Raise your hand if you're struggling right now..

There are all different kinds of alternative treatment. You can be treated with herbs, vitamins, foods added to or taken from your diet, essential oils, reiki, accupuncture, chiropractic care, massage therapy, the list goes on - sometimes just one type, sometimes a blend. Works best to find a homeopathic clinic and tell them all the things you have been diagnosed with. You don't have to go into details about the events and such but they may need to know basics - and then they can figure out a therapy plan for you. It heals you mind, body, and spirit naturally.

Here is a list of alternative therapies... Not all are offered everywhere, and some are more accepted than others

List of Alternative Therapies- Acupuncture, Aromatherapy, Ayurvedic Therapy, Yoga Therapy and More

Can't really. It's hard for me to talk there. And also she doesn't have time. And I think she wouldn't understand. She is nice though. I told her only the main things. I don't know...it's not the environment where I could talk

Also struggling here. Hugs to everyone struggling right now. Love to you all, keep your head held high and keep pushing on.

I feel depressed, irritable and impatient but have struggled off and on for about 45 years so most days I give myself permission to do the best that I can. Like someone said usually I can do the things that I have to do and everything else piles up. I learned that I feel worse on the days I let the depression keep me in bed or zoning into the TV because then I tell myself what a loser I am.

Thanks for your interest. I'm not a believer in "alternative" medicine or "alternative" therapy. I define that as all the stuff that has no science behind it, but let's "alternative" providers make money selling what I consider to be quackery. I know some people (many actually) have good things to say about alternative modalities and believe they've been help by them. I'm glad it worked for them.

There is this interesting dynamic with the acceptance of alternative therapies. There are many modalities of healing. Some are studied by scientists, some are not. Some cannot be because reasons like no money, no time, and more frequently because science doesn't have the means to understand them yet. Or there is a certain closed mindedness/ prejudice about some healing tecniques. So then, when science have managed to study an alternative therapy and it showed its benefits, it will be taken out from under the "alternative" label and put into the "approved" box. But it is the same healing tool that until yesterday was considered alternative.

In the same time I understand that we want proven methods and certainty. I'd like that too. But sometimes what is proclaimed certain and scientific, won't work for a lot of people. So maybe what is missing is to be better informed about the healing options and for even scientists to be more open. But I think this is more about a paradigm shift. Maybe.
Just my thoughts

You are welcome. As I said - some are not really accepted because they have not been researched much. But some - like essential oils and chiropractic care are actually used or recommended by the medical doctors. Essential oils are an ingredient in many of both prescription and non-prescription medications as an "active ingredient" proving the medical field is aware of its effectiveness but prefers to mask it rather than let it be known. Chiropractic care is recommended to many patients who are in severe car wrecks or have other traumatic injuries. Vitamins and herbs and diet changes are also often recommended by doctors. Examples of these include lotion with aloe for sunburn, vitamin D for depression relief, less bread intake for diabetics (these are all things docs have said eitger to me or my fiance at one point or another). So yes, some are less widely accepted and not as commomly known or used - while others are used on an almost routine basis.

What do you mean by "not the environment"?

I believe the only losers in this world are the ones who allow themselves to be - either by simply deciding "yes, I am a loser and that's all I will ever be" and then giving up, or by never trying to be anything more in the first place. That's not to say depressed people are losers. We aren't. But we CAN allow ourselves to be if we so choose. We all have control of ourselves. It sounds to me like you have been doing very well. You are allowed some "down times". It's ok to disconnect for a day or two - as long as you pick back up with the fight after your "mini vacation" ❤

You are not a loser

You are just human

You have never CHOSEN to be a loser - but sometimes you need a rest. Give yourself permission. *hugs*

Fifteen years ago, I was in an auto accident. My car was totaled (It was old.,) but I stepped out of the car with no injury and was able to go right to work. I'ld been hit by a drunk driver running a light. I got t-boned in such a way that my car spun and bounced off a few curbs, dispersing much of the impact. I was absolutely fine.

