First Aid Naturally
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- biogardener
- LadyB
- pamb_4
- biogardener
- LadyB
- biogardener
- LadyB
- biogardener
- BillieA
- LadyB
- biogardener
- Bill_Samuel
- biogardener
- LadyB
- biogardener
- biogardener
- biogardener
- biogardener
- Dubh_Sidhe
- biogardener
- Tina_Coruth
- biogardener
- biogardener
- Tina_Coruth
- biogardener
- biogardener
- Tina_Coruth
- biogardener
- Tina_Coruth
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» biogardener - Email responses
I am getting email responses, but so far no one has taken the plunge of sharing first aid hints in a discussion.-- posted by biogardener
» LadyB - Ok, kowabunga *splash*..... One natural first aid I'll never
Ok, kowabunga *splash*.....One natural first aid I'll never let myself be without again is a strip of Burdock leaf rolled up in a little jar of vinegar. (I can just tell that was WAY up there on a whole BUNCH of lists, yes?)
A 'pickled' Burdock leaf wrapped around a bruised hit-the-foot-of-the-bed....ouch*ouch*ouch*... TOE will take all the swelling and bruised-ness out in record time. I did just that very early one spring when I had neglected to 'pickle' a Burdock leaf for the winter and it was far too early to find any fresh leaves outdoors. I wound up yelling for one of my own students who was far more prepared than myself and she came over with the jar...never again will I forget THAT one, as a matter of fact I may just go cut a good juicy Burdock strip today.....
And actually, Traute, I have a more serious question to ask. As many of us would be hard-pressed to go digging clay, would 'cosmetic' Bentonite clay (which can be had via Health Food Stores) work the same way for poisonous horrors like bee stings?
Lady B, Weeds and Wild Things Cold Spring, New York
-- posted by LadyB
» biogardener - Traute Klein, Editor of <a href='http://www.suite101.com/topics/
Traute Klein, Editor of Natural Health, promoting life in harmony with creation.Barbara, thanks for the burdock leaf hint at this time. Next month would be too late around here.
I don't know about the clay from the health food store, but I am sure that any potter would sell you a handful of clay. Did you know that talcum is derived from clay? That is why potters all have real soft baby skin. To counteract the alkalinity of the clay, I keep a squirt bottle of vinegar on the bathroom counter which I use whenever I have touched soil or soap or anything else which is alkaline.
Pam, that cinnamon application to stop bleeding sounds like what you do with cayenne.
-- posted by biogardener
» LadyB - Ow, ow ow.....do I ever remember THAT one! Having often told the
Ow, ow ow.....do I ever remember THAT one! Having often told the story of one of my students who just welded a very deep and long cut together on her finger by dipping said cut finger into a jar of cayenne, I once had the opportunity to try it myself. Unfortunately I had taken the entire top off my finger on a cracked glass coffee pot. I bravely dipped the finger tip (or lack thereof) right into a jar lid of cayenne pepper and to say I saw stars is putting it MILDLY. While it bled a lot more than a closed cut would have, I have to say I have never EVER seen anything heal so quickly. So quickly that it actually caused a problem with my skin growing INTO the bandaid pad in less than 24 hours. I actually needed professional help and some warm water and peroxide to get the bandaid and myself separated. But it was ultimately a clean, scarless perfect 'heal'. Amazing. (And does that first *jolt* ever build character!)I have also used powdered yarrow leaves (or better yet - a fresh yarrow leaf from the lawn!) to stop bleeding and powdered Rosemary leaves as an antiseptic. Cinnamon, hmmmm that's a good one.
Lady B, Weeds and Wild Things Cold Spring, New York
-- posted by LadyB
» biogardener - Traute Klein, Editor of <a href='http://www.suite101.com/topics/
Traute Klein, Editor of Natural Health, promoting life in harmony with creation.Germans use a fresh plantain leaf to stop bleeding almost instantly. The preferred plantain is the one with the long, narrow leaves, but unfortunately, it is not hardy in the Canadian prairies. The common plaintain with the broad leaves is not as effective, but it will do in an emergency.
