Natural Cures

[annaswan]

Here's a few natural cures that my family have used for years :)

Light Bruising:
Use a cotton cloth soaked in natural apple cider vinegar and cold water as a compress. Leave on the bruised area until the body heat makes the compress warm. Re-apply two to three times. Bruise should disappear within 48 hours.

Muscle Strain:
Applying ice to the effected muscle during the first 24 hours after a strain can mean the difference between feeling fine in a few hours and being laid up for a week or two! Put ice into a plastic zipper bag and put the ice on the hurting muscle - with a small, thin, towel between you and the bag of ice. Leave the ice on for no more than 20 minutes at a time, alternating with no ice for 20 minutes (on, off, on, off) several times during the day. Remember - Using heat during the first 24 hours will increase swelling and cause more pain! For an injury over 24 hours old: add two cups of natural apple cider vinegar to your cool bath water and soak for a half hour. The potassium in the vinegar helps the muscles.

Nose Bleed:
Sit in an upright position and pinch the lower end of the nose (the soft fleshy part) closed for 5 to 15 minutes continuously. When the bleeding has stopped, breathe through your mouth for a while. Do not blow your nose or remove any clots for the next four hours.  In rare cases, pinching the nose is not enough to stop the bleeding. In those cases, you can sniff some Yarrow Powder. This helps the blood to clot, heals mucous membranes, and reduces inflammation. WARNING: Pregnant women should avoid this herb as it may induce uterine bleeding or miscarriage!! People with hay fever should not use Yarrow since it may cause a serious allergic reaction.

Hang Over:
Drinking robs your body of B vitamins and causes dehydration. So, take Vitamin B Complex? with a full glass of water before you go to bed to prevent most of the hangover symptoms. Besides being hydrating, water will give you a head start on diluting the alcohol. Fructose helps your body burn the alcohol faster. Drink fruit juice or swallow some honey when you get up in the morning to get rid of any remaining alcohol quicker. Alcohol also causes your blood vessels to dilate, resulting in that nasty headache the morning after. Coffee in the morning will constrict the blood vessels and therefore reduce the pounding headache. A few strong cups of tea with honey will give you water, caffeine, and fructose all at once. Caffeine also acts as a diuretic, giving you an extra reason to take in a lot of fluids.

Minor Cuts and Scrapes:
Apply raw honey and cover with a bandage. With a small cut, the pain from the cut is gone after about 30 minutes. Raw honey has been used for over 2,000 years to prevent and heal infections. (Raw honey is available in most grocery stores.) Raw honey when applied to a small cut that has became infected when left on overnight, will relieve the pain and remove the infection by morning.

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[Mamaoftwingles]

Good ones!  I'll add:

 Nosebleeds:  If the above do not work (I've got three children with a bleeding disorder...we have bloody noses 5 days a week!), keep some long-ish (3" or so) sticks of salt pork in the freezer.  I just bought a package of salt pork (I don't usually use this for soup, but I did once to get it for this other use), cut it into thick strips and put in a baggie...used the rest for soup... Insert the frozen salt pork strip into the nose.  This has a substance similar to human blood factor in it and will stop the bleeding quickly.

Urinary Tract Infections:  If this continues beyond home treatment for more than a few days, seeing a doctor is the best course of action...a bladder infection can easily spread to the kidneys and that becomes a much more serious problem.  Parsley tea (use fresh parsley)...I swear by this, drink as much as you can. Relief follows very shortly. Avoid sugary drinks and foods.  A very warm bath...soaking relieves a lot of the discomfort.

And I am very big on grapefruit seed extract....a wonderful natural antibiotic.  It tastes exceptionally bad, but I do it in a "shot" of whatever kind of juice we have on hand...nothing masks the taste so a quick shot of it is the best way to get it down.  Also, raw onions & garlic are wonderful antibiotics.

 Headaches: a cold pack to the back of your neck often helps with headaches. I often get migraines and have even been able to stop some of these from progressing with only this tip.

Hugs, Love, Blessings & Bare Feet,

Jen, Proverbs 31 wife,  home-schoolin', baby-wearin', cloth-diaperin', barefootin', God-fearin', crunchy mama of three miracles!  Daniel & Jonah (7 y.o. Fraternal Twins) & Samuel (3 y.o.)

[Mamaoftwingles]

Homemade Cough Syrup (tastes nasty, but works....and is not NEARLY as nasty as the store bought stuff!):  Cut up several yellow or white onions, place in large airtight container....cover with brown sugar.  Stir.  Let sit near a warm place overnight, stirring occasionally.  (Keep lid on when not stirring).   After a day or two, the juices will all be out of the onions and you can pour off the juice into a jar and refrigerate. Take a couple tablespoons every few hours.   The onions can be saved (I'd use pretty quickly) to cook with ham or potatoes. or maybe even chicken....anywhere you'd use onions!

Hugs, Love, Blessings & Bare Feet,

Jen, Proverbs 31 wife,  home-schoolin', baby-wearin', cloth-diaperin', barefootin', God-fearin', crunchy mama of three miracles!  Daniel & Jonah (7 y.o. Fraternal Twins) & Samuel (3 y.o.)