Official Poll: What's your favorite/most useful natural remedy?

[Support]

Whenever a person is feeling sick, he/she usually resort to buying Over-The-Counter (OTC) medicines and balms. But with us being self-sufficient-selves, we always opt to use something homemade or natural.

Please take a minute to complete this poll and tell us what's your favorite/most useful natural remedy. After voting, you can reply to this thread and expand on your reason.

If your answer isn't listed, you can vote for "Others" and reply to this thread with your answers.

 

[Beekissed]

My favorite one of late has been castor oil. Useful for so, so, so many things that we have taken to keeping several bottles of the stuff on hand. It's a topical anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antibacterial, antimicrobial. It's a one stop treatment for scale mites in chickens, working long after you can no longer see the oil, helping the leg to grow new and healthy scales and helping the old, affected scales slough off.

It's wonderful for my arthritis pain and can ease the pain within a half hour and last for days instead of hours, unlike the PO pain meds. Also doesn't make me drowsy or loggy like PO pain meds.

It's great for dry and split open feet, causing the old skin to slough and showing new, fresh and smooth skin to appear...my ol' Ma's feet have never looked better and I've tried keeping her feet healthy for several winters now with soaks and the application of numerous emollients...but nothing has worked like castor oil.

Wound dressing...castor oil is great for dressing a wound that you mean to leave open to air, as on dogs or chickens. Slap some castor oil on it and forget it, not only does it heal quickly but it also regrows hair and feathers at record speed. Even faster than NuStock and that's saying a lot.

Hair...use it on hair as a hot oil treatment and causes my hair to shine like the sun, grow longer and thicker and stay stronger. Also seems to restore more color to my greying hair, so that the brown is richer and more evident and the grey is brighter and less dull.

When I get new chickens in the flock I give them each a dose of oral castor oil, slather it into their scales and around their vents, then I dust them with sulfur or lime in case they are hiding any carry on bugs. That's my whole program for introducing new birds to the flock and it's worked like a charm.

I haven't scratched the surface for all the useful purposes for castor oil ~haven't used it yet for its intended purpose of laxative, but as time goes along I'm sure I'll find many more. Any time something stumps me, I always say, "Put some castor oil on it and see what happens" and we are most often amazed at what happens.

That's my favorite natural remedy for the past few years...can't say enough good about castor oil.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...28/castor-oil-to-treat-health-conditions.aspx

 

[wyoDreamer]

My "other" vote is for a spoonful of honey taken for a sore throat, not very creative I know but that is all I got for now.

 

[Hoosier Grandpa]

Not "news" to many I am sure but recently talking with some younger locals I discovered that few, if any, appreciate the sterling quality of good ol' table salt. Mouth sores/infections are gotten under control with repeated rinse of warm (preferred but cold works) salt water. I cannot count the money I've saved with such from a hereditary disease. For decades I rinsed with salt water at first sign of oral complications but in the past few years I simply use it as a mouth wash before bed time after brushing. Sadly I cannot save my teeth and as soon as a financial incident occurs dentures are my only option but the salt water rinse has saved me much in both pain and funds. Having spent the money for a dentist apt (often requiring days of waiting) and the combined cost of antibiotics it became quickly obvious that a salt water rinse was cheap and......Always available. The same in cracks in the concrete where weeds grow or any other place you don't want ANYTHING to grow, will do exactly that. Kill everything. The germ killing and dehydrating traits of salt leave the door wide open for it's uses but as an anti-bacterial mouthwash it has no equal in effectiveness and cost. God Bless

 

[baymule]

Dehydration - 5-6 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, dissolved in a glass of water. Sip it until gone. It forms an electrolyte solution and it really works.

Food poisoning - ACV and honey mixed half and half. 1/4 cup to 1 cup of water, sip on it. Even if you puke it up, keep drinking it. Enough will get in your system to kill the bad germs. ACV and honey is good for colds, flu, vomiting and diarrhea.

 

[Beekissed]

Found some new uses for castor oil since my original post. I've tried these and they worked like crazy!

This past week I got a sudden allergy attack, total swelling of all sinus cavities and no air passing through the passages, while having an extreme amount of clear nasal drainage out of left nostril the first day and moderate amounts of thick green mucus out of both on the second day. Left eustachian tube swelling and soreness resulted in a sore throat. I was unable to sleep due to a dry mouth, occasional sneezing, etc.

None of my usual OTC antihistamines was touching this...I tried them all~Sudafed, Benadryl, HBC cold meds, nasal sprays. Talked to many people from all over the states and they too are experiencing this very same thing! My son, his wife, my uncle, my favorite waitress...all having the same symptoms and none getting any relief from OTC meds.

