Oh well...I'm trying.....
You know the old Alka-Seltzer jingle.....that was a poor play on it......
Anyway, I have been out of sorts for a few days and it got me to thinking (now that the head-fog has lifted) that there is a certain mentality to sickness that can be frugal. I don't think it is simply a homesteader's mentality as I have known a good many people who employ the same concept as I am about to describe. I will, however, attest to the fact that MANY homesteading families do react the same way we do in our home.
We don't go to the doctor until we have no other choices.
Generations are different. My grandfather and grandmother go to the doctor a LOT. They ALWAYS have. My mother and my father not so much, but do believe the doctor knows more than they do. My generation (at least me) is not too big on the doctor. I mean, they call it 'practicing medicine' for a reason...it's just practice until they get it right.
No offense to doctors here. I go when I have to. I've had surgery when I had to. The doctors I have used have been very professional and caring. They are wonderful people with a noble profession. I just don't have to run to them for everything.
Years ago when the kids were little and our son had asthma we were in the middle of a no-insurance switch over in jobs and had moved to a new area. With no money and no doctor I watched my son begin to show signs of a pending attack (he always got black-eyes and nose-bleeds just before). The next day at church a sweet little hippy girl (a little older or younger than me) overheard me telling my husband that we may need to take him to a clinic or ER if it comes on. She ran to her car and brought me something I had never seen before then. It was Tea Tree Oil. She gave me instructions that were written on the bag (by a Native American who had given it to her and also lived in the area) and we went home to try our first EVER herbal remedy.
It worked. Our son did not have an asthma attack. In fact, we used this remedy as a pre-emptive strike for his asthma so often that eventually he out grew it without having hardly any more attacks.
Now, this is not to say no one should see a doctor - by all means - sometimes that is the ONLY choice TO make.
I guess what I am saying is, there are a LOT of things provided for us in nature by the Creator that we can let food be our medicine. You do know who said that right? Hippocrates. He’s the ‘father of ancient medicine’. The one the doctors quote when taking the Hippocratic Oath. Yeah, he said that.
So, now, back to my cup of hot Peppermint Tea with Honey and Ginger. Later I'll juice two apples with ginger root to help with the chest congestion which is almost gone.
Herbs and foods are often the best cure. They certainly are cheaper than a doctor’s office and prescription.
