Remedicated

Anyone who has ever had a migraine knows that the pain is unlike any other type of pain. A migraine can last for many hours or even days, and it often includes other physical symptoms. Dizziness, vision disturbances, and sensitivity to light and sound are common symptoms that accompany migraines.

There are plenty of prescription drugs to control migraines, but most of them require you to take them every day, whether you have a headache or not. For migraine sufferers who try to avoid excess medications, this option doesn’t seem like the wisest way to manage migraines. There are more natural ways to deal with the agony of migraines - and they don’t involve daily injections or mountains of pills.

1. Keep a journal of the foods you eat and your migraine symptoms. You may find a correlation between certain foods and migraines. Some of the most common offenders: chocolate, red wine, caffeine, and artificial sweeteners.

2. For some people, caffeine is a trigger. For others, it’s a treatment. When you feel a migraine creeping up on you, try drinking a cup of coffee or a caffeinated soda. You may feel the pain receding.

3. When the migraine has already started to take hold of you, try to get to a dark and quiet place as soon as possible. Put in earplugs, cover your eyes so no light reaches your face, and lie down. The absence of sound and light works wonders for many migraine sufferers. A nap may also help, so if you find yourself drifting off in the dark don’t fight it!

4. See a dentist. Some migraines are actually a result of temporomandibular jaw (TMJ) disorder.

5. Ginger, taken raw, in a tea, or even in cookie form, may help arrest the increase of migraine pain once a headache has begun.

6. Relax. Many headaches are caused by tension. If you are prone to migraines, tense facial muscles can bring on one of the painful episodes.

Experimentation is necessary when you’re finding a migraine treatment that works for you. Every sufferer is different, and every migraine is different. Keeping records of your symptoms can help you to figure out exactly what works best for you.

Feeling sluggish and sleepy after a long night? Are your eyes becoming heavy-lidded in your morning meeting? Instead of turning to coffee or candy for a quick pick-me-up (and subsequent energy crash), why not try adjusting your diet? By eating a balanced diet with energy-giving foods every day, you can level out your energy levels and smooth those hills and valleys.
Read the rest of this entry »

If you have children, lice is probably an issue that concerns you. Although you can get lice at any age, the closeness of children in schools makes kids more likely to acquire the bugs.

The treatment recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics is an over-the-counter chemical that you apply twice, the second application a week after the first. While this method may be effective, it contains harmful substances that you may just not want seeping into your child’s skin. Or maybe your child’s lice have grown resistant to the type of chemical treatment you’re using. What else can you do, short of shaving your child’s head?

Folk remedies for head lice have been abundant for as long as anyone can remember. Most of the home remedies involve smothering the lice and their eggs so that they suffocate and die. Others rely on the bugs’ natural dislike of some herbal substances.

1. Mayonnaise. Not Miracle Whip or any other mayonnaise substitute, mind you. The thick and greasy texture of mayonnaise has been used by many mothers to smother lice and their nits (eggs). You apply it liberally to the affected person’s head, cover it all with a shower cap, and leave it on overnight. The next morning, wash the hair thoroughly and use a nit comb (a small, very fine-toothed comb) to remove lice bodies and nits.

2. Olive oil soaks. With the head over the sink and protective cloths covering the clothing, saturate every last strand of hair with olive oil. Leave the olive oil on for 30 minutes and then comb with a nit comb. Wash the hair with dish soap to remove the oil. Repeat the process every other day for two weeks.

3. Tea tree oil. You can buy tea tree oil shampoo at just about any retailer these days. If you would prefer, it’s also effective to put a few drops of tea tree oil into your child’s regular shampoo. Then comb the hair very carefully with a lice comb to remove the bodies and nits.

When you use any lice treatment, it’s very important to treat your bedding, soft toys, and head coverings. Lice die without a host within 48 hours, so put those things that can’t be washed into an airtight plastic bag for 2-3 days to kill the little bugs. For the things that can go in the washing machine, wash them on hot and then dry them on high for at least 30 minutes.

Is there anything worse than a summer cold? Well…yes, but they are pretty annoying. Who wants to deal with a stuffy nose when there’s gardening to be done and fun to be had? If you want to relieve the stuffy nose and congested head that go along with that cold without the fuzzy medicine feeling, try these easy remedies for relieving a stuffy nose the natural way.

1. Nasal Saline Irrigation. This is an ancient remedy that’s made its way into drug stores almost everywhere. The little plastic spray bottles that you stick up your nose can bring almost immediate relief from congestion. The saline moisturizes the nasal cavity while flushing out excess mucous and relieving painful pressure.

2. Hot peppers. No, don’t stick them up your nose. Just chew on some spicy food and you could find yourself breathing easier…temporarily, at least. Chips with salsa or a hot curry dish are excellent ways to encourage some nasal drainage. Unfortunately, the result is not very long-lived.

3. Steam inhalation. This is probably the very last thing you want to do on a hot summer day, but if you can stand the treatment it’s a good way to loosen up and drain some of that cruddiness in your head. Add some eucalyptus or rosemary essential oil to the steam to further loosen the mucous.

4. Stay well hydrated. This is one tip you see repeated here over and over, and for good reason: keeping your body hydrated is possibly the best thing you can do to keep yourself healthy. In this case, staying hydrated makes your nasal passages less sticky and keeps your head from feeling all stopped up.

5. Avoid dairy products. Dairy thickens the mucous and makes you feel more plugged up all around. Avoid all dairy products when you’re trying to recover from a stuffy head and you’ll get over the stuffiness much faster.

6. Garlic. This is another awesome natural treatment that can be used for numerous conditions. Eating garlic (cooked or raw) when you have a stuffy nose may help to relieve congestion and heal the condition that’s causing it.

Every culture has its own folk remedies that its people swear by. Individual families often have their own time-tested and honored traditional remedies. These sometimes-surprising treatments are passed down through the generations until they become almost legendary. Some of them are based on true medical properties of the items used and some are just a question of mind over matter. Although we can’t advocate the use of these treatments or vouch for their effectiveness, the following home remedies are among some of the strangest we’ve seen.
Read the rest of this entry »