Can we possibly have a new health section?

[Lefty]

(pacman @ Jun. 19 2010,11:09) Homeopathy...        

Feel free to criticise all you like but the little advice I will post should be embossed inside every passport. It is that good.

But, your advise could be expensive if you wish to use it in a restaurant. Because of the corkage fee.

[Chinaman]

(pacman @ Jun. 19 2010,11:09) Homeopathy...        

Feel free to criticise all you like but the little advice I will post should be embossed inside every passport. It is that good.

Steve Jobs, move over - the tension on this is getting higher than it ever was on the new iphone ,-)

[kahuna]

(guydesavoy @ Jun. 19 2010,11:50) We have the Sports Talk Forum, why not Health ?  

Take two aspirin (or soccer balls) and call me in the morning...

[Road Runner]

I sort of thought that is what the Academia section is for.

Maybe Bumpa Stika could re-name it to Health/Academia?


Diarrhoea - nature's way of telling you, you should not have eaten that.


RR.

[pacman]

(Jake_Sully @ Jun. 19 2010,11:34)

(pacman @ Jun. 19 2010,00:09) Homeopathy...        

Feel free to criticise all you like but the little advice I will post should be embossed inside every passport. It is that good.

1 of the truly underrated medicinal fields in the world. Its almost unbelievable that Americans know nothing about it and health insurance doesn't cover it but it is truly great in my experience.

In my experience also Jake. I was being facetious in my response to Guy. I have nothing but praise for homeopathy but it runs counter to the profitability of the large drug companies, all of whom have a vested interest in denying anything freely available that might prove efficacious in treating illness.

[pacman]

(Chinaman @ Jun. 19 2010,13:46) Steve Jobs, move over - the tension on this is getting higher than it ever was on the new iphone ,-)

Wait no longer, I have typed out the relevant passage & will post it in a minute. Straight after I set the scene...    drumroll please...      

[guydesavoy]

Take two aspirin (or soccer balls) and call me in the morning...

[pacman]

During many trips to Asia I have had the misfortune to suffer Traveller's diarrhoea a number of times. It is the single most awkward & potentially disastrous illness to be struck down with. I have always had Immodium in among the small array of medicines I carry. I can't imagine the nightmare of being stuck in a seat for 10 hours stinking of shit. And I have smelled it on less fortunate travellers.

One fateful busride from New Delhi to Kashmir was my worst experience. A few hours into the trip & I knew I was in trouble. There were no toilets on the bus, no drinking water to swallow the Immodium & another 14 hours to go. With all the spit I could muster, I managed to get the tablets down & I sat in nauseous discomfort for the rest of the ride. Somewhere we had to change buses & I was so weak, I still don't know how I found the right bus & managed to carry my backpack on board. I was expecting we would arrive at a bus station & the next bus would be there waiting. Not in India. We pulled up in a huge field where there were over 100 waiting buses all going in different directions. There were no signs & no one spoke English. And I was too weak to even walk.

So after that, all cases of Delhi Belly were just an inconvenience. I had a good run for a number of trips but in 2008 I got a real bad case & I was confined to my room for several days. On the second day, I was getting about 30 minutes between attacks, enough time to run to a pharmacy for some Gastrolyte as I was getting light headed & to ask what was the latest thing to treat the bugs.

To my astonishment the pharmacist offered me some mild antibiotics. Now I am no doctor but I have seen how sick people can get after destroying all their healthy gut flora by taking antibiotics in Asia, a place where you need your system operating at its optimum.

Hurrying back to the safety of my room, I remembered that I had in my case a small booklet that I kept from a copy of Wellbeing magazine. It was a little pocket sized publication called Travel Health Guide written by Karin Cutter, a highly qualified Natural Therapist.

I must have had it in my case for at least 15 years but had never opened it. Today was the day & what I learnt is traveller's gold.

[pacman]

Here is the opening page of the booklet -

DIARRHOEA

First & absolutely foremost is 'runny tummy' syndrome. Foreign climes mean foreign germs & they never lose an opportunity to turn a happy holiday into a nightmare. Diarrhoea is a pest when you're near your own bathroom but, in a strange land, with unusual facilities or no idea where to locate them, an attack can be endlessly unpleasant & frustrating.

Bacteria thrive on vitamins & minerals. Almost any source will do: healthy human tissue, diseased tissue or necrotic, putrefying tissue. They're not fussy where nutrients come from; bacteria aren't prone to infections like we are! Our immune systems depend on vitamins & minerals as well. However, our nutrients need to be clean & uncontaminated.

