It just occurred to me this morning that I save so much money by avoiding most over-the-counter medications and by making my own. A sick friend asked me to go to the drugstore to buy some cold/flu remedies for her kids. A bag full of practically useless powders, syrups and chewable tablets set me back almost forty bucks, so I thought I’d share a few of my homemade remedies, most of which are far more effective than anything that I’ve every found in the store:
1 NASAL SPRAY: Instead of a nasal spray for stuffy/blocked noses, I recommend one of two things: Either a netti pot filled with warm water and 1/4 tsp of sea salt, or a steamy inhalation. I use the netti pot, which I love, but my little girl prefers an inhalation. I place 3 drops of pure Eucalyptus essential oil into a large stainless bowl. I boil a tea kettle of water. Have a medium towel ready. As soon as I pour about 3 inches of boiling water into the bowl, I cover it with the towel. I then sit Lola at the kitchen table and instruct her to poke her head through an opening in the towel and breathe deeply for at least 10 breaths – it magically opens up the nasal passageways.
2.THROAT SPRAY: Most of the throat sprays you can buy for a sore throat contain chemicals, dyes 
and have a mild and very temporary numbing action. Many prestigious doctors have affirmed that the best way to treat a sore throat is to gargle a little sea salt in half a glass of lukewarm water.
3. EAR WAX REMOVAL: There are many over-the-counter ear wax removal medications, but honestly the best way to remove it is to dissolve it with hydrogen peroxide. Buy food grade hydrogen peroxide from the drugstore and ask for a medicine dropper (free from pharmacy). Turn your head to one side and drop in 3 drops. Keep your head tilted over to the side you can hear the fizzing subside. Repeat on the other side.
4. LAXATIVE: A super-effective laxative is Epsom Salts. Add 1-2 tsp of the salts to an 8oz glass of water. Add a squirt of lemon juice and slug it down. It tastes pretty unpleasant, but have a spoon of honey to hand and you’ll be fine. Be near a toilet within the next hour!
5.HEMORRHOIDS: This can be a terribly painful and embarrassing problem, which for the most part is incurable, even with
surgery. They come and go but rarely disappear completely. The only remedy I’ve ever found to work, especially after childbirth, was a clove of garlic. Nope – you don’t eat it either! Yes – it goes in the other end I’m afraid. Just coat a small garlic clove with a little olive or sweet almond oil and dispense – you’ll mercifully not have to see it or deal with it again! Garlic shrinks the swollen and inflamed tissue as no other remedy can.
So there you have it, 5 wonderful, natural and totally inexpensive alternatives to coming home with a plastic bag full of costly and often ineffective medications. Give them a try and they’ll be no looking back.
The problem is that the pharmacies i go to do NOT sell “food grade” hydrogen peroxide…. only the kind that includes a carcinogen known as “Phenacetin” (although in such a small amount they don’t list in the label ingredients): http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/h4070.htm More about phenacetin can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenacetin
Oh… oh gosh. I appreciate this site a smidge more every time I visit.
Gotta love Sophisaurus.
^o^
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Hi, I remember my family doctor telling us to gargle with warm salt water for a sore throat as a child. I still do it today and tell my kids the same. Old time remedies work the best.
The problem with peroxide is it will not evaporate. You need to take a q-tip dipped in filtered water and stick it in your ear. Don’t forget to stick the dry end of it in your ear to remove the water. Leaving peroxide in your cuts, ear, or mouth (if used to wash your mouth out) can actually cause your skin to be eaten away. A paramedic and a doctor both told me that after you use peroxide to rinse the wound or if used as a mouthwash to rinse with water. I prefer filtered water over tap water as you do not know what is coming out of your tap.
Thanks for the remedies! LOVE IT! I’m trying to get into more homeopathic remedies