Get Hooked On Natural Cures
Thank you so much for checking out this blog. I hope to give you reasons to come back every week. As a medicine hunter, I spend my time investigating natural remedies. This work puts me in rainforests, mountains, deserts, and other wild and remote regions all over our spectacular planet. In the course of my travels, I encounter medicinal plants for every need, plus unusual people, exotic locales, strange foods and bizarre customs.
I believe that trade in medicinal plants can promote human health and environmental and cultural sustainability in native areas. In between trips researching nature’s healing treasures, I speak all over the world, and appear on TV regularly, where I promote the message of natural healing. I have a wife I love, several close and wonderful friends, a happy dog, a beautiful home I visit on occasion, and global travel.
In the course of medicine hunting I have come to love and appreciate the remaining wild and largely undeveloped places in the world. The times I have spent with great healers have opened my mind and heart to a broader understanding of true healing, the human spirit, and the precious medicinal treasures of nature. In this blog, which I offer with great sincerity, I would like to share what I have found.
A Kathmandu Cure – How I Became Really Hooked on Plants
Do not drink out of Indian rivers! Wherever in the foothills of the Himalayas you may be, however seemingly pristine the environment, however cool and refreshing the water might feel as it swirls around your knees, do not afford yourself a long, thirst-quenching drink. At a remote section of the Gautam Ganga river, I had done exactly that. The cold Himalayan water was apparently a running cocktail of potent pathogenic microbes.
The microbes in the river water invaded my body like a battalion of gladiators, hacking and plundering from sinew to bone. I felt as though my digestive tract had been beaten with a brick bat, and my brain felt as though it had been cleaved with a wood-splitting wedge. I visited the toilet over fifty times the next morning, the beginning of a ten day siege that caused me to drop 35 pounds (amazing weight loss plan), and endure violent diarrhea with fever and chills.
Ayurveda Saves My Life
A rickshaw driver pedaled me through funky Durbar Square in Kathmandu, Nepal, into the winding alleys of Indrachowk, the oldest section of the city. We arrived at a modest one story faded brown cement building off of a small back street where Doctor Bajracharya maintained a practice. A slender, kind-looking man with alert eyes greeted me, Doctor Bajracharya. I told him that I was very sick, and in need of help, describing drinking from the river, the diarrhea, fever, chills, weight loss.
One of Nepal’s most distinguished natural doctors, Bajracharya practiced the 5,000 year old system of Ayurveda, the oldest medicinal system in the world. Ayurveda lies heavily on the use of medicinal plants to treat health disorders of all types. He asked me to lie down on a simple wooden examination table, laid a palm on the center of my abdomen, and paid close attention to my gurgling intestines. After a couple of minutes, Doctor Bajracharya withdrew his hand. “I will give you something that will stop this problem.”
Doctor Bajracharya disappeared into an anteroom for about ten minutes, and emerged with a small paper bag filled with a chocolate colored powder, and an envelope containing brown pellets that resembled rabbit turds. “Here is what you must do. Every meal, three times a day,” he poked the air with three slender fingers for emphasis “before you eat, mix a heaping teaspoon of this powder in a glass of water and drink it. Take three of these pills at the same time. Do this for nine days, and this problem will not come back. You will be completely rid of it.” I asked about the ingredients in the powder. “This contains burned conch shell, powdered very finely, and many different spices which grow around these mountains.” And the pellets? “All herbs and spices, a very old formula. This is powerful for healing the digestive organs.”
Praying that the remedies might improve my condition even a little, I slowly made my way on unstable legs to the Blue Tibetan restaurant off Durbar Square, to take my first doses of the ayurvedic remedies and eat some lunch. Once seated, I opened the bag of powder and sniffed it. The mixture smelled aromatic and bitter, and that was no real surprise. Certain aromatic spices and bitter herbs are traditionally used to relieve gastrointestinal disorders. I mixed a heaping teaspoon of the powder into a glass of water and selected three pellets. Popping the pellets into my mouth, I chased them down with the bitter drink, knocking back the herbal sediment at the bottom of the glass.
By early evening, after two doses of the ayurvedic remedies from Doctor Bajracharya, the diarrhea which had been my ruination for ten days stopped completely. My fever subsided, and my guts stopped quivering. That night I enjoyed eight hours of restful, uninterrupted sleep. When I awoke the next morning, I was weak and as skinny as a Red Cross relief poster child, but the diarrhea was gone, my temperature was normal, and I had some energy.
