Re: HI~ new to your group....ginger, drugs, natural

[Guest guest]

I remembered one more natural thing I sometimes take for pain - ginger

(capsules that have dried ginger root powder in them sold at

vitamin/nutrition stores). Dried ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory and

does not have bad side effects on your stomach. It actually has things that

help your stomach and help with nausea, heartburn, morning sickness, motion

sickness, improves digestion and protects against the formation of ulcers.

It is better not to take it on an empty stomach, but I've done that when it

wasn't convenient to take it with food. Taking 500-1000 mg of ginger at a

time is more effective for my pain than NSAIDs, tylenol, aspirin, ibuprofen,

or naproxen/naprosyn and without the unwanted bad side effects to my stomach

and other parts of my body. I'm not saying ginger can always take away

severe pain, but it reduces it and it can help with muscle pain, headaches,

and arthritis. The only side effect I have ever had from ginger is it smells

kind of strong and sometimes I feel a little burning in my throat right after

I take it. Once in a while I burp that ginger smell when I am taking it. To

me, these are very minor side effects.

In the U.S., drug companies are rewarded financially for coming up with new

drugs and do a lot of research and marketing on medications to make money.

They give doctors a lot of information about their drugs because it helps the

companies to make more money. The drug companies (and doctors) are generally

not given huge rewards for researching the effects of vitamins, minerals and

food products that may be just as effective or more effective than the

expensive new drugs they come up with. This means many patients are not

given appropriate information about cheaper and/or more effective natural

things that will help their health conditions.

In my own experience, I have had a lot of problems and major side effects

with many medications. I still try them and have tried a lot of them and

some are very helpful. I also keep an open mind and try to learn about

natural sources that may help my various health conditions. I have tried a

lot of different vitamins, minerals, and food products and some are very

useful. Some may help a lot of people and some may only help certain groups

of people. I am just explaining things that have helped for me. I do

encourage people to do their own research - in books, on the web, talking to

a pharmacist, talking to a nutritionist, talking to their doctor, and anyone

or any other resource that may help. Not everyone has much knowledge on

these subjects, though and people need to think things through for

themselves. I believe patients are their own best advocates and can learn

about their conditions to help themselves.

Personally, before I ever take a new medication or new vitamin or mineral or

herb, I look it up on a reputable website, in a book on vitamin supplements,

or wherever I can get accurate legitimate information on it. I want to know

what potential side effects are and I want to know if it will interact

negatively with some other thing I am taking or if it will have a negative

effect on some other health condition I have. The times when I haven't

gathered enough information about new medications (even though I asked the

doctor and the pharmacist, I didn't look it up myself), I have had the worst

problems with side effects and/or negative effects on my other conditions and

medications.

These are just one person's opinions and you can take them with a grain of

salt or throw them out the window or whatever. Some doctors are great, but

like any profession, some may have gotten Cs or Ds in certain subjects or

never had current health topics in school or may have only had 10 minutes on

a particular condition in school. They may be (I would say very likely are)

overworked, underpaid, and don't have enough time to learn about all the

different things that can help a particular patient or group of patients. In

my experience, they usually don't have enough time with the patient to tell

the patient everything that will help the patient and tend to forget to tell

patients things. Doctors are only human and even if they spent every waking

hour learning about health conditions and solutions, they couldn't learn

about every single health condition and every solution, let alone have time

to see patients, too. There's just so much information out there and limited

hours in the day for them to learn and help patients. That is why, I do what

I can to read up on my conditions, bring interesting information to my

doctors and get their opinions, and do the best I can to make good decisions

to help myself. I don't just take everything the doctor says on blind faith.

I try to find out for myself if what they are saying is accurate and helpful

for my combination of conditions. Hope this helps! Happy Healing!

Mara

lakelover125