General Music Chat

I have to agree with Andrew and Bob. Another trip to a medical professional or two. Dont discount the "alternative" route. TCM has been effective for millions of people for thousands of years.
And just for the record. My home remedies are the culmination of many years as a working nurse.

I agree with Fisherman guy all the way, if you want real help, stay away from doctors, go natural. Doctors are trained to do two things, prescribe drugs and cut on ya. Natural/holistic persons try to find the root cause and deal with it, not "treat" the symptoms with chemicals that should never ever be in your body.

Dr Andrew Weil is one of the country's foremost practitioners of natural and nutritional medicine, his site HERE may have something in the Q&A section, I didn't look around though, I'm on a laptop and the battery won't last all day. Definitely worth a look though, and if you can find some of his books, he's very intelligent and easy to understand.

One of the main things he recommends is general tonics like garlic, ginger and ginseng. All 3 are great for you, along with cayenne pepper, and as far as I know there's no such thing as too much. I like ginger tea pretty well and have eaten cayenne pepper for around 30 years, if nothing else plenty cayenne and 2000 mg vitamin C per day and you'll never get a cold. I'd have to spend some time searching around for ear specific info, but look around, and you should be able to find some natural/nutritional methods that will help. Also, never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear. Seriously, even Q tips can cause damage.

Lotsa luck, I rarely have head or earaches, but when I do it's a doozy, takes something as strong as demorol (spelling???) to knock one out, so I know how you feel. 200 mg of it...and it won't go away, but that will diull it enough it's not such a big bother. That's the main reason I look for other means of dealing with it, natural tolerance to pain killers.

I guess I should not be surpised to find people interested and practicing holistic medicine and TCM amoung musicians.
Paleopete is quite right in his genrealazation of western physicians.
Though I know of some fine men and women whom are the ideal of a physician. Many are just skipping across the high spots on as many patients as they can for greeds sake. Partially the reason I no longer care to practice my nursing profession.

I once receaved a physicians order to "Check on an acupuncture consult" for a patient of mine in the hospital. With assit of my supervisor we located one whom was on the hospitals list of approved MDs as a Cardiologist. I called him, he came in immediatly, trated my patient (who recieved relief of syptoms) The administration blew up!
I told them if they dont want me to call for an acupunturist DONT WRITE FOR ONE!
Losers !!

sans, I'm glad you realize the deficiencies in the medical industry, that's one of my biggest worries about posting something like that. Unfortunately, the fact is the medical industry (and it is an industry these days) is entirely focused on money. Advertising has people running to their doctors' offices and demanding drugs they don't need, for ailments they don't have! Many doctors know very little about the chemicals they prescribe, they receive no follow up training (unless they elect to themselves) after the initial medical school, all they know about most of the drugs they write scripts for is what the company salesman tells them. And he's only going to tell them what makes HIM money...

I don't claim to be the healthiest person around, but I Haven't taken a pill in 30 years except for the occasional instance I hurt my back and have to for pain. Not even an aspirin. In the winter I hit the vitamin C and cayenne HARD and I haven't had a cold in at least 25 years, occasionally the flu but that's a different story. Most of the time it's not as bad as most people get it, mostly due to vitamin C (great for the immune system) and cayenne (great for everything).

Sour, queasy stomach ache? Eat a half dozen spearmint or peppermint leaves. Gone in 10 minutes. I never get headaches, earaches, indigestion, colds, stomach aches, do have a touch of arthritis, but I know how to deal with that too, and cayenne is one of the things that helps it.

IF I went to a doctor for arthritis I'd be on a prescription for some chemical that wouldn't help much, then would cause side effects that would require another chemical in a couple of years to counteract, then another one to deal with those side effects a couple of years later...now does it start to make sense that drugs are killing more people than the diseases they are supposedly trying to treat?

That's why I always say if you want to stay in good health, avoid doctors. Google Essiac sometime and you'll find out a CURE for cancer has been known for at least 75 years. When the lady who discovered it by way of an indian herbal remedy died, the government burned all her notes. She started a clinic where she took only terminal cases, months to live at best, some of them wrote her letters 10 years later still in great shape...the AMA and government in general buried it, nobody ever heard of it until around 10 years ago when someone got their hands on the info and started to spread it around. Does it really work? Ask my sister's friend in Texas who was given months to live. I heard about it 2 years after she did the Essiac treatment, my sister worked with her. In her case Lukemia also vanished.

