
Ask HN: What is your personal experience with alternative medicine? - gwn7
I&#x27;m not asking for your opinions, or not those of your doctor buddy, or your favorite internet sites. I&#x27;m not interested in links or references or evidences or science or rants.<p>I&#x27;m asking about your <i>personal</i> experience (if any) with any kind of approach&#x2F;practitioner that is considered alternative -such as naturopathy&#x2F;naturopaths, gaps&#x2F;gaps practitioners, homeopathy&#x2F;homeopaths, other kind of weird healers, etc-.<p>Especially curious to hear about chronic disease stories; such as diabetes, hormonal imbalances, auto-immune diseases, food or other allergies, persistent digestive issues, depression, autistic spectrum disorders, cancer, and similar.
======
ceras
I suffered from chronic pain that was starting to seriously interfere with my
life for a couple of years. I could find neither a cause nor non-invasive
solution till I read The Mind-Body Prescription[0]. It quickly and completely
fixed my problem.

I actually learned about the book here on HN: I'm usually a very skeptical
person, but enough self-proclaimed skeptics (who were embarrassed to admit
they even read it) claimed success with it that I decided to check it out.

I highly recommend reading it (with an open mind) if you're suffering from a
chronic ailment that lacks an obvious physical cause. I used it for chronic
pain, but the author claims success with just about any other type of "catch-
all" diagnosis that doctors make when they're stumped, like IBD.

BTW: the doctor is an American psychiatrist with a long career, so it's not
your usual alternative medical book. But I consider it "alternative medicine"
in that it's based on similar principles as some other alternative medicines
and the theory does not seem to have any sort of acceptance in the western
medical community. (The author cites his evidence, and provides his
explanation for why the medical community rejects that sort of evidence.)

[0]
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FA5SJS](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FA5SJS)

~~~
superasn
Don't know if you will ever read this comment but i wanted to say a huge thank
you and give a big hug for sharing this.

I have been suffering from back pain for nearly last 10 years so much so that
I was nearly feeling disabled lately with my back pain. Sleeping, eating,
waking up all I thought about was the pain and how everything revolved around
it. Anyway, long story short I stumbled upon your comment and decided to give
it a try. I was nodding all along the book and lo and behold I felt
compeletely and 100% cured even before I could finish it. It's like somebody
has given me my life back. Today was the first time I taught my daughter to
walk by holding both her hands without worrying about bending my back.

I think Dr.Sarno is a real genius and a hero for me (too bad there is some
much stubborness and skeptism about his methods). Thank you so much for
sharing his work!

------
mgarfias
My ex decided she needed to take iodine while pregnant with my first kid. He
was born with congenital hypothyroidism as a result.

She also make me goto the witch doctors of various kinds over the years, none
of which helped me.

Regular medicine determined that I have a tumor on an adrenal gland, and after
a year of testing I’m having the gland removed next month.

~~~
bigmit37
How did you find the tumor ? Did you have any symptoms?

~~~
mgarfias
Have had high-ish to actually high bp for some time. Meds didn’t touch it.

I was in the doc looking for some chemical assistance for having to deal with
my ex. Was found to be diabetic, and was referred to a clinical pharmacist.

He was going over my stuff and saw the high bp, along with low potassium and
suggested that it could be hyperaldoseronism. A couple of blood tests later
suggested that this was the case, and the CT scan was ordered which found the
tumor.

That was last year, next month I’m going in to have the gland and tumor
removed.

Symptoms of hyper aldosteronism: * high bp * low serum K * inability to gain
muscle (aldosterone is a testosterone antagonist) * lack of energy * lack of
ability to concentrate * increased blood glucose

Probably more but this is what I experienced

~~~
bigmit37
I hope the operation goes well and you feel much better.

------
fma
I'm Chinese American and I've come across it twice. One time was when I was
elementary school...my family started as non English speaking, no insurance
(American dream I guess?). My mom was in great pain for a long time, something
internal in her abdomen...I don't know what it was. One of my aunt's practiced
acupuncture in China. She came over...stuck the needles and the pain went away
that day. I don't know the details because I was young.

The other was me in college. I had bad acne. Even saw a doctor...got some
cream. Didn't work. Took a family trip to China. My cousin says...why don't I
try fire cupping. I've never heard of it...I searched online...what do I have
to lose? Worse case I get marks on my body for a few days. So I do it at a
local clinic. I did a few sessions...my face gets better, no acne.

Both experiences could just be coincidence. Who knows. I'm just stating what
happened.

------
markdown
I suffer from psoriasis. Avoiding gluten made a significant difference in
symptom reduction. I know that this isn't really "alternative", but many
people do poke fun at people who avoid gluten.

