How could that possibly be a blessing? Well, as it turned out, having cushy health insurance was impeding my growth, and causing my family to suffer needlessly. If someone got a cold, we did what everyone does – we bought cough syrup, decongestants, and nasal strips, and if it got really bad and turned into strep or an ear infection, we went to the doctor and got antibiotics.

Don’t those things help you get better faster? Well, I used to think so, but no health insurance for a couple of years introduced me to God’s medicine cabinet, and what’s in there trumps all of the regular stuff! 90% of any family illnesses are 100% curable or preventable, and in less than half the time (probably even a fraction of the time) it takes to go through a course of antibiotics. Having no health insurance led me to the elusive cure for the common cold.

So why ain’t I freakin’ rich by now? I would have thought so, but no – that is another thing I learned. It’s not the kind of thing that anyone can make a lot of money from really. And that is exactly why the health industry has lied to us about it for so long. And that is why what I am about to tell you is something that no one in the health industry really wants you to know. In fact, if you attempt to tell your doctor about this, they will tell you it’s nuts, that it couldn’t possibly work, that it’s snake oil, that it’s just the placebo effect, or that this kind of experimentation on your kids is irresponsible parenting.

99% of all the things you go to the doctor or use pharmaceuticals for can be easily taken care of at home in a fraction of the time and with no side effects. With just a few simple ingredients. Your run of the mill colds, flu, stomach flu, earaches, strep throat, pink eye, and food poisoning (a lot more common than most people realize) take up most of our doctor visits. We limp around on sprains and suffer with minor burns, cuts and bruises a lot longer than we need to. In the last 10 years, the only things we have been to the doctor for were stitches (2 times, same kid) and x-rays to make sure no bones were broken after a couple of playground escapades – one involving a teeter-totter, and another after a bike accident – and for my oldest son who had a non-cancerous bone growth last year. I was very grateful for doctors on that one, but even stitches are up for debate now, if doing it myself will save time and grief. I have done one set of scalp stitches, because the scalp isn’t very sensitive and it’s hidden under hair, so scarring isn’t as big of an issue.

Here is a list of the things that I have found to be very effective for treating some of the most common ailments:

Colds and flu: Prevention is the cure. Most human beings cannot synthesize vitamin C. In studies of disease over 50 years ago, it was found that in cases where people had died of infectious disease, there were no traces of vitamin C left in the tissues of the deceased. People with higher the levels of vitamin c in their body tissues were more resistant to disease. Megadosing vitamin C really can prevent or eliminate an oncoming cold or flu. But it isn’t that simple. The thing is the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C is only about 100mg for an adult. The problem is that this is the bare minimum. Most people need much more than that, at least 10 times more, and we are not getting it from our food. Even if we are eating really healthy we generally won’t get enough because the soils are depleted of nutrients and the vitamins are simply not there. Even if you grow the food yourself, unless you have properly amended your garden soil, there will not be enough of the right nutrients in the soil for you to get enough vitamin C without supplementing. The second problem is that simply taking vitamin C on its own does not give you the additional nutrients needed to absorb the vitamin C, and your body eliminates it. Problem 3 – most vitamin supplements are in tablet form and contain fillers and additives that prevent them from being absorbed in any significant amount. The best supplements will be capsules with natural forms of pure vitamin C that contain bioflavinoids. Even with the perfect vitamin C supplement, you will not absorb enough vitamin C by just taking vitamin C only to help prevent a cold. This is the main reason people think that megadosing doesn’t work. The key is that the body is unable to absorb vitamin C without enough fatty acids. Fat is a wonderful thing – it carries nutrients, both vitamins and minerals into the cells where it can actually be used. Vitamin C should be taken along with fat soluble vitamins. I have found that if I take 4,000mg of vitamin C with 4,000iu of vitamin E, or a couple of teaspoons of high quality cod liver oil it speeds up the healing process much faster. I have not had a full blown cold in 5 years, and I used to get a good case of the cold/flu at least twice a year that lasted 2 to 3 weeks, culminating in my losing my voice for at least 1 of those weeks. Not any more!

