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Happily, the lamps of peace are gradually lighting up the twilight aftermaths of the 2023 general election, with the political thunderstorms abating.
About two weeks ago, I found myself hooked on a radio Lagos programme. A pharmacist was trying to explain the differences between orthodox or hospital medicines and natural medicines. It was a Yoruba programme. As it is often the case with such interviewees, he lacked not the acumen, but sufficient vocabulary to expertly sail through. He gave me the idea for this column to, with all respects due to him, fill up some gaps.
The pharmacist correctly outlined both medicines. Orthodox medicine is pharmaceutical medicine. It does not address root causes of health challenges but merely suppresses the ‘cries’ of the cells or organs, such as pain or excessive daytime sleepiness, that something wrong is going on. Besides, it localises the suppression. In excessive daytime sleepiness (sleep attack) or insomnia (inability to sleep at night), the pharmaceutical drug forces the brain to awake or to sleep rather than address what is forcing it to sleep or making it to not sleep when it should. In other words, if you are knocking off during the day or cannot sleep at night, Orthodox medicine will single out your brain for treatment and force it to obey you.
Natural medicine attends to you by looking at your entire body for whatever is amiss and missing anywhere, and gently strengthen the wobbling organs by giving them what they need to probably do their jobs. It is not a task master which forces workers striking for unpaid salary back to work; rather, it pays them their unpaid salaries, probably with a bonus as icing on the cake. This is why it is rare to have dangerous side effects in Natural Medicines.
From his clinical experience as a practitioner of natural medicine, the pharmacist gave us the example of one of his patients. She saw him after many pharmaceutical prescriptions failed to help her to sleep well. He discovered that she had surgery to be delivered of her last baby, the third by that process. Then, he concluded that the surgeon’s knife interfered with the right flow of energy from her womb to her brain. He treated her by unblocking the blockage with gentle hand massages of the energy flow lines, and she became able to sleep again.
Such was a natural treatment I learned about 20 years ago at a seminar of The Guardian newspaper co-sponsored by Sheraton Hotels, Lagos on reflex zone therapies. A woman who had just been delivered of a baby could not produce breast milk, despite the consumption of pharmacy drugs. Eventually, she saw a reflex zone therapist who discovered that she received drips on both arms. Soon after, the baby was born. In the language of and visualisation of the therapist, energy flow to and from the breasts had been disrupted. Thus, the breasts did not have the adequate natural stimulation to produce milk. They began to do so only after the therapist had massaged reflex zones on the breasts in the feet, arms and elsewhere, unblocking blockages.
This is the realm of energy medicine, a portion of NATURAL MEDICINE. Other forms of natural medicine include, but are not limited to, nutrition, detoxification (for example, high colonic irrigation, organic Enema coffee etc), precious stones therapy, flower essence therapy, juicing, oxygenation (hyperbaric oxygen chamber), anti-oxidation, hydrotherapy, colour therapy, incantation, hand laying/ prayer and faith healing, reflex zone therapy etc.
In respect of the woman who could not sleep well, the pharmacist relied on energy medicine. The practitioners believe that we human beings are not the physical bodies in which we move about, driving our cars, flying aeroplanes, or fighting wars. We are not the bodies which Pooh- Pooh into the water closet of our toilet or on which we wear beautiful dresses after painting our faces with cream and powder or brushing our teeth or combing our hairs. The practitioners believe that we human beings are Spirit beings from the Spirit world who “live” in earthly bodies during our sojourn on earth for a purpose.
We have heard of Angels and of the world of Angels. Spirits are as real as Angels. The Spirit world lies immediately below the world of Angels and is often called PARADISE. So, we are not Bodies which will die some day and be buried in graves while we, the owners, spirit beings, continue to exist and move on with our existence, like Moses and Elijah who appeared with the Lord Jesus at his TRANSFIGURATION.
The Spirit is the “BREATHE OF LIFE” in the earth body. The Spirit, therefore, animates the body or drives it. When the Spirit is happy, it radiates joy and happiness to the body, and the body looks calm, energetic, fresh and young. But when the Spirit is sad and sorrowful, the body appears wrinkled, washed up and old. Thus, we learn that the Earth body has no life of its own and must fall away in earthly death when the in-dwelling human spirit discards it when it is old, diseased, in a state of shock or malnourished. Therefore, the earthly body is like a garment which the Spirit can put outside at any time as we pull off our work or party clothes at bed. The Spirit is the “breath of Life” in the mud body. It provides the mud body living energy from different locations known as the SEVEN CHAKRAS and distributes the energy uninterruptedly through defined pathways or channels known as the MERIDIANS.
This therapy teaches us that the five fingers and toes are not decoration but integral to the energy supply and distribution network. From the head, five energy routes emerge in the left and in the right hemispheres of the brain. They track down the neck to either shoulder and, from there, down the arms to the fingers, and down the trunk and the lower limbs to the toes. On their journeys to the fingers and to the toes, these energy routes pass through various organs which are fed by them. Thus, a blockage of energy flow in one route would mean energy deprivation or loss in the organs it passes through, be it an eye, teeth, bones, the heart, the lungs, kidneys, the liver or the circulatory and reproductive systems.
