The most famous of the Bach Flower Remedies is called The Rescue Remedy ™. It’s what is mostly seen at health food stores and pharmacies. As that name is trademarked, it is also referred to as the Five Flower Formula.
It’s also what many use as a benchmark for whether the remedies actually work or not.
Studies have been done on this product and the conclusions are generally that it is a placebo.
The problem with such studies is that those conducting the trials didn’t have a clue what they were doing.
Rescue Remedy is an emergency formula, so unless the circumstances are right, there simply would be no real benefit.
What does it actually do?
But why is this? In order to understand, let’s take a look at what makes up the Rescue Remedy ™.
Star of Bethlehem
This is one of the most important components of this mix. Ironically, it suffers because it’s part of it.
This is the remedy for clearing shock and trauma. When taken on its own, it can work miracles. I’ve seen it cure clinical depression literally overnight. The problem is, it must be taken by itself for the full effects to be felt.
As I have mentioned, I had suffered from depression for most of my life. While I had overcome most types, I had reached a point where Clinical Depression was slowly destroying me, and my life.
Every little thing, no matter how small, or imagined, would send me spiralling into a dark pit and those around me at the time, didn’t have much patience for that. (It suffices to say, those people are no longer in my life).
I kept on trying different remedies, but nothing worked. It wasn’t until, one day, during a particularly bad episode, that I, in desperation, took some Rescue Remedy, and noticed that I felt a slight relief. Not enough to make a difference, but enough to make me take notice.
I ran though the remedies that were part of it, over in my mind, and felt that the only one it could have been was Star of Bethlehem, the remedy for clearing shock and trauma.
As it was, that was one remedy that I had barely used. I just assumed that, because it was already part of the Rescue Remedy, I wouldn’t need it on its own.
So I took it, and after one dose, it felt like a heavy weight was lifted of my soul. The depression suddenly lifted, and I felt amazing.
I had to keep on taking the remedy every few minutes, because the depression would begin to return, but would always lift every time I took it.
Soon, the intervals changed from minutes, to hours, to a few times a day, and then about 5 days later, I didn’t need to take it anymore.
The point behind this story is that if they were a placebo, then any remedy would have worked, when I felt I was taking the right ones. As it was, they didn’t. I had misdiagnosed the cause, and I kept on doing so.
It wasn’t until I hit the right one that it suddenly shifted everything.
In actual fact, if I was susceptible to placebos, I would have saved myself a lot of money, because everything would work. For me, though, most things don’t.
Still, having said all this, the easiest way to prove that they work is with the Rescue Cream. This is a cream that has all five remedies of the Rescue Remedy in it, plus a sixth one, which is Crab Apple, which is the cleansing remedy.
From time to time, I burn myself, and putting the Rescue Cream will quickly stop the pain. My ex-partner once got a second degree oil burn while cooking. We put the cream on the burn. The pain had stopped a few minutes later, and the burn healed within a few days, leaving no marks or scaring.
My partner’s daughter also would use the cream when she got burnt. Once she missed a spot, and noticed that while the pain around it had stopped, the area that was untreated still burned. Once she applied the cream, it stopped.
Now, the base cream itself, without the remedies, was chosen because it’s allergy free and non-greasy.
So, it’s safe to suggest that the cream by itself does not have the power to heal burns.
The only things added to the cream are those six remedies. If they didn’t work, then nothing would happen when treating the burn. In fact, most doctors recommend against putting cream on a burn.
Simply put: If they were a placebo, it just wouldn’t heal or do anything.
Others have reported that it brings relief with sunburn. I stay out of the sun, so I can’t verify this.
I’ve also used it when my legs itch so badly that even hot water doesn’t help. (Hot water always stops itching for me). I used the cream, and the itching stopped immediately.
I’ve also heard that the BFR’s works well for plants. I’ve not tried this, but if anyone does, let me know how that goes.
I’ve also had many reports that children, who have had accidents, especially traumatic ones, recover within minutes when the Rescue Remedy is administered.
In my opinion, the remedy and cream should be in the first aid kit of every house.
Over the years, I have used the remedies with great success, which would pretty much suggest that they are not a placebo.
I thought I’d share some compelling examples.
One day, my mother’s two year old dog suddenly collapsed and went limp for no apparent reason. She carried her into the bedroom where he lay listless on the bed.
I decided to give her four drops of Rescue Remedy, so I placed it in his mouth, and watched as she smacked her lips, and then fell into a deep sleep.
A couple of hours later, she woke up, and I gave her four more drops. She repeated the exact same smacking noise, and once again fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up the third time, she was perfect fine, as though nothing had been wrong.
Now, I’m not a vet, and I can’t say what was wrong, or if she was going to get better on her own, but I have no doubt that those four drops sent her to a healing sleep. With the little I know about dogs, it would appear that dogs do go limp right before they die. Once again, it is speculation on if this would have happened, but healing certainly took place.
Another time, I came across a possum that was injured on the foot path. He or she as the case may be, was barely moving, and didn’t look all that healthy. As I carry a bottle of Rescue Remedy on me, I gave him a few drops. He seemed to recover within a minute, and was quickly gone.
I have used the Bach Flower Remedies on other animals and have had good results.
It’s reasonable to suggest that animals are not subject to the placebo effect.
What I want to do with this entry is discuss if the Bach Flower Remedies are a placebo or not.
It is reasonable for people to be sceptical about the BFR’s and so they should be. I certainly was. When I first saw them around 1992, the claims they made about healing emotional conditions seemed a little too good to be true.
To my logical mind back then, I just couldn’t see how that was possible.
It is true that many claims are made about products that are false and misleading. There are a lot of scams out there. There are many unscrupulous people who use spiritual mumbo jumbo to sell their goods with the promise of healing on a miraculous level.
They are blatantly misleading and how they are allowed to advertise their products and get away with it is just beyond belief.
They hurt the products that are legitimate. It’s like looking for a diamond in a mountain of glass facsimiles. At first glance, it looks promising until you realize it’s just another fake.
I’ve come across my fair share of such scams, and I’m sure many others have, too.
The Bach Flowers seemed to fall under the same category, so it wasn’t until 1994 when I finally tried them.
A lady, who I was getting therapeutic massages from, explained that they did work. At the time, I was quite drawn to her, and hung on her every word (in fact, this turned out to be a soul call, which is a call for help on a spiritual level) but I didn’t know that back then.
So, I bought a few, tried them, and found that worked so well that it was remarked that I was on happy pills.
What really sold me was that, around that time, I received some really bad news about a business investment I had made. As it involved a partner, it made it worse. I had made this decision right before I started trusting my intuition. (Which advised me against it, but I didn’t know enough at the time to listen.)
Normally, I would have not been able to sleep due to mulling over it and worrying about what I had to do, the reactions, and so on, but I decided to take Star of Bethlehem, which is the remedy for shock and trauma.
I immediately felt a peace settle over me, and the problem didn’t bother me again and it did eventually resolve itself, like most things do.
I started trying them on other people and found that the remedies would have a calming effect, especially on my mother, who could be highly strung.
I found that by putting same Rescue Remedy on her wrist, she calmed right now. My mind told me this shouldn’t be possible, but the results were certainly real.
Next: Are they a placebo – Part 2
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