A co-worker of mine was a regular recipient of chiropractic care. She told me that her chiropractor was absolutely sure I was injured and wanted to see me. He'ld never met or spoken with me, but he knew I would benefit from some treatment. Over the next three weeks I received mail from a number of chiropractors who had heard I was in an accident. (I guess they monitor police reports of traffic accidents.) They all said that I probably was injured, even if I didn't think I was, and that I would very likely benefit from their services. There was nothing wrong with me, and I didn't pursue getting treatment from any of them. But I did draw a few inferences about the mentality of chiropractors.

There is hard evidence that chiropractors can help relieve some types of back pain. Alopathic physicians will sometimes refer patients with pain to alternative practitioners. I think their reasoning runs along the lines of: "Sure, why not?" Auto insurance companies will pay for chiropractic treatment. That's why I got all those solicitations in the mail.

Some people have been cured at Lourdes from bathing in the holy water. I suppose anything that you have faith in can probably help you.

Yeah, that's pretty much how science works.

I was in a car wreck that I was not wearing a seat belt and anchored my hands together over the steering wheel when I realized I was going to crash to anchor me in. I too totaled my car. In fact - I made a perfect facial imprint in the windshield - could have made a mask from it. I had bent the steering column so the steering wheel was facing completly toward the roof of the car - smashed my knees and shattered the protective layering around the column itself causing severe damage to my knees, neck, and spine. It was the doctor who ordered chiropractic care after looking at my x-rays. The chiropactor then double checked that I even needed chiropractic care and where I might need it by doinv xrays of his own. I was scared to death when I went there. I did not believe in chiropractic care at all. However - I believed if a doc tells you to do something, you do it (I was 19 and naieve), so I did...and it really improved a lot of things for me. I could move my neck from my side to side where I could not before. I could walk without partially "skipping" since both knees only partially bent previously. And I could bend without having to stop halfway through... just to name a few examples. It is an actual practice recommended by doctors. Yes, insurances pay for it and thus will hound you about it (the "ambulance chasers") but the same is true of some of the non-reputable doctors and injury lawyers. They would not put something on insurance if it was not a reputable form of treatment.

So he was being really super-conscientious? Actually, "doing X-rays" is one of the ways chiropractors make money. Who read the X-rays? Mainstream doctors generally feel they need radiologists to interpret X-rays, but chiroprators, in their infinite wisdom, read their own. Brilliant guys they must be. Here's what I think is sound advise - from a chiropractor, no less:

"Remember that x-rays made in a chiropractor's office are not likely to equal the quality of those made in a department of radiology. If an x-ray examination is needed, it's usually best to have the films done and interpreted by a medical radiologist and then have them and the report made available to your chiropractor."

When Should Chiropractors Take X-rays?

I don't doubt that you benefited from your visits to the chiropractor, and I'm glad you did. A lot of evidence supports that chiropractors do have something to offer with respect to musculo-skeletal problems.

Unfortunately, some will claim they can treat even an infection by manipulating the spine. (And that's what traditional chiropractic does teach - that vertebral subluxation underlies all disease.) So one must be wary.

Then, again, mainstream (allopathic) physicians have been known to mess people up, too. We all see those lawyer commercials on TV everynight suing doctors and drug makers for this, that and the other thing. I haven't seen any adverts about suing chiropractors. So I guess they're not doing any huge amount of harm.

As I said - both doctor and chiropractor took xrays. The chiropractic office I went to had radiologists. Much the way many doctor offices now have xray and labratory and even CT scan and EEG equipment and appropriate staff. I don't know about all chiropractors and I don't pretend to, but I do know that like any other doctor of any other field, if you are conscientious of which one you choose to go to, you can find good treatment.

My point all along was - you don't want traditional treatment for your issues. You need some kind of help. Why not try something?

I use essential oils, vitamins, and excercise - but I have run out of one of my essential oils and one of my vitamins so am finding things difficult again after almost a year. I found medication was making me worse or giving me too many side effects - so I started researching out better ways. We all deserve to feel good and be healthy. Why not look for what will do that - even if its unconventional?

Chiropractors make like $60,000/yr. Radiologists make, like, $350,000/yr. So your chiropractor has some "radiologists" working for him in his office, like as part of his "appropriate staff?" Well . . . you were there, while I wasn't.

