John Wesley was an 18^th Century Anglican priest who founded Methodism in England, Ireland and North America. He was a leader in the issues of social justice, and took a keen interest in the health of the poor. This interest led to him publishing a book of inexpensive and traditional remedies.

It is from this book that we read of a cure for warts that remains popular to this day. To whit,

Warts.

Rub them daily with a Radish;

Or, with Juice of Dandelion;

Or, of Marigold Flowers;

Or, water in which Sal Ammoniac is dissolved.

In 1761, when Wesley recorded this remedy, dandelion sap was already a traditional treatment for warts and likely had been for some time – but how long, I don’t know.

Warts are caused by a papillomavirus, and are contagious with skin contact or through sharing items such as towels. An awareness of its transmissibility may have been the foundation of some of the more unusual remedies for wart removal. For example,

“Rub a white bean on the warts, wrap it in paper, and throw it on the road; whoever picks it up will get the warts.” (2)

It is, in fact, quite possible, albeit unlikely, that one could transfer warts to another person this way. What won’t happen is that by doing so, one’s own warts would thereby be cured; all that would happen is that both individuals would have warts. Besides, we know now that warm, humid surfaces are good vectors of transmission, and probably better than white beans. Here’s another old remedy:

“If you find an old bone in the field, rub the wart with it, then lay it down exactly as you found it. The wart will be cured.” (2)

Again, we have the notion that a wart can be magically transferred to something else. In this case, an old bone. It isn’t stated whether the cure is effected instantaneously, or if it takes weeks or months. If the latter, well, there’s a good reason for that.

Warts are, or can be, self limiting. That is, they won’t necessarily stay around for ever. A recent study on modern wart treatments concluded that no method was more than 73% effective. Just using a placebo had a 27% success rate (3). That 27% placebo effect has probably been behind a great deal of  these traditional wart remedies. Look at it this way: if 100 people rub their warts with an old bone, 27 of them will be ‘cured’, if those numbers for placebo hold true. But it won’t be the bone that did it. They would have gotten better anyway.

So what about our dandelion sap? It so happens that there are no clinical trial data. There are several centuries of reports of it being used as a wart treatment, but there is just as much proof of its effectiveness as there is for that old bone, or the trick with the white bean. Researchers haven’t taken enough interest in dandelion sap as a wart cure to really put it to the test. That isn’t to say that it won’t work, but there really isn’t any evidence that it will.

What does work is over the counter salicylic acid, followed, in efficacy, by freezing.  When it comes down to it, dandelion sap might be  just as effective for warts as rubbing an old bone.

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(1) Primitive Physick, Or, An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases. By John Wesley, John Benjamin Wesley, William Strahan, Frank Baker Collection of Wesleyana and British Methodism. Published by printed by W. Strahan, and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, 1761

(2) Memoirs of the American Folk-lore Society. American Folklore Society. Published for the American Folk-Lore Society by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1896

(3) Gibbs S, Harvey I. Topical treatments for cutaneous warts. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD001781. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001781.pub2.

Peppermint oil has long been well regarded for its stomach soothing properties. So much so that In 1833, oil of peppermint was even thought be “a more or less advantageous remedy for cholera.” An enormous quantity, some 700 pounds of it, was imported to Germany from France in just one month alone (1).

But it wasn’t the case that physicians of the time were convinced that peppermint could save people from the cholera. Far from it. As one doctor wrote,

“Fear being a great exciter of cholera, the inhabitants have been advised to carry about them different odoriferous substances, such as peppermint oil… but in fact the physicians do not really believe in the repelling power of these ingredients; they merely look upon them as a species of amulet, fit for tranquilizing the minds of the timid.”

Peppermint oil may have offered a modicum of relief for cholera sufferers, but it wouldn’t have saved them. As we now know, water and electrolyte replacement therapy, with antibiotics to kill the cholera bacteria, are the most effective treatments for this disease. Still, peppermint oil was also widely used for its therapeutic benefits in other indications.

In pharmacy manuals of the time, peppermint oil was recommended for spasmodic and flatulent pains of the stomach and bowels, as well as for cramp, faintness and nausea (2). The earliest reference for this indication that I could find dated as far back as 1778 (3); it also mentioned that peppermint was employed by the Edinburgh College in their aqua mirabilis, or “miracle water”, a popular health tonic.

The old has become new again, with reports that peppermint oil, which has antispasmodic properties, outperformed placebo in treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). A recent meta-analysis compared the effects of peppermint oil, pharmaceutical antispasmodics and fiber on IBS (4). The analysis considered four trials that used peppermint oil, three of which scored more than 4 on the Jadad scale, a measure of study quality. A score of 4 out of 5 indicates that these three studies fulfilled a majority of quality criteria.

