Medical Advisory - If you are seriously ill or think you might be, please, don’t be foolish. Consult a qualified healthcare professional before diagnosing and treating yourself or changing your diet in any significant way. The information presented here is for informational purposes and historical perspective. Publisher makes no claims nor accepts responsibility for the efficacy or appropriateness of any home remedies.
20 fascinating folk remedies worth reading about, listed alphabetically
Excerpted from 99 Folk Remedies You Must Try, by Derek Clontz (Copyright ©1997-2012. All rights reserved.)
1. General Antiseptic. Australian tea tree oil is about the best you can get. Safe and highly effective when applied topically to wounds. Don’t take internally.
2. Anxiety. The Polynesian herb kava kava promotes relaxation and has a profound anti-anxiety effect.
3. Asthma. Cover thin onion slices with honey and allow to set overnight. When ready for use, scrape honey from onion with a spoon or butter knife. 1 tsp. three times a day is said to do the trick.
4. Athlete’s Foot. Soak feet in apple cider vinegar. Pat dry. Soak cotton balls in the vinegar and place between toes. Put on socks and leave overnight. Repeat as necessary for cure.
5. Bad Breath. Stop your complaining and chew a sprig or two of parsley as needed. It contains more odor-stopping chlorophyll than any other herb. Parsley is inexpensive and available everywhere. Cinnamon works wonders, too. Get it fresh or in gum that contains REAL cinnamon, not the artificially-flavored kind.
6. Blood Sugar Problems (diabetes). An ordinary onion’s ability to lower blood sugar levels is said to be every bit as good as that of at least two widely-prescribed prescription drugs. Add a cup or so to your diet daily.
7. Minor Burns. Make an aloe vera salve for fast healing. Add six large stalks aloe to a pint of water. Heat. Simmer. Strain. Apply as needed. But don’t be foolish. Anything but a minor burn is serious – see a doctor or go to the emergency room or a clinic.
8. Cancer Prevention. Make garlic a part of your diet. Your grandmother knew the power of “the stinking rose” or, as some call it, “Russian penicillin”. And exciting research suggests that it contains powerful compounds that help prevent cancer. Broccoli is a great anti-cancer food, too.
Derek Clontz: Question about herbs and your health? Write to me.
9. Cold Sores. Grind the dry rind of a pomegranate and add 2 tbsp. to 1-1/2 cups water. Boil, then reduce to a simmer until half the liquid has evaporated. Strain and refrigerate. Apply to cold sores as a wash, as needed.
10. Constipation. Before bedtime, stir 2 tbsp. black strap molasses into a glass of milk or juice. Drink.
11. Dizziness. This is a common and potential serious challenge. If minor circulation or inflammation issues are to blame, blueberries, which are a circulatory tonic, might help, as might ginger tea from fresh root (see recipe for tea under the heading, Fever). Ginger is a circulatory tonic, like blueberries, and helps bring down inflammation. Ask your doctor to rule out anything serious such as a brain tumor, failing heart, infection or clogged arteries.
12. Eyewash. Judging from multi-million sales of commercial preparations, strained, red eyes are an enormous problem. Make your own preparation by adding 1 tsp. eyebright to a cup of boiling water. Steep 10 to 15 minutes. Strain WELL and cool. Use as needed.
13. Fever. Ginger tea breaks fevers and loosens sinus and lung congestion. Grate two tsp. fresh ginger, add to two cups boiling water and cover for 30 minutes. Drink one cup while warm. Repeat as needed.
14. Gas. Make a dill infusion using 2 tsp. bruised dill seeds per cup of boiling water. Steep 10 minutes, strain. Drink up to 3 cups a day.
15. Gum Disease. Add enough water to 1 tsp. myrrh to make a paste. Apply to gums. Before bed is best.
16. Headache. Make a delicious and invigorating peppermint tea at onset of headache. One good recipe: Chop one cup fresh peppermint. Add two cups boiling water. Steep 5 minutes. Sweeten with honey or brown sugar. Add lemon if you like.
17. High Blood Pressure. One or two tbsp. olive oil daily – a key component of the heart healthy Mediterranean Diet – can bring high blood pressure under control. Ask your doctor.
18. Liver Disease. Artichokes … beets … chicory … dandelion greens - all great for your liver.
19. Nosebleed. Soak a cotton ball in white vinegar and gently stuff into bleeding nostril or nostrils.
20. Sore Throat. Add the juice of one lemon to a cup of hot water. Sweeten with two tsp. honey and drink. An old – and super – standby, apple cider vinegar, works wonders, too. Add two tsp. to glass of warm water and gargle until glass is empty. Don’t swallow. Repeat as needed.
