thereby there is decreased heart rate, respiration rates (RR), cortisol and lactate concentrations (substances which are elevated during stress).

3. Meditation, (because of the state of relaxation that you undergo) also desensitizes the mind of anxious thoughts and fears and therefore promotes balance in the body and the subsequent proper functioning of the vital organs.

4. The regular rhythm obtained from the meditation creates a balance between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. It is believed that when the left brain’s workload is lessened, negative thoughts are also decreased.

5. It reduces health care cost because meditation decreases the propensity to diseases caused by a stressful lifestyle; like late nights out, improper diet, and lack of exercise.

6. When undertaken on a regular basis, it could also be utilized to treat mood disorders. The patient should be receptive; however, to the concentration technique needed in the procedure so that the beneficial calming effects would be maximized.

7. It is also effective in decreasing the attacks for asthma, psoriasis and menopausal syndromes.

8. It is useful as a complementary treatment for addictive behaviors. Persons who undergo meditation had decreased drug cravings, less propensity for drug usage, due to the calming effects of meditation.

Up to this day, researches and controlled trials are still being conducted to determine the healing effects of meditation on humans. It would be wise to realize that meditation is a procedure that should be utilized according to each individual’s needs and preferences. As always, an expert or doctor should be consulted before initiating treatment with meditation.

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The Benefits of Stem Cell Research

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Posted 11 Dec 2010 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Diseases and Conditions, artificial methods

By Engracia S. Arceo , MPH, RMT

Stem cell research is a medical advancement that works on the idea that some cells in the body have the potential of generating new kinds of cells. It has been a topic of fictional movies and controversial debates worldwide. Although stem cell research has been present for several decades, not many people know the benefits of these tiny cells.

Cure for Rare Diseases

The new generation created a plethora of diseases. The treatment of many of them is still unknown to many scientists. With the promising advances in stem cell research, experts find hope in discovering treatments to Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes mellitus and all forms of cancer.

Source of New Organs

Many people around the world are dying because of the scarcity of human organ donors. People who suffer from chronic heart ailments, liver and kidney problems die because they could not find a compatible organ to replace their damaged parts. With the help of stem cell research, researchers can produce new organs out of the tiny stem cells they harvest.

Research Potentials

Stem cells provide an endless possibility for more researches and development in the field of medicine. With stem cell research, scientists can study the human body better.

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How to Get Rid of Athletes Foot

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Posted 07 Dec 2010 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Diseases and Conditions

By Engracia S. Arceo, MPH, RMT

Athlete’s foot derived its name because of its frequent occurrence among athletes. The disease is caused by a fungus called. The organisms love to thrive warm and sweaty environment especially in between the toes. The infection is not a life threatening condition but it can be very itchy. Because anyone can have the infection, you should know the different remedies to deal with it.

Medication

Unless the athlete’s foot is so severe, anyone can treat it at home. You can get the topical cream from your local pharmacist and apply the cream generously everyday for the next two weeks. Be sure to wipe your feet dry before wearing your shoes and use anti-perspirant to avoid a sweaty feet.

Home Remedies

If you do not have the money to buy the over the counter medications, you can go straight to your kitchen and prepare the home remedies for the infection. Get garlic and crush it to extract the juice. Apply the extracts around the infected area and leave it for 30 minutes to one hour before washing. If you are more concern with your persistently itchy feet, use tea tree oil or soak your fee in warm lukewarm saltwater.

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In Vitro Fertilization – The Way to Overcome Infertility

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Posted 05 Dec 2010 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Laboratory Procedures, Physiology, artificial methods

By:  Engracia S. Arceo, MPH, RMT

In these modern times, in vitro fertilization is one way to overcome infertility. Infertility produces mental and emotional depression. Because the ultimate goal of couples is to have a child, inability to have may lead to your breakup. But with the advances in medicine, it is now possible to defy nature and conceive a child even with the so called “artificial method”.

Preparation

Prior to the In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), the couple has to undergo a thorough physical and medical assessment. The doctor checks the sperm quality of the male and tracks the menstrual cycle of the female. When everything is clear, the procedure commences.

