Remedicated

Splinters are the great equalizer of people. No matter what your age, race, or social standing, seeing a big splinter of wood sticking out of your skin is likely to make you weak in the knees. It’s made even worse when some helpful person rushes at you with a needle and a bottle of rubbing alcohol to dig it out for you. Digging a splinter out with a needle can cause a secondary infection - not to mention the fact that it’s just plain painful.

Luckily, there are other ways to get splinters out of your skin that don’t involve digging with sharp objects.

Your first move should be to wait and see what happens. The body’s natural defense system will kick in and push the splinter out. However, it may take some time. For large splinters, splinters that look infected, or those that stick far out of the skin, it may be better to remove them sooner rather than later.

Splinters that are close to the surface of the skin and not embedded too deeply are obviously the easiest to remove. These can be taken out by a number of methods.

One of the simplest, especially for frightened children, is soaking the affected area in salt water. This method works best for hands or feet which can easily be submerged in a bowl of water. The salt and water cause the skin to shrivel, pushing the splinter out enough that it can be grabbed by a pair of tweezers.

Another fast and painless way to remove splinters is with common white glue. Smear a layer of glue over the splinter and let it dry. Then pull the glue off and watch the splinter come right out. You can also use a piece of transparent tape or duct tape in the same way, making sure to pull the tape off in the direction the free end of the splinter is pointing to coax it out of the skin.

If you find that none of your attempts to remove the offending splinter are working, try to draw it out of the skin a little more. Make a thick paste with baking soda and water and apply it to the site of the splinter. Cover the paste with a bandage and leave it in place for an hour or two. Sometimes you’ll find that the splinter has come out all of the way. Often, it will just be a little further out of the skin and you’ll be able to grab it with tweezers and remove it the rest of the way.

Armed with these easy home treatments, you’ll have no reason to break out the needles the next time you feel a bothersome splinter in your skin.

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.

Despite the scores of devices meant to save us time these days, many health studies indicate that we feel more pressed for time than ever before. For a lot of us, having too many things to do during the day means that we shave hours off of our sleeping time to accomplish everything. Doing this too often can actually make it harder to sleep when we want to, in addition to making us tired and grumpy all day.

Read the rest of this entry »

The use of herbal treatments for everything from sore throats to cancer has become more and more common with every passing year. We all know about the herbal supplements like St. John’s Wort that can help you with chronic health problems, but did you know that many common edible herbs, spices and vegetables can provide impressive health benefits?

While you probably already use these ingredients in your home, you may not realize that they can do much more than just making your meals tasty and interesting. Here are some common foods that do double duty as effective herbal treatments.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s estimated that over 29.5 million Americans suffer from migraines. If you have ever experienced one of these headaches, you are familiar with the misery that they cause. Migraine sufferers often feel desperate to find an effective treatment. What works for one person may have no effect on the next person, so many people may go through several different treatments before discovering one that works for them.

There are a few natural migraine treatments that have been used successfully and somewhat reliably by migraine sufferers. These natural treatments are often preferred over pharmaceutical treatments because their side effects are generally less severe.

One of the oldest natural migraine treatments is the herb feverfew. This herb has been preferred over other natural migraine treatments for centuries and is said to be extremely effective. It may have some unpleasant side effects, though, so do your homework before trying this natural migraine treatment.

Other natural migraine treatments include healthy doses of magnesium, vitamin B12, and fish oil. These food-based natural migraine treatments work more as prevention than treatment, but they can be extremely helpful in the long term. They do not come with side effects, but care should be taken to avoid overdosing on any one vitamin or mineral.

Not all natural migraine treatments have to be ingested, though. Some of the best natural migraine treatments are external. Acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, and massage therapy are some of the most effective natural migraine treatments for both long term and short term relief. There’s nothing quite like a soothing and gentle massage to ease away the stress of a migraine!

As more migraine sufferers choose natural migraine treatments over medical treatments, these natural migraine treatments become more mainstream and readily available to all of us. Try them for long term or short term relief and decide for yourself whether they can provide relief that’s on a par with medicinal treatments.