Several years ago when that "non-polio" enterovirus was going around, Sam had it bad. He had a breathing treatment at the Dr's office and was prescribed an inhaler. The inhaler didn't do much good. I prayed and just "knew" what herbs to put together. Later, after it worked, I realized this is an anti-inflammatory formula.
Last night while saying I needed to try anti-inflammatory drugs for my migraine, Clark asked don't I have anti-inflammatory herbs? I remembered this tincture, tried it, and it worked! This morning I woke up headache free, though my ears were still ringing. I worked out and still no pain.
Since God gave this formula to me freely, I will pass it on. I can't promise it will work for you, but so far so good here. Don't give up your regular medication before you know if this helps you though!
Sam's Formula:
4 parts each elderberry and mullein;
2 parts each plantain, peppermint, red raspberry leaf, spearmint, marshmallow, chamomile, rose hips;
1 part each alfalfa and nettle
Mix together then use 1 teaspoon of the mixture per 1 cup of water to make a tea. I made a tincture with vodka as a base. Fill a jar half full with herb mixture, then pour vodka in the jar to 1 inch from the top. Label it with what it is (a sharpie works great on glass and washes off later) and the date. Shake every day for 3 weeks. Strain it and put in in a tincture bottle (available on amazon) with a dropper. 1 dropper full has worked for us for asthma, coughs, and now a migraine.
If anyone tries it I would love to hear results.
Monday, March 6, 2017
Monday, March 28, 2016
Plantain Sticks
Back in 2010 I gave instructions on how to make Plantain Oil. I'm going to give those instructions again because I want to update a few things. But since then I started using that oil to make Plantain Sticks. That allows me to have them handy in my purse all the time. They really come in handy!
Once we were at the zoo and my daughter collided with a bee. It stung her right at the bottom of her lower eye lid and it immediately began to swell. We were heading home anyway, but by the time we got to the exit, which was only a couple of minutes, it was swelling quite a bit and I was worried it would swell shut. So we stopped and I grabbed the Plantain stick out of my purse. I carefully applied a tiny bit to the sting being careful not to get it IN her eye. Then we walked about 2 more minutes to our van. I turned to look at her and it was gone. You could still see the red spot, but the swelling was gone and she felt better.
I have a daughter who seems to be allergic to mosquitoes. They love her and bite her often and she swells up with huge bumps with each bite. Plantain brings them down to normal bug bites for her. They've also helped us endure fire ant stings and spider bites. I used the oil one night to draw out a deep splinter and it brought it to the surface by morning.
So if you want to buy Plantain Sticks from me, you can email me at GodMadeMeds@gmail.com. They're $1 each plus shipping. But even better is to make them yourself. If this is popular I'll figure out how to do a cart and you can just order, but for now, email me.
The first step is to obtain Plantain. You can buy it dried at Bulk Herb Store, but it's kinda pricey. And if you have weeds in your yard, you likely have some out there. This is a great article on how to identify it. and that link should open in a new window so you won't lose these instructions.
After you find fresh plantain, rinse it off if it's muddy and pat it dry. Then set it on a towel or paper towels and put it in a window or somewhere to dry for a couple of days. This is important. I made the oil with fresh plantain once and it just got moldy. So once it's dry, put it in a clean jar and cover it with oil. It will float, but you want the oil to be about an inch higher than the plantain was before it started to float. So if you just want a little, you don't need much plantain, but make a lot. I haven't seen it go bad yet if I used dry herbs and it's great stuff. Shake it up every day for about 3 weeks, strain and label. I don't bother straining it until I need it.
To make the Plantain Sticks, you'll want to have empty tubes and beeswax handy. Use 7 parts plantain oil with 1 part beeswax and melt them together in a pot. Test it by letting a bit harden on a spoon. If it's too soft, add more beeswax. If it's too hard, add more oil. When you get it how you want it, use a pipette to pour it into the tubes. Let it harden and label it. I found that it takes about 1/2 tsp beeswax and 3 1/2 tsp oil to make 2 tubes.
I found a similar product on iHerb. It's not in a tube but in a tub and I haven't used it. It's the same ingredients. I think it would work, just messier. The sticks don't require touching it to apply it. If you purchase it from there please use my link as it contains my referral code and I earn a bit. It's like I get a little coupon the next time I check out and that makes me smile.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
This nasty cold going around
There is a nasty cold going around. You get a fever, really runny nose, headache, sore throat, stomach ache, or all of the above. It's hard to know if you have it since this time of year many of those same symptoms hit all the ragweed allergy sufferers. But if it's the cold, we've found some herbs that are helping.
What has really helped my family is to combine licorice, ginger and echinacea with whatever other herbs I'm using to make tea and drink lots of it. Even the kids who don't like the taste of those particular herbs are saying it did help a lot.
Licorice is good for sore throats and coughs and is a natural antibiotic. Ginger helps all sorts of tummy aches. And Echinacea boosts your immune system and helps with the stuffiness. It will make your nose run which is good if you want to avoid the sinus headache and earaches that could go along with the stuffiness. Be prepared with lots of tissues!
What has really helped my family is to combine licorice, ginger and echinacea with whatever other herbs I'm using to make tea and drink lots of it. Even the kids who don't like the taste of those particular herbs are saying it did help a lot.
Licorice is good for sore throats and coughs and is a natural antibiotic. Ginger helps all sorts of tummy aches. And Echinacea boosts your immune system and helps with the stuffiness. It will make your nose run which is good if you want to avoid the sinus headache and earaches that could go along with the stuffiness. Be prepared with lots of tissues!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disorder
Many years ago I was experiencing a lot of pain whenever I ate. I also had a lot of aches and pains in my back, shoulders, and one hip. I went to the doctor. They told me those were different and I needed a second appointment to deal with both things so I had to choose which one to do first. (And people wonder why I don't care much for doctors.) I chose the abdominal pain since eating seemed to be more important to my survival than sitting comfortably. I was actually not nursing a baby at the time (the one break I've had in almost 22 years) and I didn't expect to have any more babies ever (boy was I wrong!) so I was able to take medication without worrying about it.
