Tag: Cold

Understand Cold, Cough, Fever and work on Home remedies.

The state of wellbeing is very beautifully mentioned in Ayurveda as the equilibrium of dosha, agni, dhatu, mala along with an inner blissful state of soul,senses and mind .This closely relates to the modern definition mentioned by WHO.

Samadosha samaagnishcha samadhathu malakriya Prasannatma indriya manaha swastha ityabhi
diyate.

Any illness as for this case , the peenasa or common cold ,occurs as a result of the disturbance in this equilibrium. The symptoms of common cold, include runny nose, sore throat, cough, watery eyes, sneezing, congestion, headaches, fatigue, and sometimes a low-grade fever. It typically last from one week to 10 days, the recovery depending on the immunity of the person. Common cold takes almost the same time to get cured with and without treatment.

Importance of home remedies

Home remedies for minor ailments saves time money and visits to pharmacy. Many simple effective home remedies
mentioned in the ancient texts if discovered can reduce the burden of common people economically and save from
unwanted use of drugs

Precautions to be considered

Though there are excellent and effective home remedies for many ailments they are yet to be scientifically assessed and validated One of the common disadvantage while using home remedies is the proper dose or durtation of the medicine to be given is unknown and when to stop is not clearly understood. Long term or excess self medication is not advisable as the herbs have different action and properties for short term and long term use.The knowledge of right choice, right dose and right duration of the medicine or herbs is always very important. Some of the home remedies mentioned in various books have been compiled and listed below.

Ingredients used in home remedies for common close and cough

Most of the ingredients used for cold and cough are avaiable in our kitchen only some fresh herbs also if grown in pots at our home can be used. Commonly used fresh ingredients are

  • Tulasi leaves – cold, cough and fever
  • Betel leaves -cold , cough, fever
  • Ajwain leaves- cold , cough fever
  • Adathoda leaves- cough with phlegm
  • Fresh turmeric- cold, cough with phlegm
  • Pomegranate -dry and wet cough
  • Lemon -cold and cough
  • Ginger-cold cough and fever

The common kitchen spices to treat cold and cough are

  • Pepper
  • Dry ginger
  • Clove
  • Cinnamon
  • Cardamom
  • Sauf
  • Jeera
  • Ajwain
  • Tumeric
  • Coriander
  • Flaxeed
  • Fenugreek
  • Rock saltSome herbs that are not commonly used in cooking but often used for home remedies are
  • Muleti
  • Long pepper
  • Rasna
  • Vacha
  • Kali jeera
  • black salt
  • Palm jaggery or sugar candy

Popular methods followed

  1. FRESH JUICES – The juices are extracted by crushing from the fresh herbs .Some herbs have to be wilted in fire before crushing such as ajwain leaf, onion.They act as decongestant and given instant relief .Fresh juices
    are stronger so the dose have to carefully decided. Generally one to two teaspoon of the fresh juice are given with honey for 3 to 5 days twice or thrice day before food depending on the condition.In infants the
    juice are applied on the chest and back instead of giving internally.
  2. TEAS – Generally aromatic herbs and spices are boiled together in water for few minutes and this water is used for drinking .Such tulasi tea, ajwain leaf tea, ginger tea.
  3. DECOCTIONS –  Different combination of dry and fresh ingredients are boiled and reduced to half or one fourth and added with a sweetener such as jaggery or palm sugar or with honey.
  4. Choornam/Powder – such as trikatu ,yashtimadhu are given mixed with honey.
  5. Warm milk withtumeric, pepper
  6. Try instead of regular COUGH SYRUP using
    1. Ginger lemon infused honey,
    2. Dry ginger powder +honey
    3. Cinnamon +honey
    4. Yashtimadhu ,Freshginger juice, +honey
    5. Lemon +honey
  7. Chew HOME MADE LOZENGES
    1. Fresh ginger piece with black salt
    2. Dry ginger and sugarcandy
  8. WARM SOUP -Warm veg soup with spices
  9. STEAM
  10. MASSAGES on chest and back with warm oils such as ococonut oil, sesame oil mustard oil infused with herbs.

