Cider Vinegar
By Margaret Hills S.R.N. - a Sheldon Press book

Many thousands of people take cider vinegar every day, because they find it can help their symptoms of arthritis, joint pain, gout, diverticulitis and other troublesome complaints.

This book is for anyone who is concerned about their health, and wants to be sure they use natural remedies safely - here are the facts without the hype. It explains how cider vinegar works, who can take it, and how to use the treatment at home, including quick reference for symptoms that need medical attention, what to expect, warnings for anyone who shouldn't use it and advice about motivation and maintaining effective change for a healthier lifestyle.

Margaret Hills established a clinic that has helped thousands of arthritis sufferers around the world overcome their health problems and lead active, mobile lives. Her book Curing Arthritis - the Drug-Free Way has sold over a quarter of a million copies.

Contents:

• Ignore not the apple by Margaret Issitt
• Getting a proper diagnosis
• Pure, natural cider vinegar
• Cider vinegar in the home
• Crude black molasses and honey
• Case-notes from the clinic

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 interesting, 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 16 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.

Fifteen years ago, I opened a clinic - The Margaret Hills Clinic- for arthritics. Treatment is based on the cider vinegar, honey and molasses regime. The results are extremely satisfying: many patients have got rid of their arthritis and other associated symptoms.

A lot of people today are worried about taking drugs. The shocking truth is that the drugs are harming far too many of us. The side-effects can sometimes be horrendous because many of the drugs used are highly toxic. The informed public know this, and are now turning to natural treatments in a big way. Nothing can be more natural than the three products which are the subject of this book - apple cider vinegar, honey and crude black molasses.

Ignore not the Apple

The poets know, and so do we,
That simple truths will always be
Those that matter to us most;
And so the apple can surely boast
To be at the top of the healing tree.

So reach up high, my friend,
And pluck the fruit I recommend.
It will be pressed, fermented; nothing added
But yeast and time: they'll do their best.
Our native fruit; it gives nectar,
And is known from East to West;
And when the vats are fully emptied,
And bottles, filled, and juice is sold,
The orchards of acetic acid
Transformed into liquid of precious gold,
It is wise to listen, these words to heed:
'Good health is yours'. From a seed
Has grown a tree. Its abundant harvest
Must be to us the very best.

Cider - cyder - there's no difference.
Ignore not the apple, its juice is pure.
As cider vinegar it makes good sense.
Your efforts will bear fruit, I'm sure.

My friend, take heart if you're in pain,
And simply aim for peace again.
Try to smile; not be too low,
And to the health shop quickly go.
Then with your juice please persevere -
And always know - good health is near!

(Margaret Issitt, September 1996)

About the author:
The late Margaret Hills was born in Co. Kerry, Ireland, in 1925. Moving to England aged 17, she trained as a state registered nurse, married and subsequently became the mother of eight children. She suffered severe arthritis for 16 years, only gaining relief after desperate research led her to start taking apple cider vinegar, among other remedies. Having written four books on arthritis, she now guides others at her clinic in Kenilworth, so that they too can get relief from this very painful condition. The clinic is now run by her daughter Christine Horner.