10 How-To Home Remedies That Work For Us

Welcome to another week of How-To Tuesday. This week I want to share some things we do at our house to take care of ourselves before seeing a doctor. Well, usually we don't need the doctor after using these methods.
1. When a cold begins to come on, I take 3,000 mg. Natural (not synthetic) Vitamin C. It almost always takes care of the cold in one night.
2. Puncture a Vitamin E capsule (with a sterile needle) and rub the oil onto a cleaned wound. This will help it to heal faster. My Grandma caught her toe in a car door. As a result, her toenail would grow back and then fall off. After this happened a couple of times someone told her about vitamin E. She rubbed the oil on her toe and a new nail grew back and never fell off again.
3. Lysine balm in a tube from the health food store, along with lysine tablets will help a cold sore heal in half the time. I've been told that this is because cold sores are caused by a lysine deficiency.
4. Getting enough calcium prevents muscles from being sore due to exercise or overwork. Herbal Calcium is the best choice. This one has been proven time and time again.
5. For a sore throat, a little cayenne pepper in a swallow of water will often (not always) take the soreness out. You can add a little honey if you like. We were really desperate to help one of our kids once and someone gave them a couple of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. That took care of it! (Although I'm not advocating serving a sick child junk food.)
6. Apply a poultice, or pack made of moistened Redmond Clay or other bentonite clay covered with gauze to pull the infection out of an abcessed tooth or wound. Leave it on overnight, change as needed. Also helpful is the addition of powdered Goldenseal, which is a powerful antibiotic herb, or rinse with the tea.
7. Boric Acid has NEVER failed us in curing pink eye in just a day or two. Don't be afraid of it's name. Yes, you should keep it out of the reach of children, it says on the label that it's a poison because it should not be ingested, but it was recommended to me years ago by a neighbor. He said he'd never taken his kids to the doctor for an eye infection because of it. It's a powder that you can buy at the drugstore. Dissolve a couple of teaspoons in boiled water and allow it to cool. Have the person lie down. Wash your hands and use a fresh cotton ball to squeeze a couple of drops of solution into the inner corner of the eye, by the nose. Slowly have them open the eye to let the solution in. Never use the same cotton twice if there is any chance that it has touched the infected eye. It is important to keep everything sterile so as not to spread the infection or reinfect eyes. Don't reuse cotton balls, throw them away. This gives amazing results, just don't eat it!
8. Dizziness that is caused by blocked passages can be helped by simmering water on the stove with some horseradish in it, maybe 1T. or so. I was only able to find the sauce and it has worked just fine. Carefully lean over the pan with a T-towel over your head and the pan and breathe the steam in deeply. You should only need to do this for maybe 5 minutes.
9. I read that to relieve hot flashes in menopause add 3 things to your diet, soy products, pineapple and sesame seeds. I did this because I had had 2 HOT FLASHES FROM HADES, but that's all I ever had. (And that was enough!)
10. Last but not least, become a label reader. I was not too happy with myself after paying what seemed to me at the time, a small fortune for Aveeno Bath just to discover that the only ingredient was oatmeal!

I'm sure that this is where I must add some kind of disclaimer. Some of these items are not regulated or tested to make sure that what's inside a bottle is what the label says it is. I cannot promise that you'll have the same results that our family has had, and you must use your own good judgement as to whether or not you or your child should be treated by a doctor. I just know what has worked for us. Proceed prayerfully and with wisdom. Follow your God-given promptings.