Stomach flu: The trick with stomach flu is to catch it early. Stomach flu is bacterial and often the result of eating something bad. I read somewhere once that 90% of all stomach flu is food related. When I thought about that, I decided to try some things that kill parasites and other pathogenic type bacteria. If you catch it early before it moves into the intestines, it is easier to get rid of. Taking a dropper each of black walnut extract and olive leaf extract in a glass of orange juice has always knocked out a flu bug within minutes. Just what you needed – kids bouncing off the walls again! If it has moved farther along, you may need to take a few more doses for it to work, and you will want to add some slippery elm bark powder in capsules to slow down any diarrhea, and some oregano oil (also in capsules) to help kill any stubborn bacteria that got stuck down in there. Also add some probiotics like kefir to rebuild the gut flora.

Earaches: Earaches are easily knocked out with a little garlic oil or tea tree oil mixed in to some olive oil or other carrier oil. Simply put a clove of garlic through a garlic press, mix with olive oil, and strain. Add a few drops of  tea tree oil, and put it directly into the ear. It helps to put a cotton ball in the ear to keep the oil from draining out. It sometimes takes about 20 minutes to an hour for permanent relief, but usually relief is almost immediate.

Strep throat: When I first started treating strep with herbals, I actually swabbed the back of my throat with tea tree oil using a cotton swab.  it was dreadfully unpleasant, but it had immediate results. My kids even did it to themselves because they couldn’t stand the sore throat any more. Since then, i have found gargling with colloidal silver gives similar results, and if you have a stubborn strep, add a few drops of tea tree oil and a couple of dashed of sea salt. For younger children, sweet birch oil works better, because it has a better flavor than tea tree oil, but it kills bacteria almost as well.

Pink eye: a few drops of colloidal silver in the eye a few times a day, or use one dropperful of Dr. Christopher’s herbal eyebright mixed into about an ounce of colloidal silver. That mixture is faster acting and you can get rid of pinkeye without antibiotics in about a day. If one kid gets pinkeye, treat them all because it spreads FAST!

Food poisoning: Treat just like the stomach flu.

Sprains and Briuses: an infusion of arnica flowers in olive oil does wonders for sprains. Arnica is a strong anti-inflammatory and does wonders in reducing swelling. Pack a glass jar with arnica flowers and then cover the flowers with a carrier oil. Allow it to sit in a warm sunny place for a few days, the longer the better. You can use this oil to rub into bruises and sprains.

Minor burns: A mixture of the arnica oil with aloe vera gel and St. Johns wort essential oil, also known as hypericum and a few drops of wintergreen will cool and sooth the pain. This is a great combination for sunburns and other minor burns.

Minor cuts: Bleeding can be stopped by putting cayenne pepper on a cut. Once the bleeding has stopped, a good herbal ointment with a good mixture of soothing, and anti-inflamitory herbs like arnica, a pain relieving herb like cloves or st.johns wort, and a cell proliferator like comfrey and slippery elm adds healing properties. It should also have a good antibacterial like oregano to prevent infection. Every family should have a good multipurpose herbal salve in their first aid kit.

With these simple remedies on hand, our family has gone a good long time without the need for professional medical services.

This was posted on Mind Body and Sole, Wildcrafting Wednesday!

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A wide mouth glass canning jar, preferably one with a glass lid

Fresh or dried herbs to fill the jar leaving about 2 inches of headspace – depending on what kind of extract that you want to make and what you will use it for

80 to 100 proof vodka or rum to cover the herbs – it doesn’t need to be the expensive kind. NEVER use rubbing alcohol or wood alcohol! If you are not used to shopping at the liquor store or buying alcohol, it can be a bit of an adjustment, but it’s for a good purpose!

Pour the vodka over the herbs and seal tightly to prevent evaporation. Shake once a day for 2 weeks – you can keep it in a paper bag, or in a dark place.

Then get:

Cheesecloth or a clean nylon stocking

Small amber glass bottles

Labels

Strain the liquid- squeeze out every last drop! An herb press is helpful, but not necessary if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty. Pour into glass bottles and cap them, then label with the herbs used and the date the bottles were filled.

This post was shared in the Mind, Body, and Soul Wildcrafting Wednesday blog carnival

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Unfortunately, since it is Saturday, our dentist is not open, and she will have to wait . . . but I really doubt there is anything that they can do anyway. If the tooth had been alive, I think they can fix it, but with a dead tooth? I’m not so sure. But for now, the tooth is in a Ziploc bag with some ice in the refrigerator.  Just in case . . .