The results? The NNT, or ‘number needed to treat’ with peppermint oil to prevent one patient having persistent symptoms, was between 2.5-3.0. By comparison, the same meta-analysis found that the NNT for the antispasmodic medications reviewed was 5, and 11 for fiber.

This meta analysis provides good evidence that even simple remedies like peppermint oil do have tangible benefits for IBS sufferers.

And please, if you are reading this because you have cholera, go see a physician instead. Fast.

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(1) Oil of Ocymum basilicum, M. Bonastre. Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Published by Philadelphia college of pharmacy, 1833

(2) A Manual of Pharmacy By William Thomas Brande Published by Underwood, 1825

(3) The New Dispensatory: Elements of Pharmacy By William Lewis Published by J. Potts, 1778

(4) BMJ 2008;337:a2313

ADHD is a funny diagnosis. There is a lot of agreement on the symptoms, as used in, for example, the DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. The causes of the condition, however, are not a matter of agreement. Wikipedia has a good overview of the competing theories.

Whether you agree with the use of stimulant medications for ADD or not – which the science says are safe – people with ADD/ADHD often come up with their own coping mechanisms in addition to, or instead of, drugs.

Recent research offers another option for the attention challenged; one that is entirely non-pharmaceutical.

The paper, “The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature” by Marc Bergman et al. looks at the evidence for something called Attention Restoration Theory.

The idea is that, in an urban environment, one’s attention is grabbed in sudden and dramatic ways and the mind must remain vigilant, for example to avoid being hit by a car. In natural settings, while one’s attention may be drawn to things like sunsets or birds, such distractions are not overly taxing to the brain. The result is that cognitive function, especially the ability to focus, is restored more by being in nature than in an urban environment.

To quote:

“Interacting with environments rich with inherently fascinating stimuli (e.g., sunsets) invoke involuntary attention modestly, allowing directed-attention mechanisms a chance to replenish. That is, the requirement for directed attention in such environments is minimized, and attention is typically captured in a bottom-up fashion by features of the environment itself.

So, the logic is that, after an interaction with natural environments, one is able to perform better on tasks that depend on directed-attention abilities.

Unlike natural environments, urban environments contain bottom-up stimulation (e.g., car horns) that captures attention dramatically and additionally requires directed attention to overcome that stimulation (e.g., avoiding traffic, ignoring advertising, etc.), making urban environments less restorative.”

Natural settings allow the directed-attention mechanisms a chance to replenish, while urban environments require the use of directed attention mechanisms.

The country is the remedy for a short attention span. This one has to at least be worth a try.

Reference:

The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature. Marc G. Berman, John Jonides, and Stephen Kaplan. Psychological Science, December 2008.

]]> http://countryremedies.com/add-adhd-where-the-country-is-the-remedy/feed/ 0 http://countryremedies.com/preventing-a-cold/ http://countryremedies.com/preventing-a-cold/#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:00:41 +0000 aria http://countryremedies.com/?p=19

The idea that cold weather, and exposure to cold weather, has been around for centuries.

Celsus, in the 1st Century AD, wrote:

“Winter provokes headache, coughs, and all the affections which attack the throat, and the sides of the chest and lungs.”

We all know to wrap up warm before going outside in the cold, but can simply getting cold cause a cold?

The short answer is no. Colds are caused by a virus, to which one must be exposed. Cold weather won’t by itself cause a cold. So why are there more colds, headaches, coughs and flu in the winter than in other seasons? Here is a breakdown of the main explanations.

• First, exposure to cold may impair the body’s immune system, so that one is more susceptible to any viruses to which one comes in contact. Wrapping up warm is good advice in so far as it gives the body a better chance at fighting off infections.

• Secondly, cold, dry air may be better suited for the survival of cold virii. The chances of exposure to a cold virus are therefore increased.

• Thirdly, when the body is cold, the blood vessels in the nose constrict and the temperature of the mucosal membrane falls. This reflex could decrease resistance to infection. A 2005 study found that chilling people’s feet led to a 10% increase in colds within a 4/5 day period, perhaps due to this effect.

• Fourthly, people are more crowded together in the winter months, so the chances of exposure to a cold virus are greater.

To prevent a cold, there’s no harm in following your grandmother’s advice. Wrap up and stay warm. Perhaps try to keep that cold nose away from other people, as when you are warm and your nose is warm, you may be better able to fight off infection. Finally, if you can’t avoid people entirely, which would be a sure way of preventing a cold, then wash hands often. Colds can be picked up from touching contaminated surfaces like door handles. Soap doesn’t kill cold virii, but it will help to remove them from the skin.