While it's not as bloody as leeches, I want to share an anecdote.
I have pollen allergies, and my eyes itch a lot (plus pollen clog tear pathways, so my eyes get dry too). It's really uncomfortable.
I found that dousing cotton pads in brewed black tea and putting it on my eyes relieve the symptoms and unclog the tear pathways pretty well. I use it as a eye drop sometimes, albeit rarely.
My niece has the same issues. My mom recommended the tea treatment, but my cousin is a firm believer in "modern medicine" and got pretty angry at her, then they visited an MD.
My mom asked what the MD recommended for the symptoms. The answer came with a defeated tone: "Cotton pads doused in brewed black tea. Can use as an eye drop if necessary".
And guess what? It works on my niece too, like it worked on me.
"Folk-Medicine" is not always snake-oil in bad sense. Of course we need to be cautious, but having prejudice against the whole category is ill-advised.
Oh, one more thing: The best anti-allergy nasal sprays I use are all-herbal. And they work better than "synthetic" ones and have no side-effects. The only downside is they are not as "potent" as synthetics and don't make my nose dry as a rock (which is an upside actually).
The thing is, that there is really no or only little commercial incentive to study the effects of products that cannot be patented.
That is also one of the reasons why the study of e.g. cannabis for treating epileptic patients, or as anesthesia, has taken such a long time, because once the study is done, you cannot always attribute those effects to your own product, so few will go ahead and sponsor it.
It would be nice to have a decentralized recipe database with feedback and grading. I mean decentralized in a non-profit way, where cash flow does not matter.
Unfortunately that's very true and sad. Moreover, if you find that non-patentable thing is better than your product you spent that much time and money to develop, that's some nightmare scenario. I use some, more natural products which work way better than their "researched" counterparts, which is funny.
What I'm happy about letting cannabis free is the long tail research done on their effects after recreational use. Putting a finger on its negative effects will allow us to understand it better and promote more responsible use of it.
Maybe we can slow down the "capitalist, line shall go up" machine and be more in peace with the nature itself, and can make better drugs and substances for our needs which are not as expensive and dangerous. One man can dream, I guess...
FN: While it's not about drugs, leaded-gas used lead because it was patentable. However ethanol was cheaper, much safer and easier to produce. Albeit, it was unpatentable hence lacked shareholder value (https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/thomas-midgley-and-t...).
Yeah I know, it depends on for how long you boil the water, among a lot of things, so I would still be cautious, personally. If the cotton pad works, one should probably continue using that. I would give it a go if I had this issue. I do not see how it could hurt to try. There are many things that are either useful or harmless, I think this is one of these.
WHO recommends boiling water for 60 seconds for making it safe to drink. The moment you hear the water boil and walking to kettle and make preparations take more than that amount, and the water you're boiling is safe to drink (it's not tap water and tested against harmful bacteria) to begin with.
Of course one needs to be cautious depending on what they have at hand, and yes, tea is harmless at worst and pretty useful at best.
It soothes your eyes too, so you can try it even if your eyes feel a bit tired.
Safe to drink is different from safe to use as eye drop though.
Anyways, it is besides the point I think, so no need to beat the dead horse here. :)
Just to give you some folk-medicine too: we went to a herbal store where the lady is quite knowledgeable in it, and many times she immediately knew what the actual issue was and what the cure is. My grandma kept going to dermatologists, GP about some skin problem and no one knew! Not one doctor! Not even the dermatologist. My grandma visited this lady and she was like "the problem is going to be the bile, grab this tea, drink it, and it should solve the problem". To our miracle, it did!
So... just to think that with regarding to a skin problem not even a dermatologist could help but some random lady without any medical school at a herbal store could, with a tea for bile, is crazy.
I have a question: would this black tea cotton pad thing work to soothe the eyes in general? I keep getting these white things in my eyes for some reason (the production of it right now is wild), and I wonder if it could help. I might give it a try. I know it can't hurt.
Generally you are correct, but just remember that we never adviced against diving in sea water with eyes open. Don't think black tea should be a problem, considering that the water has been thoroughly heated before.
Yes, you can take my comment as nitpicking I suppose, since you do not have to drop anything in your eyes to be supposedly effective. I have no idea because I have not tried it myself but I do not see why I would not give this easy, cheap, and convenient method a try were I to have this issue.
We have a lot of "folk medicine" around this neck of the woods, too, and many of them do work great.
I have pollen allergies, and my eyes itch a lot (plus pollen clog tear pathways, so my eyes get dry too). It's really uncomfortable.
I found that dousing cotton pads in brewed black tea and putting it on my eyes relieve the symptoms and unclog the tear pathways pretty well. I use it as a eye drop sometimes, albeit rarely.
My niece has the same issues. My mom recommended the tea treatment, but my cousin is a firm believer in "modern medicine" and got pretty angry at her, then they visited an MD.
My mom asked what the MD recommended for the symptoms. The answer came with a defeated tone: "Cotton pads doused in brewed black tea. Can use as an eye drop if necessary".
And guess what? It works on my niece too, like it worked on me.
"Folk-Medicine" is not always snake-oil in bad sense. Of course we need to be cautious, but having prejudice against the whole category is ill-advised.
Oh, one more thing: The best anti-allergy nasal sprays I use are all-herbal. And they work better than "synthetic" ones and have no side-effects. The only downside is they are not as "potent" as synthetics and don't make my nose dry as a rock (which is an upside actually).