After cleaning up the blood and giving her a piece of ice to suck on, her take on the whole thing? When asked if she wanted the tooth fairy to bring her money,  she said “No way, I want candy!”

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For those of us who prefer not to foist our personal responsibility for our food choices off onto health professionals, taking care of the stomach complaints caused by food borne illness is really very simple. The good news is that there are several ways to naturally fight food borne illness, and if caught early, natural remedies can stop a stomach bug in a fraction of the time that antibiotics can. I have had food poisoning from eggs and the remedy that worked for me was simply a mixture of black walnut and olive leaf tinctures, one full dropper of each in a small glass of orange juice; all combined was less than the $30 copay that I would have paid had I gone to the doctor. Both of these herbs have strong parasite killing properties, and I have found them to be effective for stomach flu as well. I gave some to my neighbor once as she was getting ready to walk out her door to take her daughter to the emergency room, and less than an hour later, her toddler was running around as if she had never been sick.

I have read before, that in most cases what we call the stomach flu is actually caused by eating contaminated food. If this is true, then people actually get sick from food a lot more often than they realize. One of the great things about herbs is that often there is more than one way to kill a flu. I recently put the question out to the fans of my raw milk page on facebook. Even though none of these people had ever been sick from raw milk, they have encountered food borne illness from fast food or other packaged factory foods. Here are some of the remedies they have successfully used:

• Grapefruit Seed Extract as a nutri-biotic with lots of Vitamin D3 and garlic to boost the immune system
• Oregano oil (best taken in capsules)
• Colloidal silver or nano silver – 2 to 3 Tbsp every 15 minutes until stomach upset is gone
• Activated Charcoal capsules
• Fresh garlic with cayenne
• Where there is diarrhea also take slippery elm capsules

Any of these remedies should be followed by probiotics, like kefir or yogurt, to restore the intestinal flora and for fastest results, should be taken at the fist sign of stomach upset. It is common for these strains of bacteria to be highly resistant to antibiotics, and if food poisoning symptoms are ignored and you wait until they get really bad as many people do, they can become very serious, even leading to kidney failure or other long lasting health problems, especially in small children, people with compromised immune systems, or with the elderly.

With the food industry and its track record, it is best to be prepared because chances are someone in your family will end up sick with a food borne illness, no matter what you eat.

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1. Comfrey – Comfrey is a cell proliferator and speeds healing. It is very easy to grow, just get a start from someone and plant it in a well watered spot in your garden in full sun. Soon you will see its large broad green leaves start to come up. These leaves are slightly fuzzy and stick together, making them good to use as a wrap. Pick leaves directly from your plant to add to infused oils, and other herbal remedies.
2. Garlic – Garlic is one of natures strongest antiseptics. It is very easy to grow, in fact once it takes root, it is nearly impossible to get rid of it, so choose your location carefully!
3. Cayenne – Cayenne is very easy to grow, and one thing that you may notice after planting is that unwanted wasps will not bother you anymore! Cayenne is good for the circulatory system, and can even stop a heart attack!
4. Echinacea – Echinacea is beautiful, it has lovely purple cone flowers. Once you plant it will come back year after year, and the seeds will spread. You will want to wait until you have a large patch of it before you harvest the root, but tinctures made from echinacea can detox your system if you receive a poisonous bite, and it is a great immune system support.
5. Lavender – Lavender is a wonderful calming herb, it is beautiful with all of its tiny purple flowers, and it smells divine! It enhances the properties of other herbs, and has strong anti-fungal properties. Lavender grows as a bush, and can get quite large and unruly if you don’t trim it back, so be sure to plant it in a part of your garden where it can spread out, or it may smother your other herbs!
6. Calendula – Calendula flower petals have wonderful healing properties and can be infused in oils to be added to ointments, lip balm, and ear oil. These pretty yellow flowers will add a splash of color to your garden, and the petals can even be added to salads.
7. Aloe Vera - Aloe Vera can be grown in a pot in your kitchen window sill, and is perfect to have on hand in case of burns, sunburn, bruises, and bug bites.
8. Peppermint – peppermint and other mints are aggressive and spread very quickly, so they are best kept in a pot or in a section of the garden that you don’t mind having them take over. Once rooted, like garlic, they are impossible to get rid of. Peppermint is wonderful for belly aches, gas, heartburn, and makes an energizing herbal tea.
9. Chamomile - Chamomile is a calming herb, great in a relaxing herbal tea to help on sleepless nights. Chamomile can also be used in an infused oil or added to an ointment or salve as an analgesic to soothe rashes and minor scrapes and burns.
10. St. Johns Wort - Tinctures made from St. Johns wort are effective pain relievers for burns, shingles, arthritis, and bruises. It is also has antidepressant qualities, and can be used in herbal teas, tinctures and infused oils.
11. Arnica- Arnica is essential for bruises and swelling. An oil infused with arnica flowers, immediately applied to an injury  will prevent bruising.  Great when you have an accident prone child!
12. Lobelia- Lobelia and cayenne tinctures used along with CPR can help revive a person who has stopped breathing. It can also help with smoking cessation, or for someone who is in shock, to slow a racing heartbeat, or to help with circulation or blood pressure problems.

