Showing posts with label Earth Clinic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Earth Clinic. Show all posts

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Tumeric for Allergy/Sinus + Health Drink

A while back I posted on Earth Clinic's January newsletter. In that, there was a lady who said that a daily dose or two of tumeric in water helped cure her awful sinus problem, which lead in her case to migraine headaches. Since I'm prone to both awful sinus issues as well as migraines, I started using the tumeric in water. But I was already taking a "health drink" so I added the tumeric to is. Here's what I take: In a glass of water, 6-8 oz, I add 2 T of apple cider vinegar, a tsp of brewer's yeast, tsp of diatomaceous earth, and a heaping tsp of psyllium husks. To that I now add a tsp of tumeric and a drop or two of Iosol Iodine (an iodine nutritional supplement).

Since I've added the tumeric, my sinus problem--nasty post nasal drip, tickly throat, massive buildup of phlegm in my system, etc.--has cleared up. For the most part. I still get the sniffles and have to blow my nose, but that is not a problem. Very interesting, and what a blessing! That allergy/sinus thing was driving me nuts.

So, if you've got some nagging physical problem, you might want to check up on it at Earth Clinic and see if there is some simple, inexpensive already-in-your-kitchen spice or herb you could use. In all my reading there, I've seen very little that could harm you, and quite a bit that could help!

Keep in mind that this is not medical advice. This is just kitchen advice. :) Even though we have the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, the FDA feels competent to regulate speech that might interfere with the profits made by Big Pharma and Big Medicine. The FDA has not approved of this message, and probably won't in our lifetimes.
Onwards!
HM

Friday, January 15, 2010

Earth Clinic's posts on Tumeric


A while back I signed up for Earth Clinic's randomly appearing newsletter, and recently one showed up in my mailbox. There were two interesting reader-supplied commentaries on tumeric. I thought I'd share them with you.

Earth Clinic is a site that takes in home remedies that are supplied by readers from around the world. It's a great website to research some of these cheap but effective home remedies. I've written about some of the home cures from Earth Clinic in the past. This is another one like that. Anyway, tumeric. I've never gotten into Indian cooking much so I haven't used much tumeric in my cooking, though that may change! I've used it not only for its flavor, but many times also for it's lovely yellow coloring of foods, especially rice dishes. After reading all I have about tumeric as a medicine, I'll probably start using it a lot more.

Here's the two threads on tumeric from the EC January newsletter:

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR AND TURMERIC FOR MULTIPLE CURES

07/08/2009: Chris from Dighton, MA writes: "I use 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegarin 5 oz. of water per day.I also use 1 teaspoon of turmeric in 5 oz. of water per day.*I had extreme diarrhea, it has gone away.

*My stomach upsethas gone away.

* My blood pressure was 145/90, now it is 120/80.

*I had cholesterol of 260. HDL of 42 and LDL of over ahundred. It is now 190 total and a HDL of 89 and LDL of 100.

* My lower back pain is gone.* My long distance eye sight has come back and I no longer need glasses.*

My tinnitus is still with me though. I am 68 years old."

And the other, which is longer and more interesing:

MULTIPLE CURES WITH TURMERIC

06/08/2009: Pcline from Springfield, Ohio writes:
"Turmeric has controlled almost all of my health issues! I am amazed! It was given to me by a relative when I fell on the ice, to prevent swelling and inflammation in my injured knee, and while it appeared to make a difference (I continued to be able to walk, and the pain and swelling abated quickly) the most wonderful thing that emerged was that I realized about a week later that the my whole sinus/allergy issue was clearing up. I had been taking at least one Zyrtec and often either more Zyrtec or other sinus medication every day for over 18 years to keep the ever-lurking migraine away. I could not have gone more than 24 hours without taking the Zyrtec or a headache would start creeping up and my sinuses would begin to swell shut. First I saw, after taking turmeric for about a week, that I did not need any "back-up" medication, then I tried missing a Zyrtec, and to my complete amazement, I felt GREAT! No headaches!I can breathe! I cannot believe it.