Someone close to me died of cancer a few years ago. None of the many
alternative treatments you can find online (some of them quite disgusting, but
also the commonly mentioned ones... soursop, vitamin C, marijuana, etc) made
any difference whatsoever. I assisted with some of them only because all
medical avenues had already been exhausted (stage 4 pancreatic cancer) and she
was grasping at straws and telling her there was no hope would have been
cruel.

I'm not sure you'd call kava "alternative medicine" (most people use it as a
recreational beverage rather than a medicine), but it's an anxiolytic drink
that works wonderfully as a substitute for benzos and alcohol, without the
addictive potential.

~~~
amp108
People poke fun at other people who avoid gluten without having a legitimate
condition that justifies it. I don't know if psoriasis does or not, but I know
a friend of mine whose mother was diagnosed with Celiac disease. Once _he_
started avoiding gluten, his health (and demeanor) changed until he was almost
a completely different (and much happier) person.

------
jgeada
If alternative medicine actually worked beyond anecdotes it would just be
called medicine.

~~~
gwn7
This is exactly the kind of comment I did not ask for.

If you have an anecdote yourself please share. I'm not suggesting that it
works beyond anecdotes, nor the opposite.

~~~
ryandvm
With respect, that's kind of the thing about forums - you don't get to control
the commentary.

~~~
gwn7
I have no problem with that, nor am I trying to control the commentary. But I
have a right to criticize too, have I not?

This can be seen as my humble attempt to moderate the discussion; to point the
commenter to the direction of the original question. (S)he doesn't have to
comply and I'm fine with that. Sorry if my tone bothered you.

------
DoreenMichele
My official diagnosis is _atypical cystic fibrosis._ I've spent 17+ years
pursuing dietary and lifestyle changes and non drug treatments.

I cannot begin to tell you about it in a single comment on HN. I suspect
anyone with significant experience with alternative stuff will be in the same
boat.

Talking overly much about such here is also a good way to cut your own throat
since the mantra here is "If it worked, it would be mainstream already."

~~~
throwawaymath
I'm having trouble deciding if your experiences were good or bad from this
comment. Have the 17 years you've spent on this been helpful or a waste of
time?

~~~
DoreenMichele
I've gotten very good results, good enough that the entire world would like me
to know I am both deluded and a liar.

(I wish they would pick one or the other. Either I'm actually crazy, but
believe what I'm saying to be true, thus not lying, or I'm lying for some
reason, which means I have mental clarity about what's true and what's not and
I'm not deluded. You can't have it both ways.)

~~~
taparisbat3
Can you elaborate on your changes?

~~~
DoreenMichele
Which changes? My dietary and lifestyle changes? Or changes in my state of
health?

~~~
taparisbat3
Both.

~~~
DoreenMichele
As indicated above, it doesn't really fit in a single comment on HN. But, very
incompletely:

Dietary changes:

Current standard medical advice is a high fat, high salt, high calorie diet.
To meet those criteria, they literally encourage people to eat junk food.

I did the opposite. I got very picky about food quality, salt quality, types
of fat consumed etc. My focus is on nutrition and an anti-inflammatory diet,
though saying that falls far short if what's involved.

Lifestyle changes:

I gave up my car and made other changes that reduce my exposure to chemicals
my body doesn't cope well with. I do a lot of walking and I currently do
freelance work from home to reduce my exposure to germs and increase my
control over my work environment.

Health changes:

I've gotten off all medication. I used to be on 8 or 9 prescription drugs.
After getting off of them, I took OTC drugs for years. I'm now drug free.

The hole in my lung has closed. My sleep quality is vastly better. My energy,
mental clarity and mood stability are all better. I am less sensitive to
allergens and chemicals. I get cut less easily. I no longer have chronic low
grade nose bleeds.

It seriously doesn't fit in a single comment, but there's your nutshell
version.

~~~
taparisbat3
wow, thanks :)

------
serioussecurity
Yoga and massage are great for chronic anxiety and depression.

Actually taking seriously the "your feelings live in your body, let yourself
go where you feel" stuff while doing yoga / massage can be really emotionally
cathartic.

~~~
gwn7
Do you have a story to share regarding this?

------
WheelsAtLarge
I say it's too hard for the average person to figure out the true impact of
alternative medicines. The placebo effect won't let people evaluate the
treatment with an impartial mind.

I've taken fish oil regularly for years yet I can't judge the impact of it on
my health. I live with the idea of hope. Hope that it is helping but I will
never know.

I believe that's the case with most alternative medicine since there are few
independent studies that can be cited to determine the benefits.

