It'd be very interesting to hear @oilyshumblehome 's take! I'm not sure how much I'd be able to talk Mom into a nontraditional approach (even though she doesn't want to go the pharma route), but maybe having someone else who's been there would help. The biggest trouble with convincing her is that she always goes on the Internet and finds all the reasons an alternative solution really might not work and if she isn't actually in pain right at that moment, maybe it's just gone away and she doesn't need to worry about it...but if the knowledge was ready when she needed it and it worked, then we might get somewhere.
I think a huge part of working with drugs versus herbs is that someone willing to work with herbs is also willing to take a look at the causes behind the problem they're having. It seems as if nine times out of ten, drugs cover up problems but don't actually working on fixing/healing them.
I've had contact with a good herbalist since I was about 10 and suffering from terrible stomachaches all the time. Had we gone to a doctor, I suspect I would've ended up on some stomach drug like prilosec (not necessarily, just citing a random name). The herbalist said, "You have low stomach acid. Cut out salt for a month and have a banana shake with whey powder in it once a day."
Cured the problem. I've been going to her with various things ever since and what never ceases to amaze me is how it's not really the various herbs that are the "miracle pill" but understanding what the problem is and working to treat it, however that's most effectively done. Being low on B12 didn't mean a simulated vitamin supplement, it meant eating brown rice and sweet potatoes three times per week and figuring out a way to eat brewer's yeast every day (I'd say oatmeal cookies are best, but those aren't so good for you every day!).
In Mom's case, she won't drink water and drinks diet pop instead. This has to have caused gut havoc and potential brain disconnects as well. I suspect the aspartame is hugely at fault for some of the nerve issues, but nerve issues also run in the family so it could just be exacerbating an underlying weakness.
Lack of water is a primary condition, add aspartame to the mix and it becomes lethal! It very well may be a cause for it to be exacerbated in her. Water flushes out all the waste and not having it readily available creates a walking talking toxic waste machine. Has your Mother been willing to go have a talk with your herbalist?
Just getting back from a short trip!
Oh absolutely I think the water is huge! The only trouble is I haven't been able to convince her of it or find an article or something that she will accept as proof that she really is ingesting a lethal combination with no water and lots of aspartame.
I haven't actually asked Mom to talk to our herbalist, mostly because she is very resistant to trying to solve problems that aren't pressing. She's very much an in-the-moment person and one of her favorite thoughts is that everything is random because there's no consensus on what the cause might be. For instance, both my husband and I have suggested to her that she should try not drinking the diet pop and see if that helps, but as soon as the TN flareup dies down she says she didn't see any difference between drinking it and not drinking it and there's no conclusive proof one has anything to do with the other. Unless we could convince her to stop drinking it and the TN immediately receded within hours, she won't see a link.
At present, I'm more trying to build a toolbox of how to help her when the day arrives that I'm going to be responsible for her care. So anything I can find that I could begin introducing to help her or understanding of how the neuralgia itself works is interesting to me even if maybe not to her at the moment [grin]. If I did build up a store in information, I might be able to interest her at that point, especially since I know she really does not ever want to end up on pain meds.
Perhaps you need to start a thread/blog on just this topic and it can be shared to others and have all chime in?
Not entirely sure how to approach that - other than as in this instance to ask questions from other people with chronic pain and learn alternate methods of dealing with it beyond fentanyl and oxycontin, etc. How would you go about it, do you think?
That works, a few of us can share it and get it seen more...