I take at least a heaping teaspoon of turmeric (from the spice section of the grocery, although I am looking for it in bulk now) stirred in water as soon as I get up, and one in the evening. If I begin to feel any swelling during the day, such as when I am exposed to household dust, I take another teaspoon right away, and it eliminates the "headache creep". I stay ahead of the allergies this way, but if I cannot get turmeric when the swelling starts, and it begins to cause headaches, when I can get to the turmeric, I may have to take several teaspoon doses before it alleviates, leaving a half-hour or so before I take each additional dose, but IT WORKS! It has ALWAYS EVENTUALLY WORKED. I have not had to take more than three additional doses to stop what used to be RAGING migraines, causing me to have to go to bed and be debilitated for hours afterward.

I feel marvelous, but the additional benefits have been that I realize that my arthritis in my knees is all but gone! I can walk up stairs most of the time without noticing any discomfort at all! Finally, most astonishingly, I (and everyone I know who has begun to take this) have begun to LOSE WEIGHT! I determined after a bout of intestinal virus to eat less food at a time. (After all, I had not been able to eat anything for 3 days, so this was a good time to break a habit) This was just before I started taking turmeric. With the addition of the turmeric, I feel, I was able to eat less. Nothing else has ever made a difference in my being able to eat less and not feel ravenous and deprived. In just over 3 months, I have lost 48 pounds!!!! And I feel energetic, fabulous, lively and alert! I cannot say what actual physical role turmeric plays as a weight loss aid, but I don't care. I am 53 years old and feel better than Ihave in YEARS!

I have begun to try turmeric on everything that occurs. I got a spider bite and it began to itch and sting immediately. I washed it right away and put a band-aidwith moistened turmeric on it and in minutes, the pain and itch left, no sign of any bite. My family jokes that I would try to revive the dead by sprinkling some turmeric on them, but I cannot believe what a difference just taking turmeric has made with me."

************************

End of excerpts. Now, keep in mind that no home remedy works for everyone. There's no guarantees here, but if you start reading some of this information, you may want to try some of these yourself (and send your comments to Earth Clinic while you're at it). But for me, I'm certainly willing to give many of these home cures a try. After all, they're usually far cheaper than anything doctor-prescribed, many of them involve items you probably already have in your kitchens, and they're usually easy to administer to yourself. And with the hideous monster "health" bill working its way through Congress's ugly intestinal process, we'll all need safe and effective remedies we can use when no one can ever afford allopathic medical care again. As P.J. O'Rourke says, "If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it's free!"

Onwards,
HM

Monday, January 12, 2009

What to Do for Sinitus and Post-Nasal Drip

Arrrrrghhhhh. For the past few days, I've had a nasty post-nasal drip going on. Slimy snot dripping down my throat. YUCK. I absolutely detest this condition. What I have been stupidly doing about it is ignoring it and just sucking on sugar free cough drops. They help the tickle in my throat, or rather, they make it so I don't feel the tickle in my throat so I can ignore the fact that I have a problem. See? Stupid.

Yesterday was particularly bad. I had so much mucus in my stomach (from the snot dripping down my throat) that I kept having to puke. Which I also hate. This is my body's intelligent way of telling me to FIX THE DAMN PROBLEM and quit ignoring it. I like that about the human body--it wants the root cause fixed, not the damn symptoms that we all spend gazillions of dollars allievating, or did before we all became broke. Big Pharma would rather you just keep treating your symptoms, because they'll make a LOT more money off of you when your body can't cope with the crap anymore and starts giving out and getting a really terrible disease.

To hell with that. Today I snorted salt-water up my nose to rinse out my sinuses. That helps some and has cleared it up a bit. I also gargled with it. I checked Dr. Duke's The Green Pharmacy, and he said these things: eat raw garlic, or add lots of garlic and onions to a basic vegetable soup, goldenseal, echinacea, eucalyptus (put a few drops in steaming water to inhale), oregano tea, ginko, horseradish (a straight spoonful if you're brave), shoving mint leaves up your nose for a bit, and eating pineapple. I have nearly all of those and I'll be using them over the next day or so. Then I checked Heinerman's Encyclopedia of Healing Herbs & Spices, and he mentions horseradish and a walnut leaf tea.

