Get your pots and pans ready because it´s time to make some home remedies. Not home remedies based on superstitions or hearsay, but effective remedies using methods which have been scientifically proven to have healing effects. 

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One suggestion from Professor Abdülkerim Alpýnar is to rely on anise and fennel for problems involving the digestive system. If digestive problems are rooted in imbalances in the nervous system or with anger, he recommends herbs such as chamomile or lemon balm. But how are these herbs meant to be ingested? This is where the real secret lies. For herbs like chamomile or linden, only the flower should be used. Take 3 grams of dried chamomile and pour one cup of boiling water over this. After letting it sit and steep for a while, the hot water should be strained. This tea can be sweetened with honey. If you drink three cups of chamomile tea made this way each day, you will no doubt find that it really helps a digestive system frayed by nerves and stress. 

More: http://www.sundayszaman.com/sunday/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=158199

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Rely on anise? That´s good news for raký lovers....

I love this thread Trudy

Herbal remedies are very effective.  I think some people forget that most of our medicines and illegal drugs are "herbal" derived.

Living in the country, using herbal remedies is such a natural part of life that we don´t even realise we do it!  Things like using dock leaves for stings (amazingly they can always be found growing close to stinging nettles, as if they are "on hand" for emergencies), parsley and mint for digestion, chamomile tea to help sleep and most importantly, we always take echinacea in the winter for the immune system (it is VERY effective).  Another example, St. John´s Wort, is such a powerful anti-despressant, that you need to inform hospitals/doctors that you are taking it as it can affect other medicines. 

We also use them for beauty products, when I was younger my sister and I would boil up chamomile flowers and put the foul smelling "soup" in our hair for an hour - it makes your blonde hair brighter, but smells like cat´s pee !!!!!

And....the best hangover cure ever - a cup of Peppermint tea (made with fresh peppermint leaves, NOT the ones you buy 

Be careful though.... Not everything ´natural´ or herbal is innocent! Digitalis is herbal as well but it can cause heart problems as a teacher once told me!

 Well, it can cause heart problems if you take it wrongly, but digitalis is the main ingredient for a drug called Digitoxin which is VERY effective in treating heart conditions like heart failure.

You are right that herbal potions can be potent!!  I am sure some people think that things are more effective when they are in nice packaging and bought in a shop, when in fact often they are weaker and less effective.

I know that Chamomile shampoos are no way near as effective as our "cat pee" smelling soup on blonde hair

Would be interested to know any traditional Turkish remedies ...

 I should try. I have to say that some camomile shampoos do help, but the products from John Frieda for blonde hair

Camomile or valerian as calming methods to sleep do not work for me though. I´ve been having chronicle sleeping problems for as long as I can remember, but it never worked

And echinacea, I remember as a kid my mom used to give it when I had a wound in my mouth (I don´t knowwhat it is called, you get it when you dont eat enough vitamins in winter for example). I remember the stinging pain that was actually kind of nice Now I just take a few droplets of it and it indeed seems to work!

 Dont use chamomile if you have any dye or bleach (it makes it a bit yellow), but if it is natural blonde then it is great (just so long as you dont mind smelling of cat pee for the rest of the day )

 Ehm.. I had my hair treated with ´water peroxide´ (again I dont know the english word ) about 4 months ago and most of it seems gone especially since I cut more than 20 cms of my hair 2 weeks ago. I don´t want to get it bleached that way again for at least a couple of months, because I have rather sensitive hair and though it didn´t die or become dry like people predicted it to be, I am afraid it will be if I do it too often. ýt will actually burn away till nothing is left So thought I should give this a try for keeping the summer in my hair. No I don´t really mind, maybe the people around me in the weekend will

I love this thread!

I have found sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda more commonly in the US)  one of the best all around home remedies for a host of things. Instead of using a commercial antacid, a little baking soda in water works as well in most but the most dire cases. Vinegar also works well as an antacid and can be used to treat a host of other issues.

For tired or itchy eyes, a little tea works well.

I always keep some goldenseal as an antimocrobal, and myrrh around. For lung infections, myrrh can be burned as an inscense and inhaled.I even travel with them for emegencies.

I also travel with ginger  and cayenne for digestive "issues".

Anyway....this is a start.