As a prevention
Pranayam can be taught to children like anulom, vilom, kapalbathi, ujjayi. Ayurvedic medicines rasayanas such as chyanvan prash should be given on regular basis.
Plants which can be grown at home

  • Tulasi
  • Adathoda
  • Mint
  • Coriander
  • Ajwain
  • Guduchi

Preparations commonly used

FRESH JUICES

Generally fresh juices alone or in combination with two such as ginger lemon, tulasi betel, ginger amla. They can be given to children above 1 year from 1 to 2 tsp twice a day with honey

  • Ginger juice- Juice of ginger 5gms and one amla with one teaspoon honey Juice of ajwain leaf wilted on fire juice one teaspoon twice daily with honey
  • Lemon juice- Lemon juice with water and honey. a glass of hot water mixed with the juice of two lemons and honey to taste. It soothes sore throat, boosts vitamin C intake and releases excess cough
  • Juice of Tulasi leaves – 2 parts tulsi juice +1/2 part Ginger juice + ½ part Betel leaf juice Take two teaspoon of the juices together with 1 teaspoon of honey thrice a day
  • In a jar mix equal amounts of honey and onion juice. Consume around 3 to 4 teaspoons of this mixture once a day, till the flu lasts
  • 1 teaspoon tulasi juice and 2 teaspoon of honey 3 times a day
  • 1 tespoon of onion juice( small onion) and 2teaspoons of honey 3 times a day. Onion is very useful in bronchitis

Tea

Different combination of dry and fresh ingredients are boiled together for few minutes and used as a drink

  • Ginger tea- Drink ginger tea. Use 2 to 3 pieces of ginger to prepare this tea and consume it at regular intervals during the cough It acts as a decongestant, helps stimulate slow digestion and enhances the taste
  • Tulsi tea-½ tsp black pepper powder+1/2 tsp dry ginger powder-+10 Tulasi leaves boil in 1 cup water make tea and drink 2-3 times a day

The teas or hot infusions chosen should be balanced with hot and cold potency

DECOCTION

  • Preapare a decoction with Fresh ginger -3 teaspoon cinnamon powder ½ easpoon, yashtimadhu 2 teaspoons . All the ingredients should be boiled with four glasses of water and reduced to ½ glass and this has to be taken twice daily .Honey can added as a sweetener if needed
  • Prepare a decoction by boiling a tablespoon of fenugreek seeds in half liter of warm water. Continue boiling the seeds, till the water reduces to one third of its original quantity. Then, add a teaspoon of fresh ginger juice to this concoction, along with a few drops of honey, just to make it more palatable. Drink this mixture once a day.
  • Boil 3 teaspoons of Yashtimadhu choornam/licorice in two glasses of water and reduce to ¼ glass and add honey if needed.This is good remedy for dry cough and sore throat
  • Betel leaves,tulasi leaves, ajwain leaves , pepper are boiled together and reduced to half
  • Tulasi leaves a piece of ginger of an inch size few pepper corns are boiled and reduced to half

CHOORNAS

  • Trikatu ,-the mixture of dried ginger powder, pepper and long pepper taken in equal quantities of a quarter to half teaspoon twice a day with honey. Trikatu has anti -pyretic qualities and are effective in fever accompanied with bronchitis.
  • Ayurvedic medicines like sitopaladi choornam , Thaleesadi choornam , Karpooradi choornam can be taken with doctors advise

MILK

Tumeric Milk -Mix a half teaspoon or turmeric powder in a glass of warm milk twice is good during the symptoms of
flu cough with phlegm

SOUPS

Thin vegatable Soups,chicken soup spiced with pods of garlic, cloves, cinnamon, Drumstick leaves soup prepared with little salt, pepper and lime juice is very beneficial during common cold

STEAM

Take steam with water added with three to four drops of eucalyptus oil, peppermint oil. Mint leaf,Tulsi leaf, Cumin seed,Ajwain, Black jeera, are the some of the other ingredients used for steam which can
be used for children.

For infants below 6 month

For infants herbal medicines for cold and cough are mostly applied externally.Infused oils or crushed herbal leaf juices and rubbed on chest and back of the baby.The other preferred method is to treat the mother with medicines. Sometimes very little amount of medicines is applied on the breast before feeding the baby.

