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[Aileen]

No Aileen, not heard of him.  My dad suffers with arthritis and I sent back something called Ultimate Joints and also suggested he drank an aloe vera juice, which was helping him but then his doctor swayed him away from it, suggesting that it would interfere with the medication they were giving him.  The thing is, the side effects of their medication would indicate to me that it wasn't entirely working anyway!  I'm not saying that all modern medicine is bad but sometimes, there are alternatives out there.

I suggested an independent health store, thinking that they might possibly be better informed on the products they sell, and naturopath's?  H & B have a large 'homebrand' selection now which they are seemingly pushing.

If it was thrush, there was a product we sell here but doesn't look like they are in the UK too, where as some of our suppliers are.

And anyone should take a probiotic after a course of antibiotics and not just a yoghurt.

''Think you are doing the correct thing by eating yogurt after your course of antibiotics? You are on the right track, but you are missing the train. Yogurts that are labeled with "live cultures" are the ones that contain viable probiotics, but according to independent clinical trials conducted at Addenbrookes Hospital in the UK, you will need billions more live cultures to re-establish the balance of gut bacteria.
There are a multitude of different live bacteria in the small and large intestine. During antibiotic therapy and certain herbal antimicrobial therapy, the delicate balance of gut microflora is disrupted, as high numbers of the "good bacteria" are killed off . The flora in a healthy small intestine is dominated by Lactobacilli and the flora in a healthy large intestine by Bifidobacteria. When the good bacteria no longer dominates, pathogenic bacteria can overgrow, causing many problems - including diarrhea - the most common side effect of antibiotic therapy. Severe, prolonged diarrhea can be fatal, particularly if overgrowth of Clostridium difficile is the reason. By taking a high quality probiotic, the associated imbalance can be prevented.''

From Yahoo.

Strange how so many doctors just do not like alternative medicine.  I guess they feel it somehow undermines their authority!

As for Jan de Vries, this tells you all about him.  I think all his shops and clinics are in the UK although he does travel abroad a lot giving lectures and has written 45 books - http://www.jandevrieshealth.co.uk/history.asp

Thanks for the helpful info about probiotics.  Antibiotics are a necessary evil as far as I'm concerned and even then I think a lot of GPs are guilty of over-prescribing them despite fears of superbugs that have developed an immunity to them.  Scary.

[Aileen]

I agree about the need to build up a resistance to bugs.  My mother was almost obsessive about germs and cleanliness, and as a result picked up all sorts of infections.  I was the opposite and was lucky in that I had a very good biology teacher at school who always maintained that "a little dirt is good for you", provided, of course, that the basic rules of hygiene (washing hands, etc) were adhered to.

[Caz]

I agree about 'a little dirt' Aileen. Seems kids who are allowed to crawl around the floor and kids who have pets, are less prone to picking up infections! For anyone with athritis, the best thing is 'pure' Glucosamine [not mixed with anything else] and also Green Lipped Mussel Extract which comes only from NZ! The Manuka honey from NZ is brilliant too, though the really good stuff is very expensive [around £30 a jar]! That's great for just about everything, including helping the body recover from illness or trauma such as surgery! It aids healing!

[Bevc]

I agree about the need to build up a resistance to bugs.  My mother was almost obsessive about germs and cleanliness, and as a result picked up all sorts of infections.  I was the opposite and was lucky in that I had a very good biology teacher at school who always maintained that "a little dirt is good for you", provided, of course, that the basic rules of hygiene (washing hands, etc) were adhered to.

  Of course, you need basic hygiene.  And what do people think vaccination's are?  Though I wonder why some people have the flu jab - my mother in law is always, always so ill after she has it. when she probably would fight it off better but building up her immune system, with supplements and what she eats.

[Caz]

  Of course, you need basic hygiene.  And what do people think vaccination's are?  Though I wonder why some people have the flu jab - my mother in law is always, always so ill after she has it. when she probably would fight it off better but building up her immune system, with supplements and what she eats.

Of course, especially with young babies, but once they master holding an object, they usually look at it and then it goes straight into the mouth for tasting! This, within reason, helps to build immunities! Some parents just go OTT and sterilise everything! In my view, this is not good.

[Caz]

  Of course, you need basic hygiene.  And what do people think vaccination's are?  Though I wonder why some people have the flu jab - my mother in law is always, always so ill after she has it. when she probably would fight it off better but building up her immune system, with supplements and what she eats.

I caught 'proper 'flu some years ago and it nearly killed me, so I've had the flu jab ever since, luckily with no ill effects! I know it doesn't cover all types of 'flu, but I do feel better protected!

[Grabcopy]

What are there, about 130 colds and infections you can get? Best to catch them all before you get old.

[Aileen]

I caught 'proper 'flu some years ago and it nearly killed me, so I've had the flu jab ever since, luckily with no ill effects! I know it doesn't cover all types of 'flu, but I do feel better protected!

OMG Caz - that must have been awful.  I've only had flu four times in my whole life, the last time being 1982, but ever since I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes twelve years ago I've had the jab because I'm supposed to be more at risk from complications, especially if my age is taken into account   Felt absolutely dreadful for 24 hours after the first one, but since then no adverse reaction.

On the subject of vaccinations though, my GP was very keen, for the reasons stated above, that I get the pneumococcal vaccine in order to help prevent pneumonia.  Several years ago it was widely trumpeted by the medical profession as being "one jab for a lifetimes' protection".  Because I really hate the idea of even dead bugs going into my body, and also because I had a bad "feeling" about it,  I kept on refusing it.  And guess what? - A few months ago it was announced (very quietly, of course) that the vaccine had proved to be useless.  I also noticed that the poster advertising it had been removed from the waiting room at my GP's surgery.  Seems my intuition was right!

Well over 200 viruses are implicated in the cause of the common cold; the rhinoviruses are the most common.

This brings me to another thing I dislike - the prescribing of antibiotics for colds and other viral complaints.  When will people wake up to the fact that there is NO instant cure for a cold and also that antibiotics are useless against viruses?  They only work against infections caused by bacteria, some funguses and parasites -

Antibiotics do not work on viruses because viruses are not alive. A bacterium is a living, reproducing lifeform. A virus is just a piece of DNA (or RNA). A virus injects its DNA into a living cell and has that cell reproduce more of the viral DNA. With a virus there is nothing to "kill," so antibiotics don't work on it.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/medication/question88.htm

I completely forgot my other daily supplement - chocolate!

http://www.allchocolate.com/health/basics/other_effects.aspx

Please don't tell me to get diabetic chocs - they are disgusting and ridiculously expensive.  I suppose I could always take unsweetened cocoa instead ...