I grew up during a time when going to the doctor was the absolute last resort.  There were numerous homemade remedies for what ailed you.  The ones I remember the most were castor oil, raw onions and turpentine.  If I had a fever, raw onions wrapped in cloth was used to cure it.  If I had a heavy chest cold, I was given turpentine mixed with sugar.  (Don’t try this today folks.)  The most offensive remedy for illness was castor oil.  It was the vilest, slimiest tasting stuff imaginable and I still shudder at the thought of its taste; but it did the trick.  As a matter of recourse, the very first consideration by my parents for whatever ailed me was castor oil.  For example, if I had a cough, out came the castor oil.  If I was constipated, out came the castor oil.  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’t feeling well no matter how much I denied otherwise.  

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.  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.  Since I didn’t want to be tied down to popping pills, I felt there must be a better way to heal whatever physically bothered me.  Thus, my relationship with alternative medicine was born.  It happened when I became nauseous while watching television one day and instinctively placed my fingers on my wrist.  To my surprise the nausea went away, almost immediately.  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.  I became obsessed with finding out everything I could about acupressure.  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.