need a home remedy expectorant

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My household is full of sickness this week, and since none of the sick have medical insurance, if anyone has ideas about a home remedy expectorant, that would really help.

-- robert waldrop (rmwj@soonernet.com), October 14, 1999

Answers

Hi, Robert...sorry everyone is sick...try half a lemon mixed in with a tablespoon or so of honey...mix it all together and eat/drink it. My doctor recommended this to me once when I was pregnant and had a terrible cold and cough, and didn't want to take any over the counter drugs. I was amazed at how well it soothed my throat, while it loosened up all the phlegm. My herb chart also says that myrrh and hyssop are both good for phlegm, but I've never used them for that.

And remember, Vitamin C!!!

-- Margo (margos@bigisland.com), October 15, 1999.


Tincture of benzoin compound. Available from pharmacy. Boil water pour in 2 or 3 tsp. Create tent with towel over head. Position face over bowl/pan and gently blow into pot creating more steam. Inhale steam slowly and deeply. Works like magic even with severe asthma attacks. We have been using this for many years at our house. Benzoin is a specific for lung congestion.

-- Stephanie Masters (ajsd@gateway.net), October 15, 1999.

Please remove from heat source before adding benzoin to water.

-- Stephanie Masters (ajsd@gateway.net), October 15, 1999.

slippery elm is great for drying up excess mucus

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), October 15, 1999.

Chicken soup has been found to relieve congestion. Chicken bullion or chiken ramen does NOT have this effect. I think all of the kids I know have suffered from this ailment in the last two weeks.

-- helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), October 15, 1999.


A hospital pharmacist once told me that plain old H2O is the best expectorant...drink.drink,drink when you are ill and if you are coughing up alot of junk do not try to stop that cough as it is your body trying to get rid of infection. Hot tea and hot steamy showers work for me. With the cold and flu season coming on it is good to know that the one single best way to prevent getting sick is to WASH YOUR HANDS. As a nurse I have managed to go the last two years without even a cold....major feat with all those folks coughing and sneezing on you but I was constantly washing. If you are worried about chapped hands the best thing is to wash in cold water....it is not the hot water that kills the germs but the friction of scrubbing your hands together (old newborn nursery trick). And a whole other subject would be the over use of antibacterial soaps. Probably don't have to go as far as one gal at work who has a can of Lysol spray on her med cart and is always spraying door handles..you don't dare cough around her !!

-- mutti (windance@train.missouri.org), October 15, 1999.

For conjection in the chest I reccomend a mustard plaster. I will really loosen up the stuff. Put vasoline on the chest. Cover with a wet/hot very thin rag. Spoon on a mixture of TBSP of ground mustard powder and TBSP flour(made into a paste with water). You can't leave it on long, it makes the skin red, the person will tell you when to take it off. A friend of mine puts vicks vapo rub on her feet and puts on wool socks. She says this works for her.

-- palavia (mom@home.com), October 15, 1999.

Robert, you contribute so much to others that I do hope your family will all be well soon. I have asthma, which causes regular congestion. One of the MOST helpful and easiest thing to loosen up and bring up the phlegm or nasal congestion is simply HOT beverages or foods, even. Believe it or not...the books on asthma suggested this, and it works. Hot tea, coffee, soup, spagetti, stew, etc.

Second, hot peppers will also loosen and bring it out of your membranes so you can expectorate.

Goldenseal is also good.

Hope this helps! Blessings on you...

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), October 15, 1999.


They sell echinacea tea in the grocery stores now, we have found it helpful.

-- mommacarestx (harringtondesignX@earthlink.net), October 15, 1999.

Echinacea and Goldenseal are two dynamite rhinovirus killers, but they can only be taken for two or three weeks continuously before their effectiveness declines. I do a two-week-on-two-off cycle when I have a sinus infection and I'm good to go. Goldenseal is a good antibacterial-antiviral-immune stimulant but can wipe out the beneficial little critters too, thus the need to cycle its dose.