Procedure

IVF starts when the egg cell from the sperm and egg cell are allowed to meet outside the woman’s body. When fertilization is successful, the fertilized egg will be injected back to the female uterus for normal intra-uterine development to occur. From this time onwards, the female will experience the normal course of pregnancy and childbirth.

Success

One IVF may not necessarily lead to successful pregnancy. Some couples experience several failed procedure before they finally have their baby. Some common scenarios include miscarriage and premature birth. While many couples only aim for a single baby, you have the option to ask your IVF provider to implant multiple embryos.

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Tips to Avoid Constipation

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Posted 04 Dec 2010 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Diseases and Conditions, Home Remedies

By Engracia S. Arceo, MPH, RMT

Constipation can be defined as having less than three bowel movements per week and the stool is hard and difficult or painful to pass. It is one of the most common gastrointestinal problems that even healthy people encounter from time to time. Your diet, lifestyle, lack of fluid intake and inadequate exercise all contribute to the occurrence of the problem. To avoid the abnormal bowel movement, here are tips to avoid constipation, that you can follow.

Diet

Your diet plays a crucial role in adding bulk to your stool. In most countries, the less consumption of fibers leads to an increase incidence of constipation. Health experts recommend that you should at least consume 30 grams of fibers per day. Products like whole wheat bread, less refined rice and corn, fruits and vegetables are high in fibers. Be sure to include them in your major meals to meet the recommended daily intake.

Fluid

Fluid is important in all body processes and this includes the passage of stool. The water serves as a lubricant during the bowel movement. As much as possible, drink 8 to 10 glasses of water per day and increase it as the environmental temperature rises. Other possible sources of fluid are fresh fruit juices.

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Detox Cleanse Diet, a Good Way to Health

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Posted 09 Nov 2010 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Diseases and Conditions, Home Remedies

Make sure you do not take in “toxic” substances.

Sometimes, even if people know that a substance is toxic, they still take them. Two very good examples are alcohol and cigarettes. Alcohol has been proven through reliable studies to cause irreversible liver cirrhosis after chronic usage, while cigarettes cause lung cancer. This fact does not matter as people blew rings of smoke and drown themselves in alcohol. Avoid these substances of abuse if you want to cleanse your system.

Avoid exposure to toxic fumes.

Toxic fumes enter the lungs and introduce these harmful substances to the respiratory tract. This may affect not only the lungs, but all the different organs in the body.

Eat more of fruits

Fruits are low in calories and are essential healthy substances that can help eliminate fats, toxic elements and prevent the body from invasion of foreign substances.

Eat more vegetables

Vegetables contain phytochemicals, L-carnitine, minerals, vitamins, and lots of fibers to promote hood health and an effective detox cleanse-process.

Drink lots of water

Water is one of the major and basic requirements for good cellular function. You should drink more of clean water. The body needs a lot of hydration before it could function well.

Avoid carbonated drinks

Carbonated drinks are unhealthy because they give you lots of calories with no health benefits at all. You should drink water instead of carbonated drinks.

These are methods to ensure that you have an effective detox cleanse method. When you do, wellness and good health will surely be the beneficial result.

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Meditation and Its Healing Powers

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Posted 07 Nov 2010 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Diseases and Conditions

Meditation and its healing powers cannot be discounted. It is a powerful tool for therapeutic purposes. It was only in the 20th century that the rest of the world became truly aware of the healing values of meditation and adapted this as one of their alternative healing treatment. Researches have proven that meditation is useful if done properly under the supervision of an expert or able guide. Its healing value should not be disregarded and should be researched on continuously.

But first what is meditation? What are the types of meditation?

Meditation is a mind-body intervention that has the purpose of creating a restful state in the person thereby allowing his body to heal and enhancing the proper occurrence of biochemical processes in his body. This would relieve the person of stress and contributes to his well being.

There are four general methods of meditation:

1. Transcendental meditation (TM). This is usually done with the appropriate mantra for the person. The common position for this and the other three methods is a lotus position, but you can adapt any position that you feel most comfortable with, as long as the back is straight and you could maintain a good posture. The eyes should be closed to attain more focus and concentration.

