Note: If you have some home remedies which you have found to be effective please let us know.
Home Remedies
Acne is a problem of teenagers and is mainly due to hormonal
imbalance .
Local application of any of these may be beneficial :--
# Lemon juice.
# Cucumber --- leaves or grated pieces.
# Clove based face mask or a paste of Fenugreek ( Methi ) leaves
applied overnight and washed off next morning.
# Mix 1 teaspoon of turmeric ( Haldi ) powder to 1 teaspoon of
mint or corriander juice. Apply and wash off before retiring to
bed.
# Orange peel pounded well with water and applied to affected
areas is often helpful.
# Drink atleast a litre of water to impart a healthy glow to the skin.
Asthma is most commonly a result of allergy and can be
distressing at times. Besides the medication, the
following measures may provide quick relief.
1.Give a solution of onion juice ¼ cup, honey 1 tablespoon and black pepper 1/8
tablespoon .
2.Make a decoction of licorice and ginger, give ½ tablespoon in 1 cup of water.
3.Express the juice from garlic. Mix 10 – 15 drops in warm water and give
internally.
BURNS
Apply (or soak in) white vinegar to the burn until the feeling of heat goes away.
WOUNDS
One has to act fast using whatever means are available. Avoid touching
any wound with an unsterlized covering or your unscrubbed hands
1.The first step is to make the victim lie down to prevent fainting. Next proceed to
stop bleeding by placing a gauge or cleanest cloth available over the wound
and press it firmly with the palm of your hand. Change the dressing if it is
saturated with blood Keep the dressing firmly in place but not so tight that you
can not feel the pulse below or beyond the wound.
2.If the wound is on the head, neck, arm or leg and there is no suspected fracture,
elevate it to a level above the heart to help stop the bleeding.
3.Application of ice bag ( ice cubes in a thick plastic bag ) directly over the
bleeding area is also helpful
4.If the bleeding cannot be stopped by these measures, try shutting off the
circulation in the main supply artery by pressing it firmly with your fingers
against the underlying bone. The fingers should be kept straight and not curved.
Dandruff: Apply lime juice to scalp before every head bath.
Gas, abdominal pain
Take a cupful of water with a pinch of baking soda and 2 TSF of lemon juice, stirr and give internally.
Heart Attacks
usually present with symptoms of anxiety, shortness of
breath, pain in the centre of chest radiating towards the neck or arms,
occasionally vomiting or even pain in the upper abdomen. It may or may
not be accompanied with sweating.
Do Not ignore the symptoms of heart attack and call for
emergency help immediately. Meanwhile follow these guidelines :--
Keep the victim in position of maximum comfort, if he has
difficulty in breathing do not force him to lie down.
Loosen his clothes and do not attempt to lift or carry him.
Keep him calm and reassure him that help is underway.
Do not give him anything to drink.
1) Next proceed to locate his carotid pulse. It can be felt on
either side of the neck. Locate the Adam's apple and slide tips of
your index and middle finger into the groove between the Adam's
apple and muscles of the neck. The future course of management
depends on :--
There is pulse but no breathing - -
Proceed with Artificial respiration
There is no pulse and breathing has stopped - -
Proceed with Cardio pulmonary resuscitation.
Artificial Respiration
Step 1 Open the Airway :--
# Wipe any foreign substances out of his mouth.
# With one hand on forehead and the other under the chin, tilt
head partially back.
# Listen for breathing, watch chest, feel any exhaled air.
Step 2
# Pinch the nostrils closed using your thumb and index finger.
# Place your mouth over the victim's and give 2 full breaths, taking
a gulp of air between the two.
Each ventilation should cause the
victim's chest to rise and fall.
Remember to remove your mouth to allow the victim to exhale and you
to take
another breath.
# Keep repeating this procedure giving one vigorous breath every 5 seconds. Until the
victim starts to breathe spontaneously.
In infants and small children, do not pinch the nose closed but cover the nose and
mouth with your mouth.
In case of infants, give one gentle puff of air once every 3
seconds and in children give every 4 seconds.
If you can not feel the pulse, it indicates that the heart has stopped. Immediately start
the resuscitation. This involves both 1) Artificial respiration & 2) External chest
compression.
Step 1 : It is of vital importance that your hands are positioned correctly in relation
to the victim's heart.