I could list many other easy to grow herbs for your medicinal garden, but this is a good start. These essential herbs will help you treat many common health issues at home.

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It’s like night and day – once helpless, dependent, and full of worries and fears; now empowered and confident. It is such a comforting feeling to know that for most family illnesses and health emergencies, I have the tools and know-how to take care of them myself! No waiting on a doctor over the weekend or dealing with a screaming child for an hour or more in an emergency room or doctors office waiting room full of sick people. If you have not yet educated yourself on simple herbal remedies for basic family health care, I strongly encourage you to do so – it is one of the best things I have ever done!

To make a family herbal first aid kit, the first thing that you will want to do is take inventory of your family’s health. Are you in basically good health, or do you catch every bug that goes around? What are your most common illnesses? Do you have an extremely clumsy kid? (Zee is very clumsy, and I have gotten calls from the school twice this year about bruises, one of which DCFS sent a social worker to investigate my husband and me at our home!) There are a few things that every family with small children should be prepared for – here is a basic list of some of the most common things that people go to the doctor for that can easily be treated at home:

• ear infections
• colds
• stomach flu
• pink eye
• parasites
• headlice
• staph infections
• yeast infections
• warts
• strep throat
• chicken pox

And a few basics, usually treated with over the counter medicines:

• indigestion
• diarrhea
• bug bites
• sunburn
• cuts
• scrapes
• bruises

All of these can be treated at home naturally without commercially prepared medicines, and would all but completely remove any need for a doctors visit, with the exception of real medical emergencies like broken bones or other traumatic injuries.

The ideal would be to have a small travel size kit with just the basics for the car, and a larger one that is kept in a safe place at home in a container like a large fishing tackle box with plenty of room for ace bandages, and supplies like a capsulator and a mortar and pestle, etc.

The following is a fairly comprehensive list of things that would be good to keep on hand and their uses (chose the items that are most relevant to your family. You can also add other items that you feel your family needs – if you feel the list is missing something important, please leave a comment!):

Tinctures – Note: If you dislike the alcohol used in tinctures, you can reduce its presence somewhat by placing the drops in a half cup of hot, boiled water and allowing it to sit for 15 minutes, or you can look for glycerites (glycerine based extracts).

Arnica:
Apply immediately after an injury and continue every couple hours for the first day. Can be combined with a few drops of Hypericum.
Use on sore and cramped muscles, or for strained or sprained muscles or tendons, or bumps and bruises.

• Decreases pain
• Prevents swelling and bruising

Cayenne:

• Use five to ten drops diluted in two ounces of water to help with frostbite and hypothermia
• Put a couple of drops under the tongue to revives someone who is in shock or trauma. Cayenne taken this way has also been known to stop heart attacks.
• Put directly on wound externally to coagulate blood and stop the bleeding

Valerian:

• 30 to 60 drops
  • Relieves intestinal and menstrual cramps
  • Relives headaches and general aches or pains
  • Brings sleep to an exhausted person
• ½ to 1 teaspoon up to 3 times daily relives anxiety

Echinacea:

The dosage ranges from 30 to 60 drops, the higher ranges used for fevers and acute situations. Echinacea stimulates the immune system and can be used with fevers, poisoning, or any type of internal infection.

• Add 1 dropperful of echinacea extract to 1?2 cup of water as an antiseptic wash.
• Use as an antibiotic and antibacterial
• Use for poisonous insect and snake bites
  • 60 drops every 15 minutes until symptoms subside.
• Use as a preventative and supportive herb for the flu or common cold
• For toothaches, it can be massaged into the surrounding gums and teeth.

