This article has been over 3 decades in the making. Back then, I walked away from medicine, alone. The fallout was immeasurable. Only now, in 2022, are enough people awake, to want to even try to understand the truth. To those relative few who did wake up along the way, thank you. To those who have more recently woken up, well done. I know it's tough, especially now that jobs, homes and personal safety is on the line. In 2021 I had a huge realisation; all the studies, all the professional effort and heartbreak were in my life for a reason: to share and teach something I have coined self sufficient health. Why not? When so many are now going off grid, learning all we can to live outside of the madness, how can we not put health at the fore?
Firstly, leave all you have been told at the door. Drop it. Those medigods you have been trained by, subliminally with adverts stating, "Please see your doctor if symptoms persist" - ask yourself if those symptoms are life threatening or whether they were perhaps self inflicted (even unintentionally), caused by exposure to things you are better off avoiding, or the 'side' effects (nope, I would call them DIRECT effects) of former or current 'medications'.
I have recently recommenced running workshops on how to build a dedicated home medicine dispensary but the demand is so great that at the very least, a blog post and perhaps either zoom or online courses just may be the way forward so that no one misses out.
It must be said that there are now who-knows-how-many-thousands of health professionals now out of work. Immeasurable knowledge and skills going to waste. It is time to build the new health model, free of orthodox control aka registration and monitoring which, let's be real, is little more than paying a bunch of key pushers to tell us we are doing a good job by staying within their designated lines. And if we step outside those lines, and need their help, where are they? In reality they are still controlled by big-pharma and the same old back slappers. The individual, the whole being needing our help means nothing to them. Whydo you think it is, that around the world, there are so many who are vitally healthy, while way more barely exist, or do so with dependence on so many pharma drugs they rattle? Why do we choose shocking violence to our bodies by way of being poisoned or ripped open and vital organs or body parts removed, when it is not even a case of needing to do so to save our lives? I know personally, hundreds of families who would not know what the inside of a doctor's surgery or hospital looks like. Not because they are somehow magically lucky, but because they listened and learned. And saw vital health as the greatest wealth.
Below is my summarised version of a how-to of self sufficient health.
Find a trustworthy (natural, functional, integrative) health professional who is able to provide online, zoom or phone consultations with you when needed. I must stress WHEN NEEDED. No, you don't need to see your doctor every two weeks, every month or even every 6 months! When did that even become a thing? IF you take care of every aspect of your health, you wont 'need' to see anyone for years. Stop believing the lies. It's why waiting rooms are so overloaded and why it takes so long to see a good professional. When did you stop listening to your body? Do you even understand what your body is trying to tell you?
Address your diet. As in clean it up. Did you know that what you eat has been shaped predominantly by our parents, school and advertising? Why is that not such a good thing? Well, our parents were taught by circumstance, their parents, school and advertising. When you break down the truth about nutritional facts found on food labels and even in text books, it amounts to a load of rubbish. It too, is medicalised. I have written ad nauseum on this topic, so please check out my other posts on this matter. I hate repeating myself (I have done it for too many years, to too many brick walls...)
Clean up your environment. Again, I have written too many articles on this topic for too many years. We live in a toxic society. Wherever you are sitting, look around you. What materials are the furnishings, furniture, wall coverings, gadgets and toys made from? Chances are, they are mostly toxic.
How much fresh air and sunlight do you get? What do you drink? What do you wash with? What do you clean with? Please check out my articles on this topic - this one idea is linked to everything from allergies to organ damage to cancer to auto-immune disease.
Therapies: does anyone around you offer even day courses in therapies? Do them! That might be massage, relaxation, yoga, breathwork, etc etc etc. Why do we always rely on strangers to 'fix' us? Just a few hundred years ago, these skills were handed down from elders to future generations and in the most healthy places in the world, they still are. My kids were taught therapies from the time they could speak. My kids were making tinctures before they were teenagers. They could identify herbs and medicinal plants from the time they were toddlers. My granddaughter, aged 7, made her first tincture at the end of 2021. Not because anyone instructed her, but because she had already begun to gather knowledge and by intuition, managed to make a remedy that actually worked. My twins, by the age of 3, were doing cupping therapy on each other any time they needed it. My eldest child was overseas when she was in her early 20s, dealing with a terminal health issue of a loved one. She had learned enough over her years, took the right remedies with her, and bought more over there, while learning some more traditional therapies locally - enough to heal the loved one when all the modern medicine available had failed. On the subject of therapies, what do you use? At the first sign of illness, inflammation or discomfort, do you rush off to the GP for a battery of tests? Why? Seriously, WHY? Stop asking natural health professionals 'so, what do you treat?' Would you ask a doctor that? See a good natural health professional that has been recommended, have the tests they recommend and watch your life change. Imagine health hubs with all the therapies in one place, instead of super-hospitals!
Books and websites: haunt all the second hand book stores and buy up the self help natural health books. Which herbs do you need? What natural first aid tips could help your family? What old wives' tales actually work? Don't listen to the media or some dismissive egotistical quack who will not ever consider that all we need is already here if we know how to identify it. Build up a health library. It should also include a record of all your health records thus far. Ask for them, they are yours, after all. Xrays, blood tests, scans, etc.
Grow your own. Did you know that EVERY single herb and spice has medicinal value? Have you ever used say parsley for fluid retention, or cinnamon to balance blood sugar? What about corn silk for a UTI or thyme for a sore throat? Set up a herb garden; a few pots on a window sill, a beautiful David's wheel, a cottage garden full of every herb imaginable. Don't just let them sit there like most people do. USE THEM. Dry them, store them, whether in glass jars or in alcohol like brandy, gin or vodka. Oh, and your kitchen should be a healthy one, not a place for junk food or heating up pseudo-food by radiation.
