Medicine and Other Such VooDoo

A while back Tim and I took a vacation to Jamaica with a group of friends. We stayed at a resort that offered a variety of activities each day. One such activity was a tour of the resort gardens. We decided we could give up an hour or so at the beach to get some education about the natural flora of the area. Two of my girlfriends love to take pictures and thought it would be a great opportunity to photograph some plant-life.

I took notes on my phone- just in case I wanted to blog about our experience.  (I’m a thinker! HA!)  Our tour guide, the head groundskeeper, was very knowledge about all of her plants. Just watching her, you could tell the gardens were her pride and joy. The plants, her babies.  

However, her Jamaican accent made it hard for me to understand what she was talking about most of the time. The names of the plants were all unusual and unknown to me. I used my phone to take notes and entered what she said phonetically.  

Well. Some of the things I wrote are not even plants.  Luckily, Google knew what I was trying to find and saved me, so now I can talk about a few of the plants I took notes for. 

The Jamaican people are very in tune with using natural elements for healing. They seem to have a tea for whatever ails you!  

At the resort, every day featured its own flavored/infused water. Monday was Lime Water Day. Tuesday was Cucumber Water Day. Kale Water Day. Lemon Water Day. Raspberry Water Day. And at each water cooler was a sign proclaiming the benefits the Daily Infused Water.

Back to the garden tour:  Our tour guide showed us Ginger Lily and told us that it can be a tea or essential oil to relieve stomach problems like nausea and indigestion. It’s also purported to help liver function. Strong Back Burr tea is supposed to help with back pain. And Soursap is a plant claimed to have cancer healing properties.

The only plant I knew- and knew for its healing properties- was the Aloe Vera plant. It has many uses but the one I’m most familiar with is its ability to soothe burns.  Everyone has aloe gel in their bathroom closet for sunburn relief, right?

I got a first-hand look at the healing properties of the aloe plant while on vacation. 

My sister-in-law was bitten/stung by an insect while she was on a bike ride. She tried to ignore the sting, but within a few hours the area was red and hot. She went to the resort's health clinic where they were ready to give her a prescribed antibiotic. She didn’t want a prescription, just a topical ointment.

The head gardener/groundskeeper who’d given us our tour the day before saw my sister-in-law’s problem and told her she could help. The groundskeeper went outside, cut off some aloe and spread the gel from the cut piece onto the sting. Then she covered it with a band-aid. 

The very next day the area was completely healed. No sting mark. No reddened skin. No nothing. Wow!

When I got home from vacation, I went out and got my own Aloe Vera plant.  This summer I plan on testing its use as a natural sunscreen.

    

My husband, Tim, suffers from cluster (migraine) head-aches. I’m thankful that the science of medicine has become so technologically advanced. However, we have learned, for us, popping a pill is not necessarily the best way to treat his head-aches. The medicine helps but it just masks the pain. We want to try to stop the pain.

Image courtesy of HealthCMi
on Google Images.

Acupuncture: The ancient Chinese medical art of pain reduction. It’s been around for over five-thousand years.

Palmer College of Chiropractic
courtesy of Google Images

Chiropractic adjustment. We live in chiropractic ground zero. Palmer College of Chiropractic, just a few miles from my home, has educated men and women and sent them to the far corners of the earth to help people in pain.

We are using both of these alternative treatments to alleviate Tim’s migraines. Only time will tell if they work.

I pray daily- several times a day- for His hand on Tim offering comfort and the grace of pain relief.  It's the very strongest of medicine.

I am thankful I live in a country where medicine is plentiful, personal choices are encouraged, and prayer is not a crime.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself

~Nadine