You will always find individuals that will swear on the benefits but
individual benefits don't translate to universal benefits. This is especially
true now that you can find anyone that has an opinion on anything on the web.
It's the confirmation bias on overdrive.

------
markdown
Someone close to me died of cancer a few years ago. None of the many
alternative treatments you can find online (some of them quite disgusting, but
also the commonly mentioned ones... soursop, vitamin C, marijuana, etc) made
any difference whatsoever. I assisted with some of them only because all
medical avenues had already been exhausted (stage 4 pancreatic cancer) and
telling her there was no hope would have been cruel.

I'm not sure you'd call kava "alternative medicine" (most people use it as a
recreational beverage rather than a medicine), but it's a traditional Pacific
Islander drink that's a great substitute for benzos and alcohol, without the
addictive potential. Works wonderfully for anxiety.

------
timoth3y
About 10 years ago I had a severe back injury and even after it "healed" I
would occasionally experience stabbing pains in my lower back. Two different
doctors told me I needed surgery to fuse three of my discs.

I considered surgery to be my absolute last option. The alternative approaches
I tried were

a) Acupuncture, which turned out to be a waste of time b) Yoga, which reduced
and eventually eliminated the pain

It was not any particular style of yoga. I tried several, but starting with
gentle stretching and twisting things started to feel better and about a year
later I was pain-free.

I don't actively practice anymore, but still do some exercises once in a
while. I never had the surgery and have not had any problems with my lower
back in years.

------
mping
I studied Chinese medicine, did an internship on a local clinic with very low
cost. We got mostly old people coming. Some points below:

1\. Generalising acupuncture treatments is the same as saying ALL programmers
are equal - there is a huge spectrum on the quality. Some people do protocols
- same treatment for same disease, other people are much more inclined to do a
personal treatment. There are also lots of different ways to do an acupuncture
treatment. As for research, please check " Atlas Of Acupuncture" from Claudia
Focks, it's full of references of studies about Chinese Medicine, with both
good and bad results as well as criticism of study design.

2\. On the clinic, it worked very well for chronic pain (eg: back pain) and
for diseases that have some degree of unknown (due to psychosomatic disorder
or alike). We had some patients that got "fixed" in a couple of sessions,
others would just need a consultation every two weeks or so to maintain their
health, and so on.

3\. Acupuncture also works very well in tandem with Western medicine (eg:
reduce side effects of some medicine/treatment), but where it really shines is
for some diseases where Western medicine can't work that well - although this
is easier if you're an accomplished practitioner - we had great results with
fibromyalgia for example.

As an example, I started to develop back pain due to carrying my kid all day,
I went to a Chinese herbal doctor who recommended me some herbs - I took them
once and it went away for weeks. Eventually it came back because I still carry
the kid though.

My teacher also have done countless diagnostics in which he correctly
diagnosed some issues with his patients who were later confirmed with a
Western medicine (under a different disease name).

------
superasn
I had these weird skin rashes on my neck which just wouldn't go away. It
became a problem since it made self conscious to the point that I decided to
skip regular activities like swimming, etc out of fear of embarrassment.

Anyway homeopathy is still a big thing here so when nothing else worked I
decided to give it a try based on a very high recommendation from my parents.

Lo and behold that thing was gone within a week. I would have never dreamt it
because homeopathy makes no sense with the medicine being diluted to hell and
I'm guessing maybe the sugar pills acted as a placebo but not sure why the
other regular medicine didn't have the same effect.

Also I had pain in my knees and 1 month of regular prayam took it away (was
suggested Arthroscopy because MRI showed a tear in my medial miniscus or
something. Pranayam fixed it and it was 10 years ago and I didn't even have
the surgery too). Did take medicine for reducing uric acid though so not sure
if that did the trick.

Well that's my personal experience. I guess my experience has been good with
alt medicine.

------
sahin-boydas
Check out this.

Scott Forstall tells the story of the time Steve Jobs saved his life and
Acupuncture