Additional to this wondrous design is the knowledge that one sperm cell which fertilized an egg, together with the egg, produced about 100 trillion cells in the average adult human body which, though differentiated in location and function, are connected by a genetic code, and wired to terminals in the hands and feet and other special parts of the body. When these “terminals” are massaged, the cells and the organs in which they work positively respond because energy easily flow through them.
In the case of a woman who could not sleep well despite the use of Pharmaceuticals sleep inducers which “force” the brain to sleep rather than resolve the root cause(s) of her insomnia, the pharmacist discovered on investigation that she was delivered of her third baby, as were the other two, by surgery. Obviously, the Surgeon’s knives must have caused energy blockages. That is why some men become impotent or suffer from erectile dysfunction after haemorrhoids surgery. I witnessed a case in which the breast were not producing milk. The herb sage and motherwort failed to induce them. Apparently, this was a case of energy blockage. The woman had drips in both arms in hospital, and the needles prinks might have blocked or impeded etheric energy flow from or to the breast. There is a spot on the back of each hand which can be massaged as a reflex zone to determine the health of each breast. Many adult women forcibly withdraw their hand during such routine examination in the back of the palm because, simultaneously, they feel pain in the affected palm and breast. Where the menstrual cycle is misbehaving, there are places in the wrist and in the ankles which may be massaged for beautiful results. This is contraindicated in pregnancies, for obvious reasons.
Armed with knowledge such as the foregoing, there is a tendency for natural medicine practitioners to assume orthodox medicine is inconsequential and the practitioners not valuable in the health and sick care systems. Orthodox doctors by virtue of their meticulous training are the experts in anatomy and physiology and protocols which save life in emergency. With this notion, I do not under value Natural Medicine in emergencies. I once witnessed an emergency situation in which a natural therapist revived a woman who fainted. She was in a Lagos apartment where she and her friends were commiserating with the family of a 30-year-old man whose remains were interned hours earlier. She couldn’t beat the emotional pressure, slumped, and fainted. There was no doctor around. The “prayer warriors” sprung to work, not realising that the noise could compound the problems.
Natural therapist sat one foot down and asked someone to do the same with the other foot and do exactly what he was doing. When the foot is sat down, big toe up, heel down, we observed shape of the body for basic reflex zone therapy purposes. The big toe represents the “head”. The “neck” is where the toe joins the foot. The “Spine” is the trajectory from the neck down to the heel. The heel is the “colon”. Heels that are prone to infections may be indicating already infected colons. Thus, people who suffer all sorts of fungal infections on their heels should care for their colons before it is too late. Oral thrush, that white patch on the tongue which makes the pink colour of the tongue only partially visible, or not visible, may be indicating gastro-intestinal problems at various stages of fungal colonisation.
The therapist began to massage the underside of the big toe right down to the “neck” zone, interchanging occasionally with the other big toe. The same was done for the two thumbs and appropriate zones in the palms and in the feet. Ten minutes seemed like eternity. She opened her eyes. We all rejoiced. How would it have sounded that a guest died in the home of a bereaved family on the day the remains of his beloved one were interned?
HEADACHES
Doctors throw painkillers at headaches. But that is not to say that is all they do for headache. The trouble is that they see local inflammation and pain as the major culprit in this case. One Israeli man’s headache, which would not go away, was probed by scanning his brain. What looked like a tumour was found. But when the brain was opened, a baby tapeworm was found nestling there. It was possible an egg scaped digestion in the stomach and intestine and found its way, through the blood, to the brain.
In natural medicine, too much blood or too little blood in the brain or spasms of the soft muscles of blood vessels are thought as possible culprits. The sufferer may dip a face towel in cold water and press it against the nape of the neck. This is to constrict blood vessels and reduce blood influx if too much blood is the problem. Simultaneously, the feet are soaked in warm water to dilate blood vessels for them to hold more blood, thereby reducing excess blood flow to the brain. Sometimes, the blood is too thick and osmotically dehydrates brain tissue, causing pain. This calls for the culture of drinking water about 30 minutes before a meal, two to three hours after, in-between meals or when the stomach is empty, before bed at night and on rising in the morning. Constipation may also cause headaches. The intestine is like a pit toilet. It produces all sorts of gases, such as methane which may enter the blood circulation and irritate nerves in the brain. Hormonal imbalances, like chemicals in food, water, and the air, may play a role as well.