They did a blood test and found there was no way it was an ulcer because I didn't have the h. pylorii (or something like that) bacteria in my blood. So they decided it was Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disorder aka GERD or Reflux. They ran through the usual "try to lose some weight and eat right" stuff with me. Yeah. I weighed 115 lbs. I don't think I had much to lose. Then they prescribed something. I can't remember what it was. I just know it gave me horrible horrible headaches. I have survived migraines for the last 22 years without any pain medication because I don't want to even possibly harm the babies I am carrying or nursing. I give birth without pain medication. I'm not a wimpy person who cannot handle pain. But this was awful. I went back and told them it caused bigger problems so they took me off that and put me on another. This one also had side effects. My stomach would knot up like a rock. You could feel a hard little rock right where my stomach was supposed to be. I stopped taking that and decided I must need to live with this pain and consider Tums to be a regular part of every meal.
Then I was talking to a friend who asked if I would consider doing anything natural. Of course I would! So she sent me to a health food store to talk to the woman who ran it. She said I had a yeast overgrowth and put me on Oregano Oil and Acidophilus and told me no sugar including fruit and milk. I decided to try it and was amazed to find that not only did my stomach pains go away, so did all those other aches and pains I'd never made another appointment to discuss with the doctor! I have to admit though, we gave up fruit, but not milk. And several years later my symptoms came back and I did it again without giving up milk or fruit. It still worked. But other sugars really should go.
Through the years I have helped several other people with similar problems by telling this story. It has helped people with back pain (especially that ache between your shoulder blades, just off from the center) and people with reflux. I never experienced any reflux sensation. Basically I just had a really bad case of heartburn. But it has worked for others who had that reflux sensation.
There are other things that work too. My favorite, because we always keep it on hand and it works for so many other things AND is safe enough to give children and babies, is Nutribiotic Grapefruit Seed Extract. A dose for an adult is 1 tablet. But you can get the liquid and the dose for ANY size person can be calculated by taking 1 drop per 10 pounds of body weight. Never take the liquid straight. It has to be diluted. You can mix it in juice, applesauce, or whatever. It is bitter and seems to taste less strong when cold.
For Reflux, take 1 dose in the morning and another dose at night. Along with that, take acidophilus. We like the yummy chewable tablets and have found we're more likely to remember to do this if there's something yummy involved. But you can take whatever form of acidophilus you want. Just take it when you take the GSE--one in the morning and one at night.
The way it works is that the GSE kills the yeast, the acidophilus adds to the good bacteria, and avoiding sugar starves the yeast.
How long to continue depends on you. If you stop and the pain returns, it was too soon. If you stop and feel great still, you don't need it. Figure at least a couple weeks. I did it for 6 weeks the first time, stopped and needed to re-start pretty quickly. Then I just took it once daily for about a year. I only need it now if I start eating a lot of sugar again. Then a couple doses later I feel great and quit.
They did a blood test and found there was no way it was an ulcer because I didn't have the h. pylorii (or something like that) bacteria in my blood. So they decided it was Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disorder aka GERD or Reflux. They ran through the usual "try to lose some weight and eat right" stuff with me. Yeah. I weighed 115 lbs. I don't think I had much to lose. Then they prescribed something. I can't remember what it was. I just know it gave me horrible horrible headaches. I have survived migraines for the last 22 years without any pain medication because I don't want to even possibly harm the babies I am carrying or nursing. I give birth without pain medication. I'm not a wimpy person who cannot handle pain. But this was awful. I went back and told them it caused bigger problems so they took me off that and put me on another. This one also had side effects. My stomach would knot up like a rock. You could feel a hard little rock right where my stomach was supposed to be. I stopped taking that and decided I must need to live with this pain and consider Tums to be a regular part of every meal.
Then I was talking to a friend who asked if I would consider doing anything natural. Of course I would! So she sent me to a health food store to talk to the woman who ran it. She said I had a yeast overgrowth and put me on Oregano Oil and Acidophilus and told me no sugar including fruit and milk. I decided to try it and was amazed to find that not only did my stomach pains go away, so did all those other aches and pains I'd never made another appointment to discuss with the doctor! I have to admit though, we gave up fruit, but not milk. And several years later my symptoms came back and I did it again without giving up milk or fruit. It still worked. But other sugars really should go.
Through the years I have helped several other people with similar problems by telling this story. It has helped people with back pain (especially that ache between your shoulder blades, just off from the center) and people with reflux. I never experienced any reflux sensation. Basically I just had a really bad case of heartburn. But it has worked for others who had that reflux sensation.
There are other things that work too. My favorite, because we always keep it on hand and it works for so many other things AND is safe enough to give children and babies, is Nutribiotic Grapefruit Seed Extract. A dose for an adult is 1 tablet. But you can get the liquid and the dose for ANY size person can be calculated by taking 1 drop per 10 pounds of body weight. Never take the liquid straight. It has to be diluted. You can mix it in juice, applesauce, or whatever. It is bitter and seems to taste less strong when cold.
For Reflux, take 1 dose in the morning and another dose at night. Along with that, take acidophilus. We like the yummy chewable tablets and have found we're more likely to remember to do this if there's something yummy involved. But you can take whatever form of acidophilus you want. Just take it when you take the GSE--one in the morning and one at night.
The way it works is that the GSE kills the yeast, the acidophilus adds to the good bacteria, and avoiding sugar starves the yeast.
How long to continue depends on you. If you stop and the pain returns, it was too soon. If you stop and feel great still, you don't need it. Figure at least a couple weeks. I did it for 6 weeks the first time, stopped and needed to re-start pretty quickly. Then I just took it once daily for about a year. I only need it now if I start eating a lot of sugar again. Then a couple doses later I feel great and quit.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Morning Sickness
I am 7 weeks pregnant with our 12th child. At almost 43 yrs old, I consider the nausea to be a good sign since I keep hearing of women my age miscarrying. But it's still hard to keep going when I feel so yucky.
