I find this story interesting.

I knew a gal who went to a holistic MD who then sent her to a Czech woman who did a very strange thing. Told her to bring all her RX bottles with the pills in them. She had the patient lie down,
and close her eyes. Then the Czech woman put one at a time on
the patients prone stomach, and waved her arms around, and chanted in her language, all of them. There were several, more than 5 I believe. In the end, she told the patient, that she detected bad energy from the RX of Dyazide, and that this medication should be stopped!

I really don't know what to think about the above, or your PN acquaintance's Russian treatment.

I do get the impression that being a trained doctor at 17 is not credible. Perhaps she trained for 17 years? And something was lost in the communication of this?

Anyway, in Northern countries, it is common to use a steam bath, hut or shed, then run and jump into a frozen lake or ocean.
This is a cultural thing, and perhaps does affect the way the brain interprets sensory signals. Alot of pain, is perceptual and this occurs in the brain. So all I can think of is that this hot/cold alternating treatment is doing the same thing.

I would be very careful leaving cold on the skin for any length of time however... if a person is diabetic or has a blood disorder with elevated cryoglobulins, tissue damage is possible. The peptides called cryoglobulins, actually solidify in the small blood vessels of the hands and feet or other tissues with cold, and may block circulation enough so that those tissues die...and may lead to gangrene eventually.
Type in cryoglobulinemia into Google images for some sobering photos.

Mel...do you know how LONG this fellow has been doing this treatment?

Also what was in the "tea"? I'd be really careful taking any herbal thing without investigating its contents, and researching those. Was this toxin cleanse....just a big laxative? Often placebo treatments historically were only laxatives. Doctors gave them to just about everyone, even small children. I'm personally researching old remedies lately, and laxatives were given for even upper respiratory viruses. The vast majority of old products were simply laxatives! Purging was a very common and longstanding "treatment". Today this practice has a new name, a modern name= cleansing. People have died using "cleansing" teas, in fact. They can cause a significant loss of potassium from the body. Enough to cause the heart to stop in some people.

Here is one link with other questionable cures:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/lif...l-quackery.htm
There are many such links on the net today, many with language not suitable for NeuroTalk.