Those in the medical field call it alternative medicine, but this week’s WEDNESDAY WOMAN says it is “bush or herb medicine”.
And she is a strong believer in it, and according to her, “it has many health benefits”.
Geraldine Dottin, 82, has been drinking “bush tea every morning and evening for as long as I can remember”.
“I also cream my skin with bush water and look at how smooth it is,” she added.
In a chat with the MIDWEEK NATION at her Nurse Land, Tweedside Road,
St Michael home, Dottin told of her belief in legal herbs and how she used them as a weapon to fight a battle with cancer.
“Persons go to clinics, hospitals and doctors, and they cry out about all the side effects of what they are given as treatment,” she said.
Dottin said she discovered her body’s low tolerance or acceptance for alternative medication in 1986 when doctors told her that “cancer cells had taken over my body”.
Though hesitant, Dottin said soon after her diagnosis, she started “taking chemotherapy, but I started feeling weaker and weaker and I started to lose hair”.
“I went to the clinic and I told them I don’t want anymore chemo. The doctors told me, ‘you know what you are saying? If you want to live for the next three years, you got to keep on using these things’. I said to them ‘no, my God and I are going to handle it’,” she said.
“So I went home and started handling it with the help of God and the use of my herbs. One herb alone can be used to treat many ailments. I have a lot of herbs growing in my yard. Today, I am not sick where cancer is concerned.”
In fact, she pointed out that 26 years after she was diagnosed, she was “feeling well and happy in Jesus”.
Dottin indicated that her herbs were also a help to others.
“I make cough medicine for people. I make bush medicine for people who have all kinds of ailments and sicknesses.”
The mother of six, who worked hard to nurture and care for her six children, and by extension, four grandchildren, has maintained a healthy lifestyle.
“I try to live a peaceful life. A life that is not full of stress because stress bring on cancers and a lot of people need to know that. I read my Bible, herb books and keep a clear mind. I don’t read papers. I had a television and I give it away. I don’t want nothing to do with the bad news out there. The violence and worthlessness I hear about annoys me. I have a radio but I don’t play it because I don’t want to hear the sad news. Sad movies make me cry. Singing hymns comforts me.”
Eating correctly and regular exercise are also essential factors to living a healthy life, Dottin advised.
“Eat correctly, and that does not involve eating fast food with all the fat and the salt. Sweet mouth is not all. I don’t use ice or ice water. I don’t use juice or drinks. I don’t use coffee, cou cou and those things. I use fruits. I go the vegetarian way, my plate is filled with more vegetables than anything else when I am eating. I use fish at times, but that is hardly.
“I take a cold shower every morning, and exercise every morning . . .,” she said.
“It is not only the herbs and the way I live that has helped me to come so far in life,” she stressed.
“It is the closeness of me and my God. Things go wrong some times and I don’t feel well, but it doesn’t matter. I still hold on to my faith in God and that he is going to see me through.”