Weird Remedies That Work

I read all sorts of literature on healthcare and I’m continually amazed at the number of remedies that exist for ailments.  I have tried countless remedies with my patients and have found some really crazy ones that work!

In medical school, sometimes we called weird remedies that worked “the placebo effect.” But, that doesn’t really matter, does it?  If something works, it works, no matter how or why!  Just because I can’t explain it chemically, doesn’t mean a remedy doesn’t have value.

For example, I give vitamin B12 shots for all sorts of neurological problems. But, one of my colleagues believes I shouldn’t be doing that because it’s just a “placebo” and isn’t widely accepted by the medical community.  However, to that thought I responded, “I promise I will stop using it as soon as it stops working!”  I’m still giving those shots because they work – weird or not!

Humans all over the world for thousands of years have used weird disease cures and methods to become and stay healthy. While modern Western medicine has evolved into a system of doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical drugs, other remedies— some pretty silly remedies — are still in use around the world.

Here are 6 weird remedies that actually happen to work, no matter how foolish you feel.

1. Lemon peels for headaches

In a small book on home remedies, I read about using lemon peelings for headache.  Years later, I had a woman with chronic headaches who had a very hard time with the medications she took that didn’t really work very well. I mentioned the lemon peel trick: peel a lemon and take the white part of the peeling and rub it on your temples, massaging it in to the skin on both sides.  Within a minute or so the headache will be gone!  She did it and it worked – better than the drugs she had been taking.  Now she always has a lemon with her, in case she gets a headache.

2. Soap for cramps

One woman came into my office because of nighttime leg cramps.  I know what to routinely do for leg cramps:

• Take coral calcium, magnesium or potassium.
• If that doesn’t work, I tell people to drink more water to assure hydration.
• Some are low in sodium, so I tell them to use more salt on their food.  A good trick is V-8 vegetable juice, which has sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium all together.

However, none of the usual remedies worked.  She tried increasing her stomach acid for better absorption, without any help.  I also tried glycine and taurine to relax the muscles but to no avail.  We then tried medications for Restless Legs Syndrome, but that didn’t help either.

I didn’t see her for a while and then when she came in to see me for something else I asked her about the cramps.  She said a neighbor told her to put a bar of soap under her sheet by her legs. She did – and she slept all night without cramps!  After a few months she started getting cramps again and the neighbor told her to change the soap.  She swapped out the bar of soap for a new one and hasn’t suffered with leg cramps since discovering this weird remedy.

Another patience of mine had the same problem with leg cramps, so I told her about the soap trick, which she said she had used in the past and it worked.

3. Dirt for diarrhea

Bentonite clay is a volcanic dirt that is often taken internally for detoxifying organic contaminants.  Most people don’t know that it can also be used for chronic diarrhea, such as those who have Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  Bentonite clay works well for traveler’s diarrhea and can be effective as drugs Immodium or Pepto Bismol.

There is another form of dirt that works well for diarrhea called diatomaceous earth.  This is the same ingredient used in pool filters, but you can buy it in a “food grade” that is “clean.”  Taking about 2 tablespoons in a glass of water every two hours for diarrhea works well (adjust as needed).  The normal dose for health maintenance is 2 tablespoons, once per day.

4. Tea for arthritis

One man who had Ankylosing Spondylitis, a genetic arthritis that affects the spine, was hunched-over because the vertebrae were starting to fuse.  He went to his doctor, who told him that there was nothing that could be done.  He went online and searched the internet, finding a place in Russia that promised they could cure arthritis.

He spent many thousands of dollars to go to Russia and stay in a spa. Surprisingly, he was given only tea to drink; there was no kitchen and no food.  He drank ginseng, turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger tea for thirty days – and his arthritis went into remission!  He lost over 20 pounds at the same time.

However, when he got back to the United States, he began to eat his old junk food, gained the weight back and started getting arthritis again.  He decided not to go back to Russia and drank the same teas for a month on his own and got better again.  Now, he does the “tea cure” for ten days every quarter to keep his “genetic” arthritis at bay.

5. Eat eggs for better cholesterol

It seems we are always being told to lower our cholesterol. However, most people don’t comprehend that good cholesterol comes from the food you eat and the “bad” cholesterol that is “sticky” is made from your liver.

A Pennsylvania prison conducted a study where inmates were given 6 eggs per day. The results found there was no change in their total cholesterol.  Really, the best way to improve your cholesterol is by decreasing the sugar and starch, so you don’t make the growth factors that cause your liver to produce cholesterol.  For better cholesterol levels eat more fat and less carbohydrates.  Weird.

6. Vitamin B12 for constipation

I had a patient with neuropathy (numbness) in his hands, and was given a series of vitamin B12 shots to help his nerves.  When he came in after his shots for a follow-up appointment, he said that the feeling in the hands was back to normal, as expected. What he had failed to mention previously due to embarrassment, was that he had struggled with chronic constipation and intestinal gas. But after the B12 shots, the constipation and gas was completely resolved!

Subsequently, another woman who had suffered all her life with constipation, requiring enemas frequently and laxatives all the time, consulted me on this issue.  She had tried thyroid hormones, and all sorts of remedies, which didn’t work.  I gave her a vitamin B12 shot and her problem resolved immediately!  She has found that if she gets a vitamin B12 shot about once per week she can remain regular.

For many, an illness or ache means a trip to the doctor, a diagnosis and a handful of medication.  But sometimes, persistence to get a completely practical approach is the best way for a remedy to work.

I always weigh the risks versus the benefits of a treatment.  If there are no risks to a cure, then any benefit is worth it.  If someone tells you to put soap between your sheets for leg cramps, where’s the potential for harm in that?  Any weird remedy that won’t do damage may be worth a try.