I want to kill the infection that is causing this, though, so I also checked Earth Clinic. There's pages and pages of what to do for sinitus, post-nasal drip, sinus infection. Here's the one I think I'm going to try next:

[[YEA] Penny from Fresno writes: "Clean out a medicine bottle with an eye dropper. Put one eye dropper of 3% hydrogen peroxide, one pinch salt, one pinch baking soda, and purified water. Shake well. More hydrogen peroxide can be added if a little discomfort is not felt (some is normal). Next, get down on knees putting head on floor and put a little in each nostril and keep in there awhile, making faces to move it around, move head, etc. to move it around. This has stopped a severe sinus infection I had dead in its tracks AT ONCE. I learned it online by a man who does a much more severe version of this, so you can make it stronger at will, but start weak like I mention. Just a normal medicine bottle. Never put the straight peroxide into the nose! It must be very diluted, so one eye dropper per bottle. It should sting just a little bit. Some say a TEEEEEENNY bit of cayenne in the formula works wonders too."

[YEA] Dani from Savannah, GA writes: "I have had a sore throat due to my sinus congestion/drainage for 4 days now. I assume it is due to allergies. I never had this problem until a few years ago, and it happens several times a year. I always end up at the doctor with a sinus infection and bronchitis. I'm tired of taking antibiotics, so I found this website and thought I'd give it a try. I tried 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1 tsp hydrogen peroxide mixed in about a cup of warm water. I layed on the couch and used a bulb syringe to squirt up my nose. I won't lie-when it flushed my sinuses and ran down my throat it did burn. Immediately after, I could breathe from both nostrils. It took a few minutes to quit burning, but it works. My nose began draining lots of mucus that was trapped in my sinuses. I gargled with milk and that soothed it. I also did the gargle recommended on this site for a sore throat-10 oz warm water and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper and drank a shot of it also. This also immediately soothed my sore throat. I'm really amazed and relieved after days of feeling terrible. This really works and I'm very grateful to everyone who posted these remedies !"

I know the herbs will help kill the infection, ditto the garlic, but if I still have this crap tomorrow, I'm going to try this cure, mainly because I think it will work for me. If the salt nasal irrigation worked, as it did a bit for me today, then maybe the added baking soda and hydrogen peroxide will kick it up a notch. With home remedies, it is good to remember that one size does not fit all. It's best to try things and see if they work. If they do, great! Hey, they're cheap! And you're starving the beast of big pharma. If not, try something else. Our bodies are remarkably similar, and remarkably different as well.

Sorry about the disgusting aspects of this post. But what the hell. You're all grownups, and if you are a kid, you know all about snot, right? :)
Onwards,
HM


Sunday, December 21, 2008

Spicy Tomato Tea, from Earth Clinic




Our winter festivities have begun. Last night we had a big, fancy communal dinner, which was really lovely. But my throat had started to feel pretty sore and my voice was scratchy, nose runny, eyes watery. Oh oh. I HATE getting sick during these five days or so where we all get together a lot to have fun in various ways.

I started my usual "have a cold" therapy: garlic, goldenseal and echinacea, vitamin C in huge doses, lots of liquids, and all that. Chicken broth, hot baths, lots of rest...

But I also zipped over to Earth Clinic to see what they had listed for "cures" for colds. I had read of this one before, and have used it and recommended it to people, but I hadn't read all the various responses that people have sent in from around the world. First I'll give you the classic recipe, first sent in back in 2003, and then my recipe.

*****************
Spicy Tomato Tea

It works fast (in most cases) and tastes great! These ingredients are well-known serious herbals for their medicinal properties... Used together they do wonders for sinus/ear infections, colds, coughing and sore throat. We've even found it to kill flu germs and strep throat (with no antibiotics).

TOMATO TEA RECIPE
2 cups V8 Juice
2-3 cloves Garlic crushed (use more if you can)
2 T Lemon Juice
Hot Sauce (the more the better, so as much as you can handle)

Mix and heat in a pan or in the microwave. Sip slowly and re-warm as needed to get the full effects of the fumes. Let it sit in the back of your throat to bathe it. Suck the fumes through your sinuses and also down into your lungs. Its all natural and healthy, so drink as much of it as you want or need until you are SURE the infection is gone. This is past the time when you "feel better."

