Update: Because there were people who seemed extremely concerned that I’m giving medical advice, let me make it exquisitely clear that these are all tips for very minor situations, the kinds where you weren’t going to go to a doctor anyway. Nothing is a replacement for actual medical care. This is minor irritations, like a mildly upset tummy or occasional stress-related cold sores.
Also, a word of warning against taking any herbal treatments without researching them first, or asking your doctor: They can fuck you up. The number one example is a lot of women who took St. John’s wort as a mood-lifter have found out too late that it makes your birth control pill basically not work. A much safer temporary pick-me-up I use is to boil some dried rosemary in a cup of water and breathe in the steam. No, it’s not scientific, but the sharp smell tends to wake me right up and cheer me up.
Lauren has the first Help Us Help Ourselves carnival up and it’s a great one. I kind of considered doing a general “home remedies” one, but decided to wait to see if anyone else did, because doing this means exposing the bizarre lengths my cheap hippie side will go to. Helen did a couple of home remedy suggestions, but the bulk of her post was on the much more important topic of escaping abusive relationships. Hers is some very solid advice without condescending to you, so I recommend it if you need it. I don’t have good advice about stuff like that, so we’ll stick to home remedies.
I recently learned this one from Auguste when I complained about how I get cold sores on my lip every time I’m stressing out—eat Tums to prevent cold sores. I’m not sure if this works on the other kind of herpes that some folks have on their less visible but more tender parts, but it works like a dream for boring old cold sores. I haven’t had a problem with them since I started carrying a bottle of generic Tums around and eating a couple after I eat or even when I just find myself worrying. Not sure why it works, except that stress might make your stomach go nuts and wear down your immune system—that’s my best guess. But it does work.
For actual stomach issues, if you have an upset stomach that is giving you nausea, for whatever reason, ginger will fix you right up. Gingery food, crystallized ginger, and ginger ale are good ways to calm a nauseous stomach.
For a persistent cough, a shot of bourbon often works better than cough syrup. But just one, lushes.
You can build up immunity to allergies by eating local honey. That’s an old one from my grandmother. I keep local honey in the cabinet and sweeten drinks with that instead of sugar.
On honey: the link I have above mentions that it’s anti-bacterial. I don’t know if it is or not, but rubbing a thin layer of it on your face for 5 minutes and then scrubbing it off (probably in the shower, since it’s messy) is like the best facial for clearing up your pores I’ve ever seen.
This one is all me: I swish hydrogen peroxide in mouth before I brush. Cheaper that Plax.
In fact, I love hydrogen peroxide. I use it for everything except cleaning out cuts. For cuts, I use iodine, especially with cat scratches since it’s the only thing that stops them from itching. If I’m getting all sinus-y, I drip some hydrogen peroxide in my ears to break up the wax. If I get a zit, I soak a Q-tip in hydrogen peroxide and grind it in there and then go back and clean it up with rubbing alcohol, which does the trick.
Things that help you heal faster: zinc, garlic, echinacea.
Break the chains of your Monistat oppressors with a really kick-ass home remedy: To treat yeast infections, at least mild ones, dip a tampon in some live culture yogurt and then insert as your normally would. Eating yogurt prevents them, if you’re prone. I’ve also heard that a clove of garlic inserted in the vagina—with the skin still on—works, but I’ve never tried it. Monistat is for pussies. Pussies with ringworm.
On that, my grandmother used to swear by drinking cranberry juice to prevent urinary tract infections. I’ve since read that cranberry juice has quinine in it, so that’s probably why it works. So I mix it with tonic water and figure that somehow magically doubles the effects. This is only a prevention technique. If you have one, get thee to the doctor and get your antibiotics, though there’s no reason not to keep drinking the cranberry juice.
Tension headaches are best relieved by orgasms, but in lieu of that, aspirin plus a little Tiger Balm on your temples will do it.
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I’d think the Tums would work for both Herpes 1 & 2 (cold sores & genital) since it is not really a topical treatment.
Cranberry juice also will help you clear a UTI if you’ve gotten one, but seeing the doc is a must unless you just want to end up on dialysis.
To be slightly negative, ginger actually irritates some people’s stomach, so make sure you know what it does for you.
And finally, I know echinacea is a big herbal trend, but it’s just a placebo.
Prayer.
I’ve had good luck with the ginger thing - I get carsick if I try to read on cars or buses, but ginger tea keeps the awful feeling at bay.
Honey also helps heal badly chapped lips (a very thin layer), though it can be very hard to not lick off the treatment (I apply it before going to sleep, so there’s less temptation, just a slight lint problem to deal with).
And the one I really wanted to use today, but could not: fresh slices of onion, if applied soon after injury, help reduce bruising a LOT. (I found the slipperiest section of ice on the bike path today, and my knee is still unhappy about it. I’m going to have a very colorful bruise.)
Of course, you want to make the sure the yogurt on that tampon is plain.
My grandmother insists on the “gin raisin” cure for arthritis. She’s a complete teetotaler otherwise, so it was a bit of a leap for her to try it, but now she swears by it.
Anyway, you take a bunch of golden raisins, and they must be golden. Put them in a jar. Pour gin over them. Let steep for a couple of weeks.
When ready, eat nine (nine! exactly!) raisins first thing in the morning.
I looked it up and it has a smidgeon of credence. I maintain it just gets you a little tipsy and dulls the pain.
Me, I think the raisins are yummy. They plump up a little in the gin, and make a nice alcoholic treat for rainy Sunday afternoons.
D: just curious about this, as I’ve had UTI symptoms before that disappeared after a day of drinking lots of water and cranberry juice.
A remedy I recently learned of is to put soy sauce to treat burns. Illocano Avenger had a rare kitchen accident and used it to good effect. It’s probably the salt and sugar in it that helps reduce the damage to the tissue.
Speaking of bourbon for coughs and gin for arthritis, don’t you love how people in old movies used a tall glass of straight liquor to cure everything? Chilly outside, going to catch a cold? Thirsty after a long day of exertion? Just fainted? Have some booze. And I do mean a tall glass; they didn’t condescend to dilute it with ice or mixers, or serve it in a shotglass or any of that weenie crap.