Elderberry:

• Take 1 dropperful four times a day until symptoms subside.
  • Stops or Prevents cold or flu
  • Speeds up recovery from cold or flu

Grindelia:

Can be applied externally to cool and soothe hot, irritated skin rashes or sunburn, and itchy bites:

• For exposure to poison oak/ivy/sumac, immediately wash the affected area
• thoroughly with soap and cool water, or sponge with alcohol to remove the oily resin.
• If a rash occurs, spray with grindelia extract several times a day.
  • Relieves poison ivy

Taken internally:

• Expels mucus obstruction in the bronchioles
• May be useful for some types of asthma and respiratory congestion

1:1:1 Milk thistle, burdock, & kelp combination:

• Take before and after dental x-rays and after taking Tylenol or Advil.
  • Leaches heavy metals and radiation toxicity from the thyroid, blood, and liver.

Quassia:

• Take three to five droppersful every six hours.
• To treat suspected bad water, add 30 drops to each quart of water.
  • Use as an antimicrobial
  • Used for bacterial diarrhea, dysentery, and giardia

Usnea:

• Take three to five droppersful every six hours.
• To treat suspected bad water, add 30 drops to each quart of water.
  • Has antibiotic properties
  • Use for colds, flu, bronchitis, urinary tract infections, & sore throat
  • Useful for some fungal infections

Syrup of Ipecac:

• Apply immediately after an injury and continue every couple hours for the first day.
  • Promotes vomiting
  • Decreases pain
  • Prevents swelling and bruising

5 Flower Rescue Remedy:

• Apply immediately after an injury and continue every couple hours for the first day.
  • Use for emotional trauma for all ages
  • Decreases pain
  • Prevents swelling and bruising

Meadowsweet:

• Use a couple of drops directly under the tongue.
  • Use as a fast acting, anti-inflammatory
  • Pain relief

Hypericum (St. John’s Wort):

• Used externally or internally. Hypericum has pain-soothing, anti-inflammatory, and tissue healing properties.
  • On burns
  • Puncture wounds
  • Sores
  • Boils
  • On insect and animal bites
  • Use specifically on wounds with sharp, shooting pains, and puncture wounds.
  • Useful for bruises
  • Neuralgias
  • Muscle strains
  • Spasms
  • Muscle aches.
  • Add a few drops in water for a pain-relieving mouthwash for gums that are sore from flossing or dental work

Urtica Urens:

• • Apply topically to burns or hives. Can be used with Hypericum for painful burns. For
• chemical burns flush with water immediately for 20 minutes before treating.
• o Rapid pain relief
• o Prevents vesicles, inflammation, and scarring in 1st and 2nd degree burns
• o Promotes tissue healing
• o Can be applied to old burns to bring about more complete healing
• o Soothes hives

Calendula:

• • Apply topically to cuts or scrapes
• o Aids healing
• Eleuthero Standardized Extract:
• • Use a couple of drops directly under the tongue.
• o Prevents Jet Lag (used by Soviet cosmonauts to help them adjust to space
• travel)

Witch Hazel Extract:

• Excellent base for diluting essential oils or for a variety of simple, topical herbal firstaid  remedies. Do not take it internally.
  • Use as a mild astringent, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory
  • Useful for insect bites and skin irritations.
  • Apply to gauze and place over blister to dry it up

Bug Bite and Itch Relief Combination – Apply Tincture combination directly to the skin. Note: Juice from the plantain is mildly effective and it grows throughout this region (just crumple or chew the leaves and rub onto the skin). This combination provides relief from insect bites and general itching:

• Witch hazel
• Plantain
• Grindelia
• Comfrey
• Lavendar Oil (enhances any tincture combination)
• St. John’s Wort

Powdered Herbs
Slippery elm capsules:

• Take Capsules or mix into juice
  • Used for food poisoning
  • Decrease toxic absorption
  • Soothe mucous membranes
  • Settles an upset stomach

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale):
The root can be dried and made into a powder that has strong anti-cancer properties.

