Natural Remedies That Did NOT Work For Me

[BeckyBird]

Have you tried a natural remedy that did NOT work? Maybe you didn't follow the directions, and had a bad reaction? I'll tell you what happened to me, so hopefully it won't happen to you

1) I had a summer cold while I was pregnant. I did not want to take any type of medicine, so I turned to natural remedies. I read that garlic on your feet at night might help draw out the cold.....lol. So, what the heck, I gave it a try. I crushed up garlic, mixed it with olive oil, and spread it on my feet. I put socks on so my bed wouldn't get oily, and then I went to sleep. A few hours later, I woke up with my ankles burning. The garlic oil had smeared on my ankles, and burned my skin. Burned!  My ankles blistered up and to this day, almost 2 years later, I have faint scars.

2) Last winter, I caught this strange virus that was going around. I had been taking a little Sodium Ascorbate here and there. So, the morning I felt ill, I decided to take a large dose. On an empty stomach. Welllll, that didn't go over so well. I immediately felt nauseous, and about 30 minutes later, I had to throw up. The entire day I was dizzy, nauseous, and I threw up 2 more times. I hadn't been that sick in years. So, beware of taking too much SA on an empty stomach!

[Marnica]

I appreciate your intention here - but I want to just give a different perspective when it comes to natural remedies and what works or doesn't and what may cause side effects.

Every person is uniquely different. Their biochemistry is different, their genetics are different, their need for certain vitamins and minerals is different. What works wonders for 1 person, may not do anything for the next - or may cause undesiareble side effects.

I have used garlic on my feet with no problems. I know it CAN burn, but it doesn't burn my feet.

I can take massive amounts of SA (on an empty stomach) before I reach bowel tolerance. I have discovered just how much it takes through trial and error.

If I take my mutli vitamin on a empty stomach Ill throw up. My brother can take his on an empty stomach (even mine) with no problems.

There are hundreds of other examples of things that some people do/use that others could never do/use.  Many things MAY cause certain things to occur - this is not that different from pharmaceuticals. Some work for some but not for others. Some drugs cause nasty side effects in some, but don't seem to effect others at all.

I guess the point is that it's all trial and error. One needs to know the possibility for something to exsist and then decide if it is something they want to risk/try.

I hope your SA experience has not put you off SA! At least you know now that you need to take it with food.

As for the garlic. It is so useful, I hope you would try it again taking necessary precautions. (Put some gauze between your skin and the garlic - or try infusing the garlic into the EVOO for a while and THEN putting the oil on your feet.

[BeckyBird]

I guess I would like to share what did not work for me, and what the side effects were. I am interested to learn from other personal experiences....

With natural remedies, we often rely on stories of personal experiences. I would like to know both the positive AND negative sides to natural remedies.

When I was pregnant, I tested positive for Strep B. My midwife mentioned how a clove of garlic inserted *there* might work for a natural remedy. If I had not previously burned my ankles, thus learning how my skin cannot tolerate garlic directly on it, I know I would have tried the garlic clove in *there*. What a disaster that might have been for me!

With that being said, I still love garlic:o) I take it raw by chopping it up in pill size and swallowing it, though not on an empty stomach of course. I learned that the hard way too. I've soaked garlic in water, and applied the water to small cuts, which, in that form, does not burn my skin.

I am my own guinea pig, and I just wanted to tell others what did not work for me.

[Panserbjorne]

the garlic poultice should not be applied directly to skin.  Maybe some can tolerate it, but I'd NEVER recommend that.  I have people put it in gauze and tape it to their feet.  It works beautifully....but you do have to do it properly.