Anyone who was able to look forward to a good harvest in the herb and vegetable beds last summer can be very relaxed about the colds that are omnipresent at this time of year. With a supply of chamomile, thyme, ribwort plantain, etc., we have the perfect ingredients for natural and very effective medicines when your nose tingles or your throat area scratches. Going to the doctor can be skipped at least for minor illnesses and it is better to avoid antibiotics and their often criticized side effects anyway.
Before using synthetic antibiotics, you should responsibly check whether there are herbal alternatives for the disease, especially in children. Homemade cold medicine is therefore very trendy and can be made easily and with just a few ingredients. We would like to remind you of some of these home remedies.
Which cold medicine can I make myself?
Making your own cold medicine is easy and effective: onion pads or chamomile for earache, fever-reducing pulse wraps with arnica, linseed for inflamed mucous membranes and black radish to combat coughs are proven home remedies.
Chamomile and onions for earache
The well-known onion topping has proven itself over generations. To do this, squeeze pieces of peeled onion together in a tissue or kitchen paper until the juice comes out. Then briefly warm this packet to body temperature (an upturned cooking pot lid is sufficient) and carefully place one on the painful ear. A slightly thicker cloth is placed over it, which, secured with a headband, remains in place for at least 20 minutes. Instead of onions, dried chamomile flowers are also suitable for this self-therapy. They are placed in a cloth bag and heated to body temperature with steam from a cooking pot.
Fever-reducing pulse wraps with arnica
If the fever rises to 39° and you feel weak, the classic calf or pulse wraps have proven to be effective and are particularly effective for children. You will need two larger cloths that can be wrapped around your wrists or ankles at least three times. They are moistened with warm apple cider vinegar (in a ratio of 1 to 2), arnica essence (diluted to 1: 9) and/or 250 ml of juice from a squeezed lemon. The temperatures for adults/children should be 10 or 3 to 5 degrees below the current body temperature. The application time is between 10 and 20 minutes.
Flax seeds for inflamed mucous membranes
The moist heat applications with chamomile, as we have described for earaches, help as a pad on the painful areas of the face, as does a porridge made from linseed, which only takes a few minutes to prepare. You need:
- Flax seeds (if necessary from the pharmacy or a he alth food store);
- a pack of disposable tea filter bags;
- six to eight textile handkerchiefs;
First, mix 1 1/2 cups of flaxseed with two cups of boiling water. After cooling briefly, the resulting pulp is distributed into six to eight filter bags, which you then place individually in the tissues and fold into a sturdy package. If you have jaw or frontal sinus infections, distribute two of these previously warmed packs parallel to each other on the painful areas. This therapy can be repeated up to four times daily until the pain subsides.
Fight cough with black radish
The vitamin-rich black radish gets its distinctive, typical spiciness, which has a particularly expectorant and cough-relieving effect, from its sulfur-containing, medicinal mustard oils, which were already appreciated in ancient Egypt and long before our era. For first aid for coughs, first cut off the top cap of your radish, then hollow it out in a funnel shape and pierce a channel downwards with a knitting needle. Now the radish is placed on a glass and filled with bee honey so that the juice that comes out with the mustard oil can flow into the glass overnight. A teaspoon full, taken several times a day, will noticeably relieve the cough after just a few days.
