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

r 29. Boil one tablespoon red elderberries in one cup water for 15

minutes. Steep for 20 minutes. Filter and take twice a day. r 30. Make a nastoyka (infusion) from the passionflower (Passiflora incarnata). Place one tablespoon of crushed, dried leaves of Passionflower in a mug and add one cup of boiling water. Steep for 10 minutes, strain and drink ½ mug before going to bed. Do not drive or operate machinery, because the nastoyka acts as a sedative. The fresh or dried whole plant is used effectively as an herbal medicine to treat anxiety and insomnia.

r 31. Dice two teaspoons motherwort herb ( Leonurus cardiaca) and add one cup boiled or spring water. Steep for eight hours. Use it al within one day.

r 32. Dice two tablespoons motherwort herb and add 2½ cups boiling water. Steep for two hours. Drink ½ cup four times a day before meals. It is a good calming and sedative natural medicine. r 33. Blend one teaspoon peppermint, one teaspoon motherwort, one teaspoon valerian root, and two teaspoons hops. Place one tablespoon of herbal mixture in an enamel cup. Add one cup of boiling water. Place this cup in a pot with boiling water for 15 minutes for a steaming water bath. Cool and filter. Take ½ cup two times a day for insomnia, irritation, and nervous excitement.

r 34. Place two tablespoons lemon balm in two cups boiling water. Steep until cooled. Take al during the day in equal portions. It acts as a calming sedative.

r 35. Mix one teaspoon strobiles (dried female flowers in leafy cone-like catkins) of hops and one teaspoon chopped valerian root. Add one tablespoon of the mixture to one cup boiling water. Let it steep for 15 minutes. Take ½ cup only before bedtime for insomnia.

Sleeping Beauty @ 163

r 36. Mix five teaspoons thyme, four teaspoons wild marjoram, five teaspoons motherwort, four teaspoons valerian root, and one teaspoon yel ow sweet clover/sweet Lucerne (Melilotus officinalis). Add two tablespoons of the mixture to one pint boiling water. Steep for two hours. Drink ½ cup three times daily before a meal as a calming remedy.

r 37. Mix three tablespoons each motherwort and valerian root and two tablespoons lemon balm. Add one tablespoon of the

mixture to 1½ cups boiling water. Steep for two hours. Filter and drink ½ cup three times daily before a meal. It is helpful for insomnia, neurosis, and erratic heartbeat as a calming and sedating substance.

r 38. Chop smal and mix one tablespoon each of lemon balm, motherwort, strobiles of hops, valerian root, wild marjoram, peppermint, young leafy twigs of mistletoe Caution:

( Viscum album). Put one tablespoon of

the mixture in a cup and add 1 cup boilNever use mistletoe ing water. Steep for 30 minutes. Filter

berries, which are toxic.

and drink ½ cup twice a day, in the

Avoid using mistletoe

morning and in the evening, 30 minutes

leaves during pregnancy.

before a meal.

r 39. Mix one tablespoon each of strobiles of hops, rosemary, peppermint, St. John’s Wort, lemon balm, and valerian root. To two tablespoons of this mixture add one cup boiling water. Steep 20

minutes, filter, and take smal sips during the day. Do not drive or operate machinery. This is very effective for insomnia. r 40. Mix one tablespoon each chamomile flowers and European buckthorn bark ( Rhamnus frangula). To one tablespoon of the mixture, add one cup boiling water. Steep 15 minutes and drink one to two tablespoons before bedtime.

164 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

r 41. Add one tablespoon dil seeds to one cup boiling water. Steep for two hours. Filter and drink ½ cup three times a day 30 minutes before a meal for insomnia accompanied by stomach convulsions or colic. r 42. Put one tablespoon of crushed valerian root in a large glass jar. Add 2½ cups boiling water and steep for two hours. Then filter and drink ½ cup in the morning 30 minutes before a meal. Drink the evening dose with the addition of one teaspoon of honey before bedtime. This is particularly helpful in treating migraine, insomnia, neurosis, irregular heartbeat, and menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes. r 43. Mix two tablespoons fennel seeds, three tablespoons peppermint, four tablespoons valerian Caution:

root, one tablespoon chamomile

flowers, and one tablespoon lily of

Use a heart tonic

the val ey/May lily ( Conval aria

and diuretic lily of the

majalis) flowers or leaves. Steep one

teaspoon of the mixture in one cup

valley only under the

cooled boiled water for three hours.

guidance of a qualified

Boil again for three minutes, filter, and

practitioner.

cool. Drink several times a day in equal

portions. It is an excel ent natural medicine for insomnia and irregular heartbeat.

r 44. Mix together one tablespoon wild

Caution:

marjoram, one tablespoon peppermint, one teaspoon valerian root, Avoid using rue during

one teaspoon hops, and one teapregnancy. It is a good spoon rue herb (Ruta graveolens).

circulatory tonic and

To one tablespoon of the mixture,

antispasmodic, but it

add one cup spring water. Steep 40

promotes menstrual

minutes in a warm place. Then filter

flow and lowers

and drink one tablespoon three