-- posted by biogardener
» LadyB - VERY interesting....we use the broad-leafed plantain as the ulti
VERY interesting....we use the broad-leafed plantain as the ultimate ITCH stopper! But we have the narrow leafed one too, I'll have to remember that next time I get sloppy with the old pruning shears!Lady B, Weeds and Wild Things Cold Spring, New York
-- posted by LadyB
» biogardener - Traute Klein, Editor of <a href='http://www.suite101.com/topics/
Traute Klein, Editor of Natural Health, promoting life in harmony with creation.Desperate situations require unusual remedies, and yesterday I had occasion to find a substitute for one of the items in my First Aid Kit. I was suffering from a terribly itchy and burning underarm rash. I first tried Penaten Cream, a staple in every German household. It contains only healing zinc oxide and herbs. If worked fine, but it has a tendency to mess up clothes. Slices of raw garlic did the trick as well, but I had no way of keeping them attached.
I had run out of vitamin A which would have been most likely to succeed. The itching was unbearable. No way would I get any sleep. I looked over my vitamin bottles and found one with tiny halibut liver oil capsules. Squeezed a capsule on the skin. It soaked in immediately and the itching stopped in seconds. I slept well. Have applied more capsules of the oil every few hours and have not felt any discomfort whatsoever.
-- posted by biogardener
» BillieA - Herbal remedies
I'm hoping you can help settle something for us. My son went to an herbalist because of his skin and she gave him a bottle of pills which contain nightshade or belladonna as the main ingredient. I always heard that this herb was poisonous- should he really be taking it?-- posted by BillieA
» LadyB - Billie,
I'm sure the pills are homeopathic so the actual amount of 'substance' is so miniscule that it is no longer a poison. These are both common homeopathic remedies, not to worry.(Normally we don't pounce on each other's topics, but you seemed genuinely worried, I'm sure Traute will agree when she gets here)
-- posted by LadyB
» biogardener - I agree with both of you.
I agree with both of you. And I suspect that the skin problem is acne.The plant is called "deadly nightshade" for good reason. I just told some people in the neighborhood that they had a fully-grown nightshade in the front yard, complete with shiny red berries. They immediately removed the plant to prevent children from killing themselves.
I am sure that the amounts in the tablets are miniscule. That does not mean that I would recommend them. In people who have a strong reaction to nightshade plants, even tiny amounts can cause havoc. Did the herbalist inquire about your son's reactions to other nightshade plants?
I would first want to know if he has reactions to tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant. Those reactions may hardly be noticeable. They might be a slight jitteriness of nerves, itchy skin, rash, blisters, or red dots on the back of the neck.
If you have any hesitancy, go to My Allergies Help page and follow the directions for a simple but most effective food allergy test. It is more reliable than any other allergy test I know of. It has been used in Canada for 30 some years. Use any nightshade plant for the test.
If the patient is allergic to tomatoes, for example, I would go back to the herbalist who prescibed the remedy and discuss it. I don't know enough about homeopathic remedies to comment further.
-- posted by biogardener
» Bill_Samuel - Ginger
Ginger, mentioned in the article, is indeed a valuable herb. My wife is Korean-American, and introduced me to a favorite Korean remedy, ginger tea. You simply cut up ginger root into small pieces, put it in a big pot, fill with water, and boil for about an hour. We put dates in, too, as a sweetener. Drink the resulting tea often when you have a cold or flu. It will make you sweat, which is one natural way the body has of expelling poisions.-- posted by Bill_Samuel
» biogardener - Ginger
You will find a piece of ginger root in every jacket pocket of mine, If I forget to bring herb tea along to a restaurant, I can always chop up some genger into the hot water. When I am done drinking the tea, I eat the root. I have never boiled the ginger, though. I didn't know about that method.-- posted by biogardener
» LadyB - Traute,
I just checked out your allergy testing which I found very interesting. Perhaps you are the person to ask. Do you know anywhere that I might find a kind of dictionary of ingredients? As I dance closer to menopause, I have developed not only a deadly allergy to cats, but to nuts as well.The cats I can pretty well avoid, and Osha Root tincture helps immensely if my lungs begin to act up, but nuts and nut oils and nut derivatives seem to be hiding in just EVERYTHING. Slowly I've learned that sodium laurel sulfate and Cocamide DEA are both common dish soap and shampoo ingredients that are derived from coconut. Heaven only knows what ELSE is lurking out there.
The unhappiest thing is that I am in the MOST trouble in the health food store! There isn't a single 'natural' shampoo that isn't coconut-based!
Any ideas?