I've experienced morning sickness with every pregnancy, but other than the time I had the flu at this stage, I've never thrown up so I know this isn't nearly as bad as other women get.
I've found a couple of aids so far. We went on a long drive to go meet our first grandson. Each time I'd start to feel nauseous I'd fall asleep. When I woke up, the nausea had passed. So sleep is apparently a good help. This was the ONLY day out of 12 pregnancies that this was a possibility though. Life doesn't let many people just doze off and on all day.
I know that peppermint is supposed to be good for upset stomachs. So I bought some Altoid mints. The curiously strong ones. I LOVE mints, but these aren't my favorite. They're so strong they hurt my tongue. In other pregnancies I tried mint candy and mint gum and they work okay and taste good. The Altoids are working great so far. Why does it have to be the one I don't care as much for? But relief is relief.
I will say, nothing seems to take the nausea away completely. This just helps it be more tolerable. Ginger is supposed to work well, too, but I haven't tried it yet. Maybe I'll make some ginger tea this weekend and see how that works. I'll keep you posted if I find anything.
I've experienced morning sickness with every pregnancy, but other than the time I had the flu at this stage, I've never thrown up so I know this isn't nearly as bad as other women get.
I've found a couple of aids so far. We went on a long drive to go meet our first grandson. Each time I'd start to feel nauseous I'd fall asleep. When I woke up, the nausea had passed. So sleep is apparently a good help. This was the ONLY day out of 12 pregnancies that this was a possibility though. Life doesn't let many people just doze off and on all day.
I know that peppermint is supposed to be good for upset stomachs. So I bought some Altoid mints. The curiously strong ones. I LOVE mints, but these aren't my favorite. They're so strong they hurt my tongue. In other pregnancies I tried mint candy and mint gum and they work okay and taste good. The Altoids are working great so far. Why does it have to be the one I don't care as much for? But relief is relief.
I will say, nothing seems to take the nausea away completely. This just helps it be more tolerable. Ginger is supposed to work well, too, but I haven't tried it yet. Maybe I'll make some ginger tea this weekend and see how that works. I'll keep you posted if I find anything.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Cough and Sore Throat tea
We survived a virus that caused everyone to cough and have sore throats. Some of the kids had a dry, hacking cough and others got wheezy with it. At least 3 of my children lost their voices. (Sadly, that didn't seem to create a quieter atmosphere here since it was only one at a time.) The first to catch this virus was my son Samuel. He seems to end up with asthmatic symptoms whenever he catches any cold. One morning he was struggling so much he couldn't even make it up the stairs to his bedroom. I had to leave, but made him some tea and instructed Grace, his babysitter for the morning, to push the tea. She said she had him sip it every time she could--maybe every 15 minutes or so. When I returned 4 hours later, he was fine and went to play outside.
So what was in the tea? I will share my list of ingredients. But if you don't want to make it yourself I have now made a HUGE bag of it and would be glad to share. $5 for a 2 ounce bag. In about 3 weeks I'll have a tincture made from it and will want to test that on somebody. :) I'll need a local person with a cough to test so let me know if you feel bad about 3 weeks from now. Not wishing it on anybody, but just letting you know I'll be glad to share my tincture free for the first person who is sick and willing to test it out. FYI it will be alcohol based.
My cough and sore throat formula is this: 1 part each of mullein, licorice root, echinacea, peppermint, spearmint, stevia, dried elder berries. 1/2 part lobelia. Sometimes I throw in an extra part of mullein. It doesn't seem to make a difference though.
So what was in the tea? I will share my list of ingredients. But if you don't want to make it yourself I have now made a HUGE bag of it and would be glad to share. $5 for a 2 ounce bag. In about 3 weeks I'll have a tincture made from it and will want to test that on somebody. :) I'll need a local person with a cough to test so let me know if you feel bad about 3 weeks from now. Not wishing it on anybody, but just letting you know I'll be glad to share my tincture free for the first person who is sick and willing to test it out. FYI it will be alcohol based.
My cough and sore throat formula is this: 1 part each of mullein, licorice root, echinacea, peppermint, spearmint, stevia, dried elder berries. 1/2 part lobelia. Sometimes I throw in an extra part of mullein. It doesn't seem to make a difference though.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Oil Cleansing Method
I've been on a quest to find ways to cleanse my hair and skin without using commercial products. So far I've tried baking soda and vinegar for my hair which I didn't like, coconut oil as a moisturizer or lotion which I like, coconut oil as deodorant which I like, and oil to wash my face which I LOVE.
I mixed 1 T castor oil and 3 T olive oil. You can find castor oil on the bottom shelf with laxatives in the pharmacy section. But this won't work as a laxative. I promise. I saw one website suggested them at the opposite ratio, but I think this would actually dry out your skin. The ratio I gave you is great for me and my teenage daughters. I think the person who suggested more castor oil and less olive oil just got mixed up.
I put it in a little plastic container I got over by the sample size stuff in Health and Beauty Aids at Walmart. $1 I think. The castor oil was maybe $3? Olive oil I already had in the kitchen.
Each night I use about 4 drops. I put it on my wet hands and rub together. Then I massage it over my whole face. It removes make up too. Get a washcloth wet with water as hot as you can stand it. Lay this over your face and hold it until it cools. Then wipe off the oil. Do this again. It takes me about 3-4 rinses.
In the morning I just rinse with warm water. That's all it takes. Sometimes I forget and wash my face in the shower out of habit. Then I need to moisturize. I use coconut oil for that.
My daughters and I have been doing this for a couple months now and still love it. Their acne is improved. My dry patches and blotchy spots are gone. I even had a mole disappear and another one shrink! I'll be trying straight castor oil on my moles and let you know if that works.
I mixed 1 T castor oil and 3 T olive oil. You can find castor oil on the bottom shelf with laxatives in the pharmacy section. But this won't work as a laxative. I promise. I saw one website suggested them at the opposite ratio, but I think this would actually dry out your skin. The ratio I gave you is great for me and my teenage daughters. I think the person who suggested more castor oil and less olive oil just got mixed up.
