Herbal Remedies and Conventional Medicine and Using them Synergistically

by jbfalle 5:13 PM 1 comments Family Random Thoughts Recipes Tips

The photo below is my Chest X-ray. And yes it does not look good. As of this writing I am already on medication for Pneumonia for 3 days. Although I am considering this as Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis due to allergies.

I just want to share my experience about taking both herbal medicine and conventional medicine and why they should go together and how they contributed to my healing.

My illness started on June 10, it started with a sore throat. As a nurse, I am educated more regarding conventional medicine but I also do not discount the facts that herbal medicines have cured a lot of people too. I also know that conventional medicine, if not taken properly can do more harm than good, but so does herbal medicine.

During the course of my illness, I never took any conventional medicine instead I resorted to drinking lemon with honey and a teaspoon of turmeric every morning. It made me feel better. And I think it really did well on making me feel better that I cough less often and never had the sore throat again for the following weeks thereafter.

After two weeks, about the first week of July, my children acquired flu although having been immunized for flu. But due to their immunization, they did not have fever but only presented symptoms such as cough and runny nose. A few days after my husband also had the flu, apart from the cough and runny nose, he also complained of muscle weakness and fatigue.

My whole family now had the flu except me, I thought I was feeling fine, I never had muscle weakness nor fatigue except for occasional coughing and sneezing, which I thought was due to my allergic rhinitis.

Until last July 15, when I felt like I have sore throat again. And so I thought the magic remedy of lemon and honey with turmeric will be there to rescue. But the coughing won't go away, and whenever I cough I feel like it wants to suck all my lungs out. i really felt terrible.

I tried to observe my self for a few more days, I was considering it as an allergy, because where I work, in the print shop, there were lots of allergens. And I also have the same case of inflamed lungs due to allergies way back in 2008.

In the afternoon, my coughing got worse but in the morning I felt better. I usually drink my herbal tea in the morning, so I thought maybe I have to drink it in the evening too. But it really did me no good. On July 18 I finally decided to have a checkup, I was already feeling so weak that morning. Like I don't have energy to do any household chores, and lying down made me feel better.

My internist told me it was really allergies that was causing my cough, but gave me medications and and antibiotics for prophylaxis. On my way to the X-ray, I can hardly talk to the technician due to my persistent cough. And the results was set to be released the following day.

So I bought my medicines, immediately took Klaricort for my allergies and so the coughing subsided temporarily. I then went home and nebulized with Salbutamol. I guess rest was all I needed that time.

As a nurse, I was exposed to different kinds of physicians, some who were there to really help, some who were they only for the money. Due to my previous experiences, I find it hard to trust a doctor, unless they have really gained my trust, just like my children's pediatrician. and my OB. And this was the reason why I resorted to using herbal remedies instead, because I haven't found an internist that I can really trust.

Lesson of the story, it is acceptable to use herbal remedies to cure one's illness but we should also use conventional medicine to help us diagnose the sickness and provide the correct medication for our illness. I was feeling so healthy because of the herbal remedies I was taking but inside of me my lungs was slowly getting sicker and sicker as time goes by.

And of course, prevention is always better than cure. ;-)

My follow up check up is due tomorrow so I will be updating this page after my internist reviewed my X-ray results.

For the meantime, you can share you experiences on taking herbal remedies and conventional medicine on the comments section below. :-)


This was the exact honey I used:

This was still straight from my mom's balikbayan box.

I purchased lemon from Robinsons or KCC. It costs 30 pesos each in Robinsons and 22 pesos each at KCC.