Yesterday evening I put castor oil in my nose, applied it to my face overlying all sinus cavities, upper and lower. Within 20 min. I could breath through both nostrils...the swelling was starting to go down! Last night I slept all the night through, breathing through my nose instead of my mouth. This morning I have no nasal drainage and have been breathing through my nose all day...the sinus headache and burning sensation in my face is gone!

It doesn't stop there....last week I had the worst hemorrhoid attack I've ever had. So painful that I contemplated going to the ER...stabbing, sharp pains, extreme swelling, felt like I was sitting on a baseball. Couldn't stand, walk, sit or lie down without pain and pressure in that area...it throbbed like a toothache. I've never had anything like that in my life....Prep H suppositories and ointment did nothing at all for it. I tried epsom salt baths, various other ointments..nothing worked.

This went on for a week. I had contemplated using castor oil but was afraid it would cause them to engorge further, as it tends to bring blood to the area of application. But...I had come to the end of my solutions, so I tried it. Ten minutes later the surface was sort of numbed and the pain inside had decreased by 75%. I kept applying this and by the next day I could vaguely feel their presence but all that intense and various types of pain was gone. The swelling continued to decrease and I have no more pain there.

I LOVE this stuff!!!!!!

Oh, BTW....prior to the hemorrhoid thing, I was having a really bad UTI(yeah, this past month was just not my month...usually I'm very healthy!) and nothing was really working on it out of my natural remedies. Then I started using the mother ACV three times a day, followed by apple juice(started that for a gall bladder attack...again..out of the blue, hadn't had one for years)...it worked on that AND the UTI. Almost immediately the UTI symptoms disappeared and I had been fighting that thing for 2 wks.

So...bad, bad month for me, but ACV and castor oil saved the day!

 

[milkmansdaughter]

I guess my favorites that weren't already mentioned are using ammonia for mosquito bites (it works fabulously!), witchhazel for inflammation, bruises, cleaning the face...), ACV for all kinds of things (soaking pesticides off store-bought berries and veggies, burns, and in chickens/pets' water), cornstarch for heat rash and diaper rash, and the inside lining of eggshells for pulling poison out of spider bites and other inflamed sores...

 

[milkmansdaughter]

@Britesea,
No, you crack an egg open (put it in a cup in fridge for later...). Then just peel the wet membrane out of the inside of the shell. Lay it wet side down over a spider bite, I put several pieces on. Cover with a light bandage if needed to hold it in place. Then I let it dry completely. As it dries, it will pull the poison out of a sore. I usually leave it at least 8 hours. Wash it off. Repeat if needed.

 

[CrealCritter]

I guess my favorites that weren't already mentioned are using ammonia for mosquito bites (it works fabulously!), witchhazel for inflammation, bruises, cleaning the face...), ACV for all kinds of things (soaking pesticides off store-bought berries and veggies, burns, and in chickens/pets' water), cornstarch for heat rash and diaper rash, and the inside lining of eggshells for pulling poison out of spider bites and other inflamed sores...

+1 ammonia for blood sucking insect bites. It works great and dried up my chigger/turkey mites right up!!! Thanks again kiddo for the ammonia tip.

 

[flowerbug]

believe it or not, water, it is the thing that has made the most difference for one of my worst problems in the spring and early summer, pollen from trees and grasses. when i'm done working outside i come in and rinse out my eyes, wash my face and then rinse out my sinuses. i used to get sinus infections from all the crud, but since i've been doing this i haven't had a single sinus infection.

apple cider vinegar is good for any digestive acid problems, use it dilluted, do not lay down after meals, will help with GERD as it tells the stomach to not produce any more acid. this is very contrary to doctors treatments with antacids and such, but it is not good in my opinion to lower the acid content of the stomach i think that just tells the stomach to put out yet more acid. has worked great for me.

for my itcy ears i use either ACV, hydrogen peroxide and water, or rubbing alchohol and water. depends upon which one i grab first, i keep small bottles of all of these on hand diluted to the proper balance. after many years of trying all sorts of things to relieve the ear itching these at least do help and are not expensive or hard to get. the itchy ears are not an infection but my own body reacting to the ear wax. doctors no help.

tea tree oil for atheletes foot fungi, tea tree oil lotions for various surface rashes. tea tree oil and olive oil mixed and then any scent wanted as a foot ointment, i love a 1 to 1 mix with spearmint and peppermint drops added. masks the tea tree oil smell makes the feet nice and soft. tea tree oil for nail fungi - apply once or twice a day for as long as it takes, be patient it takes a while for the nail to grow out completely. tea tree oil after trimming the nails. prevents nail fungi infection to begin with.