“After thirty,” says the proverb, “you’re either a fool or your own physician.” Maybe before thirty, too … especially if you live in an isolated spot and/or have a big bump of independence. Of course, you’re a bigger fool still if you meddle with a serious or persistent condition … but both you and your overworked doctor will be better off if you can prevent or cure your own minor ills … as Marj Watkins began pointing out in MOTHER EARTH NEWS NO. 28. Here’s the final installment of the health hints that work for her family.
Vaginal Infection or Irritation
Vaginal inflammations seem to occur inevitably when a
woman’s body is short of vitamins A and E. The problems
will usually subside when 100,000 units of vitamin A and
200 of vitamin E are taken daily for three days.
A douche of one tablespoon of vinegar to a quart of water
will combat yeasts and fungi and can be used daily to fight
infection by these organisms or by bacteria. Used
occasionally, it will keep Monilia fungus at bay.
Gentian violet, prepared as a suppository and sold on
prescription, is the most effective remedy for trichomonad
and Monilia infections. Doctors often hesitate to
prescribe this medicine because it’s a strong dye . . . but
that’s no problem when a tampon is used with the
suppository.
Vein Problems
VARICOSE VEINS: Although they often begin
with a pregnancy, varicose veins can happen to anybody. To
make them go away, or at least not get worse, rest with
your legs above hip level five minutes out of each hour if
at all possible. (Use a slant-board . . . perhaps your
ironing board with one end on the floor and the other on a
sofa.)
Wear good support hose. Finish every bath with cold water
applied to the varicose-vein area to firm your skin, or
apply alternate hot and cold packs to your elevated legs.
Do bicycling exercises with your legs in the air.
Increase the oxygen in your bloodstream by learning to
breathe with your entire lungs. Walk daily, fifteen minutes
at first and working up to an hour. Afterward, rest on your
back with your legs raised. Sit up slowly to avoid
dizziness.
Take 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C night and morning, with
vitamin E as directed under ACHES AND PAINS (MOTHER EARTH NEWS NO.
29). Drink a glass of milk at the same time for calcium,
protein, and other helpful elements.
HEMMORRHOIDS: To prevent this trouble,
keep the bowels functioning well with plenty of raw fruits
and vegetables, fruit juices, dried prunes and figs, and
herb teas. Keep the abdominal muscles trim by walking,
swimming, and bicycling.
To overcome hemorrhoids, eat cottage cheese, poached fish,
applesauce, soybean products, lentils, dried and fresh
peas, stir-fried assorted vegetables, mashed potatoes (dice
small and cook without peeling), and butter or gravy. Don’t
eat sugar, candy, or white flour products or drink coffee
or strong tea. These give you nothing but calories or
stimulation, while robbing you of essential B vitamins.
PHLEBITIS: This condition is the
inflammation of a vein, with swelling, itching, burning,
and sometimes a general physical upset. It probably won’t
happen to you if you eat well and exercise faithfully. If
it does, go at once to your vitamin C source and take 1,000
units with milk at each meal, between meals, and at
bedtime.
Also take vitamin E, beginning with 100 units each morning.
In a few days, add another 100 units at night. After a few
more days, increase again. Some very active people control
vein problems with 600 to 800 units of vitamin E daily, but
you may find 200 enough in combination with leg-up rest and
cold packs. Honey and peach kernel oil lotion gently
massaged into the skin will relieve itching. Eat plenty of
parsley, liver, whole grains, and dairy products.
Warts
Puncture a vitamin E capsule and squeeze the oil onto the
wart. Cover the area with a Band-Aid. Repeat the treatment
daily for three days.
Wounds
A healthy, happy person who is in tune with the rest of the
universe doesn’t attract accidents or hurts . . . but it
sometimes happens that a barefoot child, for instance, in a
moment of doubt or inattention steps on a piece of glass
left by some out-of-tune individual.
If there is much bleeding, elevate the wounded part and
press against the injury with a clean cloth or a handful of
grass or soft leaves. Any dirt or foreign matter in the
wound will prevent healing and must be gently removed. If
there is none, just bandage the injury . . . the blood will
have washed it. A hurt that has not bled well should be
cleaned with mild soap and water and then bandaged. No
other antiseptic is needed.
It’s necessary to keep the injury, and the skin around it,
protected with a bandage and a sock or other clothing.
Otherwise new dirt can get in and cause infection later. If
infection does set in, soak the part several times a day in
a salt solution as hot as can be borne.
“The Fountain of Youth”
I’ll conclude this series with my recipe for good health.
It’s really not a fountain but a cornucopia: an abundant
assortment of fruits and vegetables, as fresh from the
earth as possible, grown without insecticides or artificial
fertilizers.
My stay-young formula also includes sea
vegetables — kelp, dulse, bladder wrack, and sea
lettuce — for their 67 different minerals. I use them
in oyster stew, clam and fish chowders, sneak ground kelp
into beef stew, meatballs, herb-fried chicken,
sesame-coated baked fish, and shepherd’s pie. Anywhere a
land herb can go, sea herbs can go too, accompanied by
basil, marjoram, ginger, cumin, thyme, or whatever. In a
recipe for four or five people I use one-half to one
teaspoon of ground kelp, depending on the dish. One can
also stir a teaspoon of kelp into a glass of tomato juice
for a morning pickup.
Well, that’s it . . . the simple methods of prevention and
healing that keep our family in good shape and out of the
doctor’s office. I hope they work as well for you as they
have for us.