Why don't we hear about this? Pharmaceutical corporations cannot get patents on herbs. Therefore they can't make billions on it, so they have enough clout with congress to keep it suppressed. Remember Vioxx? It killed people for 5 years before it was finally pulled off the shelves. The "official" line is around 10,000 people. The reality is more like 50,000. But Merck (SP?) made BILLIONS before it was pulled, and they knew it was killing people.

There's more, lots more...

That's why I'm so strongly against the medical industry, it's been known for many years drugs are killing people and nothing has been done about it, while herbal and natural treatments, mostly without side effects, and almost completely non-fatal are being very strongly suppressed.

Wrong...just plain wrong...

That's why I'm so strongly against the medical industry, it's been known for many years drugs are killing people and nothing has been done about it, while herbal and natural treatments, mostly without side effects, and almost completely non-fatal are being very strongly suppressed.

Wrong...just plain wrong...

You know what? You may be right, but there's a few (and I mean A FEW) that actually know what they're mixing or suggesting for a patient and not just being smartasses. Trust me; I've dealt with a few of those before

Yep, I know that. I didn't say ALL of them...just the majority. There are a few, a small few, who are not in it primarily for the money and do their homework, unfortunately not many.

Even more unfortunately, the ones who do most of the actual work, the nurses, only get a small part of the money or recognition, and 99% of them are there because they care, not just because it pays well. And nursing does pay pretty well. One of the few job fields that does.

Well, I've been unable to find that "good Dr" who doesn't immediately start scribbling in his 'scrip pad before I've finished talking about my problem.

I think a major part of the trouble is that there are too few Dr's around here. The waiting room is always full.

This stupid HMO I'm on won't let me choose my own Dr. The office I go to has like 10 Dr's in it, & although I'm assigned to one, I've only actually seen the guy once in the last 5 yrs. There's one Dr in there I straight-up refuse to see, cuz as far as I'm concerned she's a total idjit, & I ain't shy about telling them so.

My wife goes to this same place, of course, & it's these morons who've had her over-medicated for the last 9 years.

This HMO biz has everyone pretty much locked into the entire pharmaceutical/surgeration machine, & it's going to kill off a lot pf ppl, imo, but I ain't gonna be one of them. I'm gonna kill myself with bad health routines before I let these poopheads kill me. That's my plan, anyway!

The "Market Price" for an RN in East Texas is about $25/hr.
Not a bad wage. Not the get rich quick kind of money most people think nurses make. Of course there are exceptions. And I am free to move to other parts of the country where pay rates are sometimes twice as much.
I am just tired of being lied to. And being expected to lie for the hospital administrations.

So, Sans, being a professional in the medical community, what's happening now? Are we all doomed, in the US?

...I normally tell my wife to whoop me upside the head with a frying pan when I least expect it..... cures insomnia and actually relieves the pain for quite a while....

It's been a week of this shinola. Right ear's still clogged up, but at least it quit hurting awhile back. Grr

Get well soon, man.

ZXYZ
Weve been the screwed pooch for a long time.
The only thing that could make it worse would be socalised medicine.
Zero incentive to provide good care.

Phil
Heating pad . Lay with your ear down on a heating pad. It will clear much faster. Just dont burn yourself. Dont have to be uncomfortable just above body temp.

Thanks, man. I've been doing that every night all week long.

I see medicine going into the toilet as the doctors set up shop in your local Sears & Wal-Mart stores. Wheee! What fun! Get yer yearly check up, yer meds, yer lawn furniture, yer dog food & groceries & flowers for yer yard all in one convenient stop! Just look at what they're doing for the pharmacy industry!

My wife goes to Wally World for her meds, now. Takes two days or more for them to fill three prescriptions! She's gone 2 days without her supposedly necessary b/p meds cuzza their wonderful service. Of course she won't go anywhere else, cuz they're cheapest, & oh so conveniently close to her work...duh!

Phil - Here's a page from a bit of looking around, Dr James Balch is the author of a book I have, this article lists some of the things that may be useful.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Earache-and-N ... &id=426793

From the book...

Manganese 10mg daily - manganese deficiency has been linked to ear disorders.
vitamin a & e emulsion - 10,000 IU of A, 600IU of E

Vitamin C - 300-700 mg daily (not all at one time)

Zinc lozenges 10mg 3 times a day, 5 days, then twice a day in pill form.

Vitamin B complex - 50mg 3x daily healing and immune function, relieves ear pressure

Vitamin B6 - 50mg daily, same as above

Vitamin E 600-800IU - increase dosage gradually, builds immune system

Hope that helps