THE FAMILY BOOK OF HOME REMEDIES A Practical Guide to Common Ailments Safely Treated at Home using Conventional and Complementary Medicines . THE FAMILY BOOK OF HOME REMEDIES B oth conventional and complementary medicine have a valuable part to play in treating many of the ailments from which families suffer on a day-to-day or occasional basis. In some cases aspirin or antibiotics may effect a cure. In other cases it may be more effective to take a herbal or homeopathic remedy,- to change your eating habits in order to reap the benefits of good nutrition,- to de-stress yourself with yoga or aromatherapy,- or to employ acupressure, reflexology, or the Alexander Technique to stimulate the body's own healing mechanisms and improve its posture. The Family Book of Home Remedies offers a down-to-earth, practical guide to common ailments that you can safely treat at home using both conventional and complementary medicine. Consultant editor Michael van Straten contributes nutritional, acupressure, and exercise advice, as well as offering vital preventative tips, and leads a team comprised of a doctor in general practice, an aromatherapist, an herbalist, and a homeopath, supported by advisory therapists on the Alexander Technique, reflexology, and yoga. PART One, an A-Z Directory, comprises a cross-reference system to all the ailments covered in the book, listing the therapies to which they will respond and directing the reader to the relevant pages. PART Two, The Ailments, looks at the various complaints in detail (including children's illnesses), grouping them by body system, with a section on first aid for minor injuries. Each ailment is treated separately, with advice on conventional, herbal, homeopathic, aromatherapeutic, and nutritional therapies (including traditional "kitchen medicine," based on remedies that might be found in your corner store). In addition, there are exercise ideas and preventative advice, together with a section on Outside Help - other therapies that you might already be practicing with a teacher, such as acupressure, the Alexander Technique, reflexology, and yoga. PART Three, A Practical Home Pharmacy, shows you how to make all the basic herbal remedies,- includes diagrams of acupressure and reflexology points that are safe to use yourself,- gives a chart of the most comon medicinal drugs, listing their actions and any contraindications,- suggests the 20 most useful herbal, homeopathic, aromatherapeutic, and nutritional remedies,- and outlines the ideal home medicine chest: a practical combination of conventional and complementary remedies. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 https://archive.org/details/familybookofhomeOOOOunse THE FAMILY BOOK OF HOME REMEDIES THE FAMILY BOOK OF HOME REMEDIES A Practical Guide to Common Ailments Safely Treated at Home using Conventional and Complementary Medicines Consultant Editor.- MICHAEL VAN STRATEN Barnes KNoble BOOKS NEW YORK Contributors Dedication Consultant Editor: Michael van Straten This book is dedicated to two great English Dames who could not be more (Introductions, Acupressure, Exercise, Kitchen Medicine, different, although both have one enduring passion—the health of the nation. Nutrition, Preventative Measures) Dame Barbara Cartland, world famous for her romantic novels and pink frocks, is Alexander Technique: Katarina Diss one of the early pioneers of nutritional therapy and was talking about the Aromatherapy: Josie Drake dangers of food additives, pesticides, and insecticides long before most people Conventional Medicine: Naomi Craft had heard of them. She was also one of the earliest advocates of vitamin Herbal Remedies: Penelope Ody supplements and it was on this topic that I made my first radio broadcast Homeopathic Remedies: Fiona Dry together with Dame Barbara, who has remained a friend and a constant spur to Reflexology: Kristine Walker my work and research for 35 years. Yoga: Sarah Ryan Dame Kathleen Raven is not a household name, but she is the most important This edition published by Barnes & Noble lnc„ and influential nurse since Florence Nightingale and was born in the year she died by arrangement with —1910. She devoted her entire life to the care of others and to the training of nurses, not just in England but throughout the world. As a Sister at Bart's Hospital The Ivy Press Limited (St Bartholomew's), London, she served throughout the war years, sleeping on 1998 Barnes & Noble Books the floor and tending the casualties while the bombs rained down, In 1948 she was appointed Matron of that great hospital, the Leeds General Infirmary, and 10 Design copyright ©The Ivy Press Limited 1998 years later became the British Government's Chief Nursing Officer at the Introductions, acupressure, exercise, kitchen medicine, nutrition and preventative Ministry of Health. In "retirement" this remarkable woman helped establish measures text copyright © Michael van Straten 1998 hospitals throughout the UK and the Middle East, setting standards of nursing to All other text copyright ©The Ivy Press Limited 1998 which only she could aspire. Dame Kathleen has always understood the importance of a "hands-on" approach to patients, to which end she has now All rights reserved, Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, endowed a Chair of Practical Nursing. In common with every medical student no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a who passed through her wards—many going on to reach the peaks of eminence retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, —I have learned more about real medicine from my regular chats with "Matron" mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written during the past 20 years than it is possible to learn in a lecture room. permission of both the copyright holder and the publisher of this book. As I write this, Dame Barbara approaches her 98th birthday and Dame Kathleen The moral right of the author has been asserted. her 88th, I can only hope that these home remedies, which they both know so well, will enable me to be half as energetic when I get to their age. Knowing these ISBN 0-7607-1066-X two women and working with them has been a joy, a privilege, and an education. M 10 987654321 Michael van Straten Note from the Publisher The publishers wish to thank the following for the use of pictures: Information given in this book is not intended to be taken as a Heather Angel p. I 65t; Bruce Coleman pp.35t, 5 I b, 59t, 125t, 204b; Bridgeman Art replacement for medical advice. Any person with a condition Library 20 It; Garden Picture Library pp.29b, 43rt 49b, 58b, 68b, 71tl, 77bl, 851, 891, requiring medical attention should consult a qualified medical 93tl, I I It, 121 tl, I29t, 171, I73t, I80r 182n 207t; image bank pp,20b, 21 n 29t, 34b, practitioner or therapist. 