Post by Val Young on Mar 26, 2009 23:16:15 GMT
TESTIMONIAL - A.C. Ulverston.
Some years ago I suffered from very serious gastric problems stemming from a childhood injury, wrongly diagnosed.
I was seeing my own doctor every two weeks, a Harley Street Specialist (under Company private health insurance) once a month and a gastroscopy, including an oesophageal "dilatation" every three months. I was on no end of repeatedly prescribed serious drugs one of which was considered hazardous and normally only used in clinical trials for up to one month - I had been on double dose for two years with only the prospect of further increasing the dose !! I was often doubled up with "heartburn" (oesophageal reflux) and taking antacid tablets ad lib (these were a sort of stronger Rennies on prescription).
One day, when out with the family visiting a military pageant in Colchester in Essex I was suffering constant excruciating stomach and oesophageal pain and acidity and had taken a whole month's supply of antacids in two hours with no relief, when my wife suggested I visited a Health Shop. "What do I want with those weirdos and freaks", I muttered. My wife said "Well you've tried everything the doctor has given you, what is there to lose?". I could not argue with that so I went into the local Health Shop and asked if he had anything I could take.
After a very friendly questions and answers session he sold me some capsules containing peppermint (unfortunately, these are no longer available) and said that if they worked I could go back and he would see if there were any other remedies that would help me (he said he did not want to take advantage and just sell me stuff). I put the capsules in my pocket and went on my way. A short while later I had another attack and after taking more prescribed antacids to no avail, I tried one of these capsules. Not only did I get instant relief, but it lasted for hours! I went back to the shop, grabbed him by the lapels and said "What else can you let me have?".
Again, not wishing to oversell, he sold me some Papaya compound tablets, again saying that if they worked, he would see what else he had that would help long term. These indeed cut down the severity and the frequency of the acid attacks, so back I went (a distance of about forty miles). This time, after more questions (asked in an unhurried and friendly manner) he sold me some Golden Seal compound and some Slippery Elm compound tablets which I took regularly. After about a month I started to feel better and, without doctor's advice, started to cut down on their drugs and on the visits to Harley Street. Six months later, one night after a party at which I had unwisely over-indulged I decided to cut them out altogether. I argued with myself that now was not the time, but I just felt I had to. From that moment I did not have to take any more of the prescribed medical drugs and stopped the Specialist's treatment. When I discussed this later with my G.P. ( a family friend) he told me the drugs he was prescribing cost the N.H.S. over £750 per month. The Herbal Remedies were costing me just over £7 per month!!! (1978/9 prices).
During the Harley Street investigations I had a barium meal, stomach X-ray that revealed I also had a massive hiatus hernia. The Specialist said it was impossible to cure and was inoperable. A couple of years after taking the Herbal Remedies I happened to meet a most charming gentleman, Mr Thomas Bartram, the founder of Gerard House, manufacturers of the Herbal remedies I had been taking who is still, in his nineties, Editor of the wonderful "Grace" magazine. I told him that although I knew it was impossible to cure, I no longer suffered the symptoms of the hiatus hernia. He said "Oh, you must have been taking Golden Seal, it acts throughout the body to strengthen the mucous membranes!" I was amazed he had diagnosed the treatment I had been taking from the cure I had enjoyed! (He was no longer involved with Gerard House, so would not have known of my custom!). Unfortunately, with the then impending European Union threat to Herbal Remedies in the 1990’s the then proprietors of Gerard House sold up and it now no longer exists. I am grateful they did exist in the 70s, as I was suicidal. They saved my life!!
Some years ago I suffered from very serious gastric problems stemming from a childhood injury, wrongly diagnosed.
I was seeing my own doctor every two weeks, a Harley Street Specialist (under Company private health insurance) once a month and a gastroscopy, including an oesophageal "dilatation" every three months. I was on no end of repeatedly prescribed serious drugs one of which was considered hazardous and normally only used in clinical trials for up to one month - I had been on double dose for two years with only the prospect of further increasing the dose !! I was often doubled up with "heartburn" (oesophageal reflux) and taking antacid tablets ad lib (these were a sort of stronger Rennies on prescription).
One day, when out with the family visiting a military pageant in Colchester in Essex I was suffering constant excruciating stomach and oesophageal pain and acidity and had taken a whole month's supply of antacids in two hours with no relief, when my wife suggested I visited a Health Shop. "What do I want with those weirdos and freaks", I muttered. My wife said "Well you've tried everything the doctor has given you, what is there to lose?". I could not argue with that so I went into the local Health Shop and asked if he had anything I could take.
After a very friendly questions and answers session he sold me some capsules containing peppermint (unfortunately, these are no longer available) and said that if they worked I could go back and he would see if there were any other remedies that would help me (he said he did not want to take advantage and just sell me stuff). I put the capsules in my pocket and went on my way. A short while later I had another attack and after taking more prescribed antacids to no avail, I tried one of these capsules. Not only did I get instant relief, but it lasted for hours! I went back to the shop, grabbed him by the lapels and said "What else can you let me have?".
Again, not wishing to oversell, he sold me some Papaya compound tablets, again saying that if they worked, he would see what else he had that would help long term. These indeed cut down the severity and the frequency of the acid attacks, so back I went (a distance of about forty miles). This time, after more questions (asked in an unhurried and friendly manner) he sold me some Golden Seal compound and some Slippery Elm compound tablets which I took regularly. After about a month I started to feel better and, without doctor's advice, started to cut down on their drugs and on the visits to Harley Street. Six months later, one night after a party at which I had unwisely over-indulged I decided to cut them out altogether. I argued with myself that now was not the time, but I just felt I had to. From that moment I did not have to take any more of the prescribed medical drugs and stopped the Specialist's treatment. When I discussed this later with my G.P. ( a family friend) he told me the drugs he was prescribing cost the N.H.S. over £750 per month. The Herbal Remedies were costing me just over £7 per month!!! (1978/9 prices).
During the Harley Street investigations I had a barium meal, stomach X-ray that revealed I also had a massive hiatus hernia. The Specialist said it was impossible to cure and was inoperable. A couple of years after taking the Herbal Remedies I happened to meet a most charming gentleman, Mr Thomas Bartram, the founder of Gerard House, manufacturers of the Herbal remedies I had been taking who is still, in his nineties, Editor of the wonderful "Grace" magazine. I told him that although I knew it was impossible to cure, I no longer suffered the symptoms of the hiatus hernia. He said "Oh, you must have been taking Golden Seal, it acts throughout the body to strengthen the mucous membranes!" I was amazed he had diagnosed the treatment I had been taking from the cure I had enjoyed! (He was no longer involved with Gerard House, so would not have known of my custom!). Unfortunately, with the then impending European Union threat to Herbal Remedies in the 1990’s the then proprietors of Gerard House sold up and it now no longer exists. I am grateful they did exist in the 70s, as I was suicidal. They saved my life!!