New Agey alternative medicine -- does any of it work?

[canbelto]

So I follow some Insta accounts of a few friends who are very New Agey and if you listened to them, medical problems can all be cured by yoni steaming, crystal healing, snakeskin treatments, herbal supplements, cleansing/detox drinks, not going outside when it's a full moon, reading Tarot cards, and whatever else. I've never taken any of it seriously but recently it seems as if there are entire conferences where people do this stuff.

For anyone who's tried these alternative medicine treatments, does any of it ... work? I'm genuinely curious.

 

[Cachoo]

Is CDB oil new age?

 

[canbelto]

I don’t think medicinal marijuana is New Age but CBD oil? It’s been approved by the FDA for some ailments so no. Neither is stuff like tiger balm and other ointments. I’m more talking about the “spiritual” cleanse stuff like yoni steaming or womb magic or snakeskin rubbing or crystal healing.

 

[rfisher]

placebo effect. If they believe something does something, they may feel better as a consequence. The placebo effect is well documented. Now, as to actually curing an illness, probably not, but psychology can impact physiology. As long as the treatment doesn't actually cause harm which some of these treatments do. I saw a meme of Gywneth Paltrow hyping drinking alkaline water with lemon juice. Adding an acid to a base neutralizes the base. So, her product is inert. If people choose to buy it, then a fool and their money are soon parted.

 

[made_in_canada]

I’m sure you can find anecdotes that that stuff works but placebos can work too. As long as people aren’t forgoing actual evidence based treatment for major medical issues if it makes you feel better whatever. But lots of that stuff is completely unnecessary (vaginas are self-cleaning, why the hell do I need to steam one?) and costs a lot of money. If you’re talking just the “spiritual” stuff, well people put their faith in all kinds of things that I don’t judge. I just worry when it crosses the line into treating medical issues without evidence. That’s dangerous. For example, when I had cancer my ex-mil tried to convince me that the right crystals and positive intention would heal me. **** no, give me chemotherapy.

 

[canbelto]

Well some of the yoni steaming promises seem far out. This girl claims yoni steaming can cure UTI’s, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, fibroids, vaginal yeast infections ...

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

 

[hanca]

Well some of the yoni steaming promises seem far out. This girl claims yoni steaming can cure UTI’s, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, fibroids, vaginal yeast infections ...

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

Well, I guess very very hot (boiling hot) water should kill bacteria, shouldn’t it? One may end up with second degree burns, which might be quite unpleasant if this is in vagina...so maybe this sort of treatment is successful but it causes even more damage. But it is a different type of damage so it doesn’t count.

 

[canbelto]

Well, I guess very very hot (boiling hot) water should kill bacteria, shouldn’t it? One may end up with second degree burns, which might be quite unpleasant if this is in vagina...so maybe this sort of treatment is successful but it causes even more damage. But it is a different type of damage so it doesn’t count.

Well steam in the bacteria can cause moisture which may lead to yeast infections right? Also I can’t imagine how uncomfortable it is to squat in a tub of boiling water.

 

[hanca]

Well steam in the bacteria can cause moisture which may lead to yeast infections right? Also I can’t imagine how uncomfortable it is to squat in a tub of boiling water.

I don’t know, I never tried, but I was talking about boiling water, not steam.

 

[just tuned in]

I don’t think medicinal marijuana is New Age but CBD oil? It’s been approved by the FDA for some ailments so no. Neither is stuff like tiger balm and other ointments. I’m more talking about the “spiritual” cleanse stuff like yoni steaming or womb magic or snakeskin rubbing or crystal healing.

I think you need to make a distinction between stuff like sage and crystals, from herbal remedies and intestinal cleanses. When I have a sore throat, I gargle with salt water. Is that new age? Lots of herbal remedies are medicinal, St. John's Wort, for example. I listen to 528 Hz tones and find them really calming. I also get shiatsu massage and it helps with a number of issues, some physical and some emotional.

Not to be snarky, @canbelto, but if friends you follow say the remedies work for them, why ask a skating forum for corroboration? I mean, we are all very opinionated here, but I don't think this group can resolve your dilemma. Some will say they work, and some will say they are hooey. I say they work.

 

[canbelto]

I think you need to make a distinction between stuff like sage and crystals, from herbal remedies and intestinal cleanses. When I have a sore throat, I gargle with salt water. Is that new age? Lots of herbal remedies are medicinal, St. John's Wort, for example. I listen to 528 Hz tones and find them really calming. I also get shiatsu massage and it helps with a number of issues, some physical and some emotional.

