Band-Aids @ 4.2-cents apiece; a bottle of hydrogen peroxide for $1 (sells for ~$7.00 in drug stores); sun goggles that fit over your Rx eyeglasses so you don’t need to buy a pair of expensive prescription sunglasses; pumpkin seed oil that helps your hair grow for less than $3/month; chewable vitamin D dots for kids @ 7.8-cents each; Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) in bulk bag at 3-times less cost than the grocery store (and no shipping cost); eye drops that clear up cloudy cataracts; vitamin C melts for kids and adults who have trouble swallowing pills. These are among the many economical health finds I have used or found at Amazon.com.
I have license to say more about these products than their manufacturers because I am not commercially involved in their sale. The Food & Drug forbids manufacturers from making unsubstantiated health claims that their products prevent, treat or cure a disease. But that doesn’t mean they are ineffective. It’s just that the FDA has a muzzle over their mouth. But a health journalist like myself has free license under the 1st Amendment to the Constitution to guide others to many home-based remedies that doctors often ignore and that will save you tons of money and agony.
Here’s my list
Hydrogen peroxide
You may not need a dozen bottles of hydrogen peroxide but you can buy a dozen for what it costs you to purchase two bottles in the drug store. And in case you aren’t using hydrogen peroxide daily, it can be used to whiten your teeth and cleansing your tooth brush at the same time. One Amazon customer mixes hydrogen peroxide with baking soda to make a home-made variety of Oxiclean for the washing machine. This current deal at Amazon is a dozen bottles of 3% hydrogen peroxide for $14.52 or $1.21 per bottle. Shipping is free.
Sun goggles over your eyeglasses
Buying a second pair of prescription sunglasses can be pricey. Save your money and increase your eye comfort with wrap-around fit-over sun goggles. They not only fit over your Rx eyeglasses but the wrap-around design keeps moisture from evaporation from the surface of your eyes. Blockage of sun rays from the side also minimizes sun glare. I found this economical brand at Amazon (Solar Shields $17.99, free shipping). I suggest the amber lenses that block blue light, a spectrum of sunlight that accelerates aging in the retina. Here is what optometrists say about the hazards of solar blue light at the Review of Optometry. If you have macular degeneration you should be wearing UV-blue filtering lenses. Save yourself a hundred dollars.
Band-Aids at bargain prices
Who doesn’t need Band-Aids? Well, I found I could buy a box of 280-count assorted size brand name Band-Aids for $11.63, or 4.2-cents each. I have Band-Aids in my garage, in my car and carry them in my wallet (can’t tell you how many times I’ve given a Band-Aid to a friend that cut their finger). It’s practically a lifetime supply and they keep for years. Shipped directly from Amazon.
Regrow your hair
Oh, you’re not going to believe this. But guys (and gals) can begin to regrow their hair again. You can check out the photos of a man whose receding hair was reversed with pumpkin seed oil. 400 milligrams of pumpkin seed oil daily increased hair counts by 39-40% after 24 weeks of use. Works as well as minoxidil without the side effects. You can read the human clinical study at Evidenced Based Complementary Alternative Medicine journal. While no brand of pumpkin seed oil can make the claim it enhances hair growth as forbidden by the FDA, I found these great deals for pumpkin seed oil at Amazon.com. You can buy 180 1000-mg capsules, a six-month supply, for $13.99, or $2.33/month. Another good deal is 1000-mg pumpkin seed oil 90 capsules for $11.46, or $3.81/month.
Eye drops that eradicate cloudy cataracts
If you notice that you are putting a grey sock on one foot and a black sock on another; or someone tells you your necktie doesn’t match your shirt; or your lipstick isn’t applied just right; or you can’t see the dust accumulating on your kitchen clock or your wrinkles in the mirror; and you need brighter light bulbs just to read and you can’t thread a needle; and you experience glare from oncoming headlights when driving; and you are in your sixth-plus decade of life; you may be developing cloudy cataracts.
While surgical removal of a cloudy cataract only takes minutes and is performed under local anesthesia (it’s less distressing than visiting the dentist), and the exchange of your cloudy lens for a clear plastic lens implant is 95+% effective at improving your vision, eye doctors aren’t into prevention, but veterinarians are. Take your dog to the animal clinic these days and the veterinarian is likely to prescribe carnosine eye drops.
Now the scientific evidence for carnosine eye drops is pretty well substantiated. However, the primary source is Dr. Mark Babizhayev (ba-buy-uh-shev), a Russian-based eye physician who pioneered the use of carnosine eye drops for cataracts. There is no reason to mistrust Dr. Babizhayev’s science because he practices in a communist country. His science dates back to 1996 and was first documented in 1996 in a European medical journal (Clinica Chimica Acta 1996). The success of carnosine eye drops at improving vision in humans was documented in 2002 In the journal Drugs R&D. Almost 90% of patients who instilled carnosine eye drops twice a day into their eyes for 6 months showed reduction in glare problems (27-100%) with no patient experiencing a decline in vision over that time. Independent researchers not commercially involved in the marketing of these eye drops confirm their effectiveness at clearing up cloudy cataracts in the journal of Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology. In a study 72 patients age 53-83 years of age with declining vision in one or both eyes who instilled 1% carnosine eye drops twice a day for 9 months, strikingly these drops improved the vision of subjects with and without cataracts, more so for those individuals with cataracts.
Some testimonials from patients include statements like “after 4 months of use my vision improved and I renewed my drivers license without eye glass restriction”; “I used the eye drops for 3-4 months with clearer vision that became fuzzy again when I stopped using them.” Skeptics can read the science and the testimonials in the journal of Clinical Interventions in Aging 2009.
Dr. Babizhayev’s eye drops are marketed under the brand name CAN-C and can be purchased at Amazon.com. The reviews at Amazon are subjective, not controlled as in a study, so there are disappointed consumers. But these eye drops are soothing and certainly worth trying to avoid or delay eye surgery. CAN-C eye drops and reviews can be read at Amazon.com.
If you ask your eye doctor if these eye drops work you are not likely to receive an informed answer. (continue reading)