If they didn’t, it would be unlikely that over three million people in West Germany alone would visit spas every year, year after year.
I have talked to doctors in Bad Pyrmont and their reaction to my question was something like this:
The modern inquiry into balneology and the medicinal value of mineral waters is recent and as yet incomplete. But what is already known indicates that mineral waters do indeed have curative powers. And they should, inasmuch as disordered mineral metabolism and biochemical derangement are at the root of many diseases. But what is even more important is the fact that these waters here in Bad Pyrmont have been used for healing purposes’ for almost two thousand years; and millions of sick people have been benefited by them—patients and doctors see examples of it every day!
I have asked some patients for the reasons for coming to Bad Pyrmont, and here are a few of the answers I received:
“I have high blood pressure,” said a stout, executive-looking gentleman. “Medication does not help me at all. Also, I have a weight problem. So my doctors advised me to come here. I come each summer and take the water cure for six weeks. In that time my blood pressure usually goes down to normal and I lose some weight. By the next spring my blood pressure probably will go up again, so I’ll make another visit here. These mineral waters keep me alive!”
“I have been suffering from arthritis for three years,” said a young-looking blonde lady of approximately 30. “I am staying at the sanatorium here and taking a cure under my doctor’s supervision. I have been fasting three weeks and drinking mineral waters. I have also taken many different kinds of baths and water treatments. My arthritis is almost gone. All the pain disappeared after the first week here. I hardly could bend my knees before; now I walk all day long without any discomfort.”
I stopped a little girl of about seven, who was on the way to the bath appointment with her mother. “My girl had a disfiguring eczema for several months. Our doctor didn’t know the cause of it and was unable to help her with drugs, so he sent us here. Now she has been taking baths, packs, and drinking cures for six weeks and her eczema is almost gone. Only a very few small spots are left on her elbows.”
On a bench in the beautiful spa park I talked to a group of elderly people, the patients at the state-operated rehabilitation clinic for heart diseases. They all had long records of cardiac insufficiency, circulatory problems and blood pressure disorders. They were sent there by their medical insurance government each year to improve their health and particularly to improve their heart condition. They all assured me that they felt “so much better” after staying one month at their clinic and taking all the recommended water cures.
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