Natural Remedies

You know, you learn a lot of really bizarre things when you are constantly searching for home remedies of every imaginable ailment! See, I don't have insurance... and each time I go to the doctor's it costs about $100, so I'm going to do everything in my power to make it so I don't have to go. Because of that, I have learned some really interesting "remedies." Some that seem to work really well, and others that make you say, "...really?"

Poor little guy...

For example, yesterday my ear started hurtin' something fierce. It definitely felt like an ear infection, but alas - I was trying to avoid that whole doctor route. So I began my home remedy search. Want to know one of the most common suggestions? Onions. Yes, onions. Several sites that I found said to cut an onion in half, heat it just slightly, wrap it with some old t-shirt fabric and put it on your ear for about 30 minutes. Weird, huh? Well, these days I will try just about anything - especially if multiple sites advocate it. So I chopped an onion in half, put it in the microwave, cut a piece of cloth from ratty old t-shirt, and put it on my ear!

The warmth from it actually felt really nice, and after about 30 minutes I took it off and it didn't hurt anymore! Buuut then about 10 minutes later it started hurting again. Drat. Maybe I'm supposed to do it multiple times a day. But I already felt weird enough holding a half-onion to my ear, so I decided to forgo that option.

Here's another interesting remedy... if any of you have eczema problems, try this one. Mix some olive oil with a few drops of tea tree oil and massage it onto the affected area, the way you would with lotion. 

Oh, tea tree oil is one of my new best friends. It seems to be a cure for everything!! I also use it on zits. I especially hate those threatening zits that you KNOW are there, you can feel them, but there is just nothing there to pop and you just have to wait the wretched amount of time before you can actually get rid of them. Well, before I go to bed, I wash my face off and then use a q-tip to put some tea tree oil on and dab each red spot on my face. 9 times out of 10, the spots are gone by morning. I've also heard that toothpaste does similar things, but I've tried that and all it seems to do for me is make a mess on my pillows...

Have any of you ever gurgled apple cider vinegar? I'm pretty sure it is the worst tasting thing in the world, but my grandma (Brown) swears by it. When I was younger, I didn't believe her... I think mainly because I didn't want to go near that vile bottle of nastiness. But when I no longer had insurance, I was willing to try just about anything. If I started gurgling that stuff when I felt the slightest tickle in my throat, it worked wonderfully!! It also seems to help clear phlegm out of your throat in no time. Granted, you have to do it a couple of times a day, but it definitely helps... much to my chagrin. I think I am building up an immunity to it, though - it didn't taste quite so vomitous last time I used it.

Also, garlic is a natural anti-bacterial. I always have a bottle of garlic pills on hand for when I start to feel sick. Also a miracle worker is echinacea ... which, I am rather confused right now why the dictionary doesn't recognize echinacea... weird. Anyway, zinc is amazing as well, as is - of course - vitamin c.

Oh!! Another weird home remedy I discovered last night is that of ibuprofen. Well, substitutes for it I mean. There's a whole list of foods that have natural anti-inflammatory as well as foods that are best to avoid when in pain. These ones below are the pain reducer foods. The other foods are in the link.

apples	apricots	avocados	bananas
beans	beets	berries	broccoli
cabbage	cantaloupe	carrots	cauliflower
celery	chard	cherries	cucumber
currants	dates	figs	garlic
ginger	grapes	kale	lettuce
mangoes	melons	mushrooms	olives
papaya	parsley	peaches	pears
peppers	potatoes	pumpkin	radish
raisins	soybeans	spinach	squash
sweet potatoes	turnips

Anyway, these are a few random 'natural remedies' I have discovered in the last few years. I'm sure I will discover more in the near future!!