He was trying to make a point, similar to
a point I tried to make almost a year ago. Lack of comprehension pervaded there, too.
At any rate...
How is one expected to "help themselves" when "helping themselves" requires the intervention of a high-level player?
You want a level ~20 to go skill alchemy. Getting the skill (and the ingredients for the meds in question) isn't realistic until level ~40 (not to mention the abominable timesink of skilling a craft in and of itself). Your only other suggestions boil down to "get assistance from someone else's high-level character" in one way or another.
Call that what you will, but "helping oneself" it is not. At best, it's "make yourself useful to someone else."