When You Can't Breathe

I no longer take these tablets, because I find them hard on the stomach. Some people don't. They are only supposed to be taken twice a day, and that is not enough for me. I need something which I can take once an hour.

Folk Remedies

While teaching in southern Alberta, I caught the flu and was having a hard time breathing when my landlady made me a mustard plaster. It gave me great relief, but it can only be used for the occasional emergency, not daily. A reader also shared with me his grandfather's use of lard in the same way, and I remember my own grandparents using it as well.

Good Old Mustard Plaster

Mustard plaster is a tried and proven first aid solution for respiratory complaints. Learn to use it safely and hear about other important medicinal properties of mustard and its relatives.

Raw Garlic

Here is the first inexpensive remedy for severe breathing problems which I have safely taken as often as once an hour. Garlic is more than a herb. It has all the best properties of a food as well as of a medicine, and it is one of the most powerful and safest natural remedies.

Smudging

I found out by fluke that the smudging of the so-called sage relieves breathing problems. I say "so-called" because, except for the California white sage, the North American plants are is not sage but artemisias. The varieties all are a little different in different regions, but I have found them all to be equally effective. The European equivalent, wormwood, works just as well, except that it won't smudge. I simply lay it on a hot stove element to get it to smoke. As soon as it does, I turn the element off.

Native North American smudging is reminiscent of burning incense, but besides its ceremonial uses, it has health benefits associated with the medicinal herbs which are used in the smudging.

Acupressure

The quickest way to get relief and one which requires nothing except your own fingers to apply is acupressure. It is also referred to as shiatsu or reflexology. It is based on the same pressure points as acupuncture.

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