Not to be snarky, @canbelto, but if friends you follow say the remedies work for them, why ask a skating forum for corroboration? I mean, we are all very opinionated here, but I don't think this group can resolve your dilemma. Some will say they work, and some will say they are hooey. I say they work.

Because they’re charging money for these services. A lot of money. So if I test it with them it’s going to cost me.

Also there’s a difference imo between home remedies like gargling with salt water and the more expensive new age packages. For example a yoni steaming session runs into the thee digits.

Yoni Vaginal Steam - The Upper Hand Day Spa

Yoni Vaginal Steam Yoni Vaginal Steaming – What Is It? Yoni steaming, also known as vaginal steaming,has been used by women of all cultures for thousands of years to promote healing, balance and well-being to the womb and reproductive organs. The Yoni Steam bath sends an aromatic blend of warm...

upperhandatlanta.com

 

[CaliSteve]

Is CDB oil new age?

No

 

[CaliSteve]

So I follow some Insta accounts of a few friends who are very New Agey and if you listened to them, medical problems can all be cured by yoni steaming, crystal healing, snakeskin treatments, herbal supplements, cleansing/detox drinks, not going outside when it's a full moon, reading Tarot cards, and whatever else. I've never taken any of it seriously but recently it seems as if there are entire conferences where people do this stuff.

For anyone who's tried these alternative medicine treatments, does any of it ... work? I'm genuinely curious.

There is something to be said about certain supplements and cleanings/detox for continued health and well being, but if anyone says it can be a cure, they are either full of it or really gullible and stupid.

 

[KCC]

No info on the items that you listed in the first post. I personally wouldn't participate in those expensive tests unless there was clearly a problem that I needed to resolve and understood how the procedure was supposed to work, and corroborated the information with some other professional.

Other misc. anecdotes: I know 4 people that sought alternatives to chemo in Mexico for their stomach or bladder cancer, and none of them survived. Some people in my family believe that all mental illnesses are caused by the devil and that they would resolve themselves if the person would just be "more Christian", whatever that means. My brother says that some kind of CBD oil improves his arthritis in his hands. I do take daily vitamin supplements and have only seen clear benefits from two: biotin (my nails are much better) and flaxseed oil (my skin is not nearly as dry as it was). Not sure if I see any benefit from the others. A simple walk in the woods with my dog is one of the best mental/emotional/spiritual therapies I can get.

 

[canbelto]

I have found melatonin helps with my sleep, and tiger balm helps muscle aches, but I don't think that's New Age medicine.

 

[MacMadame]

No detoxes work. The body doesn't work like that.

 

[TygerLily]

I wouldn’t steam one’s yoni. https://drjengunter.com/2015/01/27/gwyneth-paltrow-says-steam-your-vagina-an-obgyn-says-dont/

 

[quartz]

Don’t believe anything they say about quartz - it’s all bullshit.

 

[Japanfan]

So I follow some Insta accounts of a few friends who are very New Agey and if you listened to them, medical problems can all be cured by yoni steaming, crystal healing, snakeskin treatments, herbal supplements, cleansing/detox drinks, not going outside when it's a full moon, reading Tarot cards, and whatever else. I've never taken any of it seriously but recently it seems as if there are entire conferences where people do this stuff.

For anyone who's tried these alternative medicine treatments, does any of it ... work? I'm genuinely curious.

SFAIK some herbal supplements do work. Chinese doctors have been working on/specializing in herbal treatments for a very long time. It might be best to get those supplements from an actual Chinese doctors. Though I do know someone non-Chinese who operates a herbal treatment business with her husband, and they have done well with that over the course of many years. And she does seem to know her stuff. But if using a layperson practitioner, take care to ensure that the practitioner is knowledgeable and responsible, and has integrity.

As to yoni steaming and crystal healing, just no.

As to cleansing/detox drinks, I believe there are foods that do that - IIRC, parsley is good for clearing out the lungs. I would just trust those foods more than I would trust an actual detox drink.

As to not going out when it's a full moon - just silly, IMO.

As to the Tarot cards, I used to read astrology and found a good deal of truth in it. Some people find equal value in the Tarot, and if it helps them that's okay. When some people argued with me that astrology was useless and lacking in legitimacy, I might have bothered to point out that is actually based on a complex system of analyzing the compoments of a chart and has been studied for a very, very long time. But for the most part I really didn't care to persuade anyone that there was validity to astrology. I found truth in it, as did the people I did readings for, but if someone thinks it has no merit, that's just fine with me.

