7.3.8 Alternative Cure 4 Macrobiotics as it is

I’ve had some contact with alternative medicine, mainly the…macrobiotics. I did a brown rice diet about twelve or fifteen years ago, something like that. I had stomach ulcer problems and immediately went on the strictest regime which was ten days eating nothing but brown rice. Which I did, and it did actually sort my stomach out quickly. I kept up with it for about a year because you slowly begin to add other ingredients to the diet and I found it, I must say I did feel really good but I’ve just sort of lapsed out of it and drifted away from it. I’ve also had acupuncture which I had partly because I had a skin problem as well but also to try and give up smoking. And that was terrific … And I had the acupuncture, and then I read a book as well about giving up smoking and I stopped smoking, that was four years ago now ... so that worked.

7.3.9 Alternative Cure 5 Acupuncture – will it suit you?

Acupuncture — I’ve had it myself — and I find it very efficient, but it’s a bit aggressive sometimes. And you find yourself well before you’re prepared to be well. Er, you don’t actually get a chance to recover. It’s quite dynamic. And I found that Shiatsu suited me better. So it’s a massage, it gives pressure along the meridians, along the health points. But it also stretches out muscles and ligaments and eases back pain and that kind of thing… It’s generally energy giving.

Modern reflexology

Well, I’m from California so I like to try everything. It’s just in my nature and my soul. I’ve had acupuncture, which I enjoyed and I thought it helped me but there’s something that is not... I didn’t find so relaxing about it… But my favorite alternative medicine that I’ve done so far or system has been reflexology where they use different points.

Basically, they use your foot but a lot of other different places in your body, on your body with using different oils and pressure points on the feet that are supposed to correspond to different organs in your body or you know, skin or everything. And that I have found incredibly beneficial. I mean, at first I found it very painful but it doesn’t hurt as much now and it really… the reason that I went, you know to go to the reflexologist in the first place, it’s actually cleared up you know that whole problem so I’ve enjoyed that a lot.

7.3.10 The worst pain I have ever had (Four people’s experience)

I guess the worst pain that I’ve ever had was, that I can remember is, I had an abscess in my jaw, in my tooth. And I had a…, it made me run a fever at the same time so it not only the fact that it makes the whole side of your head ache that terrible ache that you get, and frequent little stabbing pains in the region of it. But because I had a fever it felt like it went on for a lot longer than it did. It felt like you were … you’d never … you’d always been hurting and you never would stop hurting. I think that was horrible, and the relief when it was finally over was just incredible. It was like waking up from a bad dream.

I think the worst pain I’ve ever experienced was when over the course of three days, a couple of years ago, I became completely paralyzed in my legs and my arms, there was the most incredible pain which was a very deep blunt pain at times, and then at other times a shooting and stabbing pain. And this pain would come on every twenty minutes or half an hour and so by the time one lot of pain had actually subsided, it was the next lot of pain that I was coping with. And it was quite incredible. I wouldn’t like to experience that ever again. And yet at the same time it was quite satisfying, to actually get through that pain.

The worse pain I ever had actually was in my ankle when I sprained it. And it was the second time I’d actually sprained my right ankle. And in fact I was hopping down some stairs and landed very badly and twisted it. And I knew immediately that it was going to be swollen beyond belief. And it was a very hot instant pain and I thought I would keep on my sock and my boot to try and keep the swelling down and a friend of mine drove me to the hospital and of course they took off the sock and boot in order to X-ray it and it was swelling before my eyes and the pain by this point had changed from the sort of stabbing to an almost like a physical bruise feeling coming out. And it was burning and so painful that even the slightest amount of weight on it… I mean that evening I had a sheet on it and the sheet hurt.

This is going to sound silly but actually the worst memory I have of pain is what eventually turned out to be nothing more than indigestion. I’d had lunch and it was one afternoon I was home looking after my… he was my only son at that time, he’s my oldest son, and suddenly I got this incredible tight feeling in my chest. I immediately thought the worst; I thought it was going to be a heart attack or whatever. And it got worse and worse, and I was, I literally couldn’t move. And my younger son…my son who was about three at the time was in the room with me. And he made it worse, because he found this extraordinarily funny.There was Daddy, rolling about or writhing on the bed moaning in pain and he just was in hysterics the whole time.

Answere the questions:

1. Have you or anyone you know ever suffered from “hurry sickness”? Can you think of a time in the future when it might be a problem for you?

2. You have now been learning English for some time. Have you found it stressful?

3. What do you think are the main causes of stress in language learning?

4. What remedies can you think of for this particular form of stress?

5. How important do you consider preventive medicine to be?

6. Should you consult a doctor only when you are ill, or it is useful to have a check up from time to time, even when you are generally healthy?

7. How do you feel about seeing a doctor? What do you particularly like or dislike about it?

8. What are the factors that are most important to you in choosing a doctor?

9. Can you imagine that many years ago you decided to become not a pilot or a controller but a doctor?

10. If so, which parts of the job do you think you might enjoy? Which parts would you find difficult?

11. What is your own country’s biggest killer?

12. What are the killer’s obvious or possible causes?

13. What advice would you give on ways of preventing it?

14. Do you think physical pain or mental anguish is worse? Why?

15. Do you know of any remedies for such common ailments as a cold, rashes, toothache, backache, a headache, muscle pain?

16. What do you think of non-traditional methods? Have you ever tried any of them? Did they work?