Home Remedies and Other Good Stuff

I'm a big fan of home remedies, and wish there was a massive compiliation of them to be found. Maybe someone will take that task on, if things go the way I believe they will, we'll all need them pretty soon.


A Navajo man I knew told me of a remedy his grandmother used on him when he was a youngster. His brother accidently slashed his leg with a machete, laying the flesh open. I'm not sure how much was childhood memory and fear, or how deep the wound actually was. Grandmother calmly walked outside, scraped a pine tree, gathered the pitch and put it in the wound. My friend healed up just fine, no infection, no problems.


Another friend who lives in the Dominican Republic asked me what he could do for his diabetic foot ulcer. He was loathe to go to the local doctors, and wouldn't be able to get to Florida for a few weeks. If there's one thing that scares me as a nurse, it's how fast a diabetic foot ulcer can go bad, and how quick doctors are to amputate. I'd never used it, but had just heard of an unusual dressing and told him about it. It's the pulp of an orange peel, the whitish part. Peel the orange, scrape away the fruit, use the pulp on a clean wound bed.


He did this, and when he finally got to his doctor in Florida, she said "We MUST amputate right away!" He said, "No, I just wanted you to see it, it's more than 60% improved, I'll be back next week and show you." He did, she was stunned, and he healed without any more problems.


We've used Aloe Vera meat to keep a wound moist, raw honey to debride wounds, and all sorts of fun stuff.

I've heard of powdered sugar used to heal wounds, the trick is getting in on in a thin, even layer (haven't tried that one yet, though.)


There are so many options, we don't always have to rush to the doctor for yet another pill ... the possibilities are endless, the trick is knowing when to use them, and when not to ... and most important, when you really need to go to a doctor.