# The victim should lie stretched on his back on the ground or floor.
# Kneel beside him and position his head to keep the chin up and the airway
open.
# To locate the correct position of the hands, place two fingers of your left hand
on the tip of the lower end of victim's breast bone. ( This area corresponds to
the small "bump" over the base of the breast bone ).
# Keep the heel of your right hand above the two fingers. The heel of your right
hand now lies on the lower third of the breast bone.
# Place your left hand over the right hand and entwine the fingers for stability.
Alternately, your left hand can grip the wrist of the right hand.
# Your body should be positioned such that your shoulders are directly above
your hands with the arms straight and elbows locked.
Step 2 : Start chest compressions. Push down with a smooth, firm thrust. The force
should be enough to press down the lower 1/3 of breast bone by 4 to 5 cms. letting
your back and body to do the work.
# Then lift the weight and relax the pressure completely.
Remember not to remove your hands from the victim's chest while you relax
between the compressions.
# Repeat this rhythmic compressions 15 times, then take 2 breaths. This rhythm of
15 press ---- 2 breaths ---- 15 press ---- 2 breaths ---- should be followed for 1 minute.
# Check Carotid pulse for 5 seconds, if no pulse repeat the rhythm
for 2 minutes ( continue checking for pulse every 2 minutes ).
If the pulse returns, but victim is not breathing, start artificial
respiration.
During resuscitation sometimes the victim might vomit.
In such cases roll him on
one side to clear the airway.
Heat Stroke
is a medical emergency requiring immediate
and aggressive treatment.
Heat exhaustion is less severe
but if not managed properly, it may proceed to heat
stroke. The basic essence of management lies
in cooling
the body with whatever means available.
1) Make the victim lie on his back with feet raised.
2) The clothes should be loosened or removed.
3) If available, place him in an air conditioned room
4) Start cooling the body-----
Wrap his head in cold, wet towels and his body in cold wet sheet
If he is outdoors, use a garden hose pipe pouring running water over him.
Alternately, pour buckets of cold water over the victim.
If the body temperature is around 105*F place the victim into a tub of cold water
or apply ice packs.
In case the victim is unconscious or feeling nauseated, do not give any oral liquid.
For a conscious person give sips of cool diluted salt water (1 teaspoonful salt in 250 ml
water). Give half a glass every 15 minutes.
Orange juice is often helpful.
Homemade Heat Pack
One can also make a heat pack by stitching a cloth bag and stuffing it with dry white
rice. Microwave it for a few minutes each time you want to use it.
Flexible and durable and the rice holds the heat for quite
a while.
HICCUPS
These usually clear up spontaneously without treatment, but if it
persists, you may try the following:
Give the child a spoon of granulated sugar to be swallowed dry.
Using a spoon, tickle the back of the child’s throat causing the child to gag.
Make the child drink a glass of water as slowly as possible. Some add a pinch of
baking soda for a better effect.
In older child if possible, make him hold his breath as long as he can or pull out
the tongue as far as possible to trigger the gag reflex.
For Insomnia: a Hot Bath.
A hot soak about 90 minutes before bedtime will raise your core body temperature. The
subsequent cool-down seems to encourage deeper sleep, researchers suggest.
For Overindulgence: Pineapple. Eat too much? This tropical fruit is loaded with an enzyme that aids protein digestion.
For Nausea: Ginger. It helped Danish women in a morning sickness study, and it may also prevent motion sickness. Try
some ginger tea (hot water with diced ginger) about 30 minutes before your trip.
For Colds: Chicken Soup. Yes, Mom, you were right -- studies at Miami's Mount Sinai Medical Center show hot
chicken soup really does have a beneficial decongestant effect.
Better yet use our 112/24 hr. cold/flu remedy on main menu.
For Hangovers: Water. Drink plenty of water while you party, then more before bedtime to prevent dehydration from
alcohol.
For Itchy Skin: Oatmeal or Baking Soda. Soaking in tepid water with a cup or two of oatmeal can soothe a myriad of
irritations, including insect bites and sunburn, says UCLA Medical Center dermatologist Dr. Lenore Kakita. Also try a
baking soda paste directly on the skin.