Even though I had used various herbs for years- ginger for colds and sore throat, ginseng for mental enhancement, hot chilies to decongest- I was completely surprised by the effectiveness of the natural remedies I had been given. This devastating sickness, and the remarkable natural cure I experienced, propelled me into the world of natural medicines, from rainforests to mountains, and from shamans to laboratories. Plant medicines are the most widely used medicines on earth, and it will be my privilege to share them with you.
Chris Kilham is a medicine hunter who researches natural remedies all over the world, from the Amazon to Siberia. He teaches ethnobotany courses at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he is Explorer In Residence. Chris advises herbal, cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies and is a regular guest on radio and TV programs worldwide. His field research is largely sponsored by Naturex of Avignon, France. Read more at www.MedicineHunter.com
Tags: ayurveda, Chris Kilham, cure, doctor, Kathmandu, medicinal plants, Medicine Hunter, natural remedies, Nepal, plants, travels
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What a great blog! I’m so glad to see some focus on natural remedies — something all health professionals would do well to consider. And what a timely emergence of this blog as well, as we are perching precariously on the precipice of major decisions about health care in our country.
Do you think anyone in Washington will listen???
Great post!
You may be interested to learn that healthy chocolate can help you lose weight! Cacao (Unprocessed cocoa powder) has appetite-suppressant properties, cocoa is often added to weight loss products to help control hunger.
Much of today’s common diet is comprised of empty calories. If the body is not receiving the nutrients it needs, it produces the urge to eat more. Unprocessed cocoa powder, on the other hand, provides the appropriate amount of vitamins and minerals the body needs, thus decreasing the urges for added “fuel”.
Also, Cacao is an excellent source of fiber, which blocks fat absorption, creates a feeling of fullness and is associated with decreased weight.
In addition, Cacao increases the body’s endorphin levels, which naturally decreases the need to eat high-sugar, high-fat foods. The “high” one gets from the dark chocolate supersedes any enjoyment one might get from eating, so the focus shifts to eating for nutrition rather than pleasure.
I wish you good health and many blessings!
Please join my Facebook Group at
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=139919928766
To learn more about HEALTHY CHOCOLATE
Great to hear that taking the natural remedy help to cure a parasitic or microbial disease in about 10 days. On that note, for a westerner, in good health I assume, who gets a parasite or microbial disease while traveling 10 days is about the average time for self limiting disease. Americans that have gone to Mexico and contracted “Montezuma’s Revenge” know that you have to suffer though it with plenty of electrolytes and water but it eventually goes away. http://symptomchecker.about.com/od/Diagnoses/travelers-diarrhea.htm#duration
I think it is more beneficial to the readers of this blog if MR. Kilham would give a solid evaluation of the “secret potion.” The healing benefits may be coming from an active ingredient in the herbs that is too expensive to extract in that part of the world. Much of western medicine is based on plant or microbial active ingredients. Aspirin comes from plants, it has just been isolated and made in pill form.
Big Pharma is out to make money, no doubt as all businesses, but leaving out how something works is not good for the health of this country either.
I’ve enjoyed Chris’ medicine hunter adventures for years in his books, articles and lectures and I’m pleased to find this blog. He is a hearty and brave soul as he ventures out to build a bridge between modern medicine and ancient remedies, between the rarified chemical world of drugs and what nature gives us in the wild, and between a narrow allopathic view of medicine and the holistic understanding of natural compounds. In the plant spirit, Lynda
I can believe Chris Kilham’s compelling story, having experienced some pretty dramatic natural cures myself.
I’ll be checking back for more good stories and guidance!
The trick is to seek out time-tested remedies, or look for ones with solid clinical evidence. We need to steer more public dollars to clinical testing of traditional herbal remedies as well as nutrients and food factors!
Try rhodiola rosea herb for mood, kava herb for anxiety, curcumin (tumeric pigment) for inflammation, vitamin D for overall health, and omega-3 fish oil for mood, brain health, heart health, and arthritis. (I found unusual “whole-food” versions of vitamin D and fish oil at vitalchoice.com, plus superior wild salmon, wild seafood and organic foods.)
This is a great story, told well with great economy and clarity. It is a succinct appetizer to the abundant feast that Chris Kilham provides.
