Glycolic peels, light therapies, antibiotics — Roseanna Meas tried it all.
The 24-year-old aspiring actress from Etobicoke, Ont., has struggled with acne since adolescence and not one doctor has been able to cure the ailment that’s followed her into adulthood.
“A lot of the treatments I had used were very abrasive — a lot of chemicals,” said Meas.
Frustrated by traditional medicine’s inability to clear her condition, Meas went in search of a natural remedy to mend her complexion. That’s when she stumbled upon an online advertisement recruiting subjects for the new W Network television show Remedy Me!
The program — it begins airing Tuesday night — looks at one affliction per episode and follows two sufferers of it as they explore different alternative treatments. From restless-leg to irritable bowel syndromes, Remedy Me! uses solutions like hypnosis, reiki and traditional Chinese medicines to mar maladies.
Meas didn’t experience anything too bizarre, undergoing regular acupuncture and drinking herbal concoctions. But show creator Janice Evans of Creative Atlantic Communications said some of the televised treatments — even acupuncture — are pretty dramatic to watch.
“There was an acupuncturist that puts all the needles in, and then attaches little electrical wires to each one. Then she turns on a little kind of electrical jolt that goes through each of the needles that gets the chi moving,” she said. “The woman looked like she was hooked up for Frankenstein.”
But it’s not the spectacle that encouraged Evans to develop the show. She said she was inspired by her long-time interest in alternative health, and the common dispersion of drugs-as-treatment due to an over-burdened health care system. “Doctors don’t have time to spend time with people on finding the solution that might work for them … I think anyone who takes the time and has that personal attention and believes in what they’re doing is going to have progress.”
Meas understands why some might be too embarrassed and expose their medical issues on TV, but for her desperation trumped anxiety. “I can feel for other people who have suffered with acne, so I figured I might as well just let myself be the guinea pig.”