This appears to be the best recipe, but from the comments, people often don't have the right ingredients. Don't let that hold you back. Use whatever you have available. Below are some substitutes that may not work as well or as fast, but will still help. I've listed them by their likely effectiveness:

Substitutes:
V8 Juice - tomato juice, vegetable juice, canned or fresh tomatoes crushed, tomato soup (if really desperate, try another kind of fruit juice, vegetable soup or even chicken soup . you're aiming for high Vit C content)
Garlic - garlic in olive oil, dehydrated garlic, garlic salt (aiming for the strong anti-bacterial/fungal effects)
Lemon Juice - Fresh lemons, bottled juice, limes, lime juice, oranges, frozen lemonade
Hot Sauce - ANY kind of hot sauce works, fresh hot peppers, cayenne pepper, dried pepper flakes (if really desperate, try horseradish, black pepper or even mustard . you're aiming for the highly anti-bacterial/fungal properties of capricin which is found in hot peppers, and its effectiveness at clearing out the sinuses.)

My Spicy Tomato Tea Recipe
2 cups tomato juice
8 cloves garlic minced (I love garlic anyway and always use it in illness)
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp horseradish
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp lemon juice (I used the bottled lemon juice from concentrate as I didn't have lemons)
1 tsp tumeric (anti-inflammatory)
herbs: oregano, parsley, celery salt and seed for flavor

Heat it all up on the stove, ladle it into cup and sip the stuff. My nose has already cleared and I'm feeling better--all in a half an hour. Not bad!

I've gotten myself used to cayenne pepper a bit more. I'm taking the cayenne tincture daily--it's hot but now bearable and I like the effect of it. It opens my nasal passages and makes me feel warm all over.

A Fun Shakespeare Show

I'll share this with you just for fun. I found a neat compilation of phrases and one-liners from Shakespeare's plays and sonnets on the web. You can read it here. If you click on the phrase, it will tell you where the original came from, and where in Shakespeare it is found. I thought we could do an interesting audience participation thing with the phrases.

I printed out the list and got some friends to help me provide some dinner entertainment last night. While everyone was noshing away at the fabulous feast, we put on our Shakespeare hats, jester's hats with the bells on the tips, and we read the lines to the folks. It is really amazing how many of these phrases originated in Shakespeare--"dead as a doornail," "give the devil his due," "pure as the driven snow," etc. If we thought the line familiar enough, we'd read the first part of the line, and wait for the audience to provide the rest. We had a blast! The folks really got into it. If you're ever called upon to provide entertainment for a group, this one is fun!

HM

Monday, December 15, 2008

Make Your Own Natural Antibiotic

Earth Clinic, the folk remedy center, has an interesting recipe for a natural antibiotic. It calls for horseradish (fresh), garlic, ginger, 10 or 11 habanero peppers, strong, hot white onions, and apple cider vinegar. While it calls for one cup of each of the ingredients, it also only says to use 2 cloves of garlic. I think he meant two heads of garlic or two bulbs (each with a bunch of cloves on it). Must be, if you are going to end up with a cup of garlic. At any rate, check out the recipe here. I think this antibiotic sauce would be quite potent and would definitely kick ass.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Earth Clinic

With the economic downturn we're going through, I think many hundreds of thousands of folks will lose their health insurance coverage. If/when that happens, what will you do for medical care? The time to think about this is now, before it happens. And even if you have health insurance coverage, do you constantly want to run to the doctor for prescriptions? You might want to read up on the problems with modern drugs, the side effects, which ones have been withdrawn by the FDA, etc. If you are really brave, you might want to read this article: Death by Medicine. Only for the very brave, however. It's scary!

Or you might want to read this article by Bill Sardi. When you're done with that, read some of the many articles in Bill Sardi's archive at the Lew Rockwell site--the link for Bill's archive is at the end of the article. He writes on other topics, but most often on medical matters. Definitely read his enlightening article on the simple garlic clove. Written as a tongue-in-cheek semi-military metaphor, it is a long exploration on the benefits of eating garlic.

Even if you are fully content with modern American health care practices, you might want to look into some very simple and effective home remedies. Why spend a fortune for doctors visits and prescriptions when you don't have to? There's other and better uses for that money. And all it takes will a little time and research effort on your part.

I believe I mentioned this marvelous website many blog entries ago, but I wanted to emphasize it more. Earth Clinic is a fascinating webpage. These folks have been collecting home remedies from around the world since 1999. They collect the stories from anyone who writes in, and so have developed a large and continually updated database of various remedies used by many people the world over.

Earth Clinic is well-organized; it is divided into sections as follows: Remedies, Ailments, Supplements, Pets, Mind & Body, and Latest Posts. There's an area where you can send in your story or remedy for an ailment--see the Give Feedback button at the top of the page.

