Holistic Health Solutions

Modern medicine can be life saving but at least in most contemporary practices there is a strong focus on the disease or condition, not the process that led to it. Especially for chronic conditions this causes a heavy reliance on contemporary medicine and the side effects thereof can be as bad as the condition itself. Additionally medical practitioners are often skeptical and/or silent when you tell them something 'alternative' worked. This page is not intended for people to throw away their medications, it just highlights therapies that have worked for me, family and/or friends. I will be adding more natural therapies in the near future. In cause you were wondering about my qualifications - here they are: Bachelor of Health Science (Hons) & a PhD in Physiology/Endocrinology, however anyone with a passion for health and a willingness to learn new things can easily gain an understanding of these concepts.

Hypertension - high blood pressure

Hypertension can result from derangement of numerous body systems including the kidneys, lungs,  liver, nerves and blood vessels. Natural therapies can be very effective if they address the specific cause of the hypertension. If you don't know the cause of your high blood pressure try to find out with the help of your doctor. Get them to explain it to you.

An effective natural medicine is celery, which helps dilate blood vessels (if they are still functional)

Dosage per day: 2-4 sticks of celery (depending on size of stalk)
Or 4-8 large sticks juiced
Or celery seed extract 150 mg (I would think whole celery would be better but I have read this can work too. Ref *1).

May take a week to notice an effect. (Celery reduces blood pressure by causing vasodilation)

The humble vegetable celery will not make any pharmaceutical rich but the farmer will be happy and so will your body as many anti-hypertensive drugs are hard on the kidneys and/or liver.

High blood pressure can damage the vascular system contributing to arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and can cause damage to vital organs such as the eyes, heart, brain, kidneys and liver, so it is important to treat as early as possible.

For high blood pressure caused by narrowing of the arteries see the next section.

Hypercholesterolaemia - elevated blood cholesterol & Arteriosclerosis - hardening of the arteries

An effective natural medicine is olive oil (While the benefits are rapid in your blood (Ref 2), you need to remember this will take time. Years of arteriosclerotic build up of the arteries may take years for the body to remove - but it can be done).

Dosage per day: 20ml (eaten as an egg mayonnaise or in a salad dressing)

May take 1 - 6 weeks to notice effects on LDL/HDL blood tests (Ref 2) and should be taken in conjunction with a diet that includes sufficient fruits and vegetables (particularly leafy greens).

The home-made mayonnaise (made out of olive oil and egg yolk) is delicious with finely chopped garlic, salt, pepper and a little vinegar with any of your favorite herbs.

The Good Fats in the diet will tell your liver to reduce LDL and send out more the of proteins that make HDL.

Not that long ago it was considered that all fat was bad and could lead to arteriosclerosis and heart disease. We now know that is incorrect. Cholesterol which makes up HDL and LDL is vital for every cell in the body, functioning to provide structure and mitochondrial energy. Drugs that reduce blood cholesterol such as Statins therefore come with massive side effects (even death).


The management of arteriosclerosis should consist of:

1. Maintaining blood glucose within normal limits
2. Getting high blood pressure back to normal
3. Correcting any Hypercholesterolaemia (restoring the LDL/HDL ratio)

It is important that the diet contains leafy greens or other sources of Vitamin K.  Vitamin K removes calcium from the arteries and moves it back to bones (Drugs such as Statins deplete Vitamin K resulting in massive calcification of arteries). The olive oil increases HDL and decreases LDL restoring a healthy balance which results in lipid deposits being removed from the arteries.
Elevated blood glucose common in type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome can often (80% of the time) be managed with a healthy diet and exercise alone. A healthy diet is generally one high in unrefined carbohydrates, contains sufficient protein sources including eggs, and is high in good fats, fruits and vegetables.