By the way, I was kidding about the prayer thing. Two cats in the bed, however, can hasten recovery from any cold.
Prayer
Yeah, I find talking to myself a great way to work out certain problems as well. I do it all the time. I’ve often thought I was crazy because I did it, but sometimes it helps to lay your emotions out to someone, even if it’s yourself. Also, I suffer from depression, but I’ve found it is controllable for me without medication now that I know the symptoms and that I have a wonderful support network.
Dad’s cure for flu symptoms:
Tea
Twist of lemon (good for vitamin C)
Heaping spoon of honey (good for the throat)
Generous helping of brandy (preferably Metaxa if you want the traditional recipe) (good for forgetting the symptoms)
I tried the first recommendation for headaches yesterday evening and found it didn’t work, unfortunately.
But it was the first trial, so perhaps further experiments will yield different results?
*relurks*
-coconut oil instead of lotion (the delicious smelling, unrefined kind) Also makes a good hair grease for messy chunky styles.
-for outer ear infections (swimmers ear, etc), lemon juice or warm olive oil- put a couple drops in, hold your head to one side for 3 or so minutes. IME, as a sufferer of recurring swimmers ear, this works 10x better than the drops the doctor gives you. My mom taught me the lemon juice one in 7th grade when the prescription just wasn’t clearing it up completely. The acidic nature of the lemon juice makes your ear inhospitable for bacteria. However, since it is too harsh for really painful infections, and changing the environment of your ear is pretty intense, warm olive oil is a nice and soothing alternative.
-tea tree oil for cyst-like acne (just dip a qtip an apply to the kind of zits that don’t burst but hurt). I like amanda’s hydrogen peroxide idea for burst ones. I, however, use neosporin.
-when I go camping, I wash my face in witch hazel. Just buy some cotton rounds/cotton balls and a bottle of witch hazel and it’s the perfect astringent. Also heals broken skin faster (like popped zits). Good for mosquito bites too. And very very cheap.
-wet tea bags on eyes for pinkeye
Anyway, you take a bunch of golden raisins, and they must be golden. Put them in a jar. Pour gin over them. Let steep for a couple of weeks.
That sounds better than the regular golden raisins I have in my daily oatmeal.
An outer ear infection can be cured by putting sweet oil in your ear canal. If you can’t find sweet oil, extra virgin olive oil will do. It may take a few applications over a couple of days, but the infection will go away. It also helps to plug up that ear with a cotton ball with a little bit of the oil on it.
The bacteria that infects the outer ear canal has to be exposed to air to breed and grow. When you put the oil in your ear, you coat it so it doesn’t get any air and eventually dies out.
Cheaper and easier than a trip to the doctor.
I totally agree. Got me through some horrible times to lay it all out to myself in seclusion. I guess my offhand prayer comment was more in the vein of ribbing people who believe that if you pray, and get all your prayer-chain requests in order, God will prove his love by curing your cancer or whatever. The Christian Scientists and such, who refuse many forms of medical intervention.
Ginger ale has no actual ginger in it. If it makes you feel better, more power to you.
no, you can’t. that doesn’t even make sense. you can’t develop an immunity to allergies b/c an allergic reaction IS an immune reaction. if a person stops reacting to an allergen, it’s because their immune system stopped producing antibodies. consuming more of the allergen will not hasten that process, and it might send you into anaphylactic shock.
only Manuka honey
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1447054&dopt=Citation
Heal what, exactly? Never mind, none of them have been shown to be effective against anything.
Becky: UIT’s can be self limiting, but when they aren’t, they lead to kidney infections and then to kidney failure. If you don’t take antibiotics, get a culture done after you’ve been symptom free.
Here’s a little help for everyone: don’t get your medical information from the web, unless it’s from PubMed. I don’t care that your doctor was an asshole and your acupuncturist is a sweetheart. Only science can prove a treatment effective, and no amount of anecdotes will change that.
I find yogurt also tends to settle my stomach (and I hate ginger, so for anyone else who does, maybe give this a try. Do it while you have a yeast infection and it’s two for the price of one!).
Probably everyone on this blog knows this, but menstrual cramps are also pretty well relieved by orgasms (but they can come back, so maybe take an Advil afterwards just in case).
and let us not forget that most mysterious and ancient of commercial elixirs, in use since 1884.
Yes, I speak of Campho Phenique!!!!
I don’t know about you guys but a lot of us southern kids were raised surrounded by aunties and grandmas who believed deeply in the Holy Trinity of healing– Campho Phenique, Vicks Vapo Rub and Monkey Blood. with the three of them, they could cure anything.
I use a product called Abreva for cold sores. Works great. Its a little tube and its expensive but if you feel one coming on and you use it right away-it stops it in its tracks and will prevent it from breaking out.
For colds, I use cold care tea from Traditional Medicinals.
For excess ear wax go to Walgreens and ask for the Ototek loop. Amazing product. It has a snall loop on the end just like the ear doctors and removes wax like a charm.
Seconding the tea tree oil for acne.
My gyno told me to take Tums - two or three per day - as a calcium supplement to stave off osteoporosis. Nice to know they work for canker sores, too!
If you feel like you are coming down with a cold: Have a big bowl of hot-and-sour soup or Thai lemongrass chicken soup - it must be VERY spicy. The steam and spices will blast the ickies away.
For that peppermint to soothe the stomach, try Altoids. They are made with peppermint oil.
If your ear canal is dry and sore inside (we are talking about the canal, not the eardrum), a little vinegar will change the pH and it will stop hurting (I work for an otologist).
I love ginger. Ginger and lemon tea really clears up congestion. This is my favorite drink, since I’m prone to allergies and it’s that time of season at my Uni where everyone is sick.
Constantine, you beat me to the tea, lemon, honey, & brandy - great stuff for a cold, or to soothe your throat. I also love Tiger Balm red for sore muscles - just remember to wash your hands before you rub your eyes or any other sensitive area.
