Tag: onion pack remedy for pleurisy

Onions Help Sleep May Prevent Asthma Cancer Stroke Heart Attack

Natural Remedies

The healing compounds in the humble onion are truly remarkable. Onions are rich in Vitamin C, Selenium, and other phytochemicals which are thought to prevent cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other maladies. They also do much to help prevent asthma attacks.

The oil of the onion is strongly antiseptic, and also has a soporific quality which will be welcome news to the insomniac. Eating onions in the evening will not just do much to benefit your immunity, they can help give you a sound night’s sleep.

Note:  Habitual lack of sleep leads to poor memory function, poor decision-making, and poorer health in the long run.  Sleeplessness is usually due to anxiety, but it can be that the thyroid gland is not functioning properly.  Extra iodine can help to remedy an overactive thyroid, as well as an underactive thyroid. (see Dr Caroline Shreeve, who recommends using kelp to up your iodine and other minerals)

Get a checkup from your doctor or naturopath to make sure there is no serious underlying cause to your sleeplessness.

A medical book from the early 20th century recommends the eating of raw onions to encourage sleep, and quotes a Frank Buckland, who said: ‘Everybody knows the taste of onions; this is due to a peculiar essential oil contained in this valuable and healthy root.  The oil has, I am sure, highly soporific powers.  In my own case, it never fails.  If I am much pressed with work and feel I shall not sleep, I eat two or three onions and the effect is magical.’

(From The Doctor At Home and Nurses Guide’, published in London and Melbourne by Ward, Lock and Co Limited.  No date, but the book is very old, from early 1900’s.  Some drugs recommended in this book, such as mercurial salves, would be quite toxic, and we would avoid them at all cost. However, the book  makes interesting reading and does discuss some commonsense home remedies such as this onion remedy, which can only do you good)

I find that eating an onion sauteed in butter or oil also enhances sleep, if it is taken in the evening. Even half a raw onion, chopped finely and added to crackers and cheese for supper at night, can be  helpful towards attaining sound sleep.

This old book also advises that ‘tea and coffee taken during the day are particularly prejudicial in the interests of sleep.’  We all know this, but how eloquently put…..

I would try an inhalation of onion:  Cut up half an onion and pour over boiling water.  Inhale the steam with a towel over your head.  This can be used as a therapy for many ills, including sleeplessness, flu symptoms, onset of asthma or bronchitis. Be careful not to get too close to the steam, or to burn yourself.

Other helpful hints in the interests of quality sleep, from various sources:

Homeopathic Remedies: The biochemic cell salt Kali phos (potassium phosphate) can help.  A lack of this mineral in the blood can cause sleeplessness. Constance Mellor advises the dose of two pilules before each meal, dissolved on the tongue, and four pilules to be taken just before bed.

Ms Mellor also suggests having a warm bath or shower at bedtime, but not drying oneself completely.  Instead, wrap up in a warm clean sheet to absorb the moisture, and presumably, go to bed with the wrap still on.  This is a similar remedy found in other writings, where a damp wrap is left on at bedtime:  The effect is to bring an increase in temperature, which can be very useful for sweating out the beginnings of a cold or flu.

Suggested Remedies for Sleeplessness Before Midnight:  Depending on the other symptoms, one of these could be helpful:  Ambra, Arsen alb, Calcarea, Calc phos, CCarbo veg, Coffea, Conium, Kali carb, Lycopodium, Magnesia mur, Mercurius, Nat mur, Phosphorous, Pulsatilla, Rhus tox, Sepia, Silicea, Sulphur. (see Dr Andrew Lockie)

Suggested Remedies for Sleeplessness After Midnight: Arsen alb, Capsicum, Coffea, Hepar sulph, Kali carb, Nux vomica, Phosphoric ac., Silicea.

Onion Pack: The onion pack for pleurisy is worth remebering.  This involves cutting an onion, skin and all, covering with water, and simmering for ten minutes or so.  Soak a flannel or piece of cotton material in the onion water.  Wring out, and apply hot to the chest.  Wrap up the pack well to keep the heat in.  A woolen blanket around the chest works well. Cover up in bed and keep the pack on for several hours if possible.  After several hours, the onion water can be heated up again, and a fresh pack made to put onto the chest.  This treatment should work well to bring about peaceful sleep, as the essential oils from the onion will be absorbed into the skin.

Keeping the feet warm is important for sleeping well.  A hot water bottle in cold weather, and woolen socks, are good recommendations.

Putting a sprig of rosemary, lemon balm, or lavender under the pillow can also be helpful in gaining restful sleep. Dried hops sewn into a wee sachet also work as a soporific.

