Does it really work? Plant remedies and your actual experinces.

[falling rain]

There's lots of remedies offered and reccomended in various books but I'd be interested in anything folks have actually tried and actually had a result from.
To kick off I can say the 'plantains' definately work for insect/midge/nettle stings and bites. It's excellent. I had my ankles ravaged by mossies and rubbed crushed ribwort plantain leaves over the bites and it brought almost instant relief. My Son suffers from hay fever and a tea from plantain genuinely helps......friend had migrane headache and a feverfew leaf sandwich got rid of it......Herb Bennet (Wood Avens) helps with my toothache (eugenol)....Elder leaves crushed and rubbed onto the skin keep those mossies away too, but only for a short time till it wears off. I'm very interested in natural plant remedies and would love to hear about genuine results from ailments.

 

[Teepee]

Sphagnum moss; makes a good wound dressing as its antiseptic and absorbent. Also its excellent toilet paper that has cleared up a dose of the 'Farmers' more than once for me.

Raw garlic; cures severe toothache completely for about 15 minutes. It kept me sane on trip last year when I was reeling and in need of a tooth pulling.

Willow bark; chewed some last year for a minor headache when I left the paracetamol at home, seemed to stop it but this is a well tested remedy.

Cayenne pepper; Its shown to help the body with circulation. I take it religously in my food on cold trips-its really helps. I use it in conjunction with Black pepper, Parsely, Ginger and mixed vegetables, which complements it well.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Another fan of plantain here.
Plus yarrow for nicks. And bug repellent.
Elderberry tincture for a nasty cough helped too.

So yeah I find they work personally.
However I'm also an advocate of medicinal whisky for toothache. And flu. One bottle whisky and a hat is a good cure. Put hat at end of bed. Drjnk whisky until you see two hats no flu symptoms

 

[falling rain]

Well nothing beats a 'wee dram' for the evil ache of ye tooth'!!!. Yarrow for wounds....

 

[swright81076]

We use tumeric, honey and a little chili pepper when little ones get tonsillitis. It works a treat, every time.

touched by nature

 

[rik_uk3]

'Take this potion and you'll be better in a fortnight but if you don't take anything and you'll be better in two weeks' lol

If you child is getting recurrent Tonsillitis perhaps a visit to the Doctor is in order.

 

[santaman2000]

There's lots of remedies offered and reccomended in various books but I'd be interested in anything folks have actually tried and actually had a result from.
To kick off I can say the 'plantains' definately work for insect/midge/nettle stings and bites......

Love fried plaintains. They're deliscious; but I never heard they helped insect bites

 

[spandit]

I squirt cayenne pepper in warm saltwater up my nose - stops my rhinitis. Hurts briefly and I sneeze for a few minutes but really stops the nose running

 

[Elen Sentier]

This is largely an excellent thread ... do keep the remedies coming people, I'm collecting

 

[Goatboy]

Rolling tobacco for toothache. Stuff a little down the cavity. Jump around saying phrases like "Gosh!" and "Goodness!" for a couple of minutes and hey presto the root is burnt out and no more sore tooth.

 

[Toddy]

*Meadowsweet flourish is a natural aspirin, so is willowfine (find goat willow though, it tastes sweeter ) and both work really well.
*Meadowsweet root chewed up against an aching tooth soothes the pain just like clove oils do. If you tincture the roots or make a saturated oil from them it works as a brilliant topical analgesic for aching joints.
*Comfrey leaves and roots really do help a wound to close, but make blooming sure the wound is really clean first or it'll close over the dirt and then you'll get boils as the body tries to clear out the gunk.
*Houseleek is one of the most useful leaves you will ever use for bites, itches, scrapes, grazes, burns and blisters.
*Feverfew is bitter/bitter, but when migraine halos and flashes, eat it while you can keep food down and it will gentle the migraine; if you can manage a quiet dark room for an hour's sleep it will send the pain on it's way without flaring into full blown misery.
*Chickweed, crushed up to green and rubbed on bites really does stop the itch and often the reaction before it swells.

Loads more, but those are ones I've used recently.

