Archive for the ‘Health (alternative)’ Category
This is the website which shows a video explaining what will happen to herbal remedies after 30 April 2011
I don’t usually get ‘political’ on this blog – although I think of myself as a politically aware person. I am quite exceptionally putting out this post with a link to a video from the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), so that many who get RSS feeds, etc, of my blog can see this, which will allow them to make an informed decision about something which to me seems important.
You may, like me, feel it necessary to make an exception to your normal rule of not responding to electronic petitions (being all too well aware of abuse of such responses by many), or you feel impelled to express your view of the THMPD (Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products) Directive in some other way.
You don’t have to believe in, or support, every “natural herb”- based remedy for you to support the campaign against an EU Directive due to come into effect on 30 April 2011. You don’t even have to distrust the global pharmaceutical industry (though it helps!). You just have to support the right of all to choose, if they so wish, to have such pre-existing remedies available to them legally.
Even if you live outside the EU, please watch the video and sign the petition – the legislation in the EU is just the start. The aim of this kind of ban is for it to become worldwide very soon. For instance, it is already illegal in Canada to grow medicinal herbs in your own back garden!
The link is below -
If you care about your right to choose, and your health and that of people you know, then please support this.
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A zero balancing therapist with a client
I have had back pain of various kinds for years. A few years ago, though, I managed to find a way to alleviate the pain in a way that gives total relief, for several months at a time (until I do something stupid, such as gardening for eight hours at a stretch, or picking up a railway sleeper and carrying it for a hundred yards, tucked under one arm. Honestly.)
The treatment I have found is Zero Balancing. I first came across it through a McTimoney Chiropractor, as I had previously been attending a very good Chiropractor to help me with a balance/dizziness problem that I’d been getting. But then this particular therapist became pregnant, and went on Maternity Leave, so, for the few months that she was unavailable, I had to find another therapist to go to. The second one was a bloke (Yay! No chance of him getting pregnant and stopping work, then!). Chiropractic is a very gentle therapy anyway, but I found that his style was even more gentle than the woman that I’d previously been going to. Partly, that’s because what he was doing wasn’t just the spinal manipulation technique of McTimoney Chiropractic, but the more holistic approach of Zero Balancing, too. In a couple of years, with sessions about three months apart, I’ve had chronic insomnia sorted, my nasty dizziness sorted, and I’ve been given easy exercises to do which make working at the computer all day a lot easier to unwind from.
At one point, I had given myself a frozen shoulder, through doing embroidery for days and days, holding a hoop frame in my left hand, and doing all of the stitching with just my right, so that my whole upper left body went into spasm. The Chiropractor told me to definitely stop doing that, or I wouldn’t be able to stitch at all in a few years’ time! What a threat!
The best description I have found of what Zero Balancing actually is, is from the Zero Balancing Association UK’s website:
| “Some therapies, such as osteopathy and chiropractic, address the physical structure of the body, whilst other therapies, such as homeopathy and acupuncture, seek to balance the energetics of a person. Zero balancing engages both body structure and body energy simultaneously so as to bring each into a more harmonious relationship with the other. |
| Disturbances in this relationship can happen as a result of accidents, repeated or chronic strain, emotional events in a person’s history or simply because of poor postural habits.Zero Balancers work to restore the normal flow of energy that permeates the bones and to align that flow with the physical structure so that the whole person functions at their best possible level.” |
I have certainly found it to be very healing, both physically and emotionally, and would recommend it to anyone with a long-standing pain problem such as mine.
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I’ve got a migraine today. I had it yesterday, too. I’m getting a bit sick of feeling as if someone is drilling into my left eyeball.
I’ve had migraines since I was twelve. My doctor, at the time, helpfully told me, ‘Probably, they’ll tail off when you reach the menopause, as they’re often hormonally triggered.’
Thanks very much. 35 years later I still get them, and I haven’t reached the menopause yet, so I can’t test out his theory.
In the mean time, I’ve tried the following:
Migraleve and Migralift drugs – tasted foul, hardly ever worked.
Paracetamol – tasted a bit less foul, sometimes worked.
Syndol (over the counter drug, amazingly) – very strong. I only ever took them one at a time, not the two recommended on the packet, and was high as a kite within minutes. They contained some drug that was only there ‘to promote a feeling of well-being’, according to the label. Often, the migraine didn’t go, though, but by then I didn’t care. I learnt recently that they now believe that the Codeine in them is addictive. Hmm, I could’ve told them that.
‘Shaped’ pillows, with a dip in the centre so that the neck isn’t too high when sleeping – nice idea, until you turn from lying on your back to your side, when it becomes very uncomfortable.
Aromatherapy – lavender oil smells nice, but didn’t work for me.
Cutting food out of my diet, such as oranges, cheese, and chocolate – hard to do (especially the chocolate!), and made no difference, so I put them back in.
Drinking more water – this one DOES work, most of the time. Six glasses a day does the trick, usually. I haven’t been doing that lately, though 
Regular sleeping pattern – works when it’s possible to do it. Unfortunately, life gets in the way much of the time.
McTimoney chiropractic / Zero balancing - this one cured a lot of the problem. I found out that I had a long-standing (ha, ha) back problem, that was fixed over the course of a few sessions, due to bad posture, wearing high heels, working in a library for years where I’d had to carry books around for a couple of hours each day, and – crucially – an accident on a skiiing holiday where my neck had got thwacked.
’4Head: a natural headache treatment’ – this is what I tend to use now. It’s a solid stick of wax, impregnated with strong peppermint oil. You rub it three or four times across your forehead (hence the name), and within a minute or so, your whole forehead starts to feel cool, and the muscles relax. One stick lasts months. I got mine in ‘Boots’. It works most times, BUT NOT THIS ONE!!
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