Mom used to rub me down with Vicks Vapo-rub and wrap a wool sock around my neck. It sure seemed to work when I had a chest cold.
Ditto what Frumious B says about zinc, garlic, echinacea, and before someone brings it up, Vitamin C (Linus Pauling was very smart, but no doctor). You’re better off with a delicious medical cocktail like Neo Citran.
Oooh! I forgot some actual advice. To soothe a sore throat, gargle with a mixture of salt (lots of it!) and hot water.
I recently learned this one from Auguste when I complained about how I get cold sores on my lip every time I’m stressing out
I’ve gotten cold sores ever since I was a very young child (always on the right side of my mouth). When I was in early grade school, I would get one every couple of months. By the time I got to high school, I would get maybe one or two a year. Now that I’m well into my adult years, I get one maybe every five years or so.
I guess my body has built up some resistance to the virus. Even when I get one, they are so much milder than the ones I got as a child.
Perhaps you’ll have a similar experience.
I’ve also heard that a clove of garlic inserted in the vagina—with the skin still on—works, but I’ve never tried it.
That works a treat, but I’ve found it’s better if you *do* peel it. If you’re worried about having trouble removing it you can tie some dental floss around it and leave a string hanging out.
And applying a glob of toothpaste to a big zit and leaving it overnight won’t fix it, but it’ll look *way* less angry in the morning.
1) ginger also works (for me, at least) for cramps. also warm things like electric blankets, duh.
2) i thought it was something in the cranberry juice that made the urinary tract too slippery for e.coli to latch on to. maybe that something is quinine, which would be interesting. idunno.
3) tmi alert: another really weird thing to do with herbs is make a tea to solve, eh, problematic gas. no lie. one morning i panicked because i was having farts, the unacceptably smelly kind, and HAD to go to class. fixed it with a makeshift teabag out of a paper coffee filter and a wire twist-tie thingy, filled with peppercorns, dried mint leaves, cumin, coriander, ginger, and either nutmeg or cloves, i can’t remember. the ginger settled my stomach and the other things are known as carminatives, i.e. they quell gas (cleverly, cumin and coriander goes in curry dishes, also fennel is one and is used in boiled cabbage…). it also soothed serious abdominal discomfort when i had one of those big gas bubbles that sit right under your chest like a fat balloon.
If you get recurrent cold sores on your lip (and I used to — whenever I got a cold and irritated my top lip with tissues I got one in the same exact spot every time), don’t mess around and just ask your doc for a Zovirax (or whatever the generic is called) and just put it on when you feel one coming. It really works — so does Abreva, which I think is the same thing but in over-the-counter strength. It’s the stuff they give folks with II and it knocks those fuckers down.
Hippie ginger ale — likes Reeds (yum!) has a ton of ginger in it. Ginger works as well for me as dramamine, too, for motion sickness. Raw candied ginger (bought in bulk) for airplane trips and boat rides is a must for me.
Echinacea makes me puke. Literally. At least in chopped-up raw herb form in capsules. I kept taking it once when I was sick and kept wondering why I never got better and why my cold had turned into stomach flu . . . until my puny brain made the connection that I was wretching 20 minutes after each echinacea pill.
Put a little bit of rosemary oil and lavender oil in the olive oil you’re using for your ear infection and it will increase effectiveness immensely– rosemary and lavender are anti-bacterial oils, and the olive oil dilutes them and liquifies wax that could get in the way.
If a cold is going into your chest, a mustard plaster –or a foot soak with hot water and pepper oil– will help by increasing circulation away from the lungs enough to allow fluid build up to be reduced.
For UTIs it’s cranberry juice or blueberry juice, and I expect lingonberry would work as well; they’re all genus Vaccinia, and for some reason having nothing to do with acidity they do help (published in Nature or Science years ago, perhaps ten years, in the Letters section, if anyone can do a search). Always get to a doctor if you can, but if you can’t, lots of one of these juices as a temporary measure and lots of other liquid as well (it will help keep the infection in check as well as making urination less painful; you’ll have to go more often, but with less wincing). It is possible to flush out a UTI, but I wouldn’t recommend trying it since you do not want it to end up as a kidney infection.
For swimmers: half rubbing alcohol, half white vinegar, a few drops in each ear after swimming, will help to dry them out and prevent swimmer’s ear. Some people add tea tree oil as well (just a little).
For a truly vicious sore throat, applesauce mixed half and half with yogurt will sometimes go down comfortably when nothing else will.
I assume that everyone knows about duct tape for warts, which works as well as freezing ‘em off.
The old treatment for chapped lips was, well, ear wax. I expect it kept the sufferer from licking them as well.
Ooh, yeah, speaking of gas: if you’re having gas pains, try lying on your back on a flat surface and bend your knees, resting your feet on the floor. Stay like that. You have to do it for quite a while to get any action, but after about 10-20 minutes of lying thusly, I usually produce a gloriously relief-bringing fart. Of course, it may be that the gas just works itself out over that time anyway, and the position has nothing to do with it, but I adhere to my belief that it helps.
Tried the duct tape thingie on a wart. Worked pretty well.
Regarding UTIs, pretty much as Frumious B said. Like with any bacterial infection, your body can usually take care of itself. But if you’ve got the symptoms and they aren’t getting better, then go to the doc if you haven’t already.
However with the honey:
The language isn’t technically correct, but the idea is. It’s similar to allergy shots; regular exposure desensitizes the body, in this case exposure to the trace antigens from the flowers (allergens) that would be present in honey.
Also, Zinc has been demonstrated to accelerate healing in comparison to placebo. Garlic doesn’t seem to have the research to know. Echinacae however, is no different than placebo. Of course, never underestimate the power of the placebo.
Rubbing lemon zest on a rhino’s ear will make it fart.
For tinnitus, hold a live bee under your tongue for as long as it takes you to mentally recite the Preamble to the Constitution.
To soothe joint pain, hit yourself very lightly on the head with a medium size hammer, then hold an acorn under each armpit for two minutes.
Using baking soda toothpaste is also supposed to prevent cold sores.
A minor correction to some earlier comments:
All honey has an “anti-bacterial” effect, for several reasons.