I wish him the very best and look forward to reading more from him.
Best wishes,
andy
Mr. Gilham lost lost 35 pounds in 10 days? That’s incredible – must be close to a record.
For a logical and scientific look at ayurvedic medicine, see comments by Dr. Stephen Barrett:
http://quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/chopra.html
The plant world and ancient cultures are indeed potential rich sources of medical treatments. But I don’t expect much from ayurvedic medicine.
We certainly see lots of Indians coming here for education in Western scientific medicine. Not so many of us going there for ayurvedic training.
-Steve
Excellent story about travels experienced by those who really work in the field. Will look forward to seeing what the medicine hunter has to say every week. Great to have human interest stories about natural medicines without someone trying to sell me a product at the same time. Bring it on Chris!
Steven
Wow Chris! What a great story……and you are an amazing story teller!!
I would love to see a picture of you on your blog that matches your mystic wisdom…..meaning the lighting… the backdrop etc……an ambiance that brings out the “mysitic wisdom” in your eyes.
I also love to have your weekly or monthly updates magicly appear in my email……is that possible?
Wishing you continued blessings!
Patty
xo
In response to comments, whether or not Washington will listen to information about natural healing is hard to say. But since Americans currently spend $34 Billion per year on natural health care out of pocket, the train has apparently already left the station.
In response to the man who described bacterial dysentery as a ten-day event in any case, not so. I visited the toilet dozens of times the morning I saw the Nepalese doctor, and arrived at his office with fever and chills. Burned conch shell was one of the main ingredients in the powder, by the way. I would have continued to be sick for a long time more without that intervention.
Chocolate comes next blog, and there will be more. Thank you. Tell your friends.
Looking forward to the chocolate blog!!
thank you Mr. Kilham for responding to our acclaim and concerns. I agree with you on the notion that important and, possibly, better medicine can be found in the wild. Medicine hunters do the world a good deed by finding exotic unknown, active ingredients; allowing them to be extracted, quantified and dosed to peoples aliments.
“In response to the man who described bacterial dysentery as a ten-day event in any case, not so. I visited the toilet dozens of times the morning I saw the Nepalese doctor, and arrived at his office with fever and chills” Your course of bacterial dysentery was normal. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Dysentery/Pages/Symptoms.aspx
You addressed my concern about active ingredients in the “secret potion” with, “Burned conch shell was one of the main ingredients in the powder, by the way.” To my knowledge of the living world, conch shells primarily consists of calcium carbonate, also found in Tums and Rolaid;this an ingredient I would have like in a response. The other herbs, natural mild pain killers I would guess.
I know that you are not addressing the scientific community on this blog but people take this stuff serioulsy. Using whimsy to entertain is good to sell ad space, understandable in a free market, but it can also be used to educate without being boring.
Also, good link by Dr Steve Parker.
Just found the Medicine Hunter blog. I will bookmark it. I’ve been informally researching natural medicine and plant based supplements for over 15 years. I have successfully used remedies that predate modern medicine for minor ailments. I include in my diet natural supplements that have a beneficial effect on certain common health conditions,i.e., ginseng-(energy), turmeric & omega 3’s-(inflammation), gymna sylvestra-(blood sugar), elderberry extract-(recovery from flu symptoms.) These are all derived from plant based medical traditions and have a place in our modern world, as does modern medicine. The holistic approach benefits us all.
Those of you who want more science will not be disappointed. Because plant medicines are the most widely employed medicines in the world, the science on them is massive. I’ll be drawing from the enormous USDA medicinal plant database, the World Health Organization plant medicine program, and science published throughout the world in medical and scientific journals. People want assurance that plant medicines are safe (they are), effective (unquestionably) and well studied. I will fulfill the promise to deliver exceptional information to you. Thanks for your intelligent comments.
Great article… Nepal is one of my favorite places.
Ayurveda is definitely one of the oldest medical systems in the world.
Can’t wait to hear more from the medicine hunter!
Thanks Chris
Well, I suppose if Faux News can be redeemed at all, it will be partially through providing actual, relevant and truthful information about things that matter to real people–and certainly health and wellness fit that bill. May this new blog be a solid contribution to that end.
I’m particularly interested in how these natural remedies are used in the field–the whole “extract the one molecule we THINK is responsible for the benefit and disregard the rest” approach seems logically anemic at best, much of the time. Nature usually knows best.