If you take the combo as a preventive measure, I'd only do a dose every other day for a week, and go two weeks without. The likelihood of you getting a cold while doing this drops by as much as 30%, and if you add the aforementioned hand washing habit to this your odds of missing the fun of having a cold or flu climb into the stratosphere.

If you can find it, Chinese Ephedra plant extract is probably the best natural decongestant, but it's also a pretty potent stimulant. (Ephedra extract is chemically similar to but stronger than the synthesized equivalent, pseudoephedrine.) Since Ephedra extract is the active ingredient in herbal drugs like Herbal Extacy and similar, it might be hard to find or outright banned in some locales.

As an aside, my knowing of this stems from my sinus problems, which were caused by a sinus embolism (blood clot lodged in a vessel and blocked it off) that wiped out the major blood supply vessel to three of the eight sinuses in my head. I'm sensitive to -all- fragrances and can detect one-milibar-per-hour pressure changes in the atmosphere from weather systems, etc. I get month-long sinus infections and migraine-level sinus headaches, and nearly -always- have a headache of some intesity brewing. You could say I've -had- to research the subject... ;-)

One of these days my sinuses will probably kill me, but until then I'm still kicking. ;-D

-- OddOne (mocklamer_1999@yahoo.com), October 15, 1999.



I sympathize. We have found it helpful to drink pure grapefruit juice (read fresh-home squeezed grapefruit juice) to clear sinus congestion. Peel the skin on the fruit, squeeze the fruit of it's juice, and boil the rind for 20 minutes. You may wish to heat the juice before drinking it to intensify the healing properties. Holding your head over the pot helps-use a cloth tent if desired. Then drink the strained liquid from the boiled rind (it is quinine in its orignal form). Add honey and brandy if desired/used. Hope you find this helpful and curative.

-- Big D (ddac82@yahoo.com), October 15, 1999.

I don't know where you live, but if you can find some mullein plants,chop up the leaves and make a tea from them. It don't taste good, but with a little honey it is bearable.

That's an old depression era remedy from my granny.

MFU

-- Man From Uncle 1999 (mfu1999@hotmail.com), October 16, 1999.


Marijuana can be a very effective expectorant.Not one recorded death associated with marijuana in all medical history.also good for migrains,stress,fever,nausea,menstural cramps,depression,and high blood pressure.The seeds have the most complete nutritional oils of any known plant.The plant is a sacred gift from god,use it with respect and humility.

-- medicine from god (hemp@is. medicine), October 16, 1999.

A remedy I learned from a horse trainer is to put boiling water over eucalyptus leaves in a bowl and put a towel over your head and the bowl to make a steam tent. It opens up the lungs wonderfully. A eucalyptus candle burning in a steamy bathroom is a reasonable substitute.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), October 16, 1999.

Okay -- chances are no-one will try it, but what I used over the course of thre winters to clear up a longstanding chest condition (walking pneumonia I believe it was, but it was never diagnosed as that) was ........... GREEN CHARTREUSE liquer, which is made in and imported from Le Grand Chartreuse (a Carthusian monastery) in Grenoble, France. Get it at yout Liquor store or have them order it for you -- its usually in the "cordials" section -- like by Midori melon liquer, etc. The stuff is made by the Carthusian monks, and the label claims a blend of 159 or more alpine herbs. If your into herbal remedies this maya be the BE-ALL AND END-ALL. The receipe is 300 years old (and why not?) and of course known only to a few monks, who so far haven;t spilled the secret. When I have a cold coming on or whn my astham kicks in -- as it is doing less and less -- I take a tiny bit of this -- usually about 1/2 -1/3 a shot, in a shot glass, then fill with water, and warm it (pre-Y2K, I nuke it for 15 seconds). This immediatly opens bronchials, and enables you to cough out the sputum pronto, and furthermore, tastes great, is relaxiong, soothing, and wholesome. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. A bit spendy however, at $20 per bottle.

-- Roch Steinbach (rochsteinbach@excite.com), October 16, 1999.


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