-- posted by LadyB
» biogardener - It is a dilemma
They say that the wrappers wouldn't be big enough if all ingredients were listed on every item. The government, pressured by industry, is giving more and more permission to omit items from the label.Did you know that "whole wheat" in Canada does not contain wheat germ? The law allowing that deceit was passed early in this century and has never been repealed.
Your best bet is to make inquiries at the source, I would think, the manufacturer.
You can, however, ask someone to give you the muscle strength test for things other than foods. You can do that in the store, testing different shampoos, for example. That test is also on the Allergies Help page. If you have any questions about how to administer it, email me. There are quite a few health practitioners who use it.
-- posted by biogardener
» biogardener - Poison ivy disaster averted yesterday
Yesterday I used a big butcher knife to dig out a piece of virgin woodland. I wanted some wildflowers to transplant to my own woodland. When it came time to place the piece into a plastic bag, I saw the tell-tale shiny three leaves included in my assortment of wild plants. Now I knew why there was such a large tough root in the soil. I was stubborn enough not to want to give up the piece that I had so laboriously cut out, but I didn't want to take the poison ivy root with me. So I pulled it out with my bare hands.How stupic can you act! I get poison ivy blisters when I pass the plants at a distance, and here I am bruising the plant with my hands to avoid taking it home.
I had no clay on me, but I figured that the soil contained enough clay to do the job. I picked up a handful of soil and smeared it all over my hands and wrists and left it on for half an hour. It worked. I didn't get a single blister.
-- posted by biogardener
» biogardener - Clay for bee sting
The North American Indian poison remedy saved the day again for me a couple of days ago. I was out in the country, miles from civilization, planting an apple tree, when a honey bee got caught in my ear and stung me. I managed to grab the bee and pulled it out. Then I grabbed a pinch of the clay that I had just dug up, spit on it, and smeared it into my ear. In two minutes the pain was gone. The clay dried and fell out of the ear, but the pain did not return. The usual swelling did not occur either. The clay must have drawn out all the poison. I had applied it immediately, before it got a chance to spread.-- posted by biogardener
» biogardener - Wasp stings
Winnipeg is being plagued by the worst invasion of wasps which I have ever seen. They are absolutely everywhere, in houses, in vehicles, and even in the church. Some choir members were discussing possible remedies when someone mentioned that "mud" is supposed to work. That gave me a chance to inform everyone of the miracle of "wet clay.""Mud" seems to be a synonym for "wet clay" around here, because that is what our mud is, 90% clay.
I got stung last week as I picked up a shovel. Unknown to me, a wasp was clinging to the handle. I just bent down and picked up some dirt from the boulevard, spit on it, and smeared it on the sting. That is the benefit of living in the prairies. Clay is everywhere. Just don't try to drive on it when it is wet. You will get stuck for sure.
-- posted by biogardener
» Dubh_Sidhe - Clay
Is the packaged clay from craft stores the same kind of clay that you are talking about? Would it work on insect stings also?-- posted by Dubh_Sidhe
» biogardener - Clay is clay is clay
I made a lot of pottery at the Edson, Alberta, craft center when I was teaching there. We made out own pottery clay. Got a truck load of high fire clay from Saskatchewan and a truck load of low fire local clay. We would then throw equal amounts of it into an old washing machine, fill it with water, and agitate away. Then we would take out the agitator and let the clay, sand and debris settle in layers. The sticks got fished out. The water got cyphoned out, and the sand and clay separated into layers.So, you see, potter's clay is simply the clay out of my garden with the sand removed.
Along the shores of the Red River and the shores of Lake Winnipeg the clay and sand are already sorted into layers from having been at the bottom of a former lake bed, so the clay does not need refining. Unfortunately, the local clay here is low fire. It does not take high temperatures without cracking, so it does not make really strong pottery, but it is great for drawing out poisons.
There is one difference, though, and that is the white clay which is used for China ware. I don't think that it has the same properties, although I have never tried it. It isn't available to me and I am not interested in making China.
-- posted by biogardener
» Tina_Coruth - Hi Traute,
Hi Traute,Reading this terrific article and discussion thread reminded me that I have a question I have been meaning to ask.
What exactly is a "tincture"? Does it have alcohol in it? So many remedies call for a tincture of this or that. I am extremely allergic to alcohol of any type -- even the smell of it including when it has been diluted. As you can imagine, this cuts way down on the over the counter medicines I can use. I am on the lookout for more natural remedies. I have discovered that when people say natural they include alcohol. So I thought I would ask about the tinctures.
