Propolis: The Healing Secret of Bees

A glue-like substance used by bees for building and protecting their hives, propolis at first glance appears to be an unlikely medicinal remedy. But the wide range of healing properties attributed to this sticky substance make it effective for everything from canker sores to cancer, and it’s one of my favorite natural remedies. In fact, I attribute my quick and complete recovery last year from a serious staph infection (contracted from a public hot spring swimming pool) in great part to propolis.

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Enjoy A Healing Bath

I often recommend a healing bath — including steam, vapor baths, and herbal diaphoretic therapy—to my patients as part of their protocol. The Eclectics, as well as other traditional healing systems prior to Eclectic Medicine, utilized a wide range of water therapies for healing in a practice called hydrotherapy. The vapor, or steam bath, constitutes an important part of the Thomsonian system of practice. Samuel Thomson said this about the vapor bath, “it diffuses warmth through the system, equalizes the circulation, imparts electricity to the blood, and increases the sensibilities of the system to the impressions of medicine.”

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Healing vs. Curing: Contrasting Fundamental Aims in Medicine

Healing vs. Curing: Contrasting Fundamental Aims in Medicine

Conventional modern medicine has long separated itself from traditional healing systems such as Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, and the Eclectic tradition. However, the inadequacies of conventional medicine and the growing interest of people in the wisdom of these ancient healing traditions has created a unique opportunity to rewrite medicine as we currently know it. I believe the time is now ripe for a truly wholistic medical approach to emerge—one that integrates the wisdom of ancient healing systems with the best of modern medicine, including both botanical and pharmaceutical toolboxes.

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The ETMS Toolbox

ETMS Toolbox

At the Mederi Centre for Natural Healing, the foundation of our healing approach is rooted in traditional medical philosophies and practices, infused by the latest modern scientific research. Over the past twenty-five years, I’ve combined these complimentary modalities into a unique healing protocol that I call the Eclectic Triphasic Medical System (ETMS).

The main tools of the ETMS toolbox are botanical, nutritional, dietary, lifestyle, and pharmaceutical. The six general objectives of the ETMS tools are to:

  • Enhance Vitality (The Vital Force)
  • Increase Efficiency and Restore Harmony and Rhythm
  • Increase Movement
  • Correct Nutritional Deficiencies and Excesses
  • Remove Toxins
  • Target the Cancer (or other disease)

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Herbal Medicine: How Do We Know It Works?

medicinal herbs

I often lecture in hospitals or to groups schooled in conventional medical thinking. Although they are intrigued by herbal medicine, one of the first questions they ask is, “How do you know that herbs really work?”

This is a valid question. It’s not enough to say, “Well, this herbal remedy worked for my grandparents, so it will work for me.” Although there may be validity in this way of thinking, it certainly won’t stand up to the scientific, research based approach of modern medicine. First, it’s important to understand that traditional medical systems, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurveda, or the tradition of American Eclectic Medicine, are based on complex, but practical medical assumptions and theories; they are organized systems, acquired from hundreds, if not thousands of years of development through direct experience with patients.

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Are Statins Safe?

Hand with Heart

The straightforward answer to this question is “NO.” Statins are not benign, health protective medications, as the pharmaceutical companies would have you believe. If the decision were left up to the makers of Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor, Pravachol, and other cholesterol-lowering drugs, statins would be prescribed for every American (including children), handed out with fast-food meals, and added to our water supply. I’m not exaggerating—these absurd measures have actually been suggested at one time or another. The pharmaceutical industry, mainstream medicine, and even many governmental agencies are pushing the belief that lowering cholesterol (most often with statins) is the best way to protect against heart disease.

As a result, statins have become wildly popular drugs, so much so that Lipitor is the world’s all-time biggest selling prescription medication. An astonishing one out of every four Americans over the age of 45 currently takes a statin drug.

It’s time to dispel some popular myths regarding cholesterol, heart disease, and statin drugs.

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