I’m always looking for natural ways to solve health issues. Here are seven quick natural remedies for common problems your family may encounter.
For Sore Throat
One of the easies natural remedies I’ve found for sore throat: mix 1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar with a couple teaspoons of raw honey (optional) and drink in 8 oz water six or more times a day until symptoms disappear. The vinegar kills the bacteria in the throat and soothes irritation. It is better to forgo the honey if possible, but the taste can be rough!
This sore throat spray is another great option and I keep it on hand in the winter months.
For Ear Infection
Ear infections can be awful, especially for kids. Antibiotics don’t often work and many doctors don’t want to give antibiotics for ear infections. Thankfully, there is an easy and extremely cheap home remedy. At the first sign of an ear infection (for adult or child) or cold, have the affected person lie on his/her side. Use a dropper to put pure 3% Hydrogen Peroxide into the ear. This will cause a bubbling, tickling sensation that in rare cases stings mildly. Have the person lie there until the bubbling subsides. This can be repeated every few hours until symptoms are gone.
Here’s a full list of natural remedies for ear infections.
For Congestion
Another frustrating condition that is often caused by a cold and can’t be cured with medicine. Rather than taking over the counter drugs to mitigate the symptoms, I start taking Vitamin C every couple hours until symptoms start to fade. (This post has good info on the best type of Vitamin C to take)
To battle acute congestion, boil a large pot of water. When boiling, take off heat and drop in peppermint leaves, peppermint tea bags or a couple drops of peppermint oil. Cover head with a towel and place over the pot. Breathe in the steam for 10-15 minutes using slow, deep breaths. This will help loosen and drain congestion.
For Nausea, Morning Sickness or Motion Sickness
Peppermint tea or Ginger tea do wonders for these ailments, as do their essential oils. A homemade tincture of peppermint, ginger and fennel is extremely effective as well. For kids with motion sickness or nausea, I mix a couple drops of peppermint essential oil with a TBSP of a carrier oil like almond or olive oil and rub on the feet, chest and back of neck.
For pregnancy, I found that these tips also really helped me avoid morning sickness.
For Fever
In most cases, fever is a good sign that the body is fighting illness. While our first instinct is to treat the fever, this can actually slow down recovery from the illness as the body uses the heat of the fever to help kill the virus or bacteria. That being said, a high fever, especially in children, can be very dangerous. To lower a fever without drugs, put pure peppermint essential oil (adults) or diluted peppermint essential oil (babies and children) on the bottom of the feet and back of the neck. A cool ice pack on the back of the neck is another effective method, as the heat center of the body is located there.
Some herbal teas are also helpful during a fever.
For Bleeding
For cuts, scrapes and other causes of bleeding that don’t stop, pour Cayenne pepper powder (make sure cayenne is the only ingredient and get organic if possible) directly into the wound. It will burn for a couple minutes, but will greatly help the body’s clotting ability. After the bleeding has stopped, rinse with cool water and treat as you would any other bleeding wound. This one has saved us several trips to the ER.
I also keep medical grade super glue and raw honey on hand for wound sealing and healing.
For Stings
A fact of life in the summer for me when gardening or for the kids playing outside! Remove stinger without squeezing it. Rub toothpaste or baking soda/water paste into the sting. Pain should subside within minutes. A drop of lavender essential oil will do the same thing.
Alternately, if you know what it looks like, the leaf of plantain immediately soothes bee stings, and this likely grows all over your yard (you think its a weed). If you chew a leaf up (it’s good for you anyway) and spit it onto the sting, the pain vanishes instantly.
Have other suggested health remedies? Tell me about them below!
What’s in My Medicine Cabinet
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What about sore throats in a 1 yr old (13 months)? I have a sore throat and I suspect he has one too. No way I will get him to drink apple cider vinegar. He doesn’t want to eat or drink much of anything. He is also very congested, coughing. Thoughts?
Silver Sol won’t hurt at all. Great for ears, nose, throat whatever.
Love the stuff.
I tried the sore throat remedy and felt SICK! Still feel a little nauseous a couple hours later. I do normally drink 1 tsp of it in my water daily, but the 1/4 cup was too much for me. I’ll go back to colloidal silver for my throat. Just hope I “come down” from it soon.
Hi, although Im a trained Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, I do advice natural and safe remedies for my patients first, so I like your intentions and the recommendations are quite good but I think your post isn´t entirely correct.
The number 1, it is good to use ACV for sore throat, but might cause dental enamel erosion and sensitivity, so I recommend using a straw.
The number 2, I agree antibiotics may not work effectively all the time in ear infections, but using hydrogen peroxide in the ear canal is something I use only for ear wax plugs and for limited time of days as it may burn sensitive skin. For ear infections I recommend, besides eliminating dairy products and specially bottle feeding a baby laying on the sides, using diluted lavender oil or diluted tea tree oil in a massage behind the ears and neck in a downward movement and the same oils undiluted in the sole of the feet at nights. Eating raw garlic in olive oil or honey is used also as an antibiotic but might upset the stomach.
The number 3, Instead of ascorbic acid in big doses I recommend drinking the juice of 3 lemons, 1 garlic clove and 1/4th red onion all blended and strained, with a straw. Trust me it doesnt smell that bad and is really loaded with natural vitamin c and antibiotics.
Hope this helps and sorry If Im acting nosy but it is my job and I like the natural approach and most parents will ask for a med, I insist first to try the natural remedies unless the child is really sick.
Will these all work for adults too?
How do you dilute the oils?
You mentioned hydrogen peroxide for ear infections… It works, but even better if you also use some onion juice afterward. It also kills the pain. For babies, dilute 1-1 with extra virgin olive oil and apply to skin behind ear lobe. For small kids, 1 part onion juice, 2 parts e.v.olive oil, and drop 2-3 room temp drops in ear and let drain to ear drum. For those 10+, straight onion juice, 2-3 drops in affected ear and drain to eardrum, then out. Worked wonders for me… I used to have chronic ear infections until my mom tried this. No more for 10 years after that!
Hi, Thanks for the information! i have a 2 year old that has fever is there anymore natural quick remedies i can give to him? Thanks x
I have a question for you. A lot of your remedies have involved peppermint in some form, but I’m allergic to peppermint on my skin (I seem to be able to ingest it okay). Is there any sort of all-purpose substitute you can recommend? Thanks!
You can remove or use Eucalyptus…
i keep trying to pin this article because i come back to it so often, but it never let’s me… is this an issue on my end or yours? =0(
Just checked it… it might have been a bug on this end, but it should work now if it was.
it worked! thank you!
these are awesome!! thanks 🙂 bookmarking this page for future reference 🙂
1/4 cup aloe vera juice (pure), 1/2 cup pureed papaya and a cup of water. I have 9 children and have had severe morning sickness. Finally found this at the health food store. Sip through the day, nothing works better. (tried it all)
If you’d like absolutely positively INSTANT relief from a sore throat, try 1/2 a dropper of sage tincture (I like Herb Pharm for commercial brands) in 1 TB of water. Gargle this for as long as you can handle and then swallow. The pain is gone instantly unless it’s coupled with dryness (common in winter sore throats). If that’s the case, then you can try following the sage gargle with powdered marshmallow root and raw honey, just a tablespoon of each mixed together. My children have a problem with swallowing the sage tincture, but if I offer to follow it up with the marshmallow root they usually have no problem. Hope that helps!