• Cures Some Cancers
  • Dig root, shake off excess soil, DO NOT WASH! Chop it into little pieces and dry it at no more than 100° until it is brittle. Grind into powder and take ½ tsp 2 – 3 times a day in juice.
• Eat leaves in salad or use as a diuretic

Ginger root capsules:

• Take two capsules
  • Use for motion sickness or morning sickness
  • Take for nausea caused by flu or bad food
  • Use to relieve gas
  • For nausea, take 1 to 2 capsules of dried ginger every 15 minutes
  • To prevent motion sickness, take 6 to 8 capsules of powdered ginger about 45 minutes before departing
  • To calm a queasy stomach, chew on a piece of crystallized ginger.

Elderberry capsules:

• Take capsules.
  • Stops or Prevents cold or flu
  • Speeds up recovery from cold or flu

4:1 Marshmallow-peppermint oil capsules:

• Take capsules.
  • Reduces intestinal cramping

Blackberry and Strawberry Root and Leaf:

• Take capsules
  • Reduces internal hemorrhaging.

Cayenne:

• Open and apply externally
  • Stops bleeding
  • Warms cold feet (sprinkle inside your boots)

Cinnamon:

• Take ¼ tsp 3 times daily
  • Regulates blood pressure

Goldenseal Powder:

• Sprinkle onto cuts or wounds as antimicrobial or to stop bleeding. Do not takegoldenseal internally during pregnancy
  • A powerful antimicrobial
  • Warms cold feet (sprinkle inside your boots)
  • For diarrhea caused by infectious microorganisms, take 1 capsule of goldenseal three times daily for up to two weeks

Comfrey:
Alternative styptics: comfrey and yarrow. Comfrey is perhaps the finest internal antihemorrhage
there is.

Goldenseal:

• Use Sparingly
  • Use as an antimicrobial, antibacterial

Myrrh:

• Use Sparingly
  • Use as an antimicrobial, antibacterial

Bentonite Clay or Charcoal Tablets:

• Take 1 teaspoon in water, 3-4 times per day. Drink a lot of water. Helpful herbs include blackberry root or leaf (root is preferred for its greater astringency: simmer root for 20-40 minutes or steep leaf for tea for 10-30 minutes). Similarly, use wild strawberry root or leaf. Cooked white rice works wonders at reducing diarrhea.
  • To relieve diarrhea
• Of charcoal, take 4 every hours, of bentonite clay, take 1 teaspoon in water, 3-4 times per day, drink a lot of water.
  • To assist with detoxification, in case of poisoning.

Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) Tea Bags:

• Taken Internally 3 cups a day:
  • Mild sedative
  • Relives anxiety
  • Antispasmodic
  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Antibacterial
  • Promotes relaxation
  • Relieves indigestion
• Applied externally
  • Soothes skin irritations

Laxative Tea Bags: Senna combined with cinnamon, fennel, licorice and ginger.
Peppermint Tea Bags: Soothes upset stomach & clears sinuses.

Essential Oils

Peppermint Oil

• Rub a little on the temples
  • can help you stay awake
• Take a few drops mixed in water
  • Settles an upset stomach

Tea Tree Oil

• Use sparingly. For sensitive skin, dilute with equal parts olive oil.
  • Use for fungal infections
  • Good for infected pus-filled wounds or burns
  • Apply to cold sores and herpes lesions.
  • Use for earaches

Oregano Oil

• Use sparingly. Dilute with olive oil.
  • Use for fungal infections
  • Use to get rid of cold sores
  • Used as a disinfectant or antimicrobial

Peppermint Oil

• If you have sensitive skin, dilute with olive oil before applying. Taken internally, peppermint may aggravate heartburn.
  • Clears sinuses
• Curbs itching from insect bites.
  • Soothes an upset stomach
  • To relieve headaches, massage 2 drops of diluted peppermint essential oil onto temples, forehead and neck. Keep away from eyes

Eucalyptus Oil

• Dilute with oil or witch hazel extract before applying to skin; do not take internally.
  • A potent antibiotic and antiviral
• Add a few drops to recently boiled water to use as a steam inhalation.
  • Use for treating colds, flus and sinus infections
• Soak in a hot bath with 5 drops of eucalyptus essential oil.
  • Use to relieve pain from strains or sprains

