About "Natural" Remedies

OK, I've seen about a billion posts about how natural medicine works better than anything manufactured and how the pharmaceutical companies are "hiding" this information. As a nurse, and as a patient with multiple chronic illneses, this is the kind of stuff that sends me off the deep end. Now, before you think I'm saying that big pharma is always right, and that natural stuff can't work, keep reading. I don't think that at all. I do think there's a time and a place for everything, and that there are reasons we have pharmaceutical companies and vitamin companies, and that the 2 should usually not mix.

The two that make me scream the loudest are cinnamon and honey. For the most part, those belong on your toast and in your tea, respectively.

Let's talk about cinnamon first. I'm diabetic, type 2 to be exact. And, I can't tell you how many people tell me I'd be just fine if I would take cinnamon. They read it on a piece of paper in an antique store beside a booth that sold honey extract from Watkins, so it has to be true. While there has been SOME research into cinnamon reducing blood sugars (notice, reducing, not fixing, not stabilizing, not normalizing and certainly not curing anything), the research is spotty and most of the research is one off and can't be duplicated. Add to that... how much should I take? Is a little on toast gonna fix me right up, or do I need to swallow it down in elixirs and drinks? Or, maybe just tough it out and snarf down spoonfuls of it, like they do on Youtube for the cinnamon challenge. Oh, and what about the fact that most cinnamon you can get in the US isn't even cinnamon. Which one works? The real stuff or the fake stuff? Or maybe the oil? And, is there a standardized strength to cinnamon? OH, and that note in the antique booth, nor the bottles they sell mention that people with liver disease or damage (like me) should be very careful with cinnamon as it can further liver damage. So, basically what I'm saying is, until a company can do easily replicatable research that shows it works, come up with standardized strengths and dosages... it's a pipe dream. Here's a great article on cinnamon and its failure to live up to the dream: Cinnamon Info.

It sounds great. To be able to take something that doesn't make me have to stick myself with needles, doesn't make me run to the bathroom every 20 minutes, that doesn't make me nauseated? That sounds wonderful! Sign me up! But, right now, it doesn't exist. It is, at best, a theory. Maybe in a few year, someone will find some reason to do the above testing. But, I'm pretty sure if it could be replicated, big pharma would have found out, added some binder to it, patented it, and be selling it like hot cakes (with cinnamon on top). See, that's how it works. It's not like pharmaceutical companies can't patent natural remedies. They do it all the time. They just add some sort of binder, figure out how to process it down to a single ingredient, synthesize it or put it thru some process that is proprietary, then they can market it. That's how sulfa drugs, aspirin and other drugs are able to be manufactured. They just tweak them a bit.

And, I must add, there's a process that the FDA puts meds through. They have to go through stringent testing. Do they screw up sometimes? yes. Do bad drugs get through? Yes. Do side effects turn up after years of use that couldn't be spotted in the shorter term studies? Yes. But, does it work? Ask the millions of European women who took thalidomide, that passed their much less strict standards. The FDA refused to pass it here, and other than the women who went to other countries and/or bought it black market, the US escaped the millions of births with limb deformities.

But, it's natural, so it can't have any side effects? Natural is always good for you! Right?! May I point out that Arsenic is naturally occurring? And, it'll kill you deader than 4 o'clock. May I point out how many women found themselves pregnant while on birth control pills because they took St. John's Wort for depression? Since it's an herb/supplement, it had no FDA control. So, no one looked for that side effect. If they thought they were depressed before, I'm sure that unwanted pregnancy didn't help.

Now, let's get to honey. The latest is that it can be used on wounds. Granted, honey does have some antibacterial properties. BUT, it also has sugar. Yeast loves sugar. Remember how sugar makes it go crazy in breads, wines, etc? So, if that person has yeast on their skin, or in the wound, you're making it a lovely, sealed environment with lots of food. Also, how clean is that honey? Honey can harbor clostridium, botulism and just plain ol' dirt.

And, the honey used in testing is actually medical grade and/or specific breeds of honey. Meaning, the honey in the little squeezy bear at the grocery store has not been tested AT ALL for these properties. Here's the link to a long paper regarding this, and how honey is being used as a last line treatment for burns and other wounds that aren't responding. The conclusion at the end says that certain types are promising, but that they can't know what the local honey each person can access will do. Boring honey article here.

Oh, and as a side note: NEVER EVER EVER give a child under a year of age honey. They do not have the immunity to deal with the botulism that can be found in honey and it can sicken and/or kill them. I have been blessed to never have to see anyone die of botulism, but it is said to be a terrible way to die. So, let's not risk that, okay? Don't take my word for it, listen to the National Institutes of Health

I'm not saying that all natural medicine, herbs and vitamins are useless. I'm a believer in probiotics, Vitamin D for depression and diabetes, Vitamin C so we don't wind up with scurvy. But, these are usually used in addition to other treatments (as in Vitamin D will not cure a diabetic, but it may help them process their meds better). I also believe in them because actual, documented studies, by someone with REAL training, have shown them to be effective.

Remember, one faulty report on vaccines and autism has led to huge outbreaks of totally preventable diseases. Simply because people WANT to believe the conspiracy theory. They want to think that natural is better, and that taking anything manufactured has to be bad for you. But, it's not, folks. Not always. It's how some of us stay alive. It's how I'm not dead from a diabetic coma. It's how I didn't die from an infected gallbladder. It's how my Dad lived for years with high blood pressure. It's how my Mom can still see even with macular degeneration. It's how HIV patients live for years now instead of dying a slow, cruel death. Big pharma may make a fortune off of us. They may have been busted for some unscrupulous stuff. But, in the long run, our life spans are vastly improved in the last 40-60 years because of medication. Real medication.

So, before you click "share" on Facebook, or before you "pin" something about how all I need to do is take some cinnamon and my pancreas will come back to life... READ the article. Look at who wrote it. Is it a legitimate website, or a conspiracy site? Are they selling the miracle cure no one wants you to know about? Are they a housewife in Dallas whose uncle saw a guy in Boston who said his wound totally healed itself in a day after he used honey on it? If so... don't share it. You're leading people down a dangerous path. Your friends trust you to give them good advice. Don't let them down. Okay?