I grew up during a time when going to the doctor was the absolute last resort. There were numerous homemade remedies for what ailed you. The ones I remember the most were castor oil, raw onions and turpentine. If I had a fever, raw onions wrapped in cloth was used to cure it. If I had a heavy chest cold, I was given turpentine mixed with sugar. (Don’t try this today folks.) The most offensive remedy for illness was castor oil. It was the vilest, slimiest tasting stuff imaginable and I still shudder at the thought of its taste; but it did the trick. As a matter of recourse, the very first consideration by my parents for whatever ailed me was castor oil. For example, if I had a cough, out came the castor oil. If I was constipated, out came the castor oil. Needless to say, I tried not to cough or show any signs of being ill, which never worked because my mother seemed to know when I wasn’t feeling well no matter how much I denied otherwise.
Those childhood memories remained with me even though I was healthy until late adulthood (Perhaps, because of my disdain and fear of castor oil.) and I rarely saw a doctor. It was not until I began to experience health issues, such as sinus, and aches and pains in my knees that I began to think of alternative ways to fix the pain. Since I didn’t want to be tied down to popping pills, I felt there must be a better way to heal whatever physically bothered me. Thus, my relationship with alternative medicine was born. It happened when I became nauseous while watching television one day and instinctively placed my fingers on my wrist. To my surprise the nausea went away, almost immediately. It was then that I realized I was on to something and after googling alternative ways to alleviate sickness and pain I found that what I had done was called acupressure. I became obsessed with finding out everything I could about acupressure. Of course, you know one thing leads to another, and so I began my research on alternative medicine with this book being one of the results.