52b, 60b, 701,79t, 801, 96b, I 12b, I 151, I 18b, 125b, I33t, 147b, 153b, 16 It, 177b, 185t; John Glover 198-9; NHPA pp.211, 331, 39c, 41 n 63, 74b, 83t, 86b, I 13b, I 16b, This book was conceived, designed and produced by I 19c, 132b, 137c, 164b, 175tl, 1791, 181, 183c, 185br 204t, 205t; Science Photo THE IVY PRESS LIMITED Library p. I 39tr; Wildlife Matters pp. 107c; Zefa 206. 2/3 St Andrews Place Lewes, East Sussex BN7 I UP Acknowledgments Without the help of lots of other people, this book would never have seen the Art Director: Terry Jeavons light of day. My thanks are due to my secretary Janet, to my ever-patient editor Designer: Ron Bryant-Funnell Mandy Greenfield and all her colleagues at the Ivy Press, and, above all, to my Editorial Director: Sophie Collins partner Sally, who has not only put up with lots of midnight-oil burning and very Commissioning Editor: Viv Croot little socializing, but also spent most of our Spanish holiday slaving over Managing Editor: Anne Townley her laptop computer Text Editor: Mandy Greenfield Michael van Straten Captions: Fiona Corbridge Picture Research: Liz Moore Abbreviations used in the book Photography Coordinator: Kay Macmullan BRAT diet Bananas, Rice, Apples, and (dry) Toast diet Studio Photography: Mike Hemsley, Walter Gardiner Photography; IU International Units Ian Parsons; Guy Ryecart mcg/pg Microgram Illustrations: jerry Fowler; Andrew Milne NSAIDs Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs TAT Tired All the Time syndrome Printed and bound in China DEFIANCE PUBUC LIBRARY DEC 0 3 898 Contents INTRODUCTION 6 Aromatherapy 206 The 20 most useful aromatherapeutic oils PART ONE: A-Z DIRECTORY 9 and the ailments they can help 207 Additional remedies 207 PART TWO: THE AILMENTS 19 Immune System 20 Nutrition 208 Nervous System 48 The 20 most useful healing foods and the ailments they can help 208 The Senses 64 Food combining (the Hay diet) 210 Bones and Muscles 96 The exclusion diet 211 Circulatory System 112 Respiratory System 120 Outside help 212 Digestive System I 34 Acupressure 212 Reproductive System I 64 The AlexanderTechnique 213 Excretory System 174 Reflexology 214 First Aid 180 Yoga 215 PART THREE: A PRACTICAL HOME PHARMACY I 93 Home medicine chest 216 Herbal remedies 194 Kitchen, conventional, herbal, and homeopathic remedies, Basic methods 194 and aromatherapy oils 21 6 List of herbs mentioned, with botanical names 196 L ^ The 20 most useful herbal remedies and the ailments they can help 198 Useful addresses 218 D Further reading 220 Kitchen medicine 200 Index 221 M < j Conventional medicine 202 b / The 20 most useful conventional-medicine remedies and the ailments they can help 202 £ Doses for adults, children, and pregnant women 203 g % Symptoms that require urgent medical attention 203 i y* Homeopathy 204 The 20 most useful homeopathic remedies ) and the ailments they can help 205 v o h ^ 0 Introduction T here is nothing new about home remedies. headaches to a mustard poultice for backache, from Since the time of man's most primitive lavender for insomnia to dandelions for cystitis, there homes—in caves and mud huts, the tree- are answers for dozens of everyday health problems. houses of the tropical rainforest and the igloos of the What is more, these are gentle answers, to which more frozen wastes, the farmer's cottage and the native and more people are turning in order to avoid North American wigwam, the monastery and the unnecessary medication with powerful drugs—many medieval castle—people have used home remedies to now available "over the counter"—and endless treat their everyday ailments. prescriptions for sleeping pills, tranquillizers, Home remedies have been passed down from painkillers, and antibiotics. generation to generation—in the Western world, Many "alternative practitioners" talk about the good usually from mother to daughter—and, until quite old days before we had a pharmaceutical industry, recently, featured strongly in every cookbook, in but this is simply living in fantasy land. All treatments which there was always a section on food for people and medicines must be viewed in the light of both who are ill. In fact, it was not so long ago that nurses risk and benefit, and it is doubtless true that the had to take an examination in the preparation of majority of natural therapies represent minimal risk appropriate healing foods for their patients. and valuable benefit. However, th e advances of For the first time, this book brings together the modern medicine and surgery, together with the life¬ ancient wisdoms of herbal medicine, traditional saving benefits of sophisticated pharmaceuticals, Chinese acupressure, the more modern applications of cannot be dismissed. homeopathy, the expertise of conventional medicine, Though many of the home remedies in this book the gentle effectiveness of aromatherapy, and the age- are an alternative to other treatments, there is really old practices of kitchen medicine. The information no such thing as "alternative medicine"—only good you will find in these pages tells you not only how to and bad medicine. In serious illness the patient is best deal with minor health problems that affect every served by a combination of the most suitable therapies family, but also how to utilize home remedies to for their particular problem, and this is why I always hasten the healing of more serious illnesses and relieve use the term "complementary medicine." When some of the discomforts of complex diseases. physicians and other practitioners work together, and From homeopathic pilules for sinusitis to cabbage their treatments are complementary to each other, the poultices for arthritic knees, from acupressure for patient reaps the greatest benefit.