Finding out about the dangers of Statins, my sister got my Dad off the meds and onto Olive Oil..... His cholesterol levels normalized and his angina has gone. Really nice that my Dad had an open minded Doctor who found out about this and said, "Whatever you're doing, keep doing it!" 👍

Treatment for Scabies (Sarcoptes scabiei)

Make a salt water bath using 1 cup of salt per 20 litres of warm water. 

Soak in it for 15 - 30 minutes a day for up to 2 weeks (We did it for 1 and half weeks). 

Points of importance:

1. All people in your household will need to have the salt bath (as some people have no symptoms but are carriers).
2. All parts of the body must be soaked in salty water. Use a cup to pour and soak the head and hair as well.
3. Small children do not like the bath initially as the salt does hurt the Scabies bites (but they do heal quickly) and it will be easier to bath in a couple days or so when they start enjoying the bath. We put our smallest child in a 20 litre bucket of warm salty water.
4. Drip dry or dap lightly (do not deliberately wipe the salt off).
5. Vacuum or clean the floors of your residence every day and Bag bedding for 4 days on a rotational basis as mites can not live off their hosts for more then 3-4 days.

How I found out about this cure:

My 1 year old developed a rash, that wouldn't go away. We thought maybe it was eczema but as it was getting worse and was very itchy, we took him to the Doctor who prescribed permethrin cream.
I knew this treatment was neurotoxic and was unhappy to use it on myself as I was pregnant with my 2nd baby and it was early first trimester when the nervous system of a developing embryo is very sensitive to chemicals and neurotoxins. I told the doctor, but she didn't think that was an issue and dismissed my concerns.
Unwilling to use permethrin on my family, I did some extensive research as I needed an alternative fast. An elderly friend of my Mum's who had lived through World War II, said that after the war when they couldn't get any medicines this is what people did.

It worked for my whole family and my sister's family too which you can check out on her blog if you like at http://ursulaciller.blogspot.com/

Post-viral arthritis

I had severe systemic rheumatoid-like arthritic joint pain post 2 viral infections, it was very debilitating and painful even to just turn around lying down. All major joints and minor joints of the limbs were affected, and this happened suddenly.

I obtained great relieve after about 2-3 days using this combination of herbs.

1. Turmeric (Curcuma longa) with black pepper (piper nigrum) - morning and night.
2. Devil's Claw (Harpagophytum) - midmorning.
3. Astragalus root (astragalus membranaceous) with Red Sage root (Salvia miltiorrhiza) - afternoon.

Preparation, Dose and Timing

1 teaspoon turmeric power with 1/3 teaspoon pepper taken in milk, morning and night. Pepper is not the most delicious thing so I like to put it in my mouth and wash it down with some milk followed by the more palatable turmeric power in milk - they have to be taken together. If you don't take this with milk you can take it with water and take a spoon of olive or coconut oil (this enhances intestinal absorption). I think this is an Indian/western herbal combo. It's not stunningly delicious but it works a treat on joint pain.

Devil's Claw powder (0.6 g) taken in a capsule midmorning. This is an African herbal medicine.
Astragalus root with Red Sage root  tea (use 1 teaspoon of astragalus root and 1 teaspoon of red sage root boiled together in a cup of water for 5 minutes and allowed to stand for about 20 min. This tea tastes very pleasant - woody and a little sweet and is a Chinese herbal medicine. It is also reputed to be good for the blood vessels of the heart and eyes.

These herbs work by reducing inflammation, and the resulting pain. Most of these herbs also have  anti-diabetic effects as well for the same reason. After 2 weeks I used them fairly un-stringently, as most joint pain had gone. I still find the Chinese tea very nice and take it most days as well as turmeric should any of the joints flare up.

 Ref *1 Madhavi D. et al. (2013) A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Antihypertensive Effect of a Celery Extract in Mild to Moderate Hypertensive Patients, Natural Medicine Journal, Vol 5, Issue 4.

Ref* 2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/tWtLcz30LZm3YTk5VfZ307/is-olive-oil-really-good-for-me