See www.herbnews.org to find out how 1,765 herbs are used for 176 illnesses.
Hi everyone!
Can somebody help me? I suffer from a serious general anxiety. I use antidepression medicine the doctor gave me for years. So now i have a drug problem too because the drugs are very addictive.
Pleas please, if you know any herbal medication for anxiety, let me know. I don’t know what to do anymore.
Thank you
Can’t go to the bathroom? This remedy has to be done first thing in the morning and BEFORE you’ve had anything to eat or drink or it will not work. Squeeze the juice from one fresh lemon and pour into a mug, add boiling water. *Store bought lemon juice will not work. DO NOT add sweetners of any kind or it won’t work.* Sip slowly guaranteed you’ll be in the bathroom before you’ve finished sipping it down.
Hello, I can`t sleep. sometimes I am awake all night. What can I do?
Thanks a lot
Marcela
I will have to try the #10 remedy,thank you. (Yes,Im embarrassed to type the word).
God Bless
Teresa (Lockport)
Yeah and even though it tastes bad, gargling with warm salt water will get rid of that sore throat instantly. Works for me everytime.
I had chronic gastrits related to my Hiv infection, in 2001 i used all meds the best there is to treat the problem and nothing worked. I researched and found that a sea weed called kelp would heal the ulcers. What is does is that it makes the ulcer walls to be slippery and the ulcer causing bacteria, can not stick and in the same process the wound heals and the bacteria a have nothing to feed on and eventually die. I now manage my health with herbs and water, and watch what i eat. I confess as all who believe and have proof that toxic drugs have minimal benefit with high costs & side effects for the body. Whereas herbs have high benefits for the whole body and almost no negative side effect. It does teach me that people before us lived long health lives because there where no pharmaceuticals driving profit instead of health.
I can’t imagine where i would be if it was not for the herbs our ancestors used. this is someting the whole family can afford, and use but because herbs have permanent healing properties, no drug company will promote their powerful gifts from God. Pharmaceuticals are sponsoring doctors schools/ univerties/ reaserches with the aim of promoting one of their creation – toxic drugs. Out breaks of any king come along with a drug, why not a herb if indeed it is with the interest of people’s health at heart. I am currenlt managing holistically my Hiv and Aids illness with herbs. I wont change that.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELPFUL WEBSITE.
I TRULY APPRECIATE YOUR WONDERFUL WISDOM.
LOVE AND LIGHT
SHERRY
This is very good, basic, and important information. Given the current economic situation, (which will be worsening after the new year), it is wise to have these remedies in stock. It will also do a lot to lower health care expenses.
Derek – You forgot some very important home remedies that have been tried out by the scientific community and have proven effective through long term studies. Here are just a few that have been studied and documented by long term studies:
1. Australian Tea Tree Oil is not only the
best antiseptic but it is also kills
viruses and fungi. It is also used by
Australian dentists to stop periodental
disease. So put three to four capfuls
of Australian Tea Tree Oil in your daily
mouthwash!
2. L-Lysine tablets when taken orally
(three tablets 3 times daily) for about
three to four days straight will get rid
of cold sores.
3. The combination of 5-HTP and
St. John’s Wort (two capsules of
5-HTP (called Serotonin) and two
tablets of St. John’s Wort together
twice daily (in the morning and before
going to bed) acts the same way as
SSRI’s (selective serotonin re-uptake
inhibitors), i.e. Paxil, Zoloft, in
eradicating migraine headaches
WITHOUT the harsh side-effects of
theses drugs and is much cheaper!
4. Magnesium pills taken daily actually
helps minimize the number of
migraine headaches. Scientific studies
have shown that when people start
to have the onset of migraine head-
aches, their magnesium levels start
to plummet!
5. Feverfew, is one herb that has been
proven in scientifice long-term
studies to actually cut the duration if
not stop all together the onset of a
a migraine headache. AND FINALLY
6. Black Cohosh, a herb long used by
many Native Americans and endorsed
By the American Society of Obstetrics
and Gynecologists; is a “gold mine”
for those women who suffer the
symptoms and problems associated
with menopause. Black Cohosh is
safe to use as it does not have any
long-term usage side effects that
hormone therapy patches have,
namely, the continual usage of long-
term usage of hormone therapy
patches can lead to an increase of
dementia.
Yes, organic food is very expensive but so essential to a healthy lifestyle. Thanks for these great remedies. It’s amazing how powerful and healing so many things are that we often have in our cupboards…wish conventional doctors would acknowledge this before they prescribe a whole bunch of toxic drugs, especially antibiotics.
These are great tips.
I try were possible to always use alternatives to harmful chemicals.
Food on the other hand is too expensive to change for some families..