Cider Vinegar Socks And Onion Pack For Coughs Fever And Flu

Natural Remedies For Fever And Coughs

Apple Cider Vinegar Socks Applied to the Feet To Reduce Fever

Of course you should see your doctor or natural health practitioner in the case of a fever, especially with a child.  But here is a simple remedy you can try in conjunction with their advice.

The idea of  reducing a fever by soaking socks with cider vinegar is taken from International Masters Publishers ‘Nature’s Medicine Chest’ – sorry, no date on this publication here.

I have not personally tried this remedy, but it sounds like a good one to me.  ‘Nature’s Medicine Chest’ say that it works well for children who have a fever.

Note: I think that the onion water idea, which I have outlined below, could also be used as a treatment for fever by applying to the feet.

Mineral And Vitamin Content Of  Apples:  Apples are a wonderful food.  They are rich in phtytochemicals which help prevent cancer and other diseases.  They are high in potassium and pectin, both of which help heart function and keep the immune system strong.

Apples also contain reasonable amounts of magnesium, calcium and sodium, phosphorous, choline, and Vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, C, E.

Apple cider vinegar contains all of the apple’s therapeutic value.  Cider vinegar is strongly anti-bacterial and has a cleansing and tonic effect on the whole body.  Drinking small amounts of diluted apple cider vinegar on a daily basis can help prevent candida overgrowth in the intestines.

Apple Cider Vinegar Sock Treatment:  The cleansing quality of the vinegar, plus the  inherent nutrients which are absorbed through the soles of the feet, aid the healing process and somehow help to bring a fever down.

It could be a very good remedy to use in conjunction with other therapies, such as homeopathy, for bringing down the fever which accompanies measles, mumps, or chicken pox.

With this method for bringing down a fever, all you do is to soak a pair of cotton socks in a cold solution made with equal quantities of apple cider vinegar and water.

My advice is to make sure you use pure cotton socks, and preferably white ones which will not contain dye.  Synthetic or nylon socks should not be used for this treatment, as the cider vinegar will draw out chemicals from the fabric.  Use white cotton socks.

Dip the socks into the cider vinegar solution, wring out, and put the wet socks onto the patient.  Reserve the apple cider vinegar solution so that you can repeat the process every half hour or as necessary.

Onion Pack On The Chest For Obstinate Coughs Or Pleurisy

In the past, I have used boiled onion water for the treatment for bronchitis and pleurisy.  All you need is a couple of litres of water and a large onion, which you chop and boil up until soft, skin and all.

This treatment. although a bit of an effort to perform, has been a life-saver for myself.  A large cloth or towel is soaked with the onion water, wrung out, and wrapped, while still hot, around the chest and back.  With this treatment, you leave the onion cloth on for several hours.  Wrap a plastic around so the bed-clothes don’t get damp, and then a layer or two of blanket to keep the heat and moisture in.

It is a good idea to drink plenty of hot lemon drinks, or simply hot water, while you sweat it out with the onion pack on.  Try to drink several pints over two or three hours.

This remedy has proved to be effective when nothing else seemed to work.  It broke the cough and reduced the fever after an hour or two.

I think that apple cider vinegar, diluted half and half with water, could be just as effective as the onion water remedy for putting on the chest when fever and cough are present.  But onions are cheap, and cider vinegar is not, unless you make it yourself.  So, seeing you need to have a quantity of liquid for the soaking of the towel, I would stick to the onion remedy for the treatment of choughs with the wet chest wrap.

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Natural Herbal Remedies For Pleurisy Of The Lungs

Pleurisy is a lung condition where the mucous membranes covering the lungs become severely inflamed.  This causes pain in breathing.  You must see a health practitioner if you have sore lungs for any reason. It is important to rest and keep warm when recovering from pleurisy. 

Bed rest, hot lemon drinks,  and a hot water bottle are the best treatments for treating lung infections of any kind.  And don’t forget the Vitamin C – for an adult, use calcium ascorbate 1000mg every two hours for up to 3 or 4 doses in a day.  Use this dose for two days, then cut back the dose to just one or two doses of 1000mg per day.

Here are some herbal remedies to help treat pleurisy of the lungs.  Several of these remedies have been used by herbal practitioners of old.  I have also mentioned some of my own remedies:  Often, it is a case of what is available to you, when deciding what remedy to use for an illness.

I grew Hollyhocks, and let the garden have a wee corner where the honeysuckle  and other wild flowers and medicinal weeds could grow.  There was always something to use from the garden, in the event of an illness.

Hollyhock and honeysuckle flower tea proved efficacious several times, when I did not have homeopathic remedies on hand.  And other favourites – read below about Homeopathic Arsen Alb and Bryonia for helping pleurisy of the lungs.

The book ‘Successful Herbal Remedies’ by Nalda Gosling, published by Thorsons Publishers Limited, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England, 1985, gives two recipes for the treatment of pleurisy which are worth noting.  These both use pleurisy root.