Honey has a naturally low pH, and this acidity is sufficient to prevent the growth of many bacteria.
Honey kills bacteria due to a process called crenation, where water is absorbed from bacterial cells, causing the bacteria to die. This is a physical property of the sugars contained in the honey. Some bacteria (such as those responsible for botulism) have evolved to deal with this, which is why honey is not a suitable food for infants.
Finally, the sugars in honey oxidize when exposed to water, producing as a byproduct small amounts of hydrogen peroxide, a primitive disinfectant. Naturally-occurring contaminants in the honey absorb the other byproducts of this reaction, and because the reaction is governed by the supply of water, the time-release effect of the peroxide reduces it’s harmful effects.
It’s true that manuka honey appears to have an anti-bacterial effect beyond the mechanisms listed here, but to say that only manuka honey has anti-septic effects is incorrect, and misinterprets the relevant research. The agent in manuka honey which increases the antiseptic properties has not been identified.
The idea that consuming local honey has any effect on seasonal allergies is a myth. Aside from demonstrating a poor understanding of the sensitivity process, the majority of seasonal allergy sufferers react to grass pollens, which are not collected by bees and are not present in honey.
Incidentally, swishing hydrogen peroxide in your mouth or dripping into your ears will serious injury and a potentially agonising death. I suspect the original poster actually means a dilute hydrogen peroxide solution, but the original posting should be clarified. This correction may seem a little obvious, but pure hydrogen peroxide looks very similar to a dilute solution or even plain water, and is readily available for domestic and industrial purposes. Emergency rooms treat people every year who make this mistake.
Sometimes I just can’t help myself…
…a small tuft of baboon hair mixed in a child’s food will help alleviate nightmares?…
Honey is indeed antibacterial.
D -exactly on the honey - there is actually some peer-reviewed science that at least supports the notion. The body tends to suppress immune reactions to allergens that arrive orally (one reason why food allergies can be so serious, and also why they are relatively rare compared to other kinds of allergies). Local honey contains tiny amounts of the allergens, so the combination tends to reduce allergic response.
For zits, I also recommend Neosporin (or a generic triple-antibiotic cream) and, in a pinch, toothpaste.
Triple anti-biotic also saves vet bills, placed on cat scratches or even abcesses. Slather it on the problem — even if they lick it off, they’re taking it internally.
For hairballs you can force-feed ‘em petroleum jelly (the main ingredient in the expensive Petromalt), but my acupuncturist recommeded a couple drops of sesame oil under wet food, and their fur is very silky!
DMSO is an inexpensive all-round wonder (about $10 from the health food store), especially on any sprains or strains, carpal tunnel, etc.
At least that’s what I’ve used it for, but do a web check, rounds up other applications:
“thousands of scientific papers have been published about DMSO’s chemistry, including test tube, animal and human studies. Some have shown DMSO can relieve muscle and joint pain; reduce inflammation; soften collagen to relieve scleroderma symptoms; help heal skin ulcers caused by diabetes and scleroderma; and relieve blood vessel constrictions common to Raynaud’s phenomenon. Other research has suggested it may help prevent brain damage after stroke or head injuries. And it appears to have few side effects, even at very high dosages.
DMSO is approved for use in many other countries for arthritis and related conditions.”
(Just be sure to apply it to clean, dry skin. A side effect: a garlicky taste in the mouth.)
My granny swore that being stung by a wasp cleared up her rheumatism, but I wouldn’t try that if you are allergic.
Dipping your hands in warm wax helps soothes arthritic fingers.
Dabbing lavender oil around your house will get rid of those pernicious white moths and a few other types of flying bugs (at least, it solved our problem when I tried it after hearing the suggestion on the radio). I cut q-tips in half, dabbed them in the oil, and left them in inconspicuous places around the house, concentrating on places where I’d found evidence of moths.
Baking soda paste on mosquito bites or bee stings helps alleviate the swelling. So does chewing plantain leaves and applying the paste, if you are able to recognize plantain when you see it. Plantain paste is pretty good for cuts and scrapes too.
Cloves (whole, ground, or oil) can help alleviate a tooth ache when pressed against the aching site.
I started taking Lysine, and that greatly reduced the frequency and duration of my cold sores.
Ooh, yeah, speaking of gas: if you’re having gas pains, try lying on your back on a flat surface and bend your knees, resting your feet on the floor.
When I was in massage school, we learned a technique the instructor called “colon massage”. Lie on the floor,knees supported with a pillow under them, and rub in a pulling motion starting on the right side of your body just inside your hip bone (the beginning of the large intestine). You follow the path of the intestine, rubbing and pulling/digging, all the way over to the other side. Essentially you’re trying to move whatever’s in there, out. You will feel it moving. NOt only will this get the farts out, but it can help if you’re constipated, too. It works, I swear. If you’re not sure where your colon is, you can find an illustration online, easily.
When I was doing massage in the school’s clinic, there was an elderly woman who would come in just for this.. She wore it kept her from getting constipated and was the only thing that did.
“Monistat is for pussies”
i LOLed.
Whenever I used to have a sore throat or any sort of congestion problem, my grandma would boil water in a kettle and then fill up a big metal mixing bowl with it, and put a tiny amount of this wax (I think it was eucalyptus in beeswax but it might have been mint) into the boiling water, and have me hold my head just above the water, with a towel covering my head and the bowl to keep the vapours in. It always worked a treat, but the effect didn’t last very long afterward. Then again, this might have been because the near constant chest/throat problems were from her chainsmoking…
Any kind of acidic environment is going to help with a sore throat. My MIL’s recipe is 50/50 honey and lemon, warm, but I find thet orange juice or very strong lemonade works pretty well also.
I can’t believe nobody in this thread has mentioned the anti-nausea benefits of marijuana. Whenever I have an upset stomach or stomach flu it relieves the nausea immediately.
Plus it’s fun.
Tea tree oil works for anything fungal - I have used it on ringworm and mildly emergent athletes foot.
