All OTCs Are Not Alike!

Over the Counter Healthcare Products

My understanding of "Conventional" vs "Natural"

Now here's something I have very little understanding of. In the modern day, we have a lot of choices when it comes to our personal wellness. Some choose to do the research on every product they use, but if you're anything like me, you don't. Instead, my recommendation on products comes from word of mouth. Because of this, I know very little about the differences about natural vs conventional over the counter products. I usually can't even tell unless it's printed on the product itself. Some stores help by separating them like CVS and other Drug Stores, but the truth is it doesn't affect my judgement of what to use as much as the recommendation does. Hearing a product works or doesn't from a trusted source is what helps me navigate these products.

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How They Make Me Feel

Natural

Conventional

Now this may seem silly, but when you say natural or conventional health care to me, these are the first things to pop into my head.
Growing up, "Natural" always meant grown/made from the earth to me. And my father (although a liberal) always equated that to hippies. It was a hippy recipe, or hippy medicine, and had more of a chance of being unreliable. Where as "Conventional" (which is what they would go with) seemed cold, processed, and made in a lab. Tested, proven, to be trusted. However as I got older I equated that more towards "Big-Pharma" and other profit pushing companies.

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It's Natural Baby

My Belief

Natural feels just like that, natural! Every human's body is slightly different, so there's always a fear of allergies to certain ingredients. But, I know there is also less of a chance of an addictive chemical or substance being mixed in. I can look the ingredients up, even buy them myself! There's less of a chance of overdose, and the intended use of the product stays the same over time, unlike some "Conventional" products that change their intended use after a few years of trial and error. There's also much, much, much less in the way of side effects from the intended use. Lowering my fears of using such products. I also feel that natural products have more long-term effects when used. Most of the time, the ingredients are meant to help the body with its natural processes. Beefing up an immune system or helping with the production of a natural enzyme the body may just have had a problem producing before. It's almost if sometimes the products teach your body how to stand on its own better over time and that's awesome.

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My First Time Going Natural

The first time I ever used a "Natural" Healthcare product was right after college. I was in my mid 20's and just moved to Long Beach California from Chicago. The move had financially drained me, so I was looking to cut corners anywhere I could. A hair salon that had just opened up offered me a free haircut since they were trying to appeal to the men in the area. I thought, "Awesome!" and rushed down there right away. The haircut looked great! However, the next day I woke up and realized I had contracted ringworm on my scalp. I was freaking out and couldn't even afford to have it looked at let alone whatever medication they were going to prescribe me. That's when my girlfriend at the time suggested Tea Tree Oil. I had never heard of it or any natural products really. Up to this point, "Natural" health care meant fake "witch doctor" type remedy's that were more wives tales than useful. Almost as if they were scams. I think this is due to the fact that my mother put her heart into trusting conventional products. So it was never a thing in my family, very different from my Girlfriend's upbringing. She mentioned it was a cheap, natural, safe for topical use product that could be used to help with most fungal infections. We went to the Vons grocery store across the street right away. I was a little weary at first, I had always thought "Natural" meant placebo. Yet, used it in hopes that it would help, and to my surprise, it did! Within a week, my infection had gone away and I was back to having an awesome haircut! I never did go back to that salon though.

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What I Use

These are a few of my favorites!

Tea Tree Oil

As mentioned above, I now use Tea Tree Oil for all my fungal infections. I'm a skateboarder and sometimes that can cause warts and other things too. So sometimes I'll mix it up with using a regular acid as well to kill off the infection. Using a conventional acid does work in killing warts and other fungi, but can hurt...like a LOT, obviously cause your feet and hands are filled with nerve endings. But the Tea Tree Oil attacks the fungus while not burning off the other surrounding nerve endings. So I like to use the acid for the first layer of the wart, and Tea Tree Oil when it reaches the skin.

Ricola

I use these like candy. I get head colds and congestion when the weather changes quickly. And these babies help with that a lot. On top of that, they're good to use with some tea for when I have a cold. Plus they taste awesome. I like using this over something like Halls since the added medicine can make my mouth taste like just that...medicine.

Zicam

My go to when I know I'm coming down with something. They especially help with coughing and other throat problems. Combine that with some green tea and I feel great in no time. I can even take it with antibiotics! In case those become necessary too.

Ring Relief

This one, I took a chance on. I was having some ringing in my ear and my ears build up wax fast. Besides seeing a doctor and using q-tips(which aren't to be used on ears....but are) I didn't know what else to do. I've never seen a conventional product that helps with this. But this product, I just put a few drops in my ear and laid down for about 3min. Sure enough, it worked and is now my go-to for both wax and earring (which never came back)!

Emergen-C

I love this product, and usually pair it up with Zicam if I feel I'm coming down with a cold. Aside from that though, it has a lot of other vitamins mixed in which are just good for you in general. The B-12 acts like an energy booster, so I like drinking this as opposed to a Redbull or Monster energy drink which is loaded with sugar.

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Replies to Comments

Blogger won't allow me to reply to comments no matter what I do, and they won't help you fix the issue ((their HTML code)). So I will be replying to comments here instead.

LifestyleModerator1 - March 2, 2018 at 6:19 AM
One quick follow up question here: You say you use Emergenc-C when you're coming down with a cold. What if anything do you do differently when you end up with a full-blown cold or get sicker? Do conventional cold products ever play a role--when and why? Thank you!

That's a great question! Conventional cold products do play a role! On top of Emergen-C I also like to use Dayquil and Nightquil depending on the severity of the cold. Dayquil helps me with energy if I need to work or run errands and Nightquil is good for if I can't sleep.