You won't believe some of the folk medicine cures recommended by readers of Earth Clinic. For the most part, the items you will need for the remedies are cheap, available at the local supermarket, and are probably in your kitchen already. Some of these remedies are very well-known--apple cider vinegar, for example, or clove oil for toothache, while some are unheard of outside sites like Earth Clinic. I found the section on survival remedies to be very interesting!

People also write in with feedback when a remedy doesn't work for them, or when they have a warning to add. For example, taking too much blackstrap molasses can be a problem for various reasons. Not all the comments are positive--and the negatives are given right up front with the positives. Not every remedy will work for every person, in other words. You may have to try different remedies to find the one that will work with your body.

Here's a sample post from a section called "Recent Notables."

STAPH INFECTION AND TURMERIC
12/04/2008: Mel from Miami, Florida writes: "Wow, where do I begin? I'm in my mid twenties with great health. I generally eat wholesome foods, don't take legal or illegal drugs, and might get a cold once every couple of years but that's it. Here's my Staph Infection Nightmare Story.

I decided to travel abroad for a year as the economy was already spiriling downward at the end of 2007 and I had some money saved up. During this journey, I spent a couple of months in Cuba at which time, most likely due to poor nutrition and hygiene in the country, acquired my first Staph Infection which I initially thought was a spider bite. The reason I believed it to be a spider bite is that my cousin came back to The States from the Dominican Republic with a bunch of spider bites that looked almost exactly the same as my Staph Infection. I began to take some left over Amoxicillin prescribed from the removal of my wisdom teeth that I was traveling with. The amount I had was not enough to completely attack the virus so it came back stronger but this time on my neck. Here's a picture.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2223/2282232618_767969b71d_b.jpg

The pain was excrutiating and I literally felt like I was going to die. My neck throbbed with every heartbeat and gave me a horrible constant piercing headache. I never get sick and this put me down for almost a week with soarness throughout my body. I hate taking meds but broke down and went back on the Amoxicillin. After a few days it started to go away finally. A few weeks later I got a horrible ear infection in my right ear that eventually shifted to my left ear and then apparently came out of my middle finger as a huge boil. My finger was literally three times as thick as normal. Again Amoxicillin was taken only to have dozens of more small boils continously appear throughout the rest of my trip.

A third large infection in my nose began to appear in Colombia two days before my trip was scheduled to end. When I returned to The States the infection had grown enough that my upper lip was ridicolously inflated and my family was really worried about me. Again, the throbbing pain was excrutiating enough that I felt like I was going to die. My entire body was sore and I had this constant fierce headache. I was seriously considering flying out of the country again for medical treatment as I don't have insurance at the moment. One night I stayed up not being able to fall asleep because of the pain and started surfing the web on my bed with my mobile. I came across the typical 'western medicine' websites and read people's depressing comments about how they have suffered with MRSA for years and have no hope in site. It really got me down. I googled the same string as before but this time adding 'natural cure' to the end and came across Earth Clinic. There are no 24 hour supermarkets in my area so first thing the next morning I went out, bought some Turmeric, and literally poured some in my mouth chasing it with some juice I had also bought. Within four hours my lip started to go back to a normal state enough so that my cousin noticed and asked what I did. I couldn't believe how quickly this worked without having to take Amoxicillin. It actually reacted faster than the Amoxicillin did with previous infections. I hate taking Amoxicillin because after five days on it I feel horrible and of course theirs the toxicity factor of continuously administering it.

Looking back a lot of things make sense now that I researched the disease and apparently a lot of it has to do with an individuals immune system. I first got the infection in Cuba where basic nutritious things like milk and meat can be hard to come by and expensive. After a few days of heavy drinking I noticed it was more likely for the boils to appear or if already midly present they would intensify. The last few days in Cuba I partied pretty hard with friends while the neck infection was in a mild state. By the time I got to Costa Rica it was huge. Also on the last few days of my trip, of course, I had to go out with a bang and partied non stop which probably caused the most recent one. As soon as I got back family and friends that haven't seen me in a year wanted to catch up so the partying didn't end in Colombia. Another observation was that during my journey through Brazil I fell in love, not only with Brazilian women, but also with their smoothies and drank a couple a day. Looking back, I didn't get any boils while in Brazil though I partied hard there as well. In conclusion Turmeric worked amazingly, it might have prevented me from getting boils, and heavy drinking for a few nights in a row would cause boils to either appear or, if already present, intensified the infection. I thank Earth Clinic so much for this great information and God for always having an answer within nature so as not to be exploited by western medicine."

