Almost everyone you ask has a favorite home remedy for an ailment or condition.

They may not think of it as a home remedy. It may be the way that particular family has responded to the ailment for centuries. There is an assumption about home remedies that is not explicitly stated. That assumption is that home remedies should only be used for minor, everyday ailments, conditions and discomforts. Never use home remedies when a person’s life is in danger, or that may put a person’s life in danger.

As an example, consider a small cut on the finger. It may hurt for a minute and bleed a drop or two, but that is the extent of the damage. First aid recommends applying pressure until the bleeding stops, washing the cut with soap and water, applying an antibacterial ointment, and applying a small bandage. However, few people follow that recommended procedure, preferring their own home-remedy style treatments instead.

Some folks will suck on their finger until it stops bleeding. Others will squeeze the cut to encourage bleeding, believing that the blood will wash dirt and germs out of the injury. Still others will put anything from butter to honey on the cut as a home-remedy style disinfectant.

Now let’s extend that simple example to a more serious injury. Assume the cut is on an arm or leg, and it is deeper and longer. It is bleeding profusely, and pressure doesn’t seem to slow the bleeding. The injured person may be pale and losing consciousness. This clearly is not the time for home remedies, because time is of the essence. The person is losing blood quickly, and there is no simple home cure for an injury to an artery.

Home remedies are good, money saving treatments to use for small ordinary injuries or conditions. There’s simply no need to visit the doctor every time you get a paper cut! On the other hand, no home remedy exists to fix or cure a serious cut that causes large blood loss. Home remedies give the best results when used for the small, non-serious injuries of everyday life. For the emergencies, get to a doctor or hospital as soon as possible.

Copyright 2007 by Douglas S. Smith

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 22nd, 2007 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Home Remedies, Herbal Cures, and Alternative Medicine, Free Home Remedies. Both comments and pings are currently closed.