I put it in a little plastic container I got over by the sample size stuff in Health and Beauty Aids at Walmart. $1 I think. The castor oil was maybe $3? Olive oil I already had in the kitchen.
Each night I use about 4 drops. I put it on my wet hands and rub together. Then I massage it over my whole face. It removes make up too. Get a washcloth wet with water as hot as you can stand it. Lay this over your face and hold it until it cools. Then wipe off the oil. Do this again. It takes me about 3-4 rinses.
In the morning I just rinse with warm water. That's all it takes. Sometimes I forget and wash my face in the shower out of habit. Then I need to moisturize. I use coconut oil for that.
My daughters and I have been doing this for a couple months now and still love it. Their acne is improved. My dry patches and blotchy spots are gone. I even had a mole disappear and another one shrink! I'll be trying straight castor oil on my moles and let you know if that works.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Bug Bites and Thorns
Plantain is good for relief of pain, itch, and swelling. My daughter is about to try it on the beginnings of a black eye. I don't expect it to work well since it's been hours since she got in a fight. But we'll see.
I used it on my 2 yr old when he got into fire ants. I just put a handful of leaves into a washcloth, closed it up with a rubber band so it looked like a big tea bag and then put it into a very hot bathtub. I let it sit for a few minutes while squeezing it to get the juices out, then added cold water to make it cool enough for him. He got in and played and it seemed to help him a lot.
We've had a couple of strange spots on hands and feet where we aren't sure what happened. But it hurts and swells up. Maybe a thorn? Maybe a bug bite? Maybe a spider bite? We don't know. But I ground some dried plantain, mixed it with water to make a paste, then put it on the spot and held it in place with a band aid. In both cases the swelling was gone within 30 minutes. In one case the spot comes back 30 minutes after the band aid is removed. We're now trying immune boosters for that one. I think it was a spider bite.
We've also used plantain to relieve pain from thorns (even Mesquite thorns!), splinters, etc. I had a jar of plantain oil that was a handy way to be ready, but it got knocked off a table and broke. I'm making more now. You simply put the herbs in a jar, cover with your choice of oil (I like coconut or olive oils because I have them around and they are healthy), put the lid on the jar and shake it every day for three weeks. Then you strain out the herbs, save the oil and label it. Put a couple drops on as needed.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
A useful weed--Mullein
I've read about the multitude of uses for mullein, and had used it for several things. I went to order more from the Bulk Herb Store and they were out of stock. So I finally got around to searching for it in my yard. And we have plenty. It's considered a weed, grows nearly everywhere, smells good, and is pretty. So we'll be letting this weed grow.
I found it just in time. I picked some flowers, washed them, then put them in a jar with some olive oil and kept them at low heat for about 24 hours. Then I strained out the oil. Five of my kids had earaches, one or two at a time, and so I got to test this stuff out. I put a couple drops in each ear when they complained about earaches. Three of the kids still needed Motrin to get through the night, but it worked great during the day. The other two made it through the night without any additional pain killers--and the two month old baby was one of them.
Things we've used mullein for and been successful include cuts and scrapes, coughs, colds, sore throats, and ear aches. I tried to get one of the kids to try a leaf in her shoe when she had that bruised heel feeling, but she only wanted to wear flip flops so that didn't work.
I made the mullein oil for earaches. But for sore throats, coughs, and colds, we added it to tea. Mullein helps with pain, but it also can kill germs and help expel mucus from the body. The kids said their tea helped a lot with the cough and sore throat. I didn't just use mullein in their tea, but it helped more when I added it than when I didn't.
With the nice weather the kids have been playing outside a lot. That means they scrape themselves while climbing trees and fall and scrape knees while riding bikes and scooters. I get tired of handing out bandaids and suggested they crush or bruise a mullein leaf and put it on their cuts. They tell me it worked great! It helped it stop hurting right away. Of course, kids think bandaids help scrapes stop hurting too, so I can't be sure how well it worked. I don't fall down much so I haven't been able to test it myself quite yet.
I found it just in time. I picked some flowers, washed them, then put them in a jar with some olive oil and kept them at low heat for about 24 hours. Then I strained out the oil. Five of my kids had earaches, one or two at a time, and so I got to test this stuff out. I put a couple drops in each ear when they complained about earaches. Three of the kids still needed Motrin to get through the night, but it worked great during the day. The other two made it through the night without any additional pain killers--and the two month old baby was one of them.
Things we've used mullein for and been successful include cuts and scrapes, coughs, colds, sore throats, and ear aches. I tried to get one of the kids to try a leaf in her shoe when she had that bruised heel feeling, but she only wanted to wear flip flops so that didn't work.
I made the mullein oil for earaches. But for sore throats, coughs, and colds, we added it to tea. Mullein helps with pain, but it also can kill germs and help expel mucus from the body. The kids said their tea helped a lot with the cough and sore throat. I didn't just use mullein in their tea, but it helped more when I added it than when I didn't.
With the nice weather the kids have been playing outside a lot. That means they scrape themselves while climbing trees and fall and scrape knees while riding bikes and scooters. I get tired of handing out bandaids and suggested they crush or bruise a mullein leaf and put it on their cuts. They tell me it worked great! It helped it stop hurting right away. Of course, kids think bandaids help scrapes stop hurting too, so I can't be sure how well it worked. I don't fall down much so I haven't been able to test it myself quite yet.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Fast Working Stuff!
We've all had sore throats around here. I think it might be strep. I realize the conventional thing is to run to the doctor and get antibiotics and I am not saying you shouldn't. I just know that I have found natural ways of dealing with it and we don't go to the doctor unless we have to. We have had to, but usually we respond to other things.
So what do we do? I usually use Grapefruit Seed Extract made by Nutribiotic. I've tried other brands and not been happy with the outcome, so I stick with the Nutribiotic brand. The dosage is 1 drop of the liquid per 10 lbs body weight. I mix this in juice and give it 3 times a day. They also have tablets and capsules for those big enough to swallow them.