Oils used

  • Mustard oil cooked with garlic
  • Karpooradi thailam,Mustard oil, ajwain leaf extract, -They are rubbed on the chest and back
  • For nose block- Ajwain garlic pottali

For infants above 6 month

Same methods mentioned as above are to be followed but with a stronger dose.

  • Apply turmeric paste on chest and back.
  • Mustard oil with garlic, ajwain
  • Fresh juices such as ajwain leaf juice ,betel leaf juice,

For children above 1 year

Some of the Teas decoctions, fresh juices mentioned above are to be given. The dose depends on age. Generally decoctions are given 1-2teaspoon before food thrice daily, teas 3-4 times a day, fresh juices 1 to 2 tsp twice a day with honey

Home remedies for common problems

RUNNING NOSE

  • To stop a running nose, you can apply the paste made of nutmeg (jaiphal) and cow’s milk along with a little opium on the nose and forehead. to be taken as a snuff.
  • Lemon juice can also be used for running nose
  • Smoke from burnt turmeric stops the running nose.

COUGH

Common salt +2 black peppercorn chew every four hours

BLOCKED NOSE

  • Powder made of equal parts of cinnamon, black pepper, cardamoms and the seeds of Nigella sativa (krishna jeeraka) is used for smelling.
  • Crushed garlic pods can be used for smelling for relief of blocked nose. Chewing garlic will also give relief of blocked nose.

DRY COUGH

For dry chronic cough ingredients such as cumin, clove, cardamom, dry grapes, coriander seeds, fennel, sugar candy, are more in the combination of the medicines and often mixed with sweet base such as palm jaggery or honey

BRONCHITIS

  • Trikatu churna- An effective home remedy for bronchitis is They also tone up the metabolism of the patient. It can help by keeping the mucous in the lungs wet and fluid-like, and decreasing inflammation of the respiratory tract. You can take half a teaspoonful of trikatu powder mixed with honey.
  • Onion has expectorant properties. It liquefies phlegm and prevents its further formation. Half to one teaspoon of raw onion juice is given
  • 3.. Drumstick leaves soup prepared with little salt, pepper and lime juice is very beneficial especially in case of bronchitis.

FEVER

  • 20 to 40 grams of black basil (Krishna Tulsi) leaves juice thrice daily
  • Decoction prepared with 30 to 80 grams roots and leaves of holy black basil (krishna tulsi) plant can help in all types of fever
  • Application of warmed mustard oil will help people affected with dengue fever and suffering from joint pains the legs and hands.
  • Water boiled with cumin seeds can be used for drinking during fever
  • Dry ginger and coriander seeds are pounded well and boiled in water. This water brings down the fever

FLU

  • Drink a cup of warm water added with lemon juice and honey two to three times a day.
  • Decoction made with 1 tsp of fenugreek seeds boiled in 1 ½ glass of water boiled and reduced to ½ glass. To this add 1 tsp of ginger juice and few drops of honey. This is taken two to three times a day
  • 3 to 4 tsp of the onion juice and honey mixture once or twice a day daily till the flu lasts.
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder in a glass of warm nati milk. Reduces the fever and loosens the phlegm
  • Ginger tea has an excellent remedy for flu

Home Remedies for Cold in Infants

  1. Lots of rest
  2. Drink lot of fluids -keep body hydrated
  3. Saline nasal drops to clear out the mucus in the nasal passages, and thus relieve congestion.
  4. Resting with head elevated
  5. Salt water gargling
  6. Use of humidifier/vaporizer/head bath

When to visit the doctor

If you are suffering from symptoms of cold more than 3 weeks, such as itchy eyes, nasal congestion, cough, excessive fatigue, sore throat swollen lymph nodes, rapid heart beat you may have to seek the help of doctor. It may be that you get into secondary infections if not treated. In general if you find the following symptoms it’s better to visit the doctor

  • High (above 103 degrees) fever or a fever that lasts for more than 3 days. In infants below 3 month if fever is
    above 100F
  • Symptoms that last for more than 10 days
  • Trouble breathing, fast breathing or wheezing
  • Bluish skin color
  • Earache or drainage from the ear
  • Changes in mental state (such as not waking up, irritability or seizures)
  • Flu like symptoms that improve, but return with a fever and a worse cough

Things to do when kid has fever

Source UnKnown | FW by Saranya

Cold Compresses

As soon as your baby develops a fever, the first thing to do is put a cool, wet washcloth on your baby’s forehead. As the water from the wet washcloth evaporates from the skin, it will draw the fever out and the temperature will come down quickly.