Can anyone help my feeling crappy, stiff neck, headaches, off my food, tired and quite grumpy................................

 Have you been talking to Bydand?

He always makes me feel like that....

 Awwwww!  No he is like a nice hot cup of lemon and honey with emphasis on the honey

or ´nane limon´. Even worse!

Ah tea with lemon! Wonderful. When I was in hospital I couldn´t stand tea with milk so one day I ordered pancakes with lemon for dinner. And immediately put lemon into my tea. POETRY of taste

As for home remedies, my mum used to make warm milk with pressed clove of garlic and honey when we had a cold. Works wonders (the smell is far from perfect though)

 Not the taste?

  messy...very messy! 

Someone mentioned baking soda and vinegar as antacids - they also work very well when you put them together as a cleaning solution (just be careful because they react quite violently).  I use that mixture to clean places like sinks and toilets because I don´t want to pour some chemicals into the drain.

Also, putting a bit of coffee grains under your eyes will help get rid of puffyness (the caffeine).

When your skin needs it, you can add a bit of sugar to your regular face wash for exfoliating.

A mixture of cinnamon and lemon juice helps to clear up acne scarring when used daily.

Chamomile tea, cat´s pee???? Aenigma...I don´t know where you are getting your chamomile, but the one I have smells more like apple. It´s one of the most beneficial herbs around. I keep some dry and growing for emergencies. It´s one of the "don´t be without" herbs in my book.

It has so many uses it would be hard to detail them here.....but:

Chamomile

Chamomile flowers are used in alternative medicine as an anodyne, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, nervine, stomachic, tonic, vasodilatory. The anti-inflammatory properties make it good for rheumatism, arthritis, and other painful swellings. Additional uses in herbal medicine include an antispasmodic for intestinal and menstrual cramps, relieving gas pains, and a very mild but efficient laxative. Milder tea in large doses is given throughout the day for fevers, sore throats, the aches and pains due to colds, flu, and allergies.

External Use

 An infusion of Chamomile flowers is used as a hair shampoo, especially for fair hair. The flowers are sometimes added to cosmetics as an anti-allergenic agent or made into a salve for use on hemorrhoids and wounds. The dried herb is made into potpourri and herb pillows, and is burned for aromatherapy. Applied externally as a wash or compress for skin inflammations, sunburn, burns, and added to bath for relaxing tired, achy muscles and feet, and softening the skin.

Thank you for that information. I´ve never heard of some of these. Have you tried them?

One of the best face masques I´ve ever found is oatmeal and yogurt. You grind the oats in a grinder ( I use a coffee grinder) then put a spoon of plain yogurt in. Wail a bit till it gets pasty, and then apply it to your face or hands.

In fact ,you can use it anyplace that needs "help". Wait till it dries, then towell off and rinse the rest off. Your skin should look fresh and dewy

 I must try this one the next time i´m making my porridge.

This thread would be perfect for my mother. She believes very strongly in natural ingredients. She has given my sister and I echinacea also for colds, and garlic, and vitamin C. Garlic is suppose to lower blood pressure in addition to its other benefits.

Speaking of lemon and honey in tea, that was another remedy my mother gave us when we were sick as children (plus a shot of whiskey inside too). Needless to say, at the first sign of a scratchy throat, my sister and I were asking for a "hot toddy"

 When I was pregnant with my third child I had a mid-wife and did only herbal medicines as I was trying everything to avoid having another developmentally delayed child due to the illness which led to nutritional deficency in my previous pregnancy. I followed the Bradley birth plan for this method. I highly recommend it! Anyway, I developed pneumonia early in the pregnacy. My doctor and mid-wife colaborated on treatment and gave me capsules of Cyanne for the lung congestion! The only problem was when the obligitory morning sickness came around there are very few things more painful than vomiting a dissolved capsule of full strength cayanne pepper! To combat this heat, my mid-wife suggested small sips (not enough to cause harm) of light beer! The cold and the alcohol would numb the throat and the hops would make the nausea go away (as would the little carbonated drink). Boy that´s a sight! A pregnant woman with a beer hanging over the toilet! !!! Not something I ever want to repeat. But I have to say that the Cayanne I could keep down did work on those lungs!

Be Well!

Susan (Suzee to my Turkish Friends! )