General immunity: crushed ginger juice mixed with equal quantity honey, about a tablespoon every morning keeps the immune system strong and reduces the likelihood of catching colds
Phelgm (congestion in sinus, nose, chest) – lemongrass ginger chai, turmeric milk, kadha (Recipe – boil some cumin seeds, peppercorns, coriander seeds, ginger, and optionally tulsi, mulethi, cinnamon, and cloves in water until it reduces to half. Strain and consume. You may sweeten it with some rock sugar or jaggery. Honey mustn’t be added to hot liquids so avoid that. )
Lemongrass-ginger chai along with the homeo medicine justicia usually take care of colds and coughs very effectively.
Incessant dry coughing – Place amla supari under your tongue and just suck on it. This is tremendously helpful when there is excessive coughing at night, preventing a restful sleep.
Itching in throat/ throat infection – Keep a ball made with turmeric and coconut oil under your tongue and suck on it. This brings great relief.
Fever – ajwain boiled in water (Also remove drishti/ nazar, many fevers disappear immediately upon doing this)
Migraines – Make sure food quality and times are consistent, apple on an empty stomach
Bad breath – 4 oranges with pith on empty stomach for a week
Bruises/ swelling – drumstick leaves ground with salt in mortar pestle
Burns – apply honey on it immediately. The burning sensation often increases but this prevents the burn from blistering.
High BP – drumstick leaves soup (boil drumstick leaves in water until cooked, add salt and serve)
Diarrhea: black tea without sugar, sabja (holy basil) seeds soaked in water for 10 min
Excess heat in the body/ dehydration/ digestive trouble during weather change from winter to spring – 1 tbsp virgin coconut oil on empty stomach
Kidney problems – 4 drops gomutra ark in a glass of water first thing in the morning
Psoriasis – agnihotra ash mixed with ghee, applied and covered up with an old sock, overnight for a few weeks.
Excess body heat, i.e. weak digestion, breakouts, etc: Kokum juice, raw mangoes, curds, buttermilk
Thyroid Imabalances: Boil 2 tbsp of coriander seeds in 2 glasses of water for about 15-20 min. Strain, cool to body temperature, add honey and drink on empty stomach for a week.
Premature greying/ hair fall: Boil 10 curry leaves in a glass of water until it reduces to half, and drink warm on empty stomach every morning
Diabetes: Eat your weight in kilograms divided by 100 = grams of a variety of fruit for breakfast. Weight in kg divided by 200 grams of a variety of salads including leaves right before lunch. Do this for a week for a reduction in sugar levels.
Home Homeopathy Kit for minor problems
I share the following home remedies as a lay person who uses them for minor illnesses. The way we do it is we buy them in liquid form in 30C potency (so you would tell the shopkeeping to give you Nux Vomica 30, for instance) and put a couple of drops in a bottle of water, shake the bottle vigorously, and then take a couple of sips every hour or so. Do not take any medicine 30 min before or after food. Stop the medication immediately upon relief, do not continue taking the medicine. For anything serious, please do not self medicate, and check with a doctor instead.
Digestion
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- Nux Vomica: Nux vomica can be safely used to treat gastrointestinal diseases, a loss of appetite, depression, migranes and hangover. It is very useful if you have over eaten or eaten something wrong. Don’t take it right after or in combination with other medicines as this flushes your stomach and reduces the effectiveness of other medicines.
- Carbo Vegetablis: Carbo veg is useful with issues of excessive gas‚ indigestion‚ bloating‚ and belching. It calms the digestive system
- Arsenicum Album: This is the number one remedy for food poisoning. It also helps with hay fever involving burning, watery, runny nose with a stuffy, tickling feeling during allergy attacks, swelling below eyes, potential wheezy cough, feeling chilly, anxious and tired.
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Common Ailments
- Aconite: When taken at the onset of a cold, aconite can stop the virus from progressing further. It is also very useful in fever. Just mix a 2-3 drops or 10 pills in half a glass of water and take a spoon of this every hour and the fever comes down quite rapidly. Aconite can also be used for joint pain, gout, inflammations and to speed up the healing of wounds. Apart from the pill form, aconite can also be used as a cream.
- Kali Bichromicum: Helps very quickly with sinus infections and colds with thick yellow discharge.
- Ocimum: Useful for colds and allergic nasal discharge
- Justicia: Useful for common cold with cough, sneezing, tightness of chest, hoarse voice, constipation
- Belladonna: Severe throat infection and difficulty speaking
- Ferrum Phosphoricum: (6X) useful in anemia, pre-menstrual fatigue (Ferrumsip syrup is also very helpful in this)
- Calendula cream: Helpful with burns, cuts and insect bites
- Bach Flower Rescue Remedy: Useful in abating shock and sudden, intense emotions
- Oophorinum 3x, suck 2 pills thrice daily for 3_4 months to heal PCOD
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Pain, Injuries, Etc.
- Arnica: Best for bruising, accidents, injuries and shocks. It can also be used to treat arthritis and the pain that follows dental work and jet lag. Arnica can also be used to promote hair growth. Depending on its use, arnica can be used in the form of pills, cream or oils.
- Magnesia phosphoric: This is a must have for women. It can be used to treat any form of cramps including menstrual cramps. It can also be used to treat tiredness, headaches, nerve pain, insomnia and to help a person relax. Magnesia phosphoric is usually prescribed in the form of homeopathic pills.
- Ruta: Strains and sprains, stiffness and bruised soreness, or pulls that affect the ligaments or tendons, cartilage and bone injury.
- Rhus tox: Rhus tox is a common homeopathic remedy for muscle sprains and bruising. It is also beneficial for people suffering from back aches, arthritis, sciatica and body aches associated with the flu. Rhus tox is usually found in the form of homeopathic pills.
- Calcarea Phosphorica: (6X) Useful in times of rapid growth, like children and teenagers. Also useful when body may be deficient in calcium, like when there are joint pains on slight exertion or body pains due to cold.
Recipes
Get-Well-Soon Khichdi (Serves 3-4)
1 cup basmati rice
1 cup split mung dal
1 tsp crushed ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
A pinch of asafetida (hing)
4 cups water
1 tbsp ghee
Heat ghee in a pressure cooker, add cumin seeds, and add ginger, turmeric and hing, followed by washed rice and dal.
Add the water and pressure cook for 12 min on low flame after the first whistle. (or pressure-cook until the second whistle).
Open the pressure cooker after pressure is released, add water if a change in consistency is needed, and serve with ghee, curds, and/ or thinly sliced ginger fried in ghee. This is a deeply nourishing khichdi with spices meant to aid digestion, and helps in recovery from digestive problems as well as colds and flu.
If eating when not sick, you can add a variety of vegetables and more spices as well.
Note: If you are using another rice, just use 3 times the water you normally use.
Variation: You can pressure cook the rice and dal alone with some salt until cooked. Then heat ghee, add cumin, crushed peppercorns and cashews (skip cashews if ill). Pour over khichdi, mix and serve with ghee, raita or coconut chutney. This is the recipe for pongal served by Tamil Nadu street vendors.
Home made Hair Oil
500ml coconut oil
7-8 gooseberries
2 lemons
1 small onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
1/2 inch piece ginger
1 tbsp peppercorns
1 tbsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp kalonji seeds
6-10 inches fresh aloe vera with skin
Plenty of curry leaves and neem leaves
You may use all ingredients or skip a few if they are not available. Combine everything and boil until the items have released their essence. Strain and massage into hair 2-3 times a week.
Here’s a very nice list of foods to eat depending on your Ayurvedic dosha.