I will never understand why "natural" remedies are manly, and FDA approved "medicines" are for weaklings. Isn't Cocaine a naturally occuring crystal of the Coca Leaf? Is concentrating 1000x the normal amont of the potent substances puerarin, daidzein, and daidzin (found in kudzu root) really "Natural." Better yet, is it really safe? Nobody knows, since it has never been studied in supervised, systematic way. But who am I to judge. Tell your buddy to do whatever helps and that we are all rooting for him.
This better explains what i mean: Good article on Traditional Chinese Medicine written by a pharmacist: Traditional Chinese Medicine : A Natural and Holistic Approach
Taking the herbs without the acupuncture will greatly reduce the benefits. I'm not an expert, but simply put, the kudzu root seems to reduce the amount of alcohol required, and the acupuncture reduces the cravings as well as helping to minimise the impact of withdrawel symptoms, from what i can gather.
Interesting. I dunno what it's like where y'all live, but Kudzu blankets the landscape down here in acres.
Taking meds is an admission of weakness, but being an alcoholic isn't? What kind of backwards-ass contradiction is that? Alcohol is a crutch just as much as medication is. I would know, you know? Your friend is a 'fuctioning alcoholic' meaning that he can hold a job and stuff, but he still hits the bottle every night. The whole "struggle" was caused by weakness... He needs to get over himself.... admit he has a problem and do whatever is necessary to fix it. Or else, he could end up seriously ill and shitting in a colostomy bag.
It's native to Japan, China and East Asia, but was introduced to the U.S. and has now become a persistant weed.
I know how to cure her alcoholism. She needs to get real drunk, then wake up the next morning in bed with me. I bet she'd never drink again.
I've seen a bunch of these people die from cirrhosis. Starts out their bellies swell real big like this and then their minds start to go because the liver can't detoxify the blood. They get a yellow pasty color and then they go in and out of delirium and they get lactulose suppositories to try to absorb some of the ammonia that concentrates in their blood and makes them delirious (encephalopathic). I have never seen one get a liver transplant they usually die on the transplant list while their families watch them swell up like a slug or a leech with a huge belly and their mind goes. The last one I had started going into seizures and the family just wanted her to be "comfortable" while she died. So I had to prescribe a bunch of benzodiazepines and morphine to try to stop her from jerking around on the bed. She bit her lip and it started to bleed. She finally died the next day before I got to work. Not a very pretty sight.
Sorry, I just couldnt leave that belly as one of the last images on this thread. I will think of her fondly.
