Hippy or Healthy?

Today, I did something kind of out of character for me. I went to a health food store. I know that sounds weird to say since I'm a dietitian & pretty into the healthy stuff. In school & working at a hospital we focused on the science - hard facts. Herbal supplements & the like were really only mentioned in that some can be harmful & they aren't regulated by the FDA (so basically what's on the label is not necessarily what's in the product). So with that foundation I learned modern, western ways to treat patients. (Granted, as I learned more at work I came to understand that there are some vitamins/minerals that have huge rolls in wound healing & the like. But dosing those vitamins/minerals at a therapeutic level also came with lots of scientific studies for back up.)

I think a shift has been a long time coming though. I don't like taking pills. When my ulcerative colitis was diagnosed & active a couple of years ago & I was taking 12+ pills everyday for that, I kept thinking - there has got to be another way to deal with this. Diet modification can be helpful, but I was having a really hard time identifying my triggers because sometimes foods didn't bother me but the next time I ate them they did. And stress reduction can also help. But I wasn't about to give up my new job at Parkland, no matter how stressed out I was. So I kept taking the pills.

Then one morning late last year I woke up & couldn't move my neck. I'd been having upper back/neck pain for months & attributed it to sleeping wrong. The doctor on base took xrays & gave me a pain killer & muscle relaxer. I was in tears in the exam room & he said there was nothing wrong. I think he gave me the drugs out of pity for how pathetic I was. I took them for a couple of days - I was desperate for relief! Meanwhile, Chad was researching a chiropractor for me to try out. He went to the chiro as a kid & had good results. I had always been really skeptical about chiropractors or any other types of alternative medicine for that matter. But like I said, I was desperate. (And after a couple of months, my neck feels so much better!)

Next it was the NetiPot. Chad has had allergy/congestion something for a while & the doctors keep giving him nasal spray & allergy medicine that doesn't really seem to help. He feels the same way about having to take medicine every day. My mom has used a Neti for a while & encouraged us to give it a whirl. She even let me watch her do it - something that my dad is not allowed to see. Then I found out my brother-in-law uses one too. And my sister-in-law's (Chad's sisters) are bold enough to snort warm saline water straight out of their hands. I tried & gagged. So we got a Neti around Christmas. After a couple of near-drowning-experiences I noticed that my nasal junk was slightly less offensive. Chad uses the Neti on occasion - I'm trying to work us both up to two flushes a day (BID is what we would tell patients in the hospital if we wanted them to do something that often).

So here we are today. The health store day. Chad was looking pretty puny yesterday (he slept most of the day) but had to start back to school today. The weather here is cold & rainy & seeing how he spends most of most days outside, I thought I needed to try something to help get us/keep us both well. At the chiropractor's office one day, I saw an add for astralagus & andrographis - both herbs said to be useful in fighting congestion/cold symptoms. I did a little poking around & didn't find anything concrete about benefits but also didn't find anything about it being harmful. So I was ready to give it a try. I found andrographis at the store - $15.00 for 30 pills (I think these were also at least to be taken twice a day - BID for those of you paying attention :). That much wouldn't even last us a month. And I wasn't ready to dole out $15 on an herb I wasn't sure was going to work. So I struck up a conversation with one of the worker ladies & she went into much detail about her own sinus care routine. I didn't need to know all that! Anyways, I ended up walking out of there with some colloidal silver - something I had only vaguely heard of, not researched & not thought to try out. I hate making impulsive purchases. I also snagged some essential oils (eucalyptus, peppermint & tea tree) to try to whip up something soothing/helpful for our weary sinuses.

Got home from spin this afternoon -- excited to try out my new remedies. I positioned myself on bed with my head hanging back over the edge - just like the TMI lady told me to do & dropped a couple drops of the silver in each nostril. Nothing happened at first. Then my forehead started burning! I felt like I had slurped the entirety of an Olympic sized pool through my nose. My eyes started watering & I sat up in hopes of the silver running out my nose to make the burning stop. To be fair, the TMI lady did warn me - but I didn't think it could be that bad! However, the pain was worth it because there was definitely an ease to breathing I haven't felt in a while.

Once I could see again I hopped online & started looking for info about colloidal silver. Lots of mixed reports. Apparently it was really popular around the turn of the century & used as a "cure all". I repeatedly saw info about it's antibacterial/antimicrobial properties. That's good right - get in there & burn up whatever gunk is lurking in my sinuses. But then I started seeing the side effects - like argyria (when your skin, hair, nails & gums can turn a blue-grey color!! Which is irreversible, by the way). There were also some comments about kidney damage & seizures. All these were said to happen with excessive use over months & years. So I don't think that the 4 drops today are going to turn my skin blue, but I am going to be stingy in using it in the future. I like my skin the color it is now!

The essential oils were a hit though! I mixed up what I thought smelled good & sinus-opening in a small bowl & took them into the shower with me. Once the hot water hit them - they became very aromatic - sticking my nose close to the bowl for a few nice deep breaths was 1) sinus clearing and 2) relaxing. Will definitely be exploring other applications for these oils, like compresses or massage. I can't wait to mix up some shower oils for Chad to try tonight!

This has turned into a hideously long post - thanks for sticking out - if you made it this far! I think am definitely more open to other alternative type treatments now. What do you think? Do you stick with a doctor or experiment with other remedies? If so, any suggestions for me? What have you tried & liked/found relief? What have been some things you tried but wish you didn't? Lay it on me!