Lavender Oil – lavender enhances properties of other essential oils

• For most people, lavender essential oil can be applied directly to the skin. Do not take more than 1 to 2 drops internally.
  • Soothes wounds and burns
  • Has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties
• Add 10 drops to a bath or on a cloth to inhale.
  • Relieves anxiety, insomnia, & headaches
  • Use as a sedative
  • Relives sunburn

Clove Oil

• Dilute with olive oil before applying to skin.
  • Use as an antiseptic for cuts
  • Soothes toothaches

Thyme Oil

• Take two drops in 4 ounces of water.
  • Use as mouthwash
  • Use as toothache
  • Relieves sore throats
• Apply externally for:
  • Crabs
  • Lice
  • External parasites
• Add two drops to recently boiled water & inhale the steam for:
  • Colds
  • Flu
  • Bronchitis

Salves
Emollients — marshmallow, slippery elm, plantain, comfrey, and mullein
Antimicrobials — echinacea, goldenseal, yerba mansa, Oregon grape, osha, propolis, myrrh gum, garlic, calendula, chamomile, chaparral, gentian, and usnea
Astringents — horsetail, bistort, geranium, rose, alum, yarrow, witch hazel, yellow dock, and St. John’s wort.
Note: A combination of one herb from each category is a good disinfectant for anaerobic bacteria and is soothing to epithelial cells. The mixture will also cut down on bleeding and slow the scarring process. It will speed up the healing time and can be used anywhere a salve is needed to coat and protect.
Antimicrobial healing salve: A comfrey based salve, including herbs such as plantain, St. John’s wort, calendula and Echinacea; essential oils such as lavender and rosemary strengthen the effects.

• Soothes
• Accelerates healing
• Disinfects
• Use for any breaks in the skin and for burns
• Do not use initially on puncture wounds, use an antiseptic such as Echinacea tincture instead

Liniment for Aches & Pains: Arnica, witch hazel and St. John’s Wort tinctures in combination with essential oils of camphor, eucalyptus, rosemary and clove bud. Note: some people are sensitive to arnica: STOP using if adverse symptoms result. Do not use arnica on broken skin.

• Stops swelling
• Prevents bruising
• Relieves aches and pains

Liniment for Poison Oak/Ivy/Sumac: Jewelweed (impatiens) specifically neutralizes the Rhus toxin and works well. Use fresh or tinctured, but jewelweed can be hard to find. Other remedies include grindelia, combined with echinacea, calendula and white oak bark.

• Stops swelling
• Prevents bruising
• Relieves aches and pains

Bruise Relief Liniment: (For wounds where the skin is unbroken), Use a combination of tinctures, including Tienchi ginseng, hyssop, myrrh gum, prickly ash bark, cayenne, calendula, comfrey and arnica. Helichrysum italicum essential oil, applied externally also works very well and is non-irritating. Do not use these remedies on the eyes or mucous membranes and wash thoroughly after use.

Fresh Herbs
Garlic:

• Use as antibacterial
  • Too many uses to name ?

Aloe Vera:

• Apply directly to burns. Add 5 drops of Lavender oil for each tablespoon of Aloe Vera
  • Soothes the inflammation of sunburn and common kitchen scalds and burns
  • Cools and heals
• Can be used internally as a purgative, but be careful, too much will cause hemorrhoids

German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita):

• Break up a few heads, squeeze them and put them in a cup of water. Give the mixture to a child with an eyedropper
  • Used as a relaxing tea
  • Provides instant relief for colic pain in newborn babies
• Used as a hair rinse to highlight the blonde strands in fair hair

Calendula Petals:

• Make a soothing emollient by infusing petals in olive oil; leave in a sunny spot for a couple of weeks before using directly on the affected skin.
  • Use for diaper rash, eczema or other skin problems

Calendula Succus: Succus is the Juice from aerial parts of the plant preserved in small amount of alcohol. Can be used externally on either open or closed wounds that are tender, red, swollen and tending toward the formation of pus .

• Use It to clean wounds
• Stops bleeding
• Promotes tissue healing
• Used for inflamed skin conditions like lacerations and burns (including sunburns) and other skin irritations such as diaper rash or eczema.
  • Place the Calendula succus onto the pad of a bandage and place over the wound. Keep the wound covered with a bandage and Calendula until new skin forms. If the wound is very painful add Hypericum tincture for pain relief.
• When used early on in the wound healing process Calendula can also prevent the formation of scar tissue.
• Used to treat bug bites and stings.