I also resorted to tea tree when I had been given the nuclear antibiotic treatment in the hospital for a kidney infection and developed serious thrush in my mouth. It can be used as an additive to mouthwash, but be sure to spit it out!
Cranberry works for UTI, but the real benefit can be had by taking cranberry extract capsules. 1 capsule = I believe 8 glasses of juice and no sugar. Always does the trick for me!
BTW, vitamin C is an antioxidant.
Cranberry has been demonstrated to improve vascular conditioning in pigs, and I have had several docs recommend it as it does alter urinary chemistry in a manner not conducive to bacterial growth. Not a cure, but an impediment to ascending infection.
I suspect Tums change the pH of your mouth in ways that inhibit viral proliferation.
Garlic use, at ethnic consumption levels, was shown to reduce blood pressure (even if it led to breakdowns in social networks;-)
tea trea is antifungal and antibacterial… as is lavender. ravensara is antiviral. plus they smell nice! and a great way to get bruises to heal faster is arnica.
Frumious B:
“Ginger ale has no actual ginger in it. If it makes you feel better, more power to you.”
Maybe this is true for the stuff that bartenders usually use for mixers, but at least this one seems to have ginger in it for real. (On the topic of ginger and home remedies: instant ramen + a shredded knob of ginger + an egg cooked in the broth = college hangover soup.)
“you can’t develop an immunity to allergies b/c an allergic reaction IS an immune reaction. if a person stops reacting to an allergen, it’s because their immune system stopped producing antibodies. consuming more of the allergen will not hasten that process, and it might send you into anaphylactic shock.”
This is also not true. It’s definitely possible to desensitise an allergy, because I did it. I don’t claim to be an immunologist, but I’ve had an allergy to milk my whole life and I partially desensitised myself in high-school with gradually increasing amounts of yogurt, treating myself when I began having anaphylactic reactions, and got from a point where any stray trace of dairy would cause a full-blown reaction to being able to eat eight ounces of yoghurt without problems. Even when I let the regimen lapse, I never did get all the way back to being as sensitive as previously; I can still eat and cook with butter, whereas even touching it would have previously given me a rash. Just sayin’.
When you feel a cold coming on (in my experience–scratchy throat, elevated temp) eat a couple cloves of raw garlic. This is not a cure for the timid but I have used it several times with good effect. For the cure to this cure, chase with lots of water and/or suck on a lemon wedge to kill the burning taste.
Also, rubbing olive oil into the site can kill muscle strain. My husband swears by this. I’ve used for neck, shoulder and back and found it amazing.
Give me a break. How many people are gonna get pure hydrogen peroxide? If you go to a supermarket or a drugstore, all they have is 3% hydrogen peroxide. At the lab where I work, we have 3% and 15%, but if I had to go out and find anything more than 3% in a normal store, I wouldn’t be able to. No caveat necessary.
Incidentally, I like hydrogen peroxide for taking out blood stains.
As for cranberry juice, it never has worked for me. It’s supposed to help E. coli from sticking to the bladder walls, but E. coli has adapted to live in acidic environments. Most people have slightly acidic urine anyway, and drinking cranberry juice makes it more so. Better to eat lots of Tums or drink water with baking soda in it. It’ll turn your urine more alkaline, and even if it doesn’t make the infection go away, it will decrease the discomfort.
There is a possibility of drinking enough fluids to get rid of an infection, but you run the risk of water intoxication.
One of my home remedies for colds is to NOT take any OTC cold medicine.
I have a little bottle of olive oil (about 2 ml) with some teatree oil (about .5 ml) and I use it on any kind of skin irritation.
Baking soda water works the best for heartburn.
If you get a stomach ache while on strong antibiotics, eating yogurt will help, because it replaces the bacteria in your intestinal tract that got killed by the antibiotics (the bacteria that are supposed to be there).
Tea tree oil and garlic can both be used to treat yeast infections. They are antifungal agents, so they’ll kill the yeast.
Stick a peeled clove of garlic up there before you go to bed (or during the day if you don’t mind smelling a little garlicky). Be careful not to nick the clove or it can cause irritation. If you want, you can wrap it in cheesecloth first and tie a string around it so that it is easier to remove.
To use tea tree oil, dilute it first, because it’s very strong. You can lubricate a tampon with a little bit of petroleum jelly and then put a little tea tree oil on it.
Cycles, my boyfriend’s mother swears by gin raisins, but apparently they have to be sloe gin, not real gin.
And yes, I can’t reiterate enough that if you do actually start getting a UTI, see a doctor immediately. Those fucking things hurt. Plus, if they don’t get fixed quickly, you could get a kidney infection. Cranberry juice=prevention only. Most of the vitamin supplements I’ve heard of to take for healing are probably crap, but zinc I think works because we probably don’t get that much of it from our regular diets.
But the yogurt on a tampon thing absolutely works. I’ve got no real persistent problem with cold sores where I need to take herpes meds. Just when I’m stressing out badly.
Marcy, WATER intoxication? Rilly? I assume you mean something more dire than the queasy, sloshy feeling from drinking too much water at once on an empty stomach.
And for two cents of remedy, I recommend what I call Volcano Tea for a sinus-y cold (though of course go see a doctor and get the nukular drugs if the infection starts to descend from sinus to lungs. Does this happen to anyone else?). Or just eating wasabi can sometimes have a similar sinus-clearing, head-exploding, all-better effect.
Volcano Tea:
About a handful of fresh ginger root, peeled and then shredded or sliced
A few cinnamon sticks
A small handful of cardamom pods
A dash of cayenne pepper
Simmer for 10-20 minutes, depending on how strong you want it, then strain out the herbs and drink with honey and lemon to kill the bitter taste.
If you want to avoid the messiness or discomfort of the yogurt on tampon idea, buy live cultures (the active ingredient in yogurt). I highly recommend Natures Way Primadophilus as it has always worked for me.
http://www.herbalremedies.com/6860.html
It comes in clear gel capsules. Prick two capsules with a clean needle or pin and insert. Change out the following day and repeat again the next day. (three 24 hour courses). You’re cured.
