Remember when grandma used to tell you to breath steam to clear your sinuses? Or to drink honey with onion to help your cough? It appears that grandma knew quite a lot about caring for our bodies. Sometimes, the old-fashioned remedies are the best – and they don’t have the dangerous after-effects that some of our most up-to-date medications often leave.
Treating yourself with traditional remedies isn’t as easy as playing Aussie online casino games. You need to do your research so you don’t waste your time and don’t get sicker while you wait for the home cures to kick in. But with a perusal of Dr. Google, you can find dozens of ideas that might make you more comfortable while you wait out an illness or injury or wait for someone from the medical profession to help out. In some cases you might even cure yourself completely!
Three of the most easy-to-prepare remedies for some common ailments include:
Warts
For years, doctors have had patients rub caustic oils and creams that contain Salicylic acid on warts. In other cases they freeze them off (cryotherapy), or remove warts surgically or via laser therapy. Often, multiple treatments are required and even if a treatment is successful, the warts can return and can even spread to other parts of the body.
Warts are, basically, a virus. Kill the virus by treating one wart and you will generally find that other warts on your body have disappeared as well. On treatment that often works involves apple cider vinegar. Vinegar is an acid (acetic acid) which kills certain types of bacteria and viruses on contact. The vinegar destroys the infected skin and the wart slowly falls off (which, by the way, is how salicylic acid works). The acid irritates the skin which stimulates the immune system’s ability to fight the virus that caused the wart.
To treat a wart with apple cider vinegar, soak a cotton ball with a 2 part vinegar – 1 part water solution and then lay the cotton ball on the wart. Cover the cotton ball with a bandage or tape and leave it overnight (longer, if possible)
Continue the process until the wart falls off. If the wart starts to blister, which makes it painful to put apple cider vinegar on the blistered skin, just continue by covering the area with a bandage or tape to keep it from air. The disintegration process will continue.
Tea Tree Oil
Tea tree oil is such a powerful medicinal product, and can be used for so many different things, that Australian soldiers carry it in their kit bags. The oil is distilled from the leaves of the tea tree which grows in New South Wales and in Queensland, in Australia. The oil possesses anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties and can be used to treat a seemingly endless range of problems, mostly external.
Keep in mind that tea tree oil may be toxic if ingested (though some people gargle with TTO if they have a sore throat.) It’s also a good idea to test TTO on a small area of your skin, and then wait 24 hours, before using it more liberally – some people do develop irritation or contact dermatitis to TTO.
TTO can be used as a hand sanitizer, for Athlete’s Foot, as an insect repellant and as a deodorant and as an antiseptic for minor cuts or other skin injuries. TTO can also help relieve the pain of a bee sting or an ingrown toenail and, in general, boosts wound healing. It’s effective against nail fungi and is often used to soothe skin inflammation and irritation from bug bites.
Some people gargle with TTO for a sore throat or use it as mouthwash but, as mentioned, it should not be swallowed. It’s also useful when adding it to shampoo to help control dandruff.
There are various types of TTO including 100% and diluted oils. Each condition requires a different type of TTO.
Honey
The next time that you shy away from a bee, consider that this “pest” produces a product that can’t be replicated by any other creature on earth. Not only is it tasty but honey has potent healing properties for both internal and external issues.
Honey is filled with antioxidants such as phenols and flavonoids that can reduce inflammation and protect against heart disease, stroke and, perhaps, cancer. It also has antibacterial and antiseptic properties that can accelerate burn and wound healing by increasing the flow of nutrients to the affected site and providing a moist environment for healing.
Honey is used to treat dandruff, acne and itchy skin and is sometimes added to shampoos or soaps for this purpose. It’s also used as a cough syrup by many people and has proven to be effective thanks so its anti-inflammatory properties. Research has proven that honey reduces cough frequency when 1 tsp is taken every few hours – either straight or in a hot beverage.
You can also increase the effectiveness of honey as a cough syrup by combining it with an onion. This is an ancient remedy that works as well today as it did 3000 years ago. Just slice up an onion and add it to a closed container with 1 cup of honey. Let it sit for several hours and then drink a tsp every hour or two. The combination of honey and onion will loosen up phlegm or mucous and get the gunk out of your lungs.
Remember, the better quality your honey, the more effective it will be as a remedy.