There are many recipes for headaches in natural medicine. Herbs such as valerian root, blue vervain, skullcap and feverfew silence nerve and muscle spasms. So does Magnesium. Too much calcium and too little magnesium may be a culprit. CONSTIPATION may arise because of dehydration, absence or insufficiency of fibre in the diet, deficiency of digestive enzymes or magnesium or vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency. Thiamine deficiency may cause incomplete carbohydrate metabolism, heaping pyruvic and lactic acids on the system. These acids irritate muscles and nerves. Soluble fibre hastens transit time in the intestines. Insoluble fibre delays it and mops water. It is important to know which is which.
People who consume calcium for bone density but hardly add magnesium to the diet may experience muscle lock-down in the intestine caused by excess calcium. This mineral contracts the nerves and muscles while magnesium relaxes them. Contraction and relaxation bring about Peristaltic motion which moves the bowels. Thiamine is important as the vitamin of muscles and nerves which are what keeps contracting and relaxing to produce bowel motion. Where there is too much gas or foul smell in the intestine, this may be reduced by taking activated charcoal capsules or the powder in water. It absorbs gases and toxins. In the alternative, the food grade (not pest grade, please) Diatomaceous earth or DIATOM may be considered once in a while. Organic coffee enema may be added to the therapy. It is not edible coffee. It is designed exclusively for detoxification to pull out toxins from the liver and intestines. It is even used in cancer therapy as a detoxifying agent.
DEPRESSION
Low self-esteem, grief, sadness, hatred, withdrawal, are some of the symptoms. In the final analysis. They may originate from the in-dwelling Spirit. The physical body has no life of its own. The in-dwelling spirit impacts it for good or for ill. The body is incapable of experiencing joy or sorrow. That is why we speak of being” in high spirits”. In colour therapy, white, green, blue, and violet may be calming and helpful. Yellow may help the third chakra, where the soul connects with the body at the SOLAR PLEXUS. Red helps, being the colour of the first chakra or “grounded-ness” on earth, or of security where insecurity is the root of the problem. Can we ignore PURPLE, the colour of the Spirit?
Doctors often minimise the role of diet to help the body cope with or to offset negative spiritual impact on the body and believe only in anti-depressant drugs which many of their patients despise from fear not only of addiction but, also, because it may turn them into vegetables. Yet, the phosphate biochemic or cell (tissue) salts have been found to help stabilise many patients. This comes from the recognition that insufficiency of certain nutrients in the brain due to whatever reasons might cause back firing of its biochemistry and normal functions. Several studies have shown the importance, also of the minerals magnesium and zinc.
DOPAMINE does not exist in pharmaceutical drugs alone. It is in foodstuff. Recently, I learned from a young patient who is helping himself with dietary supplementation of his hospital drugs that he specifically went for VELVET BEANS because he discovered from antidepressants literature that it was the richest- source of Dopamine in the plant kingdom.
Many psychiatrists did not study nutrition and are not interested in it as natural medicine for anxiety, schizophrenia, panic attack, depression, fibromyalgia, low energy, poor motivation and the likes of them. Yet many human and animal studies are suggesting that deficiencies of brain neurotransmitters, largely caused by deficiencies of their basic building materials, are the leading causes of brain dysfunction and malfunction.
Mucuna Pruriens (velvet bean) is, for example, the most abundant food source of L-Dopa. This is the precursor (parent) of DOPAMINE, the “happy juice” of the brain which enhances sleep, improves mood and self-esteem, apart from helping the body to produce large quantum of brain and other hormones, and to balance them. Velvet bean is seven to ten percent by weight of L-Dopa and other non-addictive psycho-active nutrients which beneficiary impact the brain.
In several studies, velvet beans have been used two weeks on, one week off or indefinitely without the negative side effects of hospital medicine. In addition to its brain calming benefits, which have made it useful in the treatment of even Parkinson’s disease, velvet beans have been found to stimulate the hypothalamus, a gland in the brain, to produce human growth hormone, (HGH). These hormones improve the texture and strength of muscles and support the production of testosterone, the male sex hormone, hormonal sufficiency and balance and mental balance.
Many Asian countries now sell velvet beans products in their health food stores. Globally, natural medicine literature on the treatment and reversal of depression and other brain challenges are pointing to certain foods now known as “power food” for the brain. Among them are whey protein, pine pollen, chlorella, Nori (seaweed for iodine), vitamins and minerals, especially zinc and magnesium, Acetylcholine, lecithin, phosphatidylserine (PS) fish oil, brain antioxidants and detoxifiers. Space does not permit a discussion of clinical observations of the use of this dietary nutrients in depression therapies, for example.
We cannot exhaust the treasure troves of Mother Nature. The conversation will, therefore, continue from time to time.
FEMI KUSA was at various times Editor; Director of Publication/ Editor-in-Chief of THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER; Editorial Director/ Editor-in-Chief of THE COMET NEWSPAPER. Currently, he keeps a Thursday Column on Alternative Medicine in the NATION NEWSPAPER.
Some of his health columns may be found on www.olufemikusa.com and in MIDIUM a digital platform for writers. He is active also on Facebook @ John OLUFEMI KUSA.
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