By the way, if you don't have clay handy, a paste made of baking soda and water applied to a sting works pretty well. I don't have clay around here. I will have to get some from the craft store -- I do have a lot of wasps around this year!
Terrific article.
Christina
-- posted by Tina_Coruth
» biogardener - Tincture etc
Tincture originally is just an extract of something, but it has come to mean an extract in an alcoholic base, but I have known of tinctures in distilled water. The alcohol acts as a preservative, but I don't see why you can't make a tincture of distilled water and freeze it. I like to make a real strong tea of herbs and then freeze it to use instead of a commercial tincture. If you can get the herb fresh, just freeze the whole herb and the juices will come out of it as it thaws out. Then apply that.About the baking soda for poison. It won't draw it out. It only soothes the discomfort. So does vinegar. The clay is the only remedy that draws it out. Onion, cabbage, and oak bark tea do it, too, to an extent, but they are not nearly as powerful as wet clay. I started an article on those other remedies over a year ago. One of these days I will get it done.
The easiest way is to carry a little makeup or cream jar with clay in your purse and when you need it, add a bit of water to soften the clay to the consistency of a thick paste.
-- posted by biogardener
» biogardener - other remedies
To avoid all possible misunderstanding:The onion and cabbage have to be raw. The tea refers only to the oak bark.
-- posted by biogardener
» Tina_Coruth - Thanks, Traute.
Thanks, Traute. This is very valuable information which I needed about tinctures. Do extracts have alcohol in them? Or do they contain only the substance itself. I get confused. For instance, in the commercial vanilla extract for cooking, pure vanilla extract has alcohol, whereas the imitation does not. It is so important that I get this straight in my head. Thank you for your help.That's a great suggestion for the clay.
Christina
-- posted by Tina_Coruth
» biogardener - ant bite remedy
I have been sending the URL of this article out countless numbers of times in response to requests for remedies for bee stings, ant bites, and all kinds of poisoning. Today I received another confirmation that the remedy worked for an ant bite:- After I read your e-mail, I slapped some clay on the three bites (after initially using bleach; only thing on hand). I continued the clay treatment for three days and only have a minor itch in the area. No pustules, I'm happy to report.
-- posted by biogardener
» biogardener - poison ivy outbreak without touching
This summer I got the worst poison ivy outbreak ever, and that without ever touching any part of a plant. Blisters caused by touching appear within a few hours of the exposure. This time, the blisters did not appear until several days later. I must have breathed in the poisons. And no, there were no burning plants around, just very lush, healthy plants growing in a sandy area, which is the plant's favorite environment.The blisters appeared on my forearm three days after the exposure and more and more appeared over the next week. I applied the wet clay to the first blisters immediately, wrapping my forearm with a long piece of plastic bag. The clay stopped the itching, but it did not dry up the blisters as fast as it normally does. I can only figure that there was more and more poison being expelled by my body through the skin.
My skin got so soft from the clay that I had to stop the application. I then applied Polysporin during the daytime and wet clay at night. Polysporin is not a natural product, but I have had trouble getting vitamin A in capsules, and I needed something to take the itch away. Fish oil source vitamin A capsules would have been my first choice.
Alternating wet clay and Polysporin kept me comfortable and eventually got rid of the blisters, but I now have a little patch of glassy skin where the first blisters appeared. It looks exactly like a burn scar.
I now suspect that the poison is far more dangerous when you breathe it in than when you touch it.
-- posted by biogardener
» Tina_Coruth - vitamin e
Hi Traute,Since I can't use commercial skin lotions and my skin gets very dry during the winter, I have found that vitamin e is a great skin conditioner. I apply it when my skin is wet so a little goes a long way. What a difference it makes!
-- posted by Tina_Coruth
» biogardener - Skin dryness
I have found from experience that skin dryness is caused by coming in contact with alkaline products, e.g. hard water, soap, shampoo, detergent, soil, paper, dust, and chlorine. I have kept a squirt bottle with vinegar in the bathroom and kitchen for over 40 years. I apply a few drops to the skin after washing, and I have not had dry or chapped skin since.That is a potter's trick. I learned it when I learned to make pottery.
I have no lotion or cream in the house.
-- posted by biogardener
» Tina_Coruth - Re: Skin dryness
In response to Skin dryness posted by biogardener:Thanks, Traute. I will give that a try!
-- posted by Tina_Coruth
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