And reading an astrology chart is actually very complicated and one must have a good deal of knowledge and understanding to do it. I never got to the point where I could integrate all of the aspects of a chart, especially verbally in-person with a client. My method was to write down all the aspects (i.e. planets, relationships between the planets such as conjunctions/squares/triangles, planet house positions, house rulers, and so on) down, delineate and analyze them, and then try to integrate them. It takes a lot of learning and practice for astrologers to gain competence and insight into the reading of charts.

I am not very trusting about new agey healing practices, but if a person think that works for them, I'm not going to argue otherwise.

Take for example 'healing touch'. I understand that some people do have a 'healing touch'. For example, my chiropractor has one IMO. It is like she has a touch of magic, in addition the to scientific nature of her practice.
And some people just have a healing energy about them.

But I certainly don't want someone waving their arms around in front of me, like healing touch 'practitioners' do. Anyone can do healing touch - going to school for many years like chiropractors or Chinese doctors do is not required.
I find the practice to be very invasive of my space.

It is also worth nothing that it's particularly problematic when New Age or alternative practitioners make promises such as they can cure cancer. A lot of people with cancer or other serious conditions will pay any sort of money for a chance at healing. They are vulnerable, and unfortunately some so-called healers out there are just scammers.

 

[canbelto]

Take for example 'healing touch'. I understand that some people do have a 'healing touch'. For example, my chiropractor has one IMO. It is like she has a touch of magic, in addition the to scientific nature of her practice.
And some people just have a healing energy about them.

But I certainly don't won't someone waving their arms around in front of me, like healing touch 'practitioners' do. Anyone can do healing touch - going to school for many years like chiropractors or Chinese doctors do is not required.
I find the practice to be very invasive of my space.

It is also worth nothing that it's particularly problematic when New Age or alternative practitioners make promises such as they can cure cancer. A lot of people with cancer or other serious conditions will pay any sort of money for a chance at healing. They are vulnerable, and unfortunately some so-called healers out there are just scammers.

The healing touch reminds me of the time I was suffering from horrible migraines. A teacher told me he had the healing touch. I tried it. It didn't work. I still had the migraine. Weeks later however the teacher suffered a fall and a concussion. He was getting vertigo for awhile, but he says he healed himself with the healing touch. So I do sort of believe it has a strong placebo effect.

One thing about these therapies is sticker shock. I'm shocked at how much aromatherapy sprays and healing crystals cost. It's not chump change.

 

[Kruss]

This reminds me of someone (not sure I can say the name here?) who has/had informercials galore about several subjects, one of them being natural healing of very serious diseases. Turned out to be very unsubstantiated, and he is now serving a prison term for criminal contempt.

During his early success with these informercials, my mother briefly worked for a company that handled customer service calls for people calling to order his book. Mum told us of so many heartbreaking calls she took from people with various illnesses who were desperate to buy his book because they believed it was the only way to be cured. To hear an elderly person crying on the phone, saying, "but I need it right away, I am dying of cancer and I don't want to die!" unnerved my mother and she soon quit that job.

 

[Jot the Dot Dot]

I tried bee pollen once. It left me with this strange urge to fling myself against screen windows.

And I don't know if this falls under the same category - Astrology - but I was born under the Zodiac Sign Vertigo . My Horoscope always reads the same: Don't Lose Your Sense Of Balance!

 

[triple_toe]

Most new age medicine is the selling of snake oil to gullible and desperate parties. I find it morally unsound, to say the least.
New age "treatments" are medically useless at best and harmful at worst. Nonsense like vaginal steaming, for example, carries with it the misogynistic implication that feminine organs are inherently "unclean" and need to be "cleansed," which is some grade A bullshit. Take some sugar pills if you want the placebo, otherwise save your money.

 

[Japanfan]

Nonsense like vaginal steaming, for example, carries with it the misogynistic implication that feminine organs are inherently "unclean" and need to be "cleansed," which is some grade A bullshit. Take some sugar pills if you want the placebo, otherwise save your money.

I'm reminded of the Theory of the Humors, which postulated that feminine organs were 'cold' and needed the heat of 'sperm'. How convenient!

 

[cygnus]

While a lot of it goes beyond the scope of this thread- there is a great podcast which involves investigations of fringe science/medicine/paranormal/religion stuff. They investigate by participating, and have tried various things out- salt caves, urine therapy (gross!), various diets and even ayahuasca. (OT their 9 part Scientology series is epic!) Just a warning- the site is addictive!

