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Miraculous Physical Recoveries

By Health.com Nov 17th 2009 10:40AM

Study Finds 16 percent of Americans Have Had a "Miraculous Physical Healing"

Nearly a quarter of American adults report having witnessed a "miraculous, physical healing," and, perhaps more surprisingly, 16 percent say they have actually experienced such a miracle themselves.

Pantry Healers

Provided by Health.com

Looking for a great skin refresher? How about a surprising remedy for a stuffy nose? Or a cure for blisters? The solutions may be as close as your kitchen pantry. Here are some surprising uses for everything from salt to honey.

How to Solve...

Heat rash

The remedy: Mix regular oatmeal (not instant) or cornstarch with water to make a thick paste. Apply to irritated skin, let it dry, and leave it on until it flakes off on its own (the residue will continue to work). Reapply only if it starts to itch again (otherwise you risk overdrying the area).

Why it works: Both oatmeal and cornstarch help reduce irritation and swelling, and provide itch relief.

Heel blister
The remedy: Carefully apply enough lavender oil (available at health-food stores) to fully cover the blister without popping it; this will help it deflate and dry out faster. Reapply every few hours for three to five days or until the blister heals completely.

Why it works: Lavender is a proven anti-inflammatory that can speed the healing of skin irritations. Bonus benefit: The aroma is incredibly

Sore muscle

The remedy: Saturate a cloth with apple cider vinegar and wrap it around the muscle for 20 minutes; the pain should disappear within a few hours. Reapply every three to four hours for continued relief until the pain is gone for good.

Why it works: Apple cider vinegar is a muscle reliever; it helps to draw lactic acid (the stuff that causes soreness) out of your muscles after exercise.

Athlete's foot

The remedy: Drop a few freshly minced cloves of garlic into a cotton sock, and then wear the sock overnight. (Just be sure to wash your feet in the morning with something that has a more pleasant scent!) Repeat the treatment nightly until the fungus disappears, usually within 7 to 10 days.

Why it works: Garlic kills all sorts of fungi-including the one that

Olive Oil

Earache relief
Warm olive oil can soothe your child's (or your) achy ear, says Rachel Lewis, MD, a pediatrician at Columbia University Medical Center. (Note: Only for kids 2 and up.) Use a syringe to place 2 to 4 drops of warm oil in ear (5 to 10 in your own). Follow up with doctor.

Skin soother

Olive oil's essential fatty acids are a natural Rx for rough elbows, hands, and cuticles, says dermatologist Lisa Donofrio, MD, of the Yale University School of Medicine. Nightly, rub a small amount of the extra-virgin variety into parched skin.

Dry-hair conditioner

Revive damaged hair with this treatment from John Masters of John Masters Organics hair- and skin-care lines: Saturate hair with extra-virgin olive oil, then wrap with a warm towel for 20 minutes. Shampoo, rinse, and condition if needed.

Salt

Sinus remedy
Stuffy? Mix 1/2 cup warm water with 1/2 teaspoon noniodized salt, says Diane Heatley, MD, of the American Academy of Otolaryngology. Using a neti pot, pour the mixture into one nostril; it'll flow out the other. Repeat on the opposite side.

Honey

Cough soother
For a nagging cough or scratchy throat that threatens to keep you or your kids up, try 2 teaspoons of honey. (Don't give it to babies under 1, though.) Honey coats the throat and helps thin mucus, says Ian M. Paul, MD, of Pennsylvania State University in Hershey.

Researchers from Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion released these survey results in a standing-room-only press conference in Washington, D.C., on September 18.

The pool of 1,721 respondents from across the United States said they had been touched by the divine in other ways as well. More than half (55 percent) said they had personally been protected from harm by a guardian angel, and 20 percent reported hearing the voice of God speaking to them.

"Religious and mystical experiences are an overlooked aspect of our national religious life, neglected by researchers and ignored or even denied by leading theologians and seminary professors," writes religion professor Rodney Stark in What Americans Really Believe, the book that analyzes the survey's findings.

I took up Stark's challenge and asked Christopher Bader, one of the researchers, to tell me a little bit about the people behind these statistics.

For one thing, Bader explained, more women than men (18 percent compared to 13 percent) report having had a miraculous healing, and nonwhites are more than twice as likely as whites to report the same. Education and income levels also enter into it: Basically, the more education you have, and the more money you earn, the less likely you are to report a miraculous healing.

That said, although half of those who say they have been miraculously healed had only an eighth-grade education, 1 in 10 had postgraduate degrees. In other words, belief in these experiences touches people from all walks of life.

Pentecostals and African-American Protestants were far more likely than other groups, such as mainline Protestants or Catholics or Jews, to say they have either witnessed or experienced a miraculous healing firsthand.

But I still had more questions. What do these experiences feel like? Are they dramatic transforming moments or a gradual feeling of recovery in spite of the odds? Does it usually happen in a religious setting, like a church or revival, or can it happen in a hospital under the care of doctors? And the $60,000 question: Can science prove that a miraculous healing has taken place?

Unfortunately, the Baylor survey-though broad in scope-didn't touch on those topics.

But I did find one story, featured on the evangelical TV show The 700 Club, about Waid Kidd, a man who suffered from post-polio syndrome, a painful, incurable condition that left him debilitated. A churchgoing man, Kidd had been prayed over many times, according to the report, to no avail. Yet one Sunday, he felt "called" to have church members lay hands on him. "The power of the Lord starting pouring over me," he said.

"As I can best describe it, it was a bucket of warm water, and it was slowly poured over the top of my head. It went down over me, except it didn't just go down over me; I felt it go through me. It went all the way to my feet and went out of [my] heels. I realized the pain was gone."

While I have never experienced such severe illness or such dramatic healing, I wonder if others who have had such experiences may be reluctant, for fear of ridicule, to share their stories. I hope this study and the interest in it will start the discussion about this "overlooked aspect" of religious life in America.