Keep in mind, however, that the good folks at Earth Clinic merely collect this information from readers. They do NOT offer medical advice, and always recommend that you consult with your health care provider. Their standard disclaimer is located at the bottom of each page. Just FYI.

Should you find that you have lost your health insurance, keep Earth Clinic in mind. There's hundreds of folk remedies offered for hundreds of ailments. Whatever is bothering you might be listed, and you can read up on what other people have been doing for the same problem. You might find it useful and try some of the simple remedies. You might even get adventurous and try some of the odder treatments. One thing you will note over and over again: folks that have a certain problem, have spent fortunes on doctor visits or trips to the ER for treatments that ultimately didn't work, and how happy they are when they try a simple home remedy and find that IT WORKS. These stories, in this essential form, are repeated constantly at Earth Clinic. There's got to be something going on here, don't you think?

I have tried some of the remedies I found at Earth Clinic. Right now I'm treating my cats' ear mites with a remedy I found in the pet section--yellow dock root extract in water for the mites. The cats hate it when I put the drops in their ears, but they are getting better!

I learned a long time ago not to trust the medical system fully, and so I have a strong opinion on this topic. And yet I also realize that to each their own--do whatever you are most comfortable with and works for you. But try to keep an open mind: sometimes it is the simplest things that work the best. Best of all, these remedies are cheap, easy to get your hands on them, and effective. If one remedy doesn't work, there's usually multiple remedies for any particular problem and you can simply pick another one to try.

Here's another sample post to EC:

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR FOR ARTHRITIS
11/11/2008: Jack from Sheffield, United Kingdom writes: "Hi to all those in the UK who are thinking of using ACV, it is absolutely amazeing! I am a 60 yr old RN and have had severe pain in my hips and lower back for 3 years, medics said it is because Im on my feet all day on the wards and gave me NSAIDs which were not effective and I would wake up in pain every morning and it was becoming so restrictive I'd even contemplated a double hip replacement. I then read about ACV on this site and gave it a go,WOW!! within 48 hours all the burning in my hips had gone! I could not believe it,even my wife noticed how fluently I was moving again, I use 2 tablespoons with honey twice a day, its even more effective with 72.5mgs Aspirin with my night time dose, Aspirin is a known anti inflammatory, I really cannot thank this site enough.As a person who has worked in the health profession for thirty years and put my complete trust in its remedy,s it is a real eye opener and has definately changed my opinions, Good luck everyone.

Give Earth Clinic a whirl when you have the time. It makes very interesting reading, at the very least, and you may find a solution to a physical problem that has been bothering you for a long time. Good luck, and let me know what you think.
Onwards,
HM

Sunday, November 9, 2008

The Weird Skin Mole Treatment

I am sorry that I don't do pictures, or at least haven't yet developed the habit. I tend to prefer low-tech these days, since low-tech, 19th century is what I expect we'll be seeing a lot of in the future. Peak oil and all that. But a picture or two might have helped here.

Anyway, a while ago I was posting on the myriad uses for garlic, and I put up a long quote from a book called Garlic: Nature's Super Healer on using garlic for melanoma. And later I said that I'd try sliced garlic on my husband's weird mole.

This is an interim report. Michael has a small mole on his upper thigh. It was grayish, papery looking, pretty ugly. We have no idea if it is melanoma or what it is. For us, it's a weird mole. Three days ago I started putting a slice of fresh garlic I bought from the Amish farm I go to. I put the slice over the mole and then put a bandaid over that with some medical tape over it to hold it in place. I've changed the garlic each day.

The mole seems more tan now. Paler than it was before, and not papery-looking any more. It might be a tad smaller--I didn't measure. Is the mole disappearing? We'll see. Garlic can't hurt Michael, so this "treatment" can't harm the "patient." We'll see if it does any good.

I'll report again in a week or so. BTW, there is a very cool page on folk remedies that people use. It is called Earth Clinic and they have a huge database of home cures that people are using, reports both positive and negative if something worked for them. If you're interested, check it out. I find it fascinating and I'll be trying some of these myself. My thanks to Ra for sending me there!
HM