Oh No Ross and Carrie

We don’t just report on spirituality, fringe science and the paranormal: we take part ourselves.

ohnopodcast.com

 

[quartz]

I wasn't going to go down this rabbit hole, but what the heck, I call myself quartz for a reason.

My first rock, picked up at the age of 6 in the gravel parking lot of my school was a crystallized coral fossil embedded in limestone. I still have that stone. I like rocks, I must look for them, pick them up, touch them, hold them up to the light, take them home with me. They are everywhere in my house, my pockets, my purse. I must have rocks, stones, fossils, crystals around me. They are on my desk at work - there is a fluorite sphere under my monitor, a piece of labradorite sits on my keyboard. People bring me rocks - from places I will never likely go - Italy, Albania, Saudi Arabia. Even my music rocks!

My uncle gave me a Devonian trilobite when I was about 10 - its a complete specimen, no supporting rock structure, just the carapace, curled up on itself, it would be about 2 inches long if uncurled. That I am now the keeper of this tiny ancient creature gives me a wonderful thrill - how is it that a 400 million year old life form, right now, in this moment, can be picked up and nestled in the palm of my hand?? I shiver every single time I hold it.

As for crystals, first, they are pretty! So many colors and patterns, they are lovely to look at. Second is their power, and now the eyerolls start, but hear me out. I'm not talking about the chakra, energy grid, vibration jibber jabber crap. I use them as a focus/attention/concentration reminder. I am a mercurial person, away with the fairies much of the time. If I have a stone, a fossil, a crystal, it gives me a focal point, something to hone in on, a place to visualize. A sort of meditation rather, and a way to try to channel my inner power to focus on something specific, a thought, a task, a problem. Otherwise my brain is thinking of 17 different things all at the same time, which is highly inefficient, and holding a crystal is a visual, tactile cue to keep my thought process on track.

Belief in amulets, charms, totems, talismans, to invoke protection, guidance, and healing from an omnipotent higher being, has of course been in use for thousands of years. I prefer to draw on my own strength, crystals are merely a tool, a compass, a physical point to concentrate on, their power is essentially to help me direct my own.

 

[hanca]

I am also a semi-precious stones person. I don’t have that many, only about 50, give or take a few.
I don’t believe that they have some special ‘magical power’, but at the same time, if I had an exam at uni, I would have the stone with me. Just in case it helps. I wouldn’t go as far as relying only on the stones’ powers to get me through the exam. I would do my part (in terms of doing my best to prepare myself) and then let the stone to do the rest. I guess there is the placebo effect - if I believe that the stones ‘work’, then I am relaxed, perform better and then again it gives me confirmation that it works. It is not that much different from people using talismans and skaters having stuffed animals with them at the competition. As long as you believe strongly enough (and as long as you do your bit of work beforehand), it will work. But the stone or talismans will not do all the work for you.

 

[PRlady]

Most new age medicine is the selling of snake oil to gullible and desperate parties. I find it morally unsound, to say the least.
New age "treatments" are medically useless at best and harmful at worst. Nonsense like vaginal steaming, for example, carries with it the misogynistic implication that feminine organs are inherently "unclean" and need to be "cleansed," which is some grade A bullshit. Take some sugar pills if you want the placebo, otherwise save your money.

You should see some of the new age treatments recommended to me to stop smoking. The one thing in that area that some people claim helped them is acupuncture, but I can't even start to think of having needles placed in my ears.

Generally, if it's not double-blind peer-reviewed, I don't trust it. The health food stores are full of gimmicks, all of which create physical extraction -- of your wallet.

 

[canbelto]

I did find a home remedy for a sprained ankle that works. A ballerina recommended it to me. Take French argile clay (can be bought on Amazon), rub it on the ankle, wrap it in saran wrap, and put a tight sock over it, sleep for a night. It reduced the swelling and pain a lot.

 

[triple_toe]

I did find a home remedy for a sprained ankle that works. A ballerina recommended it to me. Take French argile clay (can be bought on Amazon), rub it on the ankle, wrap it in saran wrap, and put a tight sock over it, sleep for a night. It reduced the swelling and pain a lot.

Rubbing an ankle with anything stimulates blood flow and compression is a standard treatment for a sprained ankle. There's nothing new age about this. As an aside, one of the best treatments for an injury of this type is alternating hot and cold, which is something any physical therapist will tell you.