I have written about different things that can be used to stay healthy in the winter.
What I want to try to do here is to create a compilation of all the different ways we can use natural medicine to help avoid and treat common winter illnesses.
I am not going to try and explain the different causes of increases of specific ailments in the winter months, but just give you a overview of what can be done to treat them.
Let us start with the basic runny nose.
It is my belief that if you start to treat at the first signs of a runny nose, you may very well avoid the bigger problems like sinusitis and bronchitis.
The first things we want to concentrate on are:
• Strengthening the immune system
• Regulation of mucus secretion
When we speak about strengthening the immune system we need to be a bit more specific and point out that what we want to do is regulate the immune system just in case the runny nose is being caused by allergies, which is an over stimulation of the immune system.
Instead of getting all technical let me just tell you the things I do.
To strengthen the immune system, this is what I do.
• I eat lots of fresh garlic
• I drink lots of fresh squeezed lemon juice
• Make sure I am drinking lots of water (this is important because a lot of us tend to drink less water in the winter time)
• Eat fresh onions
• Take a good solid multi vitamin that has lots of vitamin C
• Immune Strengthening Herbs Such As: Elder, chamomile, ginger, sage, cinnamon
• Avoid over eating
• Avoid dairy foods
Eating garlic is one of my favorites because it also helps to regulate mucus secretion.
I want to mention again the importance of treating symptoms as early on as possible. If you wait until you need antibiotics, then it will be difficult to treat with natural medicine.
So start using these things as soon as you stay getting a runny nose or start feeling nasal congestion.
Oh and I almost forgot about essential oils.
Lavender and eucalyptus oils are great for helping treat nasal congestion and also coughs.
Simply put a few drops in your hands, rub then together and inhale the oils through your nose.
If you can do steam inhalation even better.
All you need is a bowl of streaming water, a towel, and the oils.
Put a few drops of oil in the water, put your face over the bowl, cover your head and the bowl with the towel and inhale deeply.
Be careful though eucalyptus oil is very strong.
If you are already congested to the point where you can't breath through your nose, try using horseradish along with everything else to try and open things up.
I have had great success using Wasabi, just because I can't always get fresh horseradish in the supermarket.
As I said this is also good for treating coughs, so let's get right into coughs while we are on the topic.
First of start with everything I mentioned for strengthening the immune system.
Now we need to get into what kind of cough you have and see how we go about treating it.
Dry hacking coughs need to be treated with anti spasmodic herbs like sage, linden, chamomile, yarrow, catnip, lavender.
Also you want to take herbs that with increase mucus so that the lungs can clean themselves out.
Here are just a bunch of herbs that can be great for treating dry coughs:
• Elder
• Slippery elm
• Plantago
• Flaxseed
• Catnip
• Chamomile
• Ginger
• Lavender
• Cinnamon
• Lemon balm
• Sage
Also make sure you are drinking enough water and that you are not breathing dry air all the time.
Sleeping with a humidifier is also great when treating dry coughs.
Very wet coughs should be treated with expectorant herbs like garlic, cinnamon and eucalyptus.
Elder is said to be a lung tonic herb and is great for all kinds of coughs.
The last thing I would put on my list would be ear infections.
I feel like only kids get ear infections but I know that that's not true.
The bottom line is that ear infections are just another outcome of an infection of the upper respiratory tract.
But most of the time from what I have seen ear infections are the result of not treating other symptoms earlier on.
Here is a simple but very effective formula for treating all of the above winter ailments including ear infections.
Use equal parts of the following herbs:
• Chamomile
• Elder flower
• Elder berries
• Yarrow
• Linden herb
• Catnip
Make a strong tea and drink five times a day.
For ear infections you can also use garlic oil, and apply it typically to the inside of the ear.
To make a garlic oil simply heat up some fresh crushed garlic in olive oil, but make sure not to fry it.
Let it cool and use a q tip to apply to the inside of the ear.
I almost forgot about strep throat.
Strengthen the immune system and use herbal candies like Ricolas.
Also mint teas are great for soothing a sore and itchy throat.
The second that I start to feel an itch in my throat I start to treat it like a strep.
I think that covers it all, did I miss anything?
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