Another thing that works well is to gargle with mouthwash. Those in the family big enough to do that are seeing great results. As with anything, it works best if used at the first sign of illness, then gargle at least 3 times a day.
But this year was different. My little guy wouldn't drink the juice. He wouldn't take any of the things I offered him. He's too little to gargle. I prayed about what to do because he just kept getting sicker. I knew if I took him to the doctor, they would prescribe antibiotics and I was fairly certain he wouldn't take that either. Every time I prayed I got the same answer: licorice. That wasn't making sense to me as in my limited knowledge I figured it would help the sore throat a bit, but he also had some really bad diarrhea and I thought the licorice would make it worse. I finally decided to trust God and started brewing some licorice tea. Meanwhile, I got out my book "Herbal Antibiotics" and looked up licorice. It turns out it is listed in the book and even effective against some strain or other of strep. So I gave it to him. He loved it and drank a couple of cups that day. By the next day he was nearly better.
Fast forward to this week. More of the kids have been sick and I was giving them a tea with a mix of licorice, mullein, peppermint and echinacea. It was helping a lot, but I think they had some motivational issues too. (It's fun to sit on the sofa and be waited on by Mom while you watch movies all day. Who would WANT to get better?) Then I got sick. That was kind of hard on all of us. I was recovering quickly, but still had a horrible sore throat last night. I hate the taste of black licorice, but gave in and tried this stuff we have. Within seconds my sore throat was gone and stayed gone for 12 hours!
So what was this stuff I used? Meltzer's Puremints Licorice. I don't mean to be doing an ad for them, but wow! I was so amazed at how well it worked I felt I should share!
I had to take another one almost exactly 12 hours later because my throat was hurting again. It worked again.
Funny thing is, I didn't buy them to be helpful. I bought them because my husband and one of my sons were in search of the perfect flavor and they thought licorice and mint would be it. So when I saw them, I had to get them. They love them. They have helped a couple of tummy aches, cheered kids up (those who like licorice), and now sore throats. I'll be buying more of these in spite of the fact I think they're yucky.
Did you ever notice that most people either love or hate licorice? I've always been one who hated it, but now I'm learning to love the stuff even though I still hate the taste.
So what do we do? I usually use Grapefruit Seed Extract made by Nutribiotic. I've tried other brands and not been happy with the outcome, so I stick with the Nutribiotic brand. The dosage is 1 drop of the liquid per 10 lbs body weight. I mix this in juice and give it 3 times a day. They also have tablets and capsules for those big enough to swallow them.
Another thing that works well is to gargle with mouthwash. Those in the family big enough to do that are seeing great results. As with anything, it works best if used at the first sign of illness, then gargle at least 3 times a day.
But this year was different. My little guy wouldn't drink the juice. He wouldn't take any of the things I offered him. He's too little to gargle. I prayed about what to do because he just kept getting sicker. I knew if I took him to the doctor, they would prescribe antibiotics and I was fairly certain he wouldn't take that either. Every time I prayed I got the same answer: licorice. That wasn't making sense to me as in my limited knowledge I figured it would help the sore throat a bit, but he also had some really bad diarrhea and I thought the licorice would make it worse. I finally decided to trust God and started brewing some licorice tea. Meanwhile, I got out my book "Herbal Antibiotics" and looked up licorice. It turns out it is listed in the book and even effective against some strain or other of strep. So I gave it to him. He loved it and drank a couple of cups that day. By the next day he was nearly better.
Fast forward to this week. More of the kids have been sick and I was giving them a tea with a mix of licorice, mullein, peppermint and echinacea. It was helping a lot, but I think they had some motivational issues too. (It's fun to sit on the sofa and be waited on by Mom while you watch movies all day. Who would WANT to get better?) Then I got sick. That was kind of hard on all of us. I was recovering quickly, but still had a horrible sore throat last night. I hate the taste of black licorice, but gave in and tried this stuff we have. Within seconds my sore throat was gone and stayed gone for 12 hours!
So what was this stuff I used? Meltzer's Puremints Licorice. I don't mean to be doing an ad for them, but wow! I was so amazed at how well it worked I felt I should share!
I had to take another one almost exactly 12 hours later because my throat was hurting again. It worked again.
Funny thing is, I didn't buy them to be helpful. I bought them because my husband and one of my sons were in search of the perfect flavor and they thought licorice and mint would be it. So when I saw them, I had to get them. They love them. They have helped a couple of tummy aches, cheered kids up (those who like licorice), and now sore throats. I'll be buying more of these in spite of the fact I think they're yucky.
Did you ever notice that most people either love or hate licorice? I've always been one who hated it, but now I'm learning to love the stuff even though I still hate the taste.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tummy Aches
There are several things we are using for tummy aches.
Peppermint can help with heartburn. Licorice too. Ginger is supposed to be great for nausea.
But there's one thing that is really helping almost every digestive problem we are encountering and I want to share that. Slippery Elm.
When Ezra was having trouble being able to handle any solids we started adding Slippery Elm bark powder to his applesauce and he was suddenly doing much better. Over the course of a couple months, he was able to eat all kinds of things without all the diaper rash and upset stomach problems he had been having.
I shared this with a friend and she tried it on herself. She said it worked better than the prescription drug she was taking. (A popular reflux medication)
One of our daughters has trouble occasionally where everything she eats will hurt her stomach. This comes and goes and we can't figure out why. But she started taking slippery elm for it and it healed it up. For now at least. If it comes back we know to try the slippery elm again.
Everything I've read says this is safe for pregnancy, but I had trouble with it once while pregnant. I had some spotting while taking it and it stopped when I quit. Maybe that was a coincidence, but I'm cautious. I just wanted to alert you that it could be a problem so watch carefully for trouble if you are pregnant.