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDuQcaffoY8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDuQcaffoY8)

~~~
WheelsAtLarge
There's also the story of Jobs taking too long to treat his cancer since he
thought alternative medicine would cure him.

[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/8841347/Steve-J...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/8841347/Steve-
Jobs-regretted-trying-to-beat-cancer-with-alternative-medicine-for-so-
long.html)

------
farseer
A few points of my own experience:

1\. A practitioner gave me black seed oil to cure non-allergic rhinitis. Safe
to say, it made things worse.

2\. All the "alternative medicine" experts I know spend time criticizing the
medical profession and malpractice more than peddling their own remedies.
Similarly most experts in this area that I have met lack proper education in
chemistry, biology, bio-chemistry etc. Even the qualified doctors I have met
who practice "alternative medicine" were academically B players who lack
knowledge about basic sciences but somehow made it through the system. I would
like someone to corroborate me on this.

3\. I have met a lot of people who claim their pain (back, joint etc) went
away after cupping, acupuncture and the more modern varieties that use
electric voltage. There seems to be enough anecdotal evidence for a serious
scientific investigation in this area. The existing "theory" that
practitioners give for its efficacy including "restoring energy balance in
body via critical points" is obviously a pile of crap.

4\. A lot of herbal supplements are nowadays labeled "homeopathic", even
though the traditional "homeopathy" is based on a dilution principle which is
hilariously in-effective. I am guessing that some of those herbal supplements
tucked in the homeopathy shops might actually do cure a few minor ailments and
that has accidentally given homeopathy a lease of life in the 21st century.
Even though the authentic homeopathy drugs which employ dilution are
practically useless.

------
drakonka
I have ended up with quite a bit of experience with alternative medicine, some
of which I didn't even know about until a couple of years ago.

In Ukraine as a kid. The "not sure if these do anything but they didn't hurt"
part:

1: My mom would regularly draw "iodine nets" on my skin when I was sick. I
can't remember exactly what they were meant to do, something about sucking out
whatever toxin was making me sick.

2: When I was young in Ukraine I got very very sick. I only remember bits and
pieces - most memorable is it hurting to move and getting shots in my hand
every day. I was in hospital and getting worse, and the doctors couldn't
figure out what was wrong. According to my mom they were injecting me with
some kind of weird hormone based treatment, and when it did not seem to be
helping she became worried about what it would do to me in the long term, so
she took me out of the hospital against the wishes of doctors - she said the
doctor was yelling after her that I was going to die if she took me out as she
was leaving. She took me to an alternative medicine provider of some sort, who
gave me shots and those little round pills you kind of see some alternative
medicine providers use. I don't know which of those things worked, but I did
end up getting better somehow.

3: This isn't really alternative medicine but more of a placebo effect. After
the above ordeal my temperature would just not go down. I felt fine, but
whenever they checked my temperature I would have a massive fever. My mom was
checking my temp multiple times a day for weeks with zero change. My doctor
suggested that my mom stop checking my temperature for two weeks. After two
weeks, we checked again and my temperature was back to normal. It was decided
that I was so used to being sick and having a fever that the process of
checking my temperature would actually make me produce a real life fever.

4: This one is about my sister. She was born with some kind of..bad kidney
problems or something of the sort. She had to take multiple trips to the
emergency room, frequently. I don't know exactly what these attacks involved
but it was bad. As a last resort my mom took her to a healer of some sort who
gave her a special stone and did some kind of hand-healy thing. She apparently
did not have an attack again. From memory I also got one of these stones, but
a different one, but can't remember where it is now.

Ukraine, the "this was definitely a scam" part:

1\. My mom took me to a lady who had me hold two metal rods connected with
some kind of wire thing to a machine, and she would make different words show
up on screen and then say if I was sensitive/allergic to those things or not.
She guessed my strawberry allergy, but that's probably because my mom
mentioned it. She also said I had "rakovie palochki", which freaked my mom out
because it translates to "cancer sticks", but the lady said that was normal. I
think she was a total scammer and apparently she disappeared a few years
later...

\----------------------

Sweden, my cat:

1\. My kitten was extremely sick for a month. The vets had given up and said
there was nothing more they could do. They let me take him home for his last
night, I had an appointment booked to put him to sleep the next day at home -
I didn't want him to die in the hospital. As a last resort I took him to a
"holistic veterinarian" who performed acupuncture and gave various drops and
such. I don't know if the acupuncture helped, but the next day my cat
miraculously peed on his own for the first time in a month at home (his
blockage was at the root of this problem, without peeing he would die and no
amount of medicine or trying to manually express him had worked). I wouldn't
credit the entire recovery to acupuncture, but as a last resort treatment I am
glad I tried it.

2\. At the same time as the above, on the train _back_ from the holistic vet
home, I happened to sit next to a lady who started asking about him. I was on
the verge of tears at that point but explained to her what was happening. She