Build a first aid kit. Have you done a first aid course? IF not, WHY not? Something that shocks me is this con that we must go back regularly to update our skills. Guess what? If something that worked for me 4 decades ago to save another life actually worked, it will still work for someone who needs saving today! I did my first course when I was about 13. I did a refresher/more intense course during my nursing training. Since then, I have lost count of the number of people alive today because of something I learned back then. Stop thinking you can't do it, stop thinking only doctors can save a life, or that you will make a mistake. If you are worried, read your first aid book again. I still have the same one I got during my first course! SO much knowledge online, so many books to read. Use them.
Natural first aid. Did you know there is such a thing? 'Such as?' I hear you ask. Well, off the top of my head, did you know that soy sauce is the best treatment for burns? As in once you have done the initial first aid, removed the source of burn, rinsed off with cool water, or rested in cool water, soak a few chux or similar cloths (old nappies or towels) in water, pour and cover with soy sauce and put in the freezer. Every 10 minutes or so, take one out, wrap the burned area with the cloth. Once it warms and softens, put it back in the freezer and cover with the other cloth. Keep going until there is no more stinging. I have seen 3rd degree burns healed completely within hours by using this method immediately. Or, what about the hot/cold treatment? We all know about heat packs or cold compresses but few talk about combining the two. In sanitoriums, hot and cold baths were used but not all of us have that luxury. So get a container of cold water to which iceblocks have been added. And fill another container with very warm (not hot) water. First, put the painful area in the warm water until it no longer feels warm, then put it into the icy water. Once it feels no longer cold, top up the warm water with hot water to increase the heat slightly and put the painful area into the water. When it cools a little, repeat the cold, then increase the temp of the hot and repeat. NEVER make it too hot and never use just iceblocks. Common sense rules... Within a very short time, the capillaries and lymphatics have expanded and contracted repeatedly, flushing through inflammatory compounds while bringing new fresh blood to the area. This works at rapidly reducing pain and inflammation. I could fill a book with the healings I have witnessed using this method. And there are literally thousands of amazing natural first aid options available around the world.
Supplements: Aside from the fact that corruption has allowed big pharma to buy out many natural health companies (read the small print - who owns it?), there are some amazing supplements available. Apart from a very few nutrients, I am not a fan of the medicalisation and isolation of nutrients. This method creates further imbalance, organ damage and even toxicity. Complexes are the way to go, whether herbal or vitamin. STOP listening to the naysayers and 'evidence based' rhetoric stating that there is no proof that any of these things work. Rubbish. Billions of lives over the years would say otherwise. Their testing methods have been shaped with very real outcomes in mind - proving a natural therapy is not one of them. Visit the sales, the clearances - build up your stock. You may not need it now but you will. And ignore 'use by' dates. They have been dictated by the same rules that oversee perishable foods that do indeed expire.
Pharmaceuticals: Believe it or not, as an ex nurse, I still promote and use certain pharmaceuticals. They all come with dangers but in an emergency, they can save a life. I am not talking about depending on pharmaceuticals to exist or barely stay alive. I am talking about what will help you when nothing else will. Some of my recommendations include mild analgesia, STRONG analgesia (sadly there are restrictions on codeine based meds - which is a joke because the drugs they recommend in their places have more side effects and kill more annually than codeine ever did). If you can access it, stockpile it. Antihistamines - allergies are not a joke, especially if they should cause pain or stop you from breathing. Admittedly, there are not many pharmaceuticals I would use - not because they don't work, but because of the side effects and the little known fact that there is almost ALWAYS a natural alternative. Again, research it and stockpile!
Homeopathy: Those who know me, also know I am a homeopath first and foremost. But for a little corruption and not a little amount of money, homeopathy would have been mainstream and what we now know as modern medicine, would have been an elective, only when needed. While a practitioner cannot state these words, I can because I no longer practice - homeopathy cures - homeopathy heals - homeopathy is safe - homeopathy is safe and works for ALL animals - homeopathy can be used safely and effectively for ALL ages, during pregnancy, while you are in a coma and best of all, even if someone is not aware you are administering it, it will STILL work. Homeopathy can be made from any material, matter or energy and the end remedy is the opposite of the original substance, an energy imprint. For example, if you cut an onion, it makes your eyes water and your nose sting. Like hayfever. So, guess which remedy is brilliant for hayfever? Allium cepa - aka onion. No onion left, but the energy imprint elicits the opposite effect. For the same reason. someone who is allergic to say pollen, can safely take the pollen tincture to cure a pollen allergy. It must be prepared by a compounding homeopath or pharmacist trained and skilled in homeopathy.You cannot hurt yourself with homeopathy, but if you take the wrong remedy, it simply wont have any benefit at all. This is where an expert prescription should be considered. OR.... a preparation of a combination of remedies which enhance the properties of each other and focus on a symptom set should be in every single household. This is where the Chrysalis Original Home Medicine Botkin is in a league of its own. The kits are able to cover almost every possible symptom set any family could encounter. You either buy the full kit or you start with what you need now and build up as you can. What are the most common health issues in your house? Gastro? Aches & pains? Coughs, colds and flu? Period pain? Anxiety? You can take care of these so easily! Get to know the remedies, their meanings and what they can be used for - so you are never caught without, again. As the old scout motto says, BE PREPARED.
There is much, much more to self sufficient health and I run workshops on the various topics. There is no reason you cannot get started today. In fact, with the world going in the direction we are, I recommend it as an urgency now. There is NOTHING without health.