You can get it in capsules, but I don't know how much it would help with upper digestive problems because it wouldn't touch the area. We buy it as a powder and mix it with juice, water, or applesauce. It will thicken whatever liquid you mix it in, so you'll want plenty of liquid. My daughter says it gets kind of gross with water, but it's worth it. 1 tsp seems to be plenty for adults. I am sure you can cut this down for children. I know when Ezra was taking it as baby food we mixed a teaspoon with a bowl of applesauce. It's a food so you can't really overdose on it, you just don't want to waste it.
Peppermint can help with heartburn. Licorice too. Ginger is supposed to be great for nausea.
But there's one thing that is really helping almost every digestive problem we are encountering and I want to share that. Slippery Elm.
When Ezra was having trouble being able to handle any solids we started adding Slippery Elm bark powder to his applesauce and he was suddenly doing much better. Over the course of a couple months, he was able to eat all kinds of things without all the diaper rash and upset stomach problems he had been having.
I shared this with a friend and she tried it on herself. She said it worked better than the prescription drug she was taking. (A popular reflux medication)
One of our daughters has trouble occasionally where everything she eats will hurt her stomach. This comes and goes and we can't figure out why. But she started taking slippery elm for it and it healed it up. For now at least. If it comes back we know to try the slippery elm again.
Everything I've read says this is safe for pregnancy, but I had trouble with it once while pregnant. I had some spotting while taking it and it stopped when I quit. Maybe that was a coincidence, but I'm cautious. I just wanted to alert you that it could be a problem so watch carefully for trouble if you are pregnant.
You can get it in capsules, but I don't know how much it would help with upper digestive problems because it wouldn't touch the area. We buy it as a powder and mix it with juice, water, or applesauce. It will thicken whatever liquid you mix it in, so you'll want plenty of liquid. My daughter says it gets kind of gross with water, but it's worth it. 1 tsp seems to be plenty for adults. I am sure you can cut this down for children. I know when Ezra was taking it as baby food we mixed a teaspoon with a bowl of applesauce. It's a food so you can't really overdose on it, you just don't want to waste it.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Asthma and allergies in a preschooler
When our oldest son was a little guy he had a lot of health problems. He seemed to catch every cold that went around. The doctor just kept prescribing antibiotics every month which would help, but we'd be back the next month with yet another illness. Every cold seemed to go to his chest and he'd end up coughing a lot and wheezing. When he was about 2 the doctor said he wasn't going to officially diagnose him with asthma because that would be a problem for him later, but we should keep an inhaler on hand and we did. He needed it pretty often.
At night he would get to coughing so hard he would throw up. This would happen usually twice each night. It was terribly frustrating. One morning I woke to hear him coughing and laid there exhausted wondering if I should get up and wake him up before he threw up, or let him get that last minute or two of sleep before he awoke on his own. Then I just prayed and asked God what in the world we were supposed to do about this. "Go to the allergist" was my answer. Hmm. I hadn't thought of that. It had just not occurred to me that it was allergies.
So we went and they did the skin test which showed him to be allergic to most of his favorite foods--chocolate, rice, oats, bananas, cinnamon, egg whites, and grapes. He was fine with dairy. I want to point this out because so many people assume that if you have allergies you must be allergic to dairy. This is not always the case and switching from cow's milk to rice milk would have been horrible for my son! There were a few other foods that he tested positive for, but the allergist urged us to remove everything he'd tested positive for from his diet for two weeks, then give each food to him one at a time to see if he reacted. Some caused no reaction and we were able to add those back to his diet. The ones that caused reactions we kept him off of. The doctor was hopeful that if we avoided these foods completely, he could outgrow these allergies because he was still fairly young. I believe he was about 3 1/2 at this point. He is now almost 20 and can eat all of the foods he once had to avoid. Sometimes some of them will cause a slight problem, but usually he said he's okay with them.
He also had airborne allergies and got weekly allergy shots. This was absolutely no fun. I can't say if the shots worked because we only did them for about half a year. I'll explain why.
We began to see a lot of improvement right away with avoiding food allergens--he stopped throwing up. We also took him off all artificial colors (all those FD&C colors with numbers) which improved his behavior. He had been a good kid all along, but he'd have these Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde moments where he'd suddenly become aggressive or wild and get in trouble. He didn't like that and when he saw that avoiding dyes helped him stay out of trouble, he was very careful--at age 3-4 yrs old!--to avoid dyes. As he put it back then, "Dyes make me crazy!" But he was still getting a lot of colds, coughs, and wheezing often. He couldn't ever play hard or he'd begin to cough and wheeze. The shots didn't seem to be doing much and I kept praying.
A friend of mine ended up suggesting a doctor who does things all naturally. This guy was great! (Dr. Dorman in Independence Missouri for anyone in that area who might want to try him.) All he did was tell me to give my son some drops in juice 3 times a day for 3 weeks, then nothing for a week, then come back for a re-check.
Each day he was to take 3 drops of Nutribiotic Grapefruit Seed Extract (He weighed about 30 lbs then. I have since learned that a dose is 1 drop per 10 lbs of body weight.) and 5 drops of Zand Insure Herbal (now called Insure Immune Support). We did this faithfully and began to see results pretty quickly. After the first month, we went back for a check up and were told to keep doing what we were doing. We continued for 3 months. After the third month he said we could stop the allergy shots if we felt comfortable with that. Boy did we!! And he said he no longer needed to take the drops every day. Just give them to him at the first sign of any illness coming on. Wow! We hardly ever even had to take any of our kids to a doctor at all after that! And it's a good thing because we moved and couldn't go to that doctor anymore. I've never found another one that I liked as well as him.
IF you would like to find these drops (and they have tablets of both formulas for those big enough to swallow pills), my favorite place to shop is iherb.com because they have good prices, reasonable shipping rates and quick service. They usually have everything I am looking for in one place, too. So I'm going to share my referral code just in case. By using this, you save $5 off your first order and I get some small percent of your purchase as credit in my next order--or something like that. I know it's good for both of us. But it would be even better if you can find the drops at a local health food store. Then you are supporting your own community AND you get what you need right away. I would caution you to not try other brands simply because when I have, they didn't work nearly as well. But that's up to you.
