About the Book
Here is a practical guide for all who are interested in herbal and natural healing, a useful reference for the commonest ailments and complaints and minor injuries. This guide includes herbal and natural remedies for more than 50 common ailments, including acne, arthritis, asthma, athlete's foot, bad back, bedwetting, bronchitis, chicken pox, cold sores, colds and flu, corns and calluses, diarrhea, cysts, ganglion cysts, dislocated wrist in toddlers, diverticulitis, dyspepsia, ear infections, eczema, flu, gallstones, gout, growing pains, heart disease, hemorrhoids, impetigo, kidney problems, leg and foot cramps, lice, menopause, menstrual problems, migraine, moles, nasal sores, pink eye, poison ivy, postpartum depression, psoriasis, ringworm, rough hands, runny eyes in infants, scabies, shingles, spurs, thrush, toothache, ulcers, vomiting, warts, plantar warts, yeast infections, and minor hurts. Most of the suggested herbs and other preparations are readily available from herb dealers and health food stores, or online, and are inexpensive alternatives to conventional medicine. I have used many, if not most of the suggested remedies, myself, with success. Others are remedies that I have known others to use with success, and still others were carefully researched. Many of the herbs suggested are not just inexpensive, but free, if collected from fields and roadsides-and sometimes even from your yard. Many herbs, too, are easily grown in the garden. Directions are included for preparing infusions, decoctions, tinctures, syrups, ointments, and salves. Specific directions are included for making several of the most useful remedies: mullein oil, black walnut hull tincture, Echinacea tincture, wild cherry cough syrup, slippery elm tea, elderberry juice, elecampane syrup, castor oil pack, camphorated oil, balm of Gilead bud ointment, and skin creams and other skin applications. All these preparations-and many more for which general directions are given-are easily made at home. These directions make it easy to make tinctures, syrups, and other medicinal preparations that would be very costly to purchase.
