Wednesday, May 26, 2010Healthy Homespun Remedies

Natural Home Remedies for Common Health Problems

Several decades ago,natural home remedies were popular and they are still effective today. Yet nowadays, we’ve become accustomed to running to the medical profession, the pharmaceutical industry, or the neighborhood drugstore for our healing aids and nostrums.

Many of these old home healing remedies cost next to nothing so you can save money and feel better at the same time. Try them next time you have one of these common health problems:

Acidity. Eating watermelon, bananas, or cucumber on the hour may reduce acidity.  Enjoy a cold glass of milk.  Grind mint leaves in warm water and drink slowly for instant relief.  Mix apple cider vinegar and honey (2 tsp each) in warm water and drink.

Cough. Warm water with a teaspoon of lemon juice and a teaspoon of honey added is a great source to soothe a cough. Another remedy is 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon dry ginger, 1 tablespoon honey in a cup of hot water. Home cough remedies have worked for a long time.

Cramps at Night. Nighttime cramps are frequently caused by too little calcium in your diet. Calcium-rich foods are milk, soy drink, cheese, broccoli, watercress, kale, okra, red kidney beans, garbanzo beans, green beans, baked beans, nuts, fish, cheesecake, pudding, ice cream, pasta, rice, bread, muesli, tofu, eggs, pizza, lasagna.

Earache. One of the very best remedies is to place something warm and moist around the ear, like a wet, warm towel.  Wrapping a hot water bottle with a towel also provides the warmth.  Several drops of a warmed oil like mineral oil, or sweet oil may help.  Taking a decongestant can also be helpful.

Fever. Fever is an indication of an infection.  Frequently in small children, fever accompanies some fear they may have.  Finding out what the fear is and talking to them about it is most helpful.  For adults, having a massage and relaxing will dissipate the fever. Warm baths work better than the old remedy, cold baths. Take in plenty of fluids.

Headache. In lieu of medicine, try these natural home remedies: Place an ice pack on your forehead, or the top of your head.  Apply a warmed pillow behind your neck.  Dim the lights and give yourself a scalp massage.  Rest in bed, calmly, and visualize the headache turning to a red liquid and then draining out your ear.  Sometimes, having sex alleviates a headache.  Be sure you get enough vitamin C.

Itching. If you have a sensitivity to flea, spider and mosquito bites, a superb remedy is to wet the spot of the bite and sprinkle meat tenderizer on it.  Or, try rubbing Tea Tree Oil or Mentholatum on the spot.  A paste of baking soda and water applied works well also.  Apply oil containing vitamin E.

Nosebleed. Frequently, nosebleed can be caused by a lowered level of Vitamin C and of Zinc.  The foods that are rich in Vitamin C include Sweet red bell peppers, parsley, broccoli, cauliflower, strawberries, mustard greens, papaya, grapefruit, kiwi, oranges, cantaloupe, cabbage, tomatoes, raspberries, celery, spinach, pineapple, watermelon, tangerines, limes, cranberries and guava.  The top ten foods that are rich in Zinc are: oysters, wheat germ, veal liver, sesame flower and tahini, low fat roast beef, roasted pumpkin and squash seeds, dried watermelon seeds, cocoa powder and chocolate, lamb, and peanuts.

Osteoporosis. This symptom is about too little calcium.  Make soup broth from bones. Brown them first in the oven to extract their flavor.  Then, add a little bit of vinegar to help extract calcium from the bones.  You’ll find tons of calcium in this stock – more than in milk!  Also, look at the Cramps at Night topic to see other foods rich in calcium.

Scars. We’ve been told to use vitamin E to reduce the incidence of scarring.  It might just be the application of the vitamin E that is the helper bee here, because massaging helps break down collagen while the wound heals.

Stuffy Nose. To open up your nasal passages, you want to make them runny.  You can have fun experimenting with sniffing raw onions, eat hot and spicy food, drinking any hot liquid (this is how the ‘chicken soup’ tradition was born,) take a hot shower, use a humidifier, put a menthol product into a pot of boiling water and breathe it in using a towel for a tent, cleanse with a saline solution and a Neti Pot.

In most cases, these natural home remedies should do the trick, but it is never wise to try home healing remedies for common health problems for an extended period of time or if the condition is severe or persistent. In that case, seeing your physician is required.