My referral code at www.iherb.com is MOM681.
Another change we made was to avoid sugar in our diet. This is something you'll hear from me often. Sugar depresses the immune system and when you have allergies you need to build your immune system. Honey is okay and will help satisfy your sweet tooth. So will fruit. Artifical sweeteners are worse than sugar and should be avoided.
Eat lots of fruit. At our house we call it God's Candy since it truly gives a "real fruit flavor". And a piece of fruit will usually cost you less than a candy bar. Plus it HELPS your health rather than hurts you.
At night he would get to coughing so hard he would throw up. This would happen usually twice each night. It was terribly frustrating. One morning I woke to hear him coughing and laid there exhausted wondering if I should get up and wake him up before he threw up, or let him get that last minute or two of sleep before he awoke on his own. Then I just prayed and asked God what in the world we were supposed to do about this. "Go to the allergist" was my answer. Hmm. I hadn't thought of that. It had just not occurred to me that it was allergies.
So we went and they did the skin test which showed him to be allergic to most of his favorite foods--chocolate, rice, oats, bananas, cinnamon, egg whites, and grapes. He was fine with dairy. I want to point this out because so many people assume that if you have allergies you must be allergic to dairy. This is not always the case and switching from cow's milk to rice milk would have been horrible for my son! There were a few other foods that he tested positive for, but the allergist urged us to remove everything he'd tested positive for from his diet for two weeks, then give each food to him one at a time to see if he reacted. Some caused no reaction and we were able to add those back to his diet. The ones that caused reactions we kept him off of. The doctor was hopeful that if we avoided these foods completely, he could outgrow these allergies because he was still fairly young. I believe he was about 3 1/2 at this point. He is now almost 20 and can eat all of the foods he once had to avoid. Sometimes some of them will cause a slight problem, but usually he said he's okay with them.
He also had airborne allergies and got weekly allergy shots. This was absolutely no fun. I can't say if the shots worked because we only did them for about half a year. I'll explain why.
We began to see a lot of improvement right away with avoiding food allergens--he stopped throwing up. We also took him off all artificial colors (all those FD&C colors with numbers) which improved his behavior. He had been a good kid all along, but he'd have these Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde moments where he'd suddenly become aggressive or wild and get in trouble. He didn't like that and when he saw that avoiding dyes helped him stay out of trouble, he was very careful--at age 3-4 yrs old!--to avoid dyes. As he put it back then, "Dyes make me crazy!" But he was still getting a lot of colds, coughs, and wheezing often. He couldn't ever play hard or he'd begin to cough and wheeze. The shots didn't seem to be doing much and I kept praying.
A friend of mine ended up suggesting a doctor who does things all naturally. This guy was great! (Dr. Dorman in Independence Missouri for anyone in that area who might want to try him.) All he did was tell me to give my son some drops in juice 3 times a day for 3 weeks, then nothing for a week, then come back for a re-check.
Each day he was to take 3 drops of Nutribiotic Grapefruit Seed Extract (He weighed about 30 lbs then. I have since learned that a dose is 1 drop per 10 lbs of body weight.) and 5 drops of Zand Insure Herbal (now called Insure Immune Support). We did this faithfully and began to see results pretty quickly. After the first month, we went back for a check up and were told to keep doing what we were doing. We continued for 3 months. After the third month he said we could stop the allergy shots if we felt comfortable with that. Boy did we!! And he said he no longer needed to take the drops every day. Just give them to him at the first sign of any illness coming on. Wow! We hardly ever even had to take any of our kids to a doctor at all after that! And it's a good thing because we moved and couldn't go to that doctor anymore. I've never found another one that I liked as well as him.
IF you would like to find these drops (and they have tablets of both formulas for those big enough to swallow pills), my favorite place to shop is iherb.com because they have good prices, reasonable shipping rates and quick service. They usually have everything I am looking for in one place, too. So I'm going to share my referral code just in case. By using this, you save $5 off your first order and I get some small percent of your purchase as credit in my next order--or something like that. I know it's good for both of us. But it would be even better if you can find the drops at a local health food store. Then you are supporting your own community AND you get what you need right away. I would caution you to not try other brands simply because when I have, they didn't work nearly as well. But that's up to you.
My referral code at www.iherb.com is MOM681.
Another change we made was to avoid sugar in our diet. This is something you'll hear from me often. Sugar depresses the immune system and when you have allergies you need to build your immune system. Honey is okay and will help satisfy your sweet tooth. So will fruit. Artifical sweeteners are worse than sugar and should be avoided.
Eat lots of fruit. At our house we call it God's Candy since it truly gives a "real fruit flavor". And a piece of fruit will usually cost you less than a candy bar. Plus it HELPS your health rather than hurts you.
Monday, January 18, 2010
My Basic Philosophy on Health
Most of us have heard of DNA, right? It's hard not to these days with all the talk about genetics and evolution and such. Each of our cells contains DNA which contains the basic instructions on how to make our body work right. It was taught to me in my high school biology class that each cell has all the knowledge it needs to create the whole body, but they each specialize and do what they need to do.
So if every cell knows what to do, why do they sometimes do the wrong things? Why do we sometimes not heal as well as other times when there is a problem? My theory is that the cells need the proper nutrients to do what they need to do.
If a brick builder is given straw to build a building, it won't come out right. It doesn't matter what he knows about bricks and how to build a good, strong building. If he doesn't have the right materials, he can't do as good of a job. I believe that our bodies work the same way. If what we need are vitamins, minerals, protein, water, etc, and we give them sugar and chemicals instead, the cells will be unable to properly create new cells and create a healthy body.
We were created to self-heal. We were provided with the proper nutrients in our environment to nourish and cleanse our bodies as needed. But we often choose to stray from what is good for us and go to what is easy or tasty. We have altered our tastes from what we were created to enjoy to what man has created. I believe that if we go back to what God has created for us to eat and eat foods as close to how God created them as possible, then we will see our bodies begin to heal themselves and we will feel healthier, stronger, and more vibrant each day. I'm seeing it in myself and my family and I hope to share that with anyone willing to try it for themselves.
