Home Remedies

Most of you have enjoyed the cold stones I use in the massage sessions. The idea came from a headache remedy that my Grandmother who raised me used to use. She would take a cold wet wash rag and put it on her forehead, then go lay down in a darkened room. This was long before the over the counter remedies boomed in the 60’s (along with a TV in every house) and tylenol and exediren did massive ad campaigns and convinced people that aspirin wasn’t safe to take. This is when we became a culture that came to believe that health and magic came to us in a pill that we could take and everything would be all better. At what point is it that technology has improved our lives and at what point did we steer away from common sense and listening to our body? Today we live a balancing act of taking 2 of these pills to counter the effect of the other one we took. We take a multivitamin to counter the effects of a fast diet and we take energy drinks to counter the effects of not getting enough sleep (probably because we had too much caffeine in our system from the energy drinks).

I was fortunate to be raised by a farm girl who didn’t have a Drugstore just around the corner that’s open 24 hours and has a drive up window. She was taught the lore of plants and using the things around us as natural remedies. That is why even though I was raised in the suburbs, we always had mint growing in the yard so that if ever someone had an upset stomach we would make some fresh mint tea Spearmint was my favorite although we had peppermint too). I remember too getting a bee sting at about 5 years old and having my finger stuck in some cool mud until the pain went away. Most of these things worked well because back then we were more careful to listen to our body. If you could notice the telltale signs of a headache coming on (usually from too much stress) or the first signs of an upset stomach and use the remedy immediately, you could often reverse the condition before it became severe. Today we go until we drop. Why not when there’s a emergency room a few blocks away. After all we trust the medical field and it’s wonder pills to put humpty dumpty back together again don’t we? Is it any wonder we shop doctors and go from one to another till we get the answer WE like?

A good simple remedy to relieve pain ( but only works if you apply it on the onset) is to pinch the small divot above your lips (called the philtrum) and just below your nose. You”ll know when you’ve got it as it is a minor pressure point. It has the effect of short circuiting the pain receptors, therefore it stops the pain in its tracks and resets the switches. If nothing else it lowers the pain waves so that they don’t hit those sharp spikes.

Here’s some good websites for simple home remedies. They don’t include wonder berries from the slopes of Mt. Everest or the latest phenfen pill to take off pounds while you sleep, but simple helps from everyday items, herbs, and lotions that have been around for a long time. Remember that nobody is going to recommend something they can’t make money off of, but isn’t it refreshing to find a doctor who simply say, “take 2 aspirin and call me in the morning”?
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” —Thomas Edison

http://www.health911.com/remedies/rem_indx.htm

http://www.priceless-home-remedies.com/