In order to prevent diarrhoea in any country & from any enterovirus, bacterial or enterofungal source, only one nutrient needs to be maintained at its optimal level. That nutrient is lipoic acid - also known as thioctic acid. Lipoic acid was unmasked as recently as 1953. At that time it took several tons of liver to yield a mere few milligrams of this rather simply structured nutrient. Now it's known that the most easily obtained, best assimilated & nutritionally effective form is lipoyllysine - inordinately rich in freshly grown lettuce stems & parsley stalks but also in all leafy green vegetables. No, I'm not suggesting you fill your hand-luggage with lettuces or cabbage leaves. Just two grams of dried parsley flakes will do.

At the first onset of warning signals: malaise, distention, loss of appetite, tiredness, abdominal twinges or cramps, sore throat, loss of libido, frequent and/or noisy bowel sounds, sore tummy, especially around the navel region, a 'never-get-done' feeling on the toilet & wind or signs of undigested fat (pale, bulky, difficult to flush stools), eat your parsley flakes at once. Do not make a tea or infusion out of them. Eat them dry, directly into your mouth. Within a very short time the lipoic acid will go to work preventing the replication of most micro-organisms responsible for traveller's trots.

Note: Amoebic dysentery is not simple diarrhoea & needs medical attention. If in doubt, seek the advice of a health practitioner at your first opportunity. If you see bright red blood in the toilet or round your bowel motions, don't delay in getting professional help immediately.

[pacman]

Parsley flakes!!! Where the fuck will I find them & how can I get there anyway?

So fresh, green leafy vegetables it has to be. I went to the window of my room to consider this & as luck would have it, parked outside the hotel was one of those fruit carts. Not the ones where they have the cold watermelon, etc, it was a flat mobile display of various fruit & I could see what looked like vegetables among them.

I ran across the road to see what might fit the bill. I picked up what looked like a very sad bunch of spinach. It was the only green vegetable to be had so 10 baht later, I was standing in my bathroom scrubbing this stuff for all I was worth. We all know what is used for fertiliser in Asia & I wanted to be sure that I didn't make myself any sicker.

Now nice & clean, I took a big bite from the stalks of this plant. That was easier said than done & I literally had to gnaw my way through each stem to break off enough to chew. It was very hard going but after 10 minutes I had reduced it to a mouthful of stringy white pulp.

The juice from the stems didn't taste too bad & I wondered how long before I noticed anything.

After 2 days of constant diarrhoea with me rushing to the toilet every 30 minutes with nothing but water coming out, I was amazed to realise that I was over it in minutes. I never had another attack once I swallowed the juice. It felt like a miracle & from that day to this, I cannot understand why I have never seen any reference to this as a necessary & effective first aid treatment.

Anytime I ever get the warning symptoms that a bout of diarrhoea is imminent, I will be straight into the parsley flakes. I recommend them to any visitor to Asia as I have proved the theory works.

[guydesavoy]

Have you tried this several times or just the once Paccie ?

[pacman]

Once myself & once I recommended it with the same result. It really works.

[Torurot]

So twice in your lifetime this has worked.  Parsley trumps Immodium??  I had some fresh parsley yesterday. Tasty stuff chopped up real fine with butter, dded to the carrots and freshly fried Blue Cod. Colour me sceptical. Sounds like waiting ten days to go to the doctor for your "flue" symptoms", being issued unnecessary antibiotics, and the very next day be magically "cured" when had you not taken them the same thing would have occurred due to the time frame.

[pacman]

    I have no interest in forcing this on anyone. Be as sceptical as you like & stick to whatever medicine you are comfortable with.

But for anyone wanting a safe alternative to taking antibiotics that is fast & effective, this worked for me.

I am going to stop suggesting it will work in every case, I am sure that will come back to haunt me.

Immodium never cured anything BTW, it only shuts down the bowels & stops the runs to the toilet. The bacteria is still trapped inside you.

As for the suggestion that it only worked once for me, I have only used it once with 100% success. Had I never tried it, I would never be posting my praise.

[azza33]

I advise folks to give it a shot...

Coming back from a trip last year, i suffered from the use of antibiotics, not taken to fix an upset stomach, but they were prescribed to fix an ear infection. Messy affair all around, long and short of it, lost my hearing for 2 months and had diarrhea for 1 month.

My stomach problem were a direct result of anti-biotic use and the more i read about them the more i freaked out. One month of the shits is not a laughing matter - it has a massive impact on you life. Read up on fecal transplant therapy - the worst case scenario when antibiotics destroy the good bacteria in your body.

A herbal approach is better than a shit milkshake.

I'll be chewing on the green stuff