2. Respiratory One Method (ROM) by Herbert Benson This concentrates on the word “one” as you go on with the breathing exercise. A word can be combined to act as the mantra.

3. Clinically Standardized Meditation (CSM) This is considered the easiest by beginners to perform because the person is allowed leeway to select the mantra and not to follow the structured ones.

4. Mindfulness Meditation (MM) This method does not encourage the person to maintain the “blank-out” state of the mind but allows “thoughts” instead.

What exactly are the beneficial effects of meditation?

1. Although meditation is not for everyone, Dr. Robert H. Schneider, Dean College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine, Iowa who leads the research on transcendental meditation’s effect on hypertension and cardiovascular diseases said that: “those individuals who practiced TM had regression of left ventricular mass and improvements in the function of their heart or essentially a reversal of the damage to the heart caused by hypertension. ” (From: Mosby’s Complementary and Alternative Medicine by: Freeman Lawlis). He went on to say that health care professionals could work in collaboration with a TM class for patients who have elevated blood pressures and those with heart diseases.

2. The level of anxiety is significantly reduced and thereby there is decreased heart rate, respiration rates (RR), cortisol and lactate concentrations (substances which are elevated during stress).

3. Meditation, (because of the state of relaxation that you undergo) also desensitizes the mind of anxious thoughts and fears and therefore promotes balance in the body and the subsequent proper functioning of the vital organs.

4. The regular rhythm obtained from the meditation creates a balance between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. It is believed that when the left brain’s workload is lessened, negative thoughts are also decreased.

5. It reduces health care cost because meditation decreases the propensity to diseases caused by a stressful lifestyle; like late nights out, improper diet, and lack of exercise.

6. When undertaken on a regular basis, it could also be utilized to treat mood disorders. The patient should be receptive; however, to the concentration technique needed in the procedure so that the beneficial calming effects would be maximized.

7. It is also effective in decreasing the attacks for asthma, psoriasis and menopausal syndromes.

8. It is useful as a complementary treatment for addictive behaviors. Persons who undergo meditation had decreased drug cravings, less propensity for drug usage, due to the calming effects of meditation.

Up to this day, researches and controlled trials are still being conducted to determine the healing effects of meditation on humans. It would be wise to realize that meditation is a procedure that should be utilized according to each individual’s needs and preferences. As always, an expert or doctor should be consulted before initiating treatment with meditation.

For Gouty arthritis you can read this article for Gouty Arthritis.

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Natural Homemade Remedies for Kidney Stones

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Posted 25 Aug 2010 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Clinical Microscopy, Diseases and Conditions, Home Remedies

By Ireen Banasan

Today it has dawned on many people that homemade remedies for kidney stones are a better alternative that taking in synthetic drugs.  It is not only inexpensive it has no side effects and it gives you a sense of pleasure and accomplishment to be able to cure yourself. Read on to learn about natural homemade remedies.

What is a kidney stone?

The first step to curing yourself is to understand the problem.  Kidney stones are buildups or deposits of excess minerals and other organic substances in the kidney and urinary tract.  Stones maybe deposits of calcium, phosphates, oxalate, magnesium, and carbonates.  If this deposits grows and blocks the urethra (tube where urine passes) the sufferer can experience excruciating pain, other symptoms include chills, fever, fatigue, and nausea. Blood in the urine can also be found in urine of persons with kidney stones.

Homemade remedies for kidney stones

Scientists, doctors, nutritionists, researchers, and alternative medicine practitioners all agree that nutrition or diet has a big role in the health of human beings.  Therefore, a change of lifestyle and the intake of nutritious natural foods will improve your overall health.  Eat foods that are excellent in preventing the formation of kidney stones like celery, ripe fresh apples, melons, and drink 10-12 glasses of water or more daily.  These are just a few of the best homemade remedies for kidney stones.