If you’re prone, take one capsule orally everyday. Just remember to keep it in the fridge and mind the expiration date. Live cultures are key.
BTW, lactose intolerance (as least the kind caused by heavy antibiotic doses) can be overcome with live culture replacement, too. It takes time for the yogurt or capsules to replenish your system, but it really will work if you build it up over time. Again, this is a great source for people who don’t like yogurt.
Oh oh!
I forgot to add: the capsules don’t just cure you, they also bring almost instant relief from physical symptoms.
Sorry to sound like a commercial. I “discovered” this cure after years of trial and error. I’m being specific about the product as I’ve already tried some of the cheaper acidophilus capsules. They didn’t work nearly as fast or as well.
As for cranberry juice, it never has worked for me.
Not saying it will work for you, but: cranberry juice should mean something that is actually cranberry juice (for the most part) rather than CranSugar Blend type of drinks.
Octopod, desensitizing allergies is conditioning your body to stop its immune response to the allergen. You can’t develop an “immunity to allergies”, though.
I’ve never found that yeast infections can be prevented by eating live yogurt.
Yep, water intoxication is real and can be quite dangerous: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
I tol’ ya so!
“…. yeast infections, at least mild ones, dip a tampon in some live culture yogurt and then insert as your normally would.”
That’s the whole probiotic thing. There’s now a probiotic gum and something for eye irritation too. Proprietary douche just around the corner. No more vinegary…’scent of a woman’
BOTH I- and H2O2 are cytotoxic …kill both bacteria and superficial wound cell populations. Human saliva…if you’ve not got mouth rot of some sort…works too for wounds. Inherently microbiocidal. A puppy lickin’ might be even better.
A good orgasm is multifunctional and pluripotential…cures ALL! kinds of ills.
Note: Do not attempt to use ginger on nausea prompted by a hangover. It is a good way to find yourself vomiting on a sidewalk five minutes later. ugh.
For a hangover, I find a steady diet of alternating ice water and coca-cola does wonders. When your stomach seems to have returned to its former stationary position, add pretzels.
For sinus problems: fix yourself a hot toddy.
1 part hot water
1 part lemon
1/2 part honey
1 part brandy or whiskey (I prefer Jack Daniels)
Boil the lemon and water together, as it smells really good.
Does it cure the problem? Maybe. What it definitely does is knock you clear out for the next 9-10 hours, so you don’t have to think about your troubles.
Re: water intoxication
Yeah, it’s real. If you have low salt or electrolyte levels, it can happen much quicker and with less water, but normally, you’d have to drink about a gallon of water in a short period of time to get the effect.
Yeah, I’ve only had yeast infections like twice ever, gayle. One time I took an antibiotic the doctor gave me and it worked really great, but I had to suffer for a few hours while it did its work. The second time, I recognized the symptoms earlier and was able to avoid the doctor with the yogurt thing. And it was awesome, because the coldness somehow relieves the symptoms like immediately.
Hangover cures don’t work, I think. The only major thing you need to address is the dehydration. That electrolyte-laden water works okay, but not a cure, no way. The only way to cure a hangover is not get one. One thing I did learn when I was more into partying was that the myth that greasy food helps is 100% wrong. Actually, a fresh salad will do you better.
I’m fairly prone to UTIs. I have a few tips:
1) There’s the obvious “go pee after sex.” Apparently, you should also pee before sex, but I really don’t have that much urine in me.
2) Cranberry juice does work, but it has to be pure, unsweetened cranberry juice. My doctor says pure, unsweetened grape juice also works, because it’s easier to find pure grape juice than cranberry juice. I like Ocean Spray’s Cranberry and Concorde Grape Juice. (Actually, I don’t like it, because I hate cranberry and grape juices, but drinking a glass or two a day really seems to be working.)
3) For the intense, middle of the night pain before you can get to the doctor, AZO tablets are sold OTC in the US, and work really well, as long as you’re not freaked out by your urine turning orange. In other countries where they don’t sell AZO (like Canada), my pharmacist recommended prune nectar. You could try taking painkillers, especially with codeine in them, but they’re just not as helpful.
4) You HAVE to go to the doctor for a UTI. Sometimes they do clear up on their own, but the first UTI I had turned into a kidney infection because I didn’t realise what it was. it was awful.
Reading the thread reminded me of a couple other things:
Vitamin C, taken internally, for warts. I used about 1000-1500mg per day and started to see the warts shrinking within days. I continued the high dosage for about a month-6 weeks. I tried the duct tape cure, and just couldn’t keep it going long enough to affect the warts.
And for yeast infections, I’ve bought empty gelatin capsules and filled them with boric acid (a powder), following the instructions on this lovely site. Though I think I only did the treatment for 3 days to a week. Worked like a charm (I just wasn’t up for the yogurt or garlic treatment, for reasons I can no longer remember).
Not true! The perfect hangover cure is a bottle of water, an ibuprofen, a sandwich, and a joint.
After that all you have to worry about is the drymouth and the inability to do any of the homework you planned on doing for another few hours.
Prickly pear extract apparently minimizes/prevents hangovers, but the trick is that one has to take it a few hours before drinking. The bar at the top of the Gansevoort Hotel serves a prickly pear martini, which, in addition to being a most lovely and nearly opaque hot pink, maybe helps one to kill two birds with one yummy stone.
Oh, warts! - my granddad cured my childhood warts with nightly applications of castor oil before I went to bed. Took about a week for them to go away. Haven’t had them since, although that’s coincidence, of course.
FYI, beware of cranberry capsules if you’re on the Pill. I’ve never heard it’s a problem just to drink some juice or eat some berries, but the concentration of cranberry in the capsules may interfere with hormone uptake in some women.
Not all the cranberry pills put this warning on the label, but I found one brand that did after I got spotting…thank goodness it was spotting and not a pregnancy!
If you’re feeling tense and stressed out, you can relax by adding a few drops of lavender oil to your hot bath. If you’ve got some extra virgin olive oil around, you can mix that with lavender, (about 20 drops lavender to 50 drops olive oil) and rub a dab on your temples when you have a migraine.