Regarding the above comments on ayurveda: it’s easy to find people who can diss Chopra. With no first-hand experience, I have no real opinion on him one way or the other, but it sure is easy to see many Westerners (doctors and otherwise) holding a similarly “superstitious” set of beliefs about their own chosen worldview. The idea that any ancient, continuously practiced art of healing is reducable to “quackery” seems, well, a bit unlikely at best. It’s quite clear that while the benefits of the Western-scientific paradigm are legion (count me a fan of heroic medicine!), it has also missed the boat on anything that can’t be measured by the instruments we deem worthy.
The mind is, ultimately, more complex and powerful than any computer our mind has created. To dismiss what we do not believe or yet understand as “Chopra-ism” or too “woo-woo” to consider, is actually to fall victim to an unscientific approach ourselves.
A lot of trouble to cure the trots. I go down to the grocery store (or send someone) and get a container of unsweetened grapefruit juice. Chug a big glass of the sour stuff-you’ll feel like you’re only going to exacerbate the problem-then, after one, possible two more trips to the can, mostly just one, you’ll be all done. You can then enjoy the rest of the grapefruit juice with vodka.
Note that my best results came from Blue Bird brand. You might be better served to go to a Liquor Store as grocery stores sell mostly the sugary types of juice which are no good.
This cure has worked very well for me in Asia, Mexico, Cuba, the Carribbean islands, Central America, and Okahumpka, Florida.
P.S. I think I’ll sip a small shot of juice each day during this flu season. That citrus acid will kill a lot of bugs. OK, SEE YA! Wildjoe.
Dear Doctor,
I’m happy to learn of your natural cure. Are there cures for asthma. I had polio as a child and believe that this affects my lungs.
Any ideas to breathe better???
I had a stroke four years ago. I just found out that hbot can help a great deal in waking up cells in the brain yet my health ins. won,t pay for it they call it experimental yet it has been proven to work over and over. Have you found any herbs for strokes or bell palsy?
Regarding queries for your personal health, I strongly recommend that you find a holistic medical doctor or a licensed naturopath.
Asthma – I know of one woman with lifetime asthma who was successfully cured by eleven days of closely-monitored homeopathic treatment. Boiron Homeopathy in the US has a running guide to homeopathic physicians in the US. Google them and call. In the care of a highly qualified homeopathic physician, you may improve greatly.
Stroke – In China I studied Erigeron breviscapus, the primary medicine used to treat stroke in major Chinese hospitals. It is also known as “Lifeflower.” Unknown in the US, the herb enjoys a long history of use, and good science conducted primarily through medical centers in Yunnan province. According to physicians there, the injectable form is superior to oral. The oral form is sold in the US (Google Lifeflower). Treatment efficacy has to do with age, severity of stroke, and time between stroke and treatment.
Again, I encourage you to work closely with a qualified health care practitioner.
Mr. Kilham writes “I encourage you to work closely with a qualified health care practitioner”.
Parents and children are listed as high risk – but for some reason, school teachers are not and I know that teachers are always catching flus from the students but dont have the luxury to take time off since their performance-based jobs. The scariest group of all people in this country that are not even mentioned as being recommended for immunization shots are food service workers and illegals. Think about how many uninsured and illegals working here, most of whom will not get immunized, will spread flu germs as they handle and prepare food in many restaraunts, school and work cafeterias and fast food kitchens across America. Is anyone in charge of making sure that ALL food handlers get immunized or stay home if they are sick? I fear that many people may get sick or die FROM the immunizations as much as or more than from getting the flu itself. Is anyone keeping track of that possibility? Why dont we ever get the facts first on what is being injected into us and how can we trust the government to oversee the immunization process? The media may be inadvertantly reporting deaths resulting from an infection from the immunization shot itself and not from the actual flu or pandemic. If the public only knew what exactly is used to create the immunization flu shots – they would be completely horrified. We are born with immune systems for a reason. Think about it.
Hellooo Chris- I finally made it to your blog– this is FAB-u-lous! I got so pulled in to reading about you and peeking at all these posts… very inspiring. Such a wealth of practical healing information is shared here. Our Mother Planet has certainly provided for us all! Thanks for doing this- it truly is a tremendous service. I’ll be back to visit soon (probably with some questions next time, too!!!). All the Best, Will