If you already have kidney stones eat lots of fruits and vegetables that can help eliminate or dissolve kidney stones from your body like kidney beans or French beans, grapes, honey with basil juice(1 teaspoon daily).  Pomegranate (sweet and sour) seeds; ground this to make a paste and add it to 2 tablespoon of horse gram and make a soup.  These are excellent homemade remedies for kidney stones.

If you are taught earlier in life to eat a proper, balanced diet you could have avoided many kidney problems such as kidney stones.  Other homemade remedies for kidney stones is to avoid alcoholic beverages, gravies carbonated drinks, condiments and some vegetables like cucumber, radish, tomatoes, spinach, cabbage, asparagus, rhubarb and onions.

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Home Remedies for Bruises

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Posted 19 Aug 2010 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Diseases and Conditions, Home Remedies

Do you know that your bruises could be treated making use of home remedies? You just have to know when to treat and when not to. Even if you do not belong to any of the allied medical professions, you should be able to determine whether bruises are serious enough to merit treatment in a hospital or whether home remedies could do. This will save you considerable time and money. Here are some pointers to consider when deciding on the mode of treatment.

When can a bruise be given home remedies?

Bruises can be classified into three:

1. Subcutaneous

This is a bruise which is a result of a mild, physical applied pressure by someone or something. It is superficial because only the skin is affected. This may come from mild bumps, contusions or short falls. The affected area may have a bluish (we also call this in the medical field -hematoma) or reddish discoloration of the skin and some swelling (inflammation).

These are the type of bruises that could be treated with home remedies.

2. Intramuscular

This is a more serious type of the condition because it goes deeper than the skin because the muscles are now affected. The same bluish or reddish discoloration of the skin is present but the pain is more intense and pus formation may develop. When this happens medical assistance should be sought. Some intramuscular bruises can be treated at home if there is no pus formed and the patient does not experience nausea or vomiting.

3. Periosteal

This goes deeper than the skin and the muscle because it involves the bones. This is the most serious type and definitely needs medical assistance because surgery might be in order. This could be caused by vehicular accidents or an intentional hitting of a blunt object. The pain, swelling and discoloration are more pronounced than the two types and the bruise would be more prone to pus formation.

For the subcutaneous bruise and a non pus-forming intramuscular bruise, home remedies could be used. These are some of the home remedies that I myself used at home and during my first aid classes:

1. For swelling, the bruise can be subjected to an ice pack for 10-15 minutes 3 times a day. The ice pack should be wrapped in a cloth to avoid direct contact as this would cause more pain afterward. There are dry ice packs available which could be bought commercially. Do not hold the ice pack steady over the bruise as it would “freeze’ the vein and may render it dysfunctional (just like in frostbite). Move the ice pack over the bruised area in a manner that does not concentrate in one area alone.

2. After the swelling has subsided, you can now apply warm compress. This would hasten the healing of the bruise by encouraging blood flow into the bruised area. In the same manner that you have applied the cold compress, the same manner is also true for the warm compress. Do not hold it steady but move it over the entire area.

3. If the bruise feels hot, then raw egg could be placed over the bruised area to make it cooler. The egg yolk is cleaner and is the cooler portion of the egg and is therefore preferable.

4. Crushed parsley could also be applied into the area until the bruise gets better. This would be evident by the color of the skin returning to its normal color.

5. Crushed ginger could also reduce swelling in the bruised area by applying it overnight. The ginger should be washed thoroughly, (do not peel the skin) and then crushed and applied to the area with a gauze pad (or soft cloth) and micropore (plaster) to hold it in place. This could be done until the swelling subsides. The ice pack could be applied during the day and the crushed ginger during the night.

These are all applicable if you do not have pre-existing debilitating diseases, like diabetes, congenital heart disease or renal dysfunction.

Even if it is only a subcutaneous bruise, if the swelling and skin discoloration is persistent even after the home remedies, then you have to consult your physician. There maybe other underlying pathologic conditions than just the presence of the bruises. Bruises could occur also because of Leukemia and other serious blood dyscrasia, so be wise in deciding when to use home remedies and when not to.

There are still many home cure remedies for bruises but the above-mentioned are the methods I had personally used, hence the recommendation.

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