Cider Vinegar
The late Margaret Hills, SRN, trained at St Stephen’s Hospital, London. She developed osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis as a young woman, but went on to finish her nurse’s training, marry, have eight children and pursue a long career as an industrial nurse. She developed her own method of natural treatment for arthritis and ran a clinic in Kenilworth. The clinic, now run by her daughter Christine Horner, attracts patients from far and wide. Treating Arthritis the Drug-Free Way, Treating Arthritis: More ways to a drug-free life, Treating Arthritis Diet Book and Treating Arthritis Exercise Book are also by Margaret Hills and are all published by Sheldon Press.
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Cider Vinegar
MARGARET HILLS, SRN
First published in Great Britain in 1997 by Sheldon Press
An Hachette UK Company
Sheldon Press
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.sheldonpress.co.uk
Copyright © Margaret Hills 1997, 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
The views expressed in this book are the author’s own and do not in any way reflect the views of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978–1–84709–314–1
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
‘Ignore not the Apple’ by Margaret Issitt
1 Getting a proper diagnosis
2 Pure, natural cider vinegar
3 Cider vinegar in the home
4 Crude black molasses and honey
5 Case-notes from the clinic
Glossary of terms
Search terms
Preface
I am writing this book in response to the requests of so many of my patients in various parts of the world who are constantly seeking to understand what apple cider vinegar is all about.
Here at the Margaret Hills Clinic great results are being achieved through the use of apple cider vinegar, honey and crude black molasses. These products form the basis of a very effective old-fashioned remedy for ridding the body of the toxic acid which is a root-cause of both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. In a previous book, written in 1985 (Treating Arthritis the Drug-Free Way), I explained the cause of these diseases. If you would like to learn more about the cause and treatment of your rheumatic condition, detailed information is available in that book, which has helped thousands over the years. Treating Arthritis: More ways to a drug-free life, which followed, gives a lot of information on treatments.
Although most people know of the many benefits of honey and crude black molasses, I have decided to include these products and their benefits in this book. It seems to me that many of my patients are taking these remedies and getting tremendous benefits from using them without actually knowing the reason. I do hope you will find the contents of this book to be of great interest and help.
Margaret Hills
The Margaret Hills Clinic, 1 Oaks Precinct, Caesar Road, Kenilworth, Warwickshire CV8 1DP, <www.margarethillsclinic.com>.
Acknowledgements
My thanks go to my daughter Christine Horner, who has been most helpful in the preparation of this book and who has been involved in the clinic from its very beginning. She is fully qualified to carry on the work of the clinic for years to come.
Also, my special thanks to Margaret Issitt, who wrote the poem ‘Ignore not the Apple’ in praise of cider vinegar.
I would also like to express my appreciation of the help and support provided by my sons, Graham and Bill; also Caroline Peasley, Rachel Uzzell and Caron Roughton whose constant support and encouragement was most valuable.
Introduction
I was introduced to apple cider vinegar in 1960. For the previous 16 years, I had suffered the pain of rheumatoid arthritis. This had worsened gradually until osteoarthritis was diagnosed. I was reduced to a state of continuous pain – sometimes severe, sometimes not so severe – but always there.
It all began in June 1946. I had started to train as a nurse at St Stephen’s Hospital in Fulham Road, London, and I enjoyed every moment of it. The ward work was hard but interestin
g, and the social life was first-class – there was always somebody off duty to accompany me to the theatre or to the Hammersmith Palais – a favourite dance venue. Free tickets to various London shows were often available to the nurses. In short, we worked hard and we played hard. Life was good, and we enjoyed it.
It had been a particularly busy day on the ward, and as we went to our rooms in the nurses’ home we decided we would have a bath and go to the Hammersmith Palais. We had a most enjoyable evening, returning to the hospital ready for a good night’s sleep at 11 p.m.
I woke up at about 2 a.m. feeling stiff and in pain. Perhaps I was overtired – I hoped that the feeling would have passed by 7 a.m., when I should be getting up for duty. I had a very restless night. The night sister knocked on my door: ‘Time to get up, nurse’, she called. I could scarcely move. Every joint was stiff and painful, and I knew I had a high temperature. However, I dragged myself out of bed and on to the ward. The ward sister could see that I was not well. She took my temperature and said: ‘My God, girl, you’ve got rheumatic fever!’ She asked a porter to bring a wheelchair to take me to the nurses’ sick-bay, and that was the beginning of five long months in bed, on complete rest, not allowed to wash or feed myself, or even to write a letter to my parents.
The rheumatoid virus had attacked my heart. It was very badly enlarged, and my pain, soreness and stiffness are not easily understood by anybody who has not suffered the disease. In the sick-bay I got VIP treatment. Harley Street specialists came every other day to examine my heart. The attention I got from them and my nursing colleagues was second to none.
Having spent five months in bed, I was over the acute stage and was allowed three months convalescence. During my months in hospital, the only treatment I had received was aspirin when the pain became too much, and my sore throat was painted with iodine. Drugs for arthritis had not yet invaded the market – and what a blessing that was.
When my convalescence came to an end, I felt quite good and returned to the hospital to finish my training. That training was to prove invaluable in the clinic I run today, and also in the books I have written on arthritis.
It is important to tell the foregoing story because, without suffering the pain of arthritis at that time and for sixteen years afterwards, I would never have been introduced to the apple cider vinegar, honey and crude black molasses, which I have found to be such excellent natural remedies for the many and varied conditions which my patients present me with day after day. I give thanks for the day my next-door neighbour handed me a book written by Dr Jarvis, Arthritis and Cider Vinegar. I put his advice into practice and that, coupled with the excellent training I’d had as a nurse, was instrumental in ridding my body of the arthritic pain I had suffered for sixteen years.