asked if she could reach her hand in the carrier and pet him, and I said yes.
My cat was so exhausted and miserable, both of us were, but he seemed to relax
a little when she touched him. We ended up getting off at the same stop and
before going in separate directions the lady said "I did some healing, it is
up to him now. There is still hope - just take that cone off of him when you
get home." (he was wearing post-surgery cone). I did as she said - he peed the
next day.

\-----------------------------

I should note that neither my mom nor I ever chose alternative medicine over
traditional, scientifically-backed medicine. My mom from what I understand
only used alternative treatments in conjunction with science-backed treatments
or only as a last resort when normal medicine did not help. It was the same
with my cat - he was in and out of traditional hospitals for a month. When
those veterinarians said there were no more things left to try is when I began
to explore more alternative routes.

------
freewheelie
Each form of medicine has its advantages and disadvantages one should not be
dismissive of other forms treatments just based on popular opinions also One
should not put all their faith on alternative forms of medicine too and be
aware of when there are proven treatments or hype created by dubious
practitioners or marketed online. Sometimes the treatments may not work as
each medical problem uses body's own healing powers to support those
treatments. I have three recent experiences to share 1\. 3 years back my
father who was 67 then suffered from severe pain in lower back due to which he
could not stand or walk after 10 min.on investigation it was found out the
pain was due to one the spinal discs in back was pushing against the nerves
and would need to be operated upon this was the opinion of multiple doctors
and as per them it was a routine procedure. But we had heard of lot of horror
stories with regards of spine surgeries. So my father refused,him being a
diabetic and a heart patient he said better be in pain than being in bed for
rest of his life. Well he was recommended a acupuncture doctor by friends and
he decided to try him out. After 3-5 month his condition improved and now he
can go for morning walks every day for 2-3 kms. 2\. I met my neighbors who I
had seen after an year on enquiry the lady who is 82 years told me she had
suffered severe spine related issue with one of her discs leaking fluids and
was bedridden. The consulting doctors told her surgery in her case was very
risky due her age and other health problems and gave her medication for pain
management when her situation did not improve he himself suggested the family
to try our Ayurveda based treatment which includes massages and natural
medication at one of the good hospitals south india. She was treated as
inpatient for three month and later physical therapy at home. Now she is no
longer bed ridden and does light household work like cooking and walk slowly.
3\. I suffer from chronic kidney stone problem recently I had 6-8 mm stone
which I was not able to pass and was suffering sharp pains doctor suggested
simple surgery. Instead I followed standard homeopathic medication quite
common in India along with natural remedy and I passed the stone 2-3 days
later.

------
nemo1618
I used the method of Dr. John Sarno to rid myself of chronic wrist pain/RSI.

I say "rid" instead of "cure" because Sarno's method claims that such pain is
entirely psychogenic, and is thus addressed by psychological means rather than
pills, surgery, or other physical interventions. The theory is that the pain
is generated by the subconscious as a way of distracting the conscious mind
from unpleasant thoughts/emotions. By recognizing this process and forcing
yourself to deal with the unpleasantness, the subconscious gives up this
"strategy" and the pain disappears.

The really interesting thing about this theory is that it predicts "the
symptom imperative," which in practice means that soon after you begin
challenging your primary symptom, your subconscious may shift to a new
symptom. New symptoms understandably cause the conscious mind to become
afraid, and thus distracted again.

That part is what really sold me on the theory. I was skeptical at first, but
sure enough, as soon as I began attacking my wrist pain, I began having
headaches and other inexplicable symptoms, each of which resolved quickly. The
nice thing is that the method is more effective the more you believe in its
efficacy, and so a virtuous cycle can develop.

My wrist pain was never severe, but it was bad enough to scare me away from
typing with my right hand for the better part of a year. I also had a lot of
numbness and tingling, and occasional acute pain in my middle (scrolling)
finger joint. I attributed these symptoms to overuse, and in addition to not
typing with that hand, I used wrist braces, elbow braces, ice packs, a new
keyboard, etc. These tended to help for a few minutes to days before the
symptoms returned.

Once I had been typing exclusively with my left hand for a while, I began
experiencing symptoms in that hand as well. The prospect of not typing at all
was very scary (which is exactly what my subconscious wanted). I finally went
to a specialist, who performed a nerve conduction study and told me there was
nothing physically wrong with me. If I had not know about Sarno's theory, this
information would have been rather distressing. Instead, it came as a relief.
I could now pursue Sarno's method without reservations. And within a week, my
pain was 90% gone. After pushing through the symptom shifting, my pain was 99%
gone within a month. Nowadays I have no wrist pain at all, and I can type as
long as I want without regard for ergonomics. I consider myself very lucky and
have since become something of a PPD/TMS maximalist. If you have chronic pain
or another chronic condition, I urge you to read one of Sarno's books and
evaluate the theory for yourself. Scientifically, I think it has more of a leg
stand on than homeopathy, crystal healing, etc., but at the end of the day,
all I can say is that it worked for me, and I hope it works for you too.