Good idea for a thread

cheers,
M

 

[Elen Sentier]

Rolling tobacco for toothache. Stuff a little down the cavity. Jump around saying phrases like "Gosh!" and "Goodness!" for a couple of minutes and hey presto the root is burnt out and no more sore tooth.

Hey! I remember that from being a kiddie, Dad used to give me some of his baccy for toothache ... prior to dentist! Mindblowing !!!

 

[Goatboy]

Hey! I remember that from being a kiddie, Dad used to give me some of his baccy for toothache ... prior to dentist! Mindblowing !!!

Mindblowing is one way to describe it. Does work though.

 

[Skaukraft]

Some experienced my self, some given to others or seen others use it and seen good results.
Not sure if all the english names are correct.
Tormentil (potentilla erecta) root tea against a running stomach often works.
Tormentil root on a bleeding wound to stop the bleeding works fine.
Goat Willow bark against headache (carefull if your'e on blood or heart medicines).
Tea of fireweed against constipation.
Selfheal (Prunella Vulgaris) leaves against herpes (the type taht gives sores around the mouth. Leaves from the plant directly on the sore, or clean the sores with boil of from the whole plant). It has many uses.
The Sphagnum moss is already mentioned and is litteraly a plant-multitool.
Chaga against high bloodpressure and high blood sugar levels (I have diabetes type 2, and the chaga is, if not better, so at least as good as the medicines my doctor gave me).
Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea) tea against caugh and to loosen slime during a cold or flu.
Blueberries to regulate the stomach.
Roseroot (Rhodiola rosea). Another plant multitool. Also known as Ginseng of the nordic mountains. Roseroot tea after a long and hard hike in the mountains really calms down your body and helps recovery. It is also an excellent stress reliever.

 

[swright81076]

'Take this potion and you'll be better in a fortnight but if you don't take anything and you'll be better in two weeks' lol

If you child is getting recurrent Tonsillitis perhaps a visit to the Doctor is in order.

I'd rather them not take antibiotics, I've used this method the last couple of bouts and it clears up quickly. The little man is on the waiting list for them removing and adenoids too.

touched by nature

 

[xylaria]

Love fried plaintains. They're deliscious; but I never heard they helped insect bites

Not the same plantain, it is the leaf of ribwort plantain and rat tail that is used to on insect stings. Saying that banana is good on burns, the green frying plantian is really really hard to get hold of outside areas with a high afrocaribian population. Ribwort and rat tail is stupidly common weed. I have tried the crushed leaves when I was serious munched on by chiggers. The afterbite cream didnt make a differance, the antihistamine cream did work but straight plantain leaves chewed and pasted on work just as well. The seeds from both types are a very effective laxative and bowel anti inflamatory, useful to know if you have eaten the brown biscuits from ration packs.

 

[rik_uk3]

I'd rather them not take antibiotics, I've used this method the last couple of bouts and it clears up quickly. The little man is on the waiting list for them removing and adenoids too.

touched by nature

Used correctly and you'll not have issues and how do you know it would not have cleared just as quickly without the home quackery? Its not proven where antibiotics are.

 

[Toddy]

I think we overuse antibiotics, to be honest. Often we're wasting an incredible blessing on things that really do not need anything other than time and care to heal well.
Antibiotics screw up gut bacteria too

The right time and reason, I reckon.

atb,
Mary

 

[santaman2000]

I think we overuse antibiotics, to be honest. Often we're wasting an incredible blessing on things that really do not need anything other than time and care to heal well.
Antibiotics screw up gut bacteria too

The right time and reason, I reckon.

atb,
Mary

Agreed they're overused. But as Rik said, "used correctly." Possibly more important than their overuse is the poor way some people dispose of the excess; simply flushing them down a toilet. Then they not only disrupt the microbiological li needed at the sewer but exacerbate the growing immunity of said microbilological life to said antibiotics.

 

[dump of the stig]

Love fried plaintains. They're deliscious; but I never heard they helped insect bites

that's something I don't get, we have something called plantain but its just an edible leaf (compared too some of the
stuff people say is edible and swear by, but is actually gross and tastes of poison) this leaf isn't bad at all,
it unfortunately is not fruit bearing, just a stumpy little weed. Shame as I love fried plantain.
Anyone know if they are related or just a qerk of the English language?