Body or medicines. Who heals ?? Do we need medicines ??
In 2016, mostly, I had hairline fracture on my right toe of the feet. My feet was swollen to the full for 20 days. I stayed home for 4 days and did hot and cold water treatment only and did not go to the doctor. After 25 days my feet healed. No problem. Last month an iron rod fell and hit me on the same toe. It was pain but then back to work. :up:
Some 8 years back, I had a big fungus on my left toe. It troubled me for 1 year and then disappeared. Just like Barack Obama (fungus) and United States of America.
Just 4 months back, I had 3 inches ringworm (itch) on my back. After 2 months it disappeared without any medicine. :fire: :fire:
Medicine helps, but is not always necessary.
Well we do have immune systems and the ability to heal. The younger and fitter you are, the stronger your immune system, and the faster your body can heal - but medicines are a good idea if you want to be done with the problem quicker, or your immune system isn't as strong.
In the case of a broken toe, I don't think your treatment was much different from what a doctor could've done for you. They don't put casts on toes - you just have to wait for it to heal. Of course a doctor may have prescribed pain meds which could've been helpful during that first week.
As for ringworm, it's a tinea fungus, like athlete's foot and jock itch. You could've just bought over-the-counter athletes foot medicine, and been rid of the rash in a week or two. When my sick cat developed ring worm on her ears, the vet told me to just use Lotrimin for athlete's foot on it. She had a compromised immune system from one of the meds being used to treat cancer. (RIP Skinny. :( )
As for toe fungus, (assuming you mean the disgusting, repulsive and hideous nail kind) supposedly, it's usually just athlete's foot that's spread under the nail, where it's harder to treat. So maybe you started off with tinea pedis and ignored it? Whereas, if you had used an OTC treatment before it reached the nail, it wouldn't have reached the more difficult stage.
I'll guess that Jeremy Wade was in excellent health before he contracted malaria, so was able to overcome it without meds - but if he had been malnourished or older, he might not have been so lucky.