Ancient medical home remedies have been used for generations. Everyone has their mother’s or grandmother’s chicken soup recipe for cold care. Many of us have Grandpa’s recipe for cough syrup, the kind with a splash of his favorite whiskey!
As the cost of health care rises and fewer people have access to affordable health care, many people are turning to the tried and true methods of maintaining health through the use of such remedies. Medical home remedies can provide the benefits of saving money, improving health, and even offering a greener lifestyle.
Traditional and long-used remedies have proven themselves time and time again:
– Alternating hot and cold presses to relieve tight muscles vs. take painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs.
– Chicken soup and steam baths to reduce congestion and relieve cold symptoms vs. over-the-counter or prescription cold drops and cough syrups.
– Frequent fluids, natural herbs and spices to help treat and flush the system of bacterial infections vs. antibiotics
Some of the best sources for home remedies are members of your family. Past generations have used home remedies for all kinds of foods. Do you remember how your mother took care of you when you were a child? Think of the small and seemingly insignificant ways she treated you when you were sick. Your mom probably had some home remedies up her sleeve that you just forgot about. Talk to older generations of people, they are often the best source for home remedies. If you have a neighbor who is much older than you, call her and ask how she treated an infected wound “back in her day.” She probably didn’t go to the doctor and she spent a fortune on a clinic visit and then headed to the pharmacy to buy an overpriced prescription antibiotic cream. He may tell you to rinse the wound with clean water, apply some honey to the wound, and cover with a bandage. That’s how it is! Sweetie! The honey will emit a small amount of hydrogen peroxide into the wound to help clear the infection. You probably already have honey in your kitchen pantry, take advantage of it!
You can improve your health with these remedies, thus reducing the cost of medical care. Staying healthy with home remedies prevents you from getting seriously ill and requiring a visit to the doctor. Think of the money you could save if you could reduce hospital bills, clinic visits, prescription and over-the-counter drug costs, and even insurance copays. The less you need medical care and prescription drugs, the more you save!
Old medical home remedies also have far fewer side effects than prescription drugs. All prescription medications and over-the-counter medications have the potential for serious side effects. The reason for this is that these drugs are concentrated doses of very powerful chemicals. How these chemicals respond in an individual’s body is not always known. Even with the extensive testing and trials that drugs undergo before they are available on the market, they can still be dangerous. Simple home remedies rarely have fatal or serious side effects. How often do you hear about the debilitating side effects of using a cold press on a strained shoulder? Yet how often do you hear about the dangerous side effects of NSAIDs?
Medicines, both prescription and over-the-counter, can be very expensive. Some people spend more than a thousand dollars a month on prescription drugs, especially if those people don’t have insurance to help cover the costs. Even with insurance, copays for various medications add up very quickly, and insurance doesn’t always cover all prescriptions. Home remedies may not reduce the need for all medications, but they can certainly reduce the need for many.
Medical home remedies should never be used in an attempt to replace a truly necessary prescription drug. Always use your best judgment and never gamble with your life. We cannot always rely exclusively on home remedies to treat very serious conditions and some chronic conditions. But with a careful combination of these remedies and prescription medications, you can reduce your reliance on many medications. You may need antibiotics to fight a serious infection, but you may not need an antibiotic to treat a minor bronchial infection. You should talk to your doctor if you are considering replacing a prescription medication with a home remedy and discuss the risks and/or benefits of doing so. If you have a good doctor, you should talk to him and ask him for suggestions of home remedies. A good doctor will often suggest alternatives to medication if you show that you are interested.
If you use these remedies to improve your health and reduce your dependence on medicines and visits to the clinic, do you realize that this also has an impact on improving the environment? Home remedies have an indirect and positive impact on the earth and our environment. Using home remedies allows you to live a greener lifestyle.
Think of all the little plastic pill bottles you use, all the paper boxes and plastic over-the-counter containers, all the little foil packets that hold single-dose medications. Think about the energy needed to produce all of these items. You can recycle, of course. Recycling helps reduce waste. But what if you never bought these items to begin with? Every little contribution to our environment plays a huge role in the overall health of the earth. Keeping our environment healthy is the easiest home remedy to keep our body healthy!
Old medical home remedies are making a comeback and regaining popularity for a variety of reasons. Improving our health and that of our family members is one of our greatest challenges. Introducing home remedies into our health regimen is an easy and simple way to meet this challenge. Fight rising health care costs by taking control of your health. Reduce the risks of dangerous medication side effects and choose safer home remedies. Get back in touch with your grandmother! Now is the time to call her and discover all her secrets for a long and healthy life.