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.
BONUS: How To Store And Organize Your Natural Remedies
Have other suggested health remedies? Tell me about them below!
What’s in My Medicine Cabinet
For adults i put a drop of peppermint oil diluted into some olive oil to help my bloating. Ill place a nickle size amount of olive oil on my palm of hand and add one single drop sometimes two if severe and then rub my hands together and massage my belly with hands and in about 30 minutes, no more belly ache.
Katie, could you say more about how to seal a wound with superglue? What keeps this from sealing in bacteria, as well? What is the technique, and how long does it take to “stick”? to heal? I am all ears!
This post has a whole tutorial on it (along with when it should not be used) https://morethanjustsurviving.com/stitches-bandages-or-super-glue/. you can also purchase medical grade “superglue” : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004C12Q46/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=wellnessmama-20&linkId=056031f26d7d7161c867e45a876e8e34&language=en_US
Pls may i get a remedy for fungi on de fingrr and toenails and also best natural ways to maintsin fair skin nd rluminate dark spots on the fingers causrd by oda cosmetic products.thanks alot
For high fevers, like for adults (as in 103.5 to 105), run a bath at blood temperature and submerge the person, poor the bath water over their chest, shoulders, and any exposed limbs (do NOT get their hair wet!) and have them stay in the water as long as they can stand it. The water will slowly cool and bring their temperature down with it without sending them into shock. I had to do this for my boyfriend this year when he had the worst flu I’d ever seen. It didn’t break his temp, just brought it down from the dangerous brain cooking zone.
People just use “suggested” Mullein Flower infused olive oil with garlic infused olive oil for ear infection 1/2 and 1/2 in 1 oz dropper bottle. Add a few drops of vitamin e oil to your oils, or 5 drops Eucalyptus, or 2 drops GSE stirred well or all three if desired, to keep them preserved.Kills the pain and infection and SAFE to use. Run dropper under hot water then quickly suck oil into it before administering to warm the 3 drops suggested every half hour until bed time. I grew up with chronic ear infections and cannot imagine someone dumping cold hydrogen peroxide in my ears. Things are miserable enough already.
Give this oil remedy to friends with or without children for gifts. They’ll bless you for it.
Does anyone have any suggestions for reducing fluid on the ears? My son just turned two and the pediatrician had seen fluid and is concerned that it is slowing his speech development. So far my son hasn’t been showing signs of pain or infection needing treatment but the doc wanted to prescribe antibiotics. I opted to wait and recheck in a few weeks. I know dairy can be a contributor but is all dairy bad in this case? I still give him raw cows milk occasionally and yogurt because he loves it so much. I desperately want to avoid the numerous cycles of antibiotics and tubes that I experienced growing up but I’m not really sure what to do.
I’d consider getting a second opinion. Fluid on the ear isn’t always a sign of infection, and antibiotics don’t always help with ear infections anyway. We’ve used hydrogen peroxide in the ears for that before with success, as well as Wally’s ear oil or a similar homemade remedy.
I just wanted to share this because I love my oils and they work wonders for my family. However, you have to be very careful with the use of oils. I recently found out that peppermint oil is not safe for children. Please read and share the following information. (I have no connection to this blog or cited sources, this is just something I found while searching the internet, I have nothing to gain but hoping to keep everyone safe with oils because they are amazing and I do not want to see them get a bad reputation)
More about Peppermint Oil and Children:
From the NAHA Safety Note for Peppermint Essential Oil:
– Avoid use on children under 30 months of age. The nasal mucosa is an autonomic reflexogen organ, which has a distance action to the heart, lungs and circulation and may lead to sudden apnoea and glottal constriction.
– Direct application of peppermint oil to the nasal area or chest to infants should be avoided because of the risk of apnea, laryngeal and bronchial spasms, acute respiratory distress with cyanosis and respiratory arrest. (The Longwood Herbal Task Force)
– Do not apply undiluted peppermint essential oils to the feet, particularly on infants and children under the age of 12.
– Inhalation of larges doses of menthol may lead to dizziness, confusion, muscle weakness, nausea and double vision. (Natural Standard Research Collaboration, Peppermint oil. Evidence based monograph 2005; Medlineplus)
This is from an article naturalkidswordpress I am not sure if putting a link is okay or not, but I can and will gladly cite my source if it is allowed. 🙂
Thanks and keep up the awesome blog!
Thank you for posting this! I was thinking the same thing when I read the “recommendation” about using peppermint oil.
First off, I frequent this site for recipes and tips…it’s wonderful, thank you. One topic, though, has been very confusing when researched, and that is the discrepancy of information regarding what oils are safe for children/babies. For example, some sites say no eucalyptus oil under 2 years, however, The Complete Book of Essential Oils (Worwood) says it’s safe from 2-6 months. The same applies to Thieves, some say it’s fine to use, some say not to even diffuse it with children under 10 due to the eucalyptus and rosemary. How do you decipher what is safe and what isn’t? We have an 11-month-old and I’m very cautious about using oils safely, but with all of the conflicting information it’s difficult to rest assured that I actually am.
I use peppermint for fever and it really works.
I have noticed that i do not have face wash and my legs get really dry and I have used many different lotions and they dont hydrate my skins long enough and i am getting pimples on my face do you guys have any sudgestions? ???
I have a sore throat too and i was sudgesting eating peppermints and cough drops or just eating ice and they have worked once or twice but they dont usually help all the time , do you have any reccomendations??????
Hi, I was wondering how you feel about drinking aloe vera. I was recently diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer and I was given several different medications, but would rather take a more natural healthy approach. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance. Sincerely