I had amazing results with the cranberry pills…as an infection sets in, take two pills every hour. Do that for about 4-6 hours, and you’ll be clear. Best prevention is just to drink tons of water all the time, I have found that emptying a Brita pitcher (and then some) each day has done more for my health than anything else. Better skin, more energy, and contrary to what one would expect, no bloat!
Ginger pills are a great substitute for Dramamine if you get seasick or carsick. Best part is that it won’t make you tired. My perpetually seasick fiance did great on ginger pills, even on a fishing charter in choppy seas.
And I’m not sure why this is, but every time I feel a cold/flu/whatever coming on, I order up a bowl of any spicy Asian soup. Pho, hot and sour, anything. My mother always made those for me, and I swear it’ll clear anything in your head.
Sniffing cinnamon can be a mild mood lifter. I keep a container of it on my desk.
Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com
**By the way, I was kidding about the prayer thing. Two cats in the bed, however, can hasten recovery from any cold.**
Or hasten recovery for just about anything. I had gallbladder surgery last year, and The Brother and Sister Comedy Team (my 2 cats, Kiko and Neo) left my side only to eat, pee, and follow me to the bathroom.
**Ginger ale has no actual ginger in it. If it makes you feel better, more power to you.**
Regular, off the shelf Canada Dry/store brand, etc., doesn’t have ginger in it. If you can find some high-end soda like Blue Sky Jamaican Ginger Ale, that stuff will do the trick. I also recommend ginger candy for indigestion. I get mine @ Wild Oats in the bulk section. Ginger tea and Peppermint tea mixed together will help a hangover.
My granny swore that being stung by a wasp cleared up her rheumatism, but I wouldn’t try that if you are allergic.
It was probably a bee sting–they’ve found that small amounts of bee venom, for people who aren’t allergic to it, do help arthritis pain. I’ve also heard that stinging nettle is an effective treatment–whack yourself with the branches.
For general muscle pain, I’ve found that cinnamon also works well in sort of the capsacin-and-ginger way of “slight irritation on the skin causes heat which relaxes the muscle.” I’ve bathed in it, but that may have been overkill–maybe mix a little with some oil, rub it in for a bit, and then rinse off after a few minutes. Don’t use cinnamon oil, though–it’s too irritating.
About the ginger thing: Don’t overdose on it if you’re pregnant–in China they used to use relatively large quantities of it to induce menstruation. A cup or two of ginger tea should be all right, though.
I heard a woman on the bus swear by hot lemon in water and cayenne pepper, with a little honey for sweetness, as a cold remedy. I haven’t tried it, but it sounds as though it would work–clear out the sinuses, with antibacterial and antiviral activity besides.
I doubt that this’ll apply to anyone here, but here goes: Cherries and cherry juice are an old New England remedy for gout. There’s a chemical in the cherries which dissolves gout crystals.
And while this isn’t a home remedy, it is alternative medicine and relatively cost-effective: The American Chiropractic Association claims that chronic ear infections are sometimes due to neck problems (nerves and the lymph system being pinched or something) and so a chiropractic adjustment may stop a kid’s chronic ear infections. (But for just one ear infection–go with the drugs first.)
For yeast infections, the absolute best remedy is boric acid suppositories. seriously - it is messy, but worked when nothing else (antibiotics, yogurt, garlic, tea trea oil) did. You can buy it prepackaged at health stores - it is called Yeast Arrest. However it is much cheaper to buy your own boric acid and empty capsules and fill them yourself.
Using a garlic clove worked for me in the past though when i felt one just coming on, as did a tampon covered in Astroglide and a few drops of tea tree oil. But the boric acid will clear them up for good, and taking a probiotic (I like kefir) will keep them at bay.
Also, a word of warning against taking any herbal treatments without researching them first, or asking your doctor: They can fuck you up.
People really don’t emphasize that enough. Natural doesn’t neccisarily mean better, and anything that you put in your body may have side effects, even at low doses, and especially if you take it regularly.
I’ve been experimenting with essential oils for some minor skin conditions that I have, and I only had to burn myself once before I went out and bought some books, and let me tell you there are some side effects to repeated use of some oils that I never would have guessed at all. And some of them take years to show up, so it’s best just to do the research in advance.
I second the caution on the hydrogen peroxide thing. Hydrogen peroxide, even dilute hydrogen peroxide (which is the ONLY ONLY ONLY kind you should use ever), is cytotoxic — it kills cells. It can help to debride a wound by fizzing, but it will debride both healthy tissue and non. I would not recommend gargling with it, OR pouring it into your ears — repeated use of hydrogen peroxide in this way can damage your delicate tissues. Try gargling with warm water, honey, ginger and lime. Or turning your head in the shower and letting warm water run in there — this is safer and just as effective.
And ear candling? Don’t bother.
My favorite yeast infection prevention method in the whole regimen it took me to get rid of chronic infections (never had any luck with probiotics, by the way, and if your doctor was giving you antibiotics, you had a bacterial infection not a yeast infection) was to periodically microwave my underpants. It wasn’t so good for the elastic in them, but it was a good way to ensure that I was killing all the germs that might have made it through the laundry. And really great on a cold day.
Sara, how long and at what power?
UTIs suck:
Once you get one, you’re gonna need the doctor unless you catch it at the very, very beginning and start treating yourself with lots of cranberry and water and vit. c. (unless you’re drinking gallons of water at a time, I wouldn’t worry too much about water toxicity-this mostly happens in endurance athletes who have exhausted their electrolyte reserves). I’ve only been able to catch one early enough to get rid of it this way, but my prevention method seems to be working: vitamin C tablets.
Bearberry (Vaccinium arctostaphylos) is supposed to be even better than cranberries for its antimicrobial properties. The plant is very similar to a cranberry plant, and is in the same genus. You can find teas made from its dried leave in some health food stores.
