Mustard, soy sauce help with burns

Q. I just want to say thank you. I burned the tip of my finger last night. I immediately put it in ice water. After about an hour, it still hurt if I took my finger out of the ice water, but it was time for bed.

I looked in your book “Best Choices From The People’s Pharmacy” and saw that yellow mustard was good for a burn. I put mustard on my finger. I was amazed that the pain went away, and I was able to go to bed pain-free. This morning, there is just a little white area where the burn was.

A. We, too, have been surprised that many people report cold, yellow mustard eases the pain of a minor household burn. Equally mystifying are the stories we get about soy sauce. Here is the latest one:

“I just tried soy sauce for a burned finger after someone said that the military experimented with this. I touched an ultrahot burner — one of those used to boil water fast — and immediately started running cold water on it.

“Then I remembered the soy sauce. I immersed my finger in a little cup of it and kept it there while watching TV. I went to bed with the little cup next to me, and in the morning, I didn’t even have a blister.”

Q. For 70 years, I was sensitive to cold and suffered pretty constantly with fatigue, dry skin, constipation, hair loss, vertigo and brain fog. My family doctor put me on Synthroid, with no results.

Finally, I found a naturopathic doctor who prescribed desiccated thyroid (Armour). Almost immediately, all of these symptoms went away, and I am one HAPPY man!

A. Your symptoms are classic for low thyroid function. There is a lot of controversy about natural versus synthetic thyroid hormone. Many physicians don’t think that dried thyroid gland is as reliable as brands such as Synthroid, Levothroid, Levoxyl and Unithroid. Nevertheless, we continue to hear from patients like you who find that natural desiccated thyroid works better to alleviate symptoms.

We are sending you our Guide to Thyroid Hormones with a discussion of symptoms, tests and treatments for thyroid disorder. Anyone who would like a copy, please send $3 in check or money order with a long (No. 10), stamped (61 cents), self-addressed envelope to: Graedons’ People’s Pharmacy, No. T-4, P.O. Box 52027, Durham, NC 27717-2027. It also can be downloaded for $2 from our Web site: www.peoplespharmacy.com.

People who prefer Armour thyroid have been frustrated during the past year or so by a shortage of this product. Forest Laboratories, which makes Armour, now is announcing that the most commonly prescribed doses (one grain and one-half grain) are once again available.

In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of The Vindicator or e-mail them via their Web site: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is “Favorite Foods From The People’s Pharmacy: Mother Nature’s Medicine.”

2010 King Features Syndicate Inc.