Pleurisy Root,  Asclepias tuberosa.  This remedy can be used for bronchitis, pneumonia, and to treat the flu.  It reduces pain  in the chest, and eases breathing.  Pleurisy root is probably one of the most common herbs for treating inflammation of the lungs – hence its name.   Nalda says that the American Indians used pleurisy root simmered for 10 minutes for treating pleurisy.

Pleurisy root can also  be combined with hyssop, marshmallow root and liquorice root, used in equal quantities.  The method is to take 2 oz or 50 g of mixed herbs and simmer in 1 litre of water for 10 minutes. Allow the infusion to cool.

The dose is a wineglassful taken hot every two hours.  This remedy works best if no food is taken for a day or two, until the pleurisy has subsided.  This remedy promotes sweating, which is helpful in curing pleurisy.

Her second remedy is one which is recommended by Dr Schramm for the treatment of inflammation of the lung.  It uses pleurisy root again, with the addition of marshmallow root, liquorice root and slippery elm bark.    50g are taken of each of these herbs, and simmered in 3 pints of water, which is around  8 cups of water.  This mixture is simmered gently until it has halved in quantity.  Then half a teaspoonful is taken every half hour.  No food is to be taken with this treatment, until the patient is better and the pain gone from the chest.  Again, it is important to rest and to  keep warm in bed.  I would use hot a  lemon drink every hour as well, taken separately to the half teaspoon of herbal mixture.

Russell Setright, an Australian naturopath who wrote ‘Get Well:  An A-Z of Natural Medicine for Everyday Illness’,  published by Atrand Pty Ltd, Crows Nest, NSW, Australia, 1990, says that Pleurisy root is effective when combined with Capsicum, Grindellia, and Lobelia for treating any congestion of the lungs, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, and flu.

Honeysuckle Flowers and Hollyhock: My own concoction: I have used this remedy to cure pleurisy in the past, and to treat coughs of all kinds in myself and my children. This also will promote sweating.

Pour three cups of boiling water over half a cup of honeysuckle flowers, and half a cup of hollyhock flowers. Allow the mixture to sit until cool. Add the juice of two lemons and some honey – enough to make the tea palatable.  Take a warm cupful every hour for up to five hours.

Add some cod-liver oil capsules and a strong dose of Vitamin C to help this treatment along.

Comfrey Tea can also be used to treat chest troubles.  I would add some Hollyhock and/or Honeysuckle flowers to the tea, to help dry up the fluid in the lungs.

I found homeopathic Bryonia to be useful in treating lung conditions of various kinds, and, if I had this remedy, I would use it in combination with the honeysuckle and hollyhock treatment.

Another favourite chest remedy is Homeopathic Arsen Alb., 30c.  I keep this one on hand these days, at all times, and I take it with me if I am travelling.  It has come to the rescue of other fellow travellers who were sick with chest troubles.  It can be used for pleurisy, and for treating and preventing flu.

Homeopathic Drosera is a great remedy to have available for young children.  It is well-known as a whooping-cough remedy, and I have found it to be always effective in this instance.  It can also be used as a pleurisy remedy.

Wet Onion Pack Remedy For Pleurisy

This is the most effective lung and chest treatment of all, in my opinion.  I have used this remedy for my own pneumonia, as well as for pleurisy.  This is a marvellous remedy for creating a sweat, to get rid of the  poisons causing the pleurisy.  I do advise you to see a medical practitioner if you or your children have chest problems.  But for me, I found that antibiotics did not do much towards helping to cure these conditions, and I was loathe to take them anyway.  This prompted me to investigate herbal remedies, and homeopathic treatment.  This is one very old remedy for inflammation of the lungs.

Chop up two large onions, skin and all, and boil  in 2 litres of water for ten minutes.  Allow the mixture to cool  sufficiently so that it will not burn you.  Put some rubber gloves on.  Take an old towel which is big enough to wrap around the whole chest.  Dip it into the cooled, but still hot, onion broth.  Wring the towel out as quickly as possible and wrap it right around the chest.  Quickly cover up with a plastic sheet, and then an old blanket.  Wrap everything quickly and firmly around the chest so that the heat stays in.  Now – drink a cup of  hot lemon drink, or hot  ginger, or herbal tea, and cover yourself up in bed from neck to toe with plenty of blankets and a hot water bottle, to sweat it out.  Leave the onion pack on the chest for up to an hour.  Surprisingly, the onion pack does not cause you to get cold, but, instead, to heat up and  sweat away the pleurisy condition.

You can repeat the process a couple of hours later, using the same onion broth from the first treatment.  Generally, though, I found that one treatment of the onion pack was enough to effect a cure.

Again, you can use homeopathic Bryonia with this onion pack remedy. Take  5 Drops of homeopathic  Bryonia 30C  twice a day for two or three days.