Arthritis and Folk Medicine

More on the usefulness of iodine from Dr. Jarvis’ out of print book..

A young Vermonter not only learns about the virtues of  apple cider vinegar, but he is also taught the value of Lugol’s Solution of Iodine, which was devised in the nineteenth century by a French physician.

At one time I enlisted the aid of twelve small children, none of them more than five years old, who were to serve as human guinea pigs for two years, so that the second year might be compared to the first year. The object of this study was to learn  whether little children got sick on an alkaline urine or on an acid urine background. In time I learned that they did indeed become ill on the alkaline reaction and recovered when the urine was restored to its normal acid reaction.

There were twins in this group of children, and their mother said to me, ” Dr. Jarvis, what am I going to do? One of these girls is a race horse and the other is a farm horse. I mean that one is nervous, high strung, and irritable and won’t accept discipline. She is always ready to fight. But the other one has a calm even disposition; she’s always so peaceful and quiet. My problem is that the race horse twin keeps both her calm sister and me stirred up all the time. It doesn’t do any good to spank her because she just blows up and I have a worse problem on my hands. Tell me, how are we going to live with this girl?”

“Lets’ turn to Vermont folk medicine,” I said, ” and use Lugol’s solution of iodine to release the continued activity of the energy expending mechanism in her body. Any time her motor shifts into high and she shows the increased speed by becoming a discipline problem, add a teaspoonful of apple cider vinegar to a glass of water in order to make the water in the glass acid in reaction. Then add two drops of Lugol’s solution of iodine tot he glass of water, and after the mixture is stirred have her drink it. Give it to her whenever, she seems to need it to get into lower gear. It can be done anytime during the day, at meals or between meals.”

Two weeks later the mother reported that her race horse daughter quieted down within two hours after the dosage I had recommended was given, and with the continued help of the solution she was able to control the child easily. Sometimes she gave it everyday if it seemed to be needed, or at longer intervals if there were no outbursts.

Today the twin who was treated is married and in her own home. With the aid of iodine and vinegar during here growing years her human motor was brought under control and she developed into a normal girl. By the time she graduated from high school the tantrums of her childhood were only a memory. But if she ever becomes high- strung and irritable again, she will know the remedy.

I recall another child whose mother was a professor in a college for women before her marriage to a man who was a university graduate. Their first child, a girl, had an even disposition and was easy to live with, but their second, another girl, was the kind of race horse type I have just discussed. The mother came to me with the same complaint as the harassed mother of the twins, and again I suggested the same folk medicine remedy of iodine and vinegar. Once more the treatment worked perfectly. The mother gave me an almost identical report: within two hours her daughter was a different child.

As time passed, this girl too developed into a normal high school student and was later extremely successful in college, where she developed her really fine mind and her artistic abilities, as well as the ability she had acquired to get along with others and make friends.

Two drops of Lugol’s solution of iodine works equally well in an adult. When the stress and strain of daily living create a load that is difficult to carry, producing a state of anxiety, and when the day’s problems make it difficult  to relax and sleep well at night, then one appreciates the aid that iodine gives.

In an adult two teaspoonfuls of apple cider vinegar and two of honey are added to a glass of water. The honey is there because it is a sedative. Then add two drops of Lugol’s solution of iodine to the glass containing the vinegar and- honey mixture, stir it, and sip it during the meal as you would coffee or tea.  Taken apart from the meal it can be sipped like a cocktail. Soon your motor will have slipped into low gear. Your problems and their solution will seem less difficult, and the day’s load of responsibility easier to carry.  In this age of anxiety  the combination of iodine with vinegar and water  will give the harassed individual increased energy and the endurance necessary to carry the daily load. You will find that the wear and tear of daily living is considerably reduced.

The same remedy can be applied to cattle, in a somewhat different way than I have already described in the treatment of mastitis, although in the example I have in mind the reason fro administering it was the same. My farmer friend called me one day to inform me that four of his best cows were sick with acute mastitis of their udders. The veterinarian had been using the bacteriological approach, employing the sulfa drugs, but without success. He had just left the barn, said the farmer, telling him that the cows were going to die. Could I save them?

I told him that attacking bacteria as a solution to medical problems had not always proved successful, as far as I was concerned, and I recommended that we try Vermont folk medicine, seeking to release the energy expending mechanism from its continued activity.

My plan was to change the physiology and chemistry of each cow’s body by giving her morning , noon, and night a “blood wash” as folk medicine expresses it. We would give each cow by mouth from a bottle four ounces of apple cider vinegar, four ounces of water, and a teaspoonful of Lugol’s solution, all mixed together.

Before the treatment was applied these cows were running temperatures as high as 107 degrees. After it was given, the fever began to drop at once, and by the end of the week all four had recovered from their sickness. Three of the cows returned to milk production. The fourth did not produce milk until her next calf was born and a new lactation period was started.

The folk medicine approach that is, releasing the energy expanding mechanism from continued activity by giving a “blood wash”- works if sickness with an accompanying elevation of temperature is present in a human. Often a single teaspoon of vinegar in a glass of water with two drops of Lugol’s solution of iodine added will cause the body temperature to drop when the solution is taken morning, noon and evening. Continued use often brings rapid recovery from sickness.

When you take Lugol’s solution you are taking an excellent catalyst which has the ability to start, and continue at a rapid pace, physiological and chemical processes

within the body that would not otherwise begin, or if begun, would proceed at a slow pace. Iodine increases the rapidity of the start, and rate of speed as well. By means of a catalyst the individual is able to control the internal environment and bring peace to the body.

If a harmful virus or microorganism is among the factors which cause arthritis Lugol’s solution of iodine will be helpful. In the herd of dairy cows I studied, I decreased the bacteria count of the milk markedly, as I have shown previously, by adding three drops of iodine to two ounces of apple cider vinegar, the whole poured over the ration of each cow at every feeding twice a day.

For pasteurized milk, I might add, a count of five thousand bacteria in each cubic centimeter of milk is acceptable to the creamery laboratory. With the addition of vinegar and iodine to the ration the bacteria count dropped to less that a thousand and did not rise. Often it was five hundred or less.

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