Aside from unproven general health effects (they’re not disproven either, btw), vitamin C is very water soluble and is not retained in the body. Most of it will be excreted in your urine, and will lower your urine pH, making your bladder a rather inhospitable place for an infection to take root. This seems to be working for me: I take a 500 mg tablet before bed. My doctor recommended it, so this is not entirely without basis.
for yeast infections: I follow the advice given on the website that Caja listed earlier. I like the tea-tree oil on a tampon method, though again, you need to start treating early. And use an APPLICATOR tampon for that, just peel back the flaps and use an eyedropper to get it in there. Even diluted, tea tree oil burns like a bastard if you get it on your outer bits.
I must stay though, I find both conditions can be avoided if I regularly drink a lot of water. Not that I always manage to follow my own advice.
Agreed with alley rat on the lysine supplements. They’re like $6 for a bottle. I used to get cold sores every couple months, but I haven’t had one in over a year now. My understanding of how it works is that lysine is the antagonistic amino acid to arginine, and the herpes virus needs arginine in order to replicate itself.
Sara, how long and at what power?
As I remember reading about this, you want them to be slightly damp and for really short periods of time. You could get the same result by washing them in hot water and adding Borax, though.
Ditto what they said about natural remedies. There is just about NO oversight of ‘natural’ remedies sold in stores. If you buy a bottle of aspirin, the FDA has rules about what the label has to say and that it damn well better be aspirin. If you buy a bottle of St. John’s Wort, you’re pretty much on the honor system.
Just wanted to weigh in on two things here - garlic and tea tree oil.
Five or so drops of tea tree oil on a tampon will knock out a yeast infection way better than yogurt will, and is less messy. It also will kill dead a trichomoniasis infection without any need to see a doctor and get the liver-damaging drug used to treat that particular condition. However, I wouldn’t recommend that - trich is sexually transmitted, and you really do need to see a doctor. But be firm about not using Flagyl for it, if you can avoid it at all. Flagyl is the drug that killed that little girl that was in the Poltergeist series of movies, when they gave it to her for some intestinal parasite.At least, they said it was an intestinal parasite. I hope that wasn’t some coverup on the studio’s part.
I caught a cold over Thanksgiving - went to Thanksgiving dinner with the family, everybody there had a cold, one of the little girl cousins caught it at school. Everybody was complaining about how the cold had been hanging on for weeks. By Saturday night, I had it myself. Bad. I simmered up a box of the Organic Free Range chicken broth available in the organic foods section at Cub with four garlic cloves, a bunch of green onions, some fresh parsley and a whole bunch of fresh chives snipped in, I did this Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evening, by Wednesday, I was fine again. Only missed one day of work, as opposed to most of a week for everyone else that got it.
Last year, I cut myself bad making dinner - as in emergency room bad, sliced off a chunk of my fingertip on the left hand (only meat and skin, no nail or bone), they put this non-removable dressing on it, and after a day or so you could see (and smell, sorry too much info) that it was getting infected. I saturated the bandage that I couldn’t remove with tea tree oil, it cleared the infection right up, tea tree oil penetrates bandages and skin without interfering (no more smell and corruption) and the cut healed cleanly. Still have a dent in the tip of that finger, and a very sensitive fingertip. I have learned to type without using that one much.
Sinus headaches - give yourself a really good orgasm (or a few, if you’re wired that way) - that WILL open your sinuses, then while they’re open, take a long steamy shower or *carefully* lean over a pot of boiling water and inhale DELICATELY - do not send live steam up your nose, but warm wet will help loosen some of the (ick) dried crusts that are blocking the sinus drainage passages. Or just use a spray of Afrin post-orgasm. And post-treatment, keep moving (don’t just lie down and try to go to sleep with your head staying in one position) and moving your head around so the mucus glop can slide through multiply-curved passages and slide on out - draining the glop out reduces the internal sinus pressure which was causing the headache.
Aloe vera - keep some stems in the freezer, and slice a piece of one open & defrost a little before applying to a burn, Make it stick there with a bandaid over it or just by holding it for a minute - slide around and coat the immediate area, too - the cold stops tissue damage progression and the aloe actually relieves pain as well as speeding healing of the burn.
Zits - rub with moistened styptic pencil, leave overnight - magically dried up.
Cat earmites - if you have a very tolerant cat, you can wipe out an earmite infestation by generously appying vaseline on your fingertip and stick it in the ear canal and swoosh it around, as deep as you can but gently, for at least 4 -5 days running. Fingertip much safer that Q-tip …MUCH less likely to bruise tender tissues, won’t poke through and cause actual damage. But also wash his bedding AND give him a bath - they’re not all in the ear canal, they wander.
For sinus-clearing, my mom used to snort garlic powder. She said it hurts kind of a lot for a minute, but clears up the congestion like nobody’s business. Kind of like eating really spicy food…only, you know, more inhaling the really spicy food directly into your head.
I personally have never been brave enough to try it.
Oh, for sinus clearing, use saline. It’s cheap and you can even buy it in a bottle specifically for putting up your nose. Feels weird the first time, but very safe.
Is that what I did?
I have been having increasing problems with lactose intolerance for years. When I was diagnosed GD during pregnancy, my dietician insisted that I needed to eat 6oz of plain (no sugar) yogurt a day. She said that I shouldn’t have lactose intolerance problems on the plain yogurt because yogurt has the ability to break down the lactose itself (and that it’s even stronger in plain yogurt because there’s no other sugars than lactose for the bacteria to work on).
Eight weeks later, I could again enjoy a glass of milk without gut or headache issues.
Correction to my post yesterday:
Bearberry, which can sometimes help with UTIs, is Arctostaphylos uva ursi, not Vaccinium arctostaphylos. Sorry about the mix-up. It’s been used for centuries by native populations as a natural antimicrobial, but I’ve never tried it myself.
hp,
Yep, that’s exactly what you did. So glad to hear your doctor told you about the yogurt solution. And it makes sense to recommend unsweetened plain yogurt. It’s not as yummy; however, yeast and other bad flora thrive on sugar.
I think it’s sad so many people think lactose intolerance is a permanent condition. It doesn’t always have to be!
Yikes,
Sorry HP, you said your dietician, not your doctor recommended the yogurt treatment. I do know some doctors are catching on, though. At least my doctor has