About the author

ARTRELLA MaCK

<p>I grew up during a time when going to the doctor was the absolute last resort.&nbsp; There were numerous homemade remedies for what ailed you.&nbsp; The ones I remember the most were castor oil, raw onions and turpentine.&nbsp; If I had a fever, raw onions wrapped in cloth was used to cure it.&nbsp; If I had a heavy chest cold, I was given turpentine mixed with sugar.&nbsp; (Don&rsquo;t try this today folks.)&nbsp; The most offensive remedy for illness was castor oil.&nbsp; It was the vilest, slimiest tasting stuff imaginable and I still shudder at the thought of its taste; but it did the trick.&nbsp; As a matter of recourse, the very first consideration by my parents for whatever ailed me was castor oil.&nbsp; For example, if I had a cough, out came the castor oil.&nbsp; If I was constipated, out came the castor oil.&nbsp; Needless to say, I tried not to cough or show any signs of being ill, which never worked because my mother seemed to know when I wasn&rsquo;t feeling well no matter how much I denied otherwise.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Those childhood memories remained with me even though I was healthy until late adulthood (Perhaps, because of my disdain and fear of castor oil.) and I rarely saw a doctor.&nbsp; It was not until I began to experience health issues, such as sinus, and aches and pains in my knees that I began to think of alternative ways to fix the pain.&nbsp; Since I didn&rsquo;t want to be tied down to popping pills, I felt there must be a better way to heal whatever physically bothered me.&nbsp; Thus, my relationship with alternative medicine was born.&nbsp; It happened when I became nauseous while watching television one day and instinctively placed my fingers on my wrist.&nbsp; To my surprise the nausea went away, almost immediately.&nbsp; It was then that I realized I was on to something and after googling alternative ways to alleviate sickness and pain I found that what I had done was called acupressure.&nbsp; I became obsessed with finding out everything I could about acupressure.&nbsp; Of course, you know one thing leads to another, and so I began my research on alternative medicine with this book being one of the results.&nbsp;</p><p></p>