I think nice fragrances enhance my home environment, and I burn scented candles. I take nutritional supplements, including vitamins, minerals and protein drinks. I definitely would benefit from some exercise. Nobody disputes the value of that. What I dispute is that alternative practitioners can prescribe a particular vitamin that produces a specific desired effect that I would be able to detect. Unless one takes a vitamin to remedy a diagnosed deficiency, it's unlikely that taking the vitamin makes any difference in how one feels. That's what most doctors and I believe. But I know someone who says that, when she takes a certain vitamin supplement, her energy goes "through the roof." Her experience is her experience. Yours is yours. I take thyroid supplement for a diagnosed difficiency. Whether I take it or don't take it makes no difference in how I feel. Last year blood tests showed I was severely anemic. I wasn't feeling especially tired. After I took the intravenous iron (5 infusions,) I didn't feel especially stronger. But I've met someone who says that taking fish oil capsules greatly alleviates her depression.

I take vitamin D because my primary provider said I should. It changes nothing in how I feel, but there's some evidence that, over the long haul, my health may be the better for it.

It's not true that I "don't want traditional treatment." I take a tricyclic antidepressant because I consistently sleep better and feel better when I do. I saw therapists for years. I feel I got to the limit of what help that could provide.

I don't know what people deserve. Having health problems that make us not feel so good can be just part of life. It's not true that there is always a treatment that will make each and every person "feel good and be healthy."

Some of us have chronic problems and chronically recurring intervals of not feeling well. Yes, just about any alternative practitioner would tell me that they could do something for me that would help me. This is why I don't trust them. Alternative practitioners will never say, "Your problem is just something you have to live with." Sometimes, that's exactly what it is.

Quite honestly atm I am personally hurting too much to respond to you, Rose. I will say you once said there was nothing left to say to your counselor, but also said that you were abusing pain meds to alleviate depression. That in itself tells me something is wrong with conventional therapy for you - be it you not liking it or the docs not working or the therapy itself not working. But when it all comes down to it, it is our responsibility to see we get the treatment we need to be healthy. I offered you possibilities. You choose some kind of thinking Ido not now nor do I wish to later understand. I do hope perhaps at some point when someone offers you help or information, you won't feel a need to take a defensive fighting stance.

I do wish you well, which, I am starting to feel, is probably more than you wish for me - and that's fine.

Just so you are aware though - essential oils are not "fragrances". Yes, the have a "pretty smell", but so does perfume and some household cleansers. Fragrances are simply chemicals mixed in a way to make a nice aroma - some of which do include essential oils, but not all. Essential oils, are pure natural oil extractions from the plant which they are named.

What you choose to believe is up to you. What has been proven is truth. Whether or not you choose to believe each truth is up to you. I know many people who choose to believe the world is flat. But it's always been my hope that when it comes to your health, you keep your options and eyes open for more options so if one option fails, you always havd the next to try.

There is no time, a lot of patients waiting outside, she does a million things at once. Also I have this belief that people don't go to their GP and start detailing their feelings and talk about wanting to kill themselves. It seems kinda inappropriate. Maybe not true...I don't know.

I have actually had to tell my GP before when I had no counselor or psychiatrist. It is actually a part of their job to at the very least prescribe you something for a short time and refer you over to someone. Mine gave me trazadone until a psychiatrist opened up I could go to. He had a lot of patients too - but, you are her concern while she is in the office with you. Remember that

So you're a well-meaning person, and I'm not.

Okay. That would have to be the reason why we see things differently.

You're yearning for credibility, but you undermine your own claim for it.

I guess you're in a bad mood because you're hurting. I hope you feel better. I hope you're able to come by that essential oil that you ran out of. And the beautiful thing is that how I feel about alternative therapies shouldn't alter how well they work for you.

Since neither one of us feels good atm, maybe we both ought to pipe down.

Yeah, I was somehow thinking you would say this. And thank you. I understand..but if the words don't come... Btw I got trazodone from my GP too. Funny...

I fit in to the struggling category

thanks for hugs

I agree - and trazadone sucked for me - but so did all the meds.

Anyway, I suppose I will shut up - sorry.

As I said before - believe what you want. I'm done. Take care.

Like everyone else in the world, I shall.