Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Livin, Svetlana Konnikova [classic fiction .TXT] 📗

natural treatments for eczema tested by folk healers through the centuries. Do not neglect physician consultations and prescriptions. Look to your doctor for professional advice and get a second opinion. It is important to catch a “self-invited invader” at the right time. What can we do about allergies?

For years, thousands of people have suffered with the ill effects of allergies that have disrupted their daily lives and have been desperate for treatments that would help them regain the normalcy they had before stubborn allergies dictated the way they felt. But until recently medical doctors and world scientists have been stumped for answers.

Currently, I repeat, an estimated 50 million Americans have some form of allergic disease. Approximately 24.7 million people have been diagnosed with asthma, with at least 7.7 million of them children under the age of 18. Asthma is the leading, serious, chronic illness among children in the United States. The good news is that we now can undergo a series of tests to determine specific allergens. Once the allergen is known, a physician can prescribe an effective treatment with well-advertised drugs. No one drug is guaranteed, of course. We are careful about guarantees of any kind.

So what choice do we have? Perhaps we should trust and help ourselves. We are our own best friends and as such we should be educated about our symptoms and the treatment options available to us. For instance, I know that I am very sensitive to antibiotics and food preservatives, strawberries, and the smell of tropical tiger lilies, and I am careful to avoid these irritants. But with allergies you can always expect the unexpected.

A Sickness of the 21st Century @ 93

Recently I planted roses in my garden and I pricked

several fingers on their thorns. At first I thought that I was not bothered by the cuts at all…until I showered

the next morning. It was then that I noticed many red

spots on my neck. Curiously they did not itch, and I

did not think it was the sign of a serious condition.

The next day red spots had spread rapidly over my legs, hands, stomach, and thighs, eventually covering my entire body. In addition to the skin rash, my sinuses

became inflamed and I could not breathe normally.

I feared that the rash would spread internally and decided to make an appointment with my physician right away. My advice to anyone who experiences a sudden allergic reaction is to keep a written log of the symptoms before calling your doctor. I recorded the time that the allergic reaction began. Then I listed everything I had eaten in the past two days, what I had touched or inhaled. When I met with my doctor, I brought my notes. I was certain that the reaction was prompted by the cuts I suffered from the rose thorns. I felt that the thorns had pierced my fingers and micro doses of plant secretion had permeated my system and acted like a poison to me.

My doctor disagreed. The results from my allergy test were available three weeks later. I was told that the “perpetrator” of the allergy was street and domestic dust, but what about the roses and its thorns? No one knows because the test was performed to check only one allergen—dust, probably the most popular one.

My doctor prescribed two bottles of Zyrtec tablets and three bottles of Flonase nasal spray. These two drugs are well-known brands for allergies that are heavily advertised on television.

Since childhood I have been conditioned not to use chemical drugs and to opt for natural remedies instead. I try to avoid chemical medicines as much as possible. I believe in the power of Nature and her green wonders: herbs, fruits, vegetables, homemade elixirs, libations, infusions, poultices, and essential oils. I trust the wisdom of preventive measures and try to keep myself at my best. However, since I did develop a skin rash, which was rapidly worsening, I had no choice but to resort to taking Zyrtec—60 tablets in 60 days—and Flonase—three nasal sprays for three months. Total expense: $320.00. 94 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

That could buy a lot of herbs, fruits, vegetables, and juices, and I could be enjoying those tasty delights instead of chemical wonders. By the way, Zyrtec helped, I must admit. The skin rash disappeared, but gastric upsets appeared, evidently as a side effect. Flonase, on the other hand, did not reduce nasal mucus or the sneezing I experienced. So I have become a “participant” in furthering the prosperity of the pharmaceutical industry. Now I must do a little planning to keep myself out of trouble and bring my body back into balance. First of all, I begin with a proper diet. I have found that a breakfast consisting of organic farmer’s cheese with organic sour cream and honey and lots of hot green tea works for me. You can make mouthwatering, tasty farmer’s cheese at home. You’ll never find the same in any store. It is so juicy that you don’t need to add sour cream. Try it with fresh raspberries for a delicious breakfast, accompanied with hot green tea with jasmine or a mix of Indian and Ceylon tea.

r 3. Make fine homemade farmer’s cheese. Pour two cartons (you decide how much you want to make) of organic buttermilk into a saucepan and bring to boil. When the whey appears on the surface of the buttermilk, remove from the stove and let it cool off. Then pour it into a large bowl lined with large cheesecloth (washed). Careful y gather the ends of the cheesecloth containing the buttermilk and tie it with a knot. Hang it on your kitchen faucet, al owing the whey to trickle down to the last drop. Your homemade cheese is