Good healthy food is the first step. Herbs provide nutrients that might target a specific area that needs extra help. I believe herbs help because they cleanse and nourish. They provide the vitamins and minerals and things that we know help us. They also provide nutrients that man hasn't even discovered yet. Whole herbs (rather than derivatives of herbs and individual chemical constituents) nourish and also help counteract some side effects.
Another big part of my philosophy on health is prayer. I try to always ask God what to do in each situation. I try to follow His lead. Sometimes He leads me to things I already knew to do and other times He leads me to things that I think, "Huh? Why would I do that?" And yet so far it has turned out to be the right answer each time. So I ask that you keep that in mind and know that just because something worked for someone, that doesn't mean that same answer would work for everyone. Please be aware that the stories I share on this blog are not advice for YOU and what would necessarily work for you. It might, but please pray about it first just to be sure. Herbs are usually pretty safe--like just eating your vegetables really (sometimes we put them in a capsule rather than plugging our noses) but why waste your time and money and deal with the discouragement of taking something that isn't what you need? God created you. He intimately knows every detail of your body. He knows what you need and what you don't. Just ask Him.
So if every cell knows what to do, why do they sometimes do the wrong things? Why do we sometimes not heal as well as other times when there is a problem? My theory is that the cells need the proper nutrients to do what they need to do.
If a brick builder is given straw to build a building, it won't come out right. It doesn't matter what he knows about bricks and how to build a good, strong building. If he doesn't have the right materials, he can't do as good of a job. I believe that our bodies work the same way. If what we need are vitamins, minerals, protein, water, etc, and we give them sugar and chemicals instead, the cells will be unable to properly create new cells and create a healthy body.
We were created to self-heal. We were provided with the proper nutrients in our environment to nourish and cleanse our bodies as needed. But we often choose to stray from what is good for us and go to what is easy or tasty. We have altered our tastes from what we were created to enjoy to what man has created. I believe that if we go back to what God has created for us to eat and eat foods as close to how God created them as possible, then we will see our bodies begin to heal themselves and we will feel healthier, stronger, and more vibrant each day. I'm seeing it in myself and my family and I hope to share that with anyone willing to try it for themselves.
Good healthy food is the first step. Herbs provide nutrients that might target a specific area that needs extra help. I believe herbs help because they cleanse and nourish. They provide the vitamins and minerals and things that we know help us. They also provide nutrients that man hasn't even discovered yet. Whole herbs (rather than derivatives of herbs and individual chemical constituents) nourish and also help counteract some side effects.
Another big part of my philosophy on health is prayer. I try to always ask God what to do in each situation. I try to follow His lead. Sometimes He leads me to things I already knew to do and other times He leads me to things that I think, "Huh? Why would I do that?" And yet so far it has turned out to be the right answer each time. So I ask that you keep that in mind and know that just because something worked for someone, that doesn't mean that same answer would work for everyone. Please be aware that the stories I share on this blog are not advice for YOU and what would necessarily work for you. It might, but please pray about it first just to be sure. Herbs are usually pretty safe--like just eating your vegetables really (sometimes we put them in a capsule rather than plugging our noses) but why waste your time and money and deal with the discouragement of taking something that isn't what you need? God created you. He intimately knows every detail of your body. He knows what you need and what you don't. Just ask Him.
Getting Started
This blog will be a journal of my progress as I learn about herbs. My goal is to share stories of trials with herbs and the results--whether positive or negative. Perhaps this will help others to figure out what herbs to try for their own health, but also it will help me to remember what has worked and what has not.
I began learning about herbs when my oldest child was about 3 or 4. He had lots of allergies and when the doctors seemed unable to help him much we tried a doctor who did things all naturally. It was very successful. He went from having all the symptoms of asthma and throwing up a couple times each night, to being a normal, healthy child. The asthma symptoms disappeared and the vomiting stopped. He began to be able to play without wheezing. This greatly encouraged me and I wanted to learn more.
I dabbled here and there and continued to have successes for the most part. Last year at some point I began to study with the School of Natural Healing. My goal is to become a Master Herbalist. I have so far completed the initial phase of Family Herbalist and then the next step was Nutritional Herbologist. I am continuing my studies, but I'm not sure how fast my progress will be since we are expecting a new baby (#11) sometime in the next month or so.
Using herbs is more than just taking a pill. It's not for everyone. It's not always easy. To truly work well, there is often a need to change your diet. For us, the first requirement was to give up sugar--or at least greatly reduce how much we consumed. This stops a lot of people right there.
But if you are interested in learning, feel free to read through this blog. There might be something helpful here for you. Sometimes those herbs help in spite of bad eating habits.
I began learning about herbs when my oldest child was about 3 or 4. He had lots of allergies and when the doctors seemed unable to help him much we tried a doctor who did things all naturally. It was very successful. He went from having all the symptoms of asthma and throwing up a couple times each night, to being a normal, healthy child. The asthma symptoms disappeared and the vomiting stopped. He began to be able to play without wheezing. This greatly encouraged me and I wanted to learn more.
I dabbled here and there and continued to have successes for the most part. Last year at some point I began to study with the School of Natural Healing. My goal is to become a Master Herbalist. I have so far completed the initial phase of Family Herbalist and then the next step was Nutritional Herbologist. I am continuing my studies, but I'm not sure how fast my progress will be since we are expecting a new baby (#11) sometime in the next month or so.
Using herbs is more than just taking a pill. It's not for everyone. It's not always easy. To truly work well, there is often a need to change your diet. For us, the first requirement was to give up sugar--or at least greatly reduce how much we consumed. This stops a lot of people right there.
But if you are interested in learning, feel free to read through this blog. There might be something helpful here for you. Sometimes those herbs help in spite of bad eating habits.
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