Put some cool tap water in a bowl.
Soak a clean washcloth in the water.
Wring out the excessive water, then place the wet cloth on the baby’s forehead.
Once the cloth warms, remove it and repeat again.
Do this until the fever has gone.
You can also use the damp washcloth to sponge areas like your baby’s armpits, feet, hands to reduce the temperature.

Note: Never use very cold or ice water, as it may cause the internal body temperature to increase.

Lukewarm Bath

A lukewarm bath will help relax a fussy baby and help regulate the body temperature. It will even help your baby sleep better, which is needed for faster recovery.

For babies younger than 6 months, give a lukewarm sponge bath 2 or 3 times a day.
For babies 6 months or older, give them a regular bath in lukewarm water a few times a day.
After each bath, dress your baby immediately.

Note: Never use very hot or cold water, as it may cause the internal body temperature to rise.

Breast Milk

For babies younger than 6 months old who have a fever, breast milk is very important. It offers a unique balance of nutrients that strengthens a baby’s weak immune system and is tailored to fight a baby’s illness.

Breast milk is quickly and easily digested. It will even keep a sick baby properly hydrated, which is essential for faster recovery.

Try to breastfeed your young baby frequently. If your baby refuses to nurse while experiencing a fever, try different nursing positions. You can keep the baby upright while breastfeeding to make your baby more comfortable during feeding sessions.
If your baby regularly refuses nursing, pump out the breast milk and feed it to your baby using a spoon or bottle.

Give More Fluids

For sick babies, it is important to increase fluid intake. Fluid will help cool them down and replace the fluid lost through sweating to prevent dehydration.

Dehydration may lead to various other complications and delay recovery.

Due to having a fever, babies may refuse large amounts of fluid at a time. So, try to give them smaller amounts more often.

Give oral rehydration solutions (either homemade or readily available in the market) along with lukewarm water to help replenish fluids and electrolytes.

Keep Your Baby in a Cool Place

When taking care of a sick baby, it’s important to keep a close eye on the room temperature. It should not be too hot or too cold.

Dress Your Infant Comfortably

Many parents make the mistake of bundling up their sick child with layers of clothes or extra blankets. This is something parents should avoiding doing, as it may keep the temperature from going down or even make it go higher.

Infants cannot regulate their temperature well, hence when bundled in layers, it will be harder for them to cool down once overheated. Too much clothing will even prevent radiating body heat into the surrounding air.

Dress your baby in one layer of lightweight clothing. If needed, use a light blanket when your baby is sleeping.

Also, keep your baby in a comfortable room, where the temperature is not too hot or too cool.

Foot Massage

Rubbing the soles of your sick baby’s feet with some warm oil is one of the best ways to calm your fussy baby. Apart from relaxation, it will promote better sleep, which is necessary for quick recovery.

Foot massage also helps regulate body temperature.

Rub some warm olive oil on the bottoms of your baby’s feet.
Apply gentle pressure on the soles with your thumbs.
Finally, give a nice massage to the whole foot.
Do this for just a couple of minutes and repeat as needed.
When it comes to foot massage, be careful not to do too much.

Basil

For bringing down a fever, basil is suitable for babies older than 1 year. The herb can help reduce the heat in the body. It works as a natural antibiotic and immune booster.

Boil a handful of basil leaves in 2 cups of water, until the solution is reduced to half. Add a little sugar and give it to your little one, a few times a day.
If your baby is big enough to chew basil leaves, give him or her some thoroughly washed basil leaves to chew at regular intervals.