Infusions
Ear Oil: Dilute a combination of tea tree, garlic, oregano, & lavender oil in olive oil and
infuse in ¼ cup of dried mullein flower petals.

• Add a few drops directly into the affected ear. Use whenever an ear infection is suspected for pain relief and to reduce complications. Do not use if the ear drum is perforated.
  • Soothes earache and heals infection
  • Use to clean excess earwax out of ears

St. Johns Wort: infuse dried herb in olive oil.

• Rub directly onto skin.
  • Soothes sunburn
  • Use for minor burns

Arnica: infuse dried flowers in olive oil.

• Rub directly onto skin.
  • Soothes and prevents bruising
  • Reduces swelling
  • Relieves pain

Poultices
Grated Potato or Mud:

• Put directly onto the wound. Keep it in place with a gauze wrapping
  • Draws out insect venom and sooth inflammation.

Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris):

• Pulverize leaves in a mortar and pestle. Put this mash directly onto the wound. Keep it in place with a gauze wrapping
  • Used to heal bruises and wounds.

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale):

• Cover the wound with muslin and lay the comfrey on top. (never allow it to come in direct contact with the skin.) You can use the leaf, but there is more healing power in the root.
  • Good for healing ulcers

Compresses
Keep squares of gauze or cheesecloth on hand to make compresses. Use comfrey, witch hazel, or arnica for sprains; St. John’s Wort for deep cuts, and comfrey or witch hazel for burns.

Sprays
Insect Repellent: Use essential oils (lavender, citronella, eucalyptus, cedarwood, lemon grass, and pennyroyal) suspended in a base of water and alcohol. Note: eating sugar and sweets increases your attractiveness to many insects! Caution: Although pennyroyal essential oil is widely used for insect repellants, It can be toxic even in moderate doses and should not be used by pregnant women. It is powerful and can effect people and pets in the vicinity of the user.

• Apply liberally and frequently (as often as every two hours)

Other
Honey:

• Useful as base for ointment due to preservative and antiseptic properties
• Add to hot ginger tea to soothe sore throats

Beeswax:

• good for adding to infused oils and essential oils to make salves and ointments.

Vodka:

• use vodka or 100% grain alcohol for the purpose of making tinctures or as a disinfectant.

Sore Throat Remedy:

Use Sage (Salvia officinalis) and Thyme (Thyme vulgaris or T. serpyllum). Chop them up into a stainless steel saucepan, just cover with water and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain out the herbs and add half as much honey as there is water to sweeten and preserve the mixture. Pour into a dark jar and keep in the fridge for up to two months. Use the syrup as a gargle for a sore throat or coughs and colds.

Hardware

• Capsulator
• Mortar and pestle
• Band Aids
• Bandages
• Ace bandages
• ½ inch surgical tape
• A small pair of scissors
• A single edged razor blade
• Tweezers
• Cold pack (cools on impact)
• 1 and 2 inch Ace bandages
• Moleskin
• An instant read thermometer
• A bar of soap
• A bandana
• An eye cup (or shot glass)
• A flashlight
• Colloidal Silver
• Safety Pins
• Needles
• Paper Cups
• Baking Soda
• Cotton balls
• Q-tips
• First Aid Guide
• Hot Water Bottle
• Matches
• Tongue Depressors
• Ear Scope
• SAM Splint
• Space Blankets
• Salt
• Paper & Pencil
• Gel Capsules
• A birth kit
• A suture kit
• A stethoscope
• A blood pressure kit
• A blood glucose monitor
• An inhaler (in the case of a life threatening asthma attack)
• A spring loaded epipen (in the case of extreme, life threatening allergic reactions)

For camping, backpacking trips, or for the car, pare things down to:

• Arnica gel
• Echinacea tincture
• Peppermint and chamomile tea bags
• Crystallized ginger
• Insect repellent
• A tin of herbal salve
• A bottle of lavender oil
• An assortment of bandages and moleskin.

Dosages for Children: Dosages for children are not provided in most herbals. To determine the correct dose you need to consider the size of the child, the ailment, the power of the herb you intend to use, and the adult dosage. Clark’s Rule for determining dosages divides the weight of the child by 150 to give the approximate fraction of the adult dose. Dosage for a 40 lb. child: 40 /150 = .26 or approx. 1/4 the adult dose.

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