Posted on 09/30/2010 11:58:50 PM PDT by neverdem
Edited on 10/01/2010 5:52:45 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
When my throat starts tickling, I have a cup of echinacea tea. Just one cup and the cold doesn't come on.
Thanks for the ping!
You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!
Personally, I like mine strong, with about 1 tbsp per 16 oz glass of warm water, gargled at about a half cup at a time until it’s all gone. It is one of the best, all-around forms of oral care you can use, and is also a good treatment for in the mouth cold sores, some eustation tube problems, and even helps with sinus problems.
Otherwise, a q-tip with a little alum on it is also good applied directly to against cold sores, as it is also a powerful styptic and draws the moisture out of the infection.
Honey, which was mentioned earlier, is somewhat frustrating as an oral care product. This is because *some* types of raw honey are loaded with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory agents. Other types of raw honey have very little. And pasteurized honey has almost none.
But the raw honey that does have those agents is actually superior to most dental care products. But nobody as of yet harvests it with an emphasis on those properties.
As an aside, a young man not too long ago managed to kill himself by gargling with Epsom salts for a month. Magnesium poisoning. Normally it is an effective laxative, so little is absorbed by the body. But by gargling with it, he managed to absorb just enough so that he built it up to toxic levels. No mean feat.
One superior, OTC treatment against colds and flu are Cold-Eeze lozenges. Their trick is that they contain zinc. And zinc in the mucous membranes inhibits pathogenic reproduction. However, most forms of zinc are not readily uptaken by the mucous membranes. So they did research and made a form of zinc that is readily uptaken, and patented it, so it is unique to their brand.
So to suck on a few Cold-Eeze a day at the first sign of a cold is a grand idea. It gives an rather unpleasant metallic flavor in the taste buds and sinuses, but that is a good thing, so you should not drink water for some time after using one.
Which reminds me of a question....
I’ve heard that you can absorb magnesium through the skin, which is why the natural health people tell you soaking your feet in epsom salts is good for you. Is that true?
I’m always cautious about the herbal remedies and claims. Some are well grounded and some are complete balderdash, to put it politely.
Not a problem. Ask anyone - I love doling out folk medicine advice. My research shows that to heal one must use the old ways. For trauma and immediate or life threatening concerns, the new ways are better.
Here's another: if you are at risk of heart attack replace that aspirin with a cayenne capsule. I think I missed my calling or I was just too lazy and shy of being poor to go to med school. By the time I finally finished undergrad with degrees in Physics and Math I was too headstrong to go through the necessary hoops required of med students. Thank goodness I have a cousin smarter and more driven than me that is a doc because our family is big and everyone is getting old.
That's a sound prescription. I do believe the method is similar to the Vit C. You're getting a dose of anti-oxidants. I've also found if that initial window is missed to drink 3 or 4 drops of food grade 33% H2O2 in distilled water helps. Only do this on an empty stomach since adding O2 to a gut full of metals isn't all that great an idea.
thx thx.
I found that melts the toothbrushes.
I soak mine in hydrogen peroxide overnight.
The swallows go down easier if they're flavored with chicken.
“I found that melts the toothbrushes.”
I’ve never had that problem! Of course I only hold the bristle end in the boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute. No need for a longer soak.
Maybe that was the problem. Too long.
They didn’t quite melt but softened enough that they got misshapen and no good any more.
“Heck, when I was a kid, if I came home snake bit, with a broken leg and an arrow sticking out of my back, my Mom would have handed me a glass of salt water to gargle before she did anything else.”
When I was a kid, I came home like that nearly daily - after, of course, shooting the backstabbers who snuck up on me first.
My Mom usually just told me to take a bath and get started on my homework...
Exactly. My Great Grandma used this in 1910. Talks about it in her journal.
Yeah, they will get soft. Just hold the business end in the boiling water. Once I’ve done that, I pour the remainder of the water over the dishwashing brush.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsom_salts
Lots of medical and therapeutic uses. I mentioned the young man who killed himself by gargling with it for a month, because he was utterly unique. There are no other known instances of someone harming themselves that way.
Some of the therapeutic uses are in the treatment of neuromuscular spasms, caused by an underlying disease, in baths; to reduce swelling in sprains; to bring an infection “to a head”, as well as to treat acne with a poultice.
Doubtless there are many other uses, including a common, soothing foot soak.
It is important to note that the bodies minerals need to keep a relative balance to maintain health, so taking an excess of one does not create a serious imbalance in one or more of the others. This includes: sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, iodine, and a host of trace minerals.
Interesting that it can be used in gardening, too.
For those who do let the infection take hold there are a lot of good herbal and home remedies mentioned on this thread. I kind of like the taste of horehound. I used to eat horehound hard candies when I was a kid.
LOL ... been doing this my whole life
Well OK, then. My great-great grandmother knew what she was talking about. No surprise there.
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