Monitor Body Temperature

Another important thing when your baby is having a fever is to regularly monitor his or her body temperature with a thermometer.

Remedies for cold and cough:
Camphor

Heat coconut oil and add little powdered camphor in it. After it has cooled, pour 4 to 5 drops to your palm and apply it evenly over the chest of your little one. Please take care to use very little camphor as it may irritate the baby skin.

Eucalyptus oil

Allow the baby to inhale the eucalyptus oil.The oil can be also be sprinkled in the baby beddings.

Turmeric

For infants, take a dried turmeric piece and burn it in a candle or diya flame, allow the infant to inhale the smoke from the burning turmeric for a minute. The smoke arising from the burning turmeric will be like a thread only, so no fear of smoke inhalation!!!
For kids above 2 years, a little turmeric can be added to milk and given.

Garlic

Peel the skin of 2 garlic pods and allow them to steep in 50 ml of hot water for 10 minutes. Let it cool, feed 2 sips of the garlic water to your little one every 2 to 3 hours. This can be done for kids above 4 year.

Ginger

Ginger thins out the mucus and so is very helpful for treating blocked nose. Grate a small piece of ginger and add it to hot water and allow it to cool for about 10 min. This can be given to children above 2 years.

Chicken soup

Clear chicken soup can be given from 8 Month onwards.

Tulsi/Basil leaves

Tulsi leaves have great medicinal properties, they can be either added to water or milk. Allow them to soak in water for more than a hour and feed the water in sips to kids above 2 years.

Honey

For Babies above 1 year, a half a teaspoon of honey can be added to the milk and given twice a day.

Ajwain

Roast Ajwain on low flame in a pan, wrap it in a kerchief to make a potli and allow the kid to inhale it or hold it near the nose of infants.

Lemon

Lemon is rich in Vitamin C and helps in developing immunity. For babies above 1 year, mix lemon juice with honey and lots of water.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon has an antioxidant effect and acts as an effective antibacterial and antifungal agent. This can be given kids older than 1 years of age.
Mix 1 teaspoon of honey with 1/4 spoon of cinnamon, feed this mixture every 4 hours throughout the day when the first signs and symptoms of cold surface.

Mustard Oil

Mix 5 to 10 teaspoon of mustard oil with crushed garlic and ajwain seeds and tadka. After it is cooled, strain the mixture and store in a bottle. When needed, warm a little and apply on the child’s chest, forehead and throat.

Steam Inhalation

Never let the child do steam inhalation as done for adults. Fill the buckets or bathtub in the bathroom with piping hot water, hold the baby in the arms for 10 minutes in the steamy bathroom to thin out the phlegm.

Ghee

For dry cough, heat 2 tablespoon of ghee and add 2 to 3 pepper in it, grind it and give a little of it throughout the day. This can be given for children above 1 year.

Author: Saranya

I’m HomeMaker and a mother of 1 year old baby girl. I have 6 yrs of IT experience with Accenture and IGATE and currently taken break to take care of my little one. I have an interest towards home made ancient recipes which is very healthy for kids and adults and hence started preparing all those at home and thought of sharing the same with all parents.

Remedies for Common Cold With Simple Herbs

Fight Common Cold With Simple Herbs From Your Kitchen.

Learn the ancient ways to cure and prevent cold

There are various way to cure Cold. At our whatsapp group, we have plenty of parents sharing their age old home remedies to each other. We have made an attempt to collect all those and share it for anyone. Apart from the information we share from our group, We have gone little deeper into ancient siddha, ayurveda and unai script and shared few remedies.

When you try these do share your feedback and or if you have any more tips so share it at comments.