For Urinary Infection: Cranberry Juice. It's even more effective than water for flushing bacteria out of the system. If
you're prone to such infections, try a 10-ounce glass each day (dilute with water if you find it too acidic).
For Yeast Infection: Yogurt. Eating a cup a day can regulate your bacterial environment.
Just make sure it says "live acidophilus cultures" on the label.
Home Remedies Banish Warts
They come unbidden and without warning.
They are ugly and
sometimes hard to eradicate.
Even the medical name is nasty: verrucae vulgaris.
Warts are caused by any of 60 strains of the human
papillomavirus. Children are especially susceptible, but anyone can
develop this common infection.
The hands and feet are prime targets.
Dermatologists might prescribe acid plasters to gradually eat
away at
the rough tissue, burn them off with electrical cautery devices, freeze
them with liquid nitrogen or remove them with a laser.
Even with such
high-tech treatment, many warts return time after time.
One reader pleaded: "I am going nuts with warts on my hands. I have
had them removed by doctors and they return.
The wart 'paints' work,
but the warts come back. Do you know
of any old timey cures or
anything I could try?"
That is why home remedies are so appealing
to people. No one understands why the mind is so powerful
in ridding the body of this
unwanted virus.
For centuries techniques like "buying" the warts with
a shiny new penny have been amazingly effective.
Even doctors have utilized "magical spells" to relieve their
younger patients of this plague.
Over the years we have collected a lot of wart remedies.
Here are some
of our favorites.
-
"Take a banana peel and cut a round piece the size of the wart.
Put
the inner side next to the wart and tape it on with surgical tape.
Change this every day with a fresh piece of banana peel. It may take a
week or so to see results."
-
A nurse sent us the following remedy: "Peel the skin off a potato as
thin as possible. Take a small piece of potato skin and rub the
POTATO side on the wart twice a day.
In one or two weeks the wart will
turn black and fall off.
There is apparently a chemical in the potato near the skin which kills
the wart.
I have used this for warts large and small on several people,
and it never fails."
-
Another person offers a doctor-recommended
remedy: "Clear nail polish works for warts.
My dermatologist told me to try it. I gave up
after a short time because it was tedious to apply it every day. But
when our dog developed a huge wart,
I put a coat of polish on daily
and within a week the thing flaked off."
The nail polish approach has been around for a while. Another reader
relates: "When I was a freshman in college my biology professor said
that warts could be removed by 'smothering' them with frequent
applications of nail polish or heavy cold cream.
"I had my first wart then and really hated it. Having no nail polish at
the time, I used cold cream, applying it every time I was in my dorm
room. It took about two weeks for the wart to disappear."
-
Vinegar is another popular home remedy for warts. "I was plagued by a
wart on my index finger.
Because of the location, a physician said there
was nothing to be done that wouldn't cause
disfigurement.
I soaked a piece of cotton in apple cider vinegar, put it on my finger
and wrapped it with tape. In the middle of the night I woke up from a
dead sleep. My wart was throbbing. The next day the wart was gone
without disfigurement."
-
Castor oil is another perennial favorite.
"Just dab a little drop on the
wart at night before bed and do the same
each morning when you get
up.
Soon you'll find you have no wart to treat."
Such home remedies have not been clinically tested, but they are
inexpensive, safe and work at least as well as some medical
treatments.
Colloidal Silver
We are very concerned about the increasing popularity of colloidal silver.
It was used to fight infections in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
When antibiotics
were discovered, silver compounds fell out of favor.
A few years ago we met a woman whose family had given her colloidal silver
when she was a child. Her skin is now severely discolored and appears grayish
blue. This is an irreversible and disfiguring condition.
The FDA has stated that products containing colloidal silver
are "not generally
recognized as safe and effective and are misbranded." We discourage their use,
especially for children.
Menapause
Several options can prevent osteoporosis or hot flashes.
Most people know that exercise, calcium and magnesium are important for
bone strength.
Vitamin D is also essential, but the optimal dose may be higher
than
that usually recommended.
Postmenopausal women may need 800 to
1000 IU of this vitamin daily (Am. Journal of Clinical Nutrition, May
1999).
Some women find that foods such as soy and rye or herbs like
ginseng, black cohosh or dong quai are helpful in controlling hot
flashes or other symptoms of menopause.
Here are some tips for housewives which their Mother may have never told them.
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