These are the top 5 home remedies to cure the common cold:

  1. Drink ginger tea – It acts as a decongestant, helps stimulate slow digestion and improves the taste buds too.
  2. Lemon juice with water and honey. It soothes sore throat, boosts vitamin C intake and releases excess cough.
  3. Garlic contains antiseptic property, garlic in soups or supplements is the best remedy.
  4. Tulsi and long pepper in equal quantity, ground together and rolled into small pills, take 3-4 times daily. Tulsi has antiviral, antioxidant property. It is good immune-modulator. Long pepper relieves inflammation.
  5. 5 gm ginger juice mixed with one amla (Indian gooseberry) juice and one teaspoon honey  with a little water. It boosts body immunity and acts as a decongestant.
  6.  Take one tablespoon of grated fresh ginger, one teaspoonful of cinnamon powder and one teaspoonful of licorice powder. Add all these together to one litre water and boil on slow fire for ten minutes till about one fourth (250 ml.) of it is left. This drink can be taken three times in a day. Honey can added as a sweetener.
  7. If you are unable to sneeze or blow nose to open the blocked passage, then, here’s solution. A powder made of equal parts of cinnamon, black pepper, cardamoms and the seeds of Nigella sativa (krishna jeeraka)
  8. To stop a running nose, you can apply the paste made of nutmeg (jaiphal) and cow’s milk along with a little opium on the nose and forehead. to be taken as a snuff.
  9. Black pepper and long pepper, taken along with dried ginger, is supposed to help chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane, such as those lining the throat, sinuses, and lungs. During cold and flu, the body loses moisture, and mucous becomes thick and difficult to expel. Thick mucous provides a place for germs to multiply. Trikatu, the combination of the above three, can help by keeping the mucous in the lungs wet and fluid-like, and decreasing inflammation of the respiratory tract. You can take half a teaspoonful of Trikatu powder mixed with honey.
  10. Drink a glass of hot water mixed with the juice of two lemons and sugar to taste. Take the same at bedtime as it gives relief from nasal catarrh.
  11. Simple Ayurvedic remedies can play a very effective role as first aid for many common ailments, such as earache, backache and diarrhea. Try these simple treatments and stay healthy in a natural way.
    1. Vyoshadi Vatakam
    2. Agastya Rasayanam
    3. Mustarishtm + Amritarishtam
    4. Lakshmi Vilas Ras 1-1-1 after food
    5. Sudarasanavati
    6. Sitopaladi Choornam
    7. Fluvin
    8. Talisapatradi Choornam
  12. ½ tsp black pepper powder + ½ tsp dry ginger powder + 10 Tulasi leaves boil in 1 cup water make tea and take 2-3 times  a day
  13. ½ tsp turmeric in hot milk  2-3 times per day
  14. Boil 1 piece ginger in 1 cup water and drink
  15. Juice of Tulasi leaves – 1tsp + Ginger juice 1 tsp + Betel leaf juice 1 tsp with honey 4 times per day
  16. ½ tsp – Turmeric powder in milk – Mix nicely 15 times a day
  17. Common salt +2 black  pepper combine chew every four hours
  18. Yashtimadhu Kashyam +1 tsp honey
  19. 1 tsp tulasi juice +10 ml honey 3 times a day

  20. 1 tsp onion juice + 10 ml honey  3 times a day

Prevention is definitely better than cure, here are ways to prevent it altogether:

  1. Cover the head and neck with clothes
  2. Gargle with hot saline water
  3. Take fresh fruits and vegetables to boost your immunity
  4. Keep yourself warm at all times
  5. Do not sleep during the day
  6. Do not sleep late
  7. Do not share towels and glasses
  8. Avoid deep fried and processed food
  9. If there is uncontrolled sneezing, excess thirst, foul smell in nose, insomnia, fever of 102 F or more, consult your doctor as soon as possible.

Remedies for Cough with simple herbs.

Learn the ancient ways to cure and prevent cough.

Root of Athimathuram, by KoS – Own work, Public Domain,

There are various way to cure Cough. At our whatsapp group, we have plenty of parents sharing their age old home remedies to each other. We have made an attempt to collect all those and share it for anyone. Apart from the information we share from our group, We have gone little deeper into ancient siddha, ayurveda and unai script and shared few remedies.

When you try these do share your feedback and or if you have any more tips so share it at comments.

Continue reading “Remedies for Cough with simple herbs.”

Author: Velu Jayaprakash

Velu Jayaprakash is a social entrepreneur, product manager, techy, photographer, meditator, father of two angels, ancient wisdom seeker, holistic adviser and Soul coach. You can reach him at velu.jayaprakash AT gmail DOT com