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22
Feb

Natural Ways to Cope With Illness

— by Tiffany in Health & Healing

sick child

I swear I can time the illnesses in this house perfectly. With any major holiday that highlights "candy" the kids will inevitably get sick after their school or a well meaning relative decides to send them home with candy. And how lovely for us.. Valentines has been no exception. Since my youngest is home sick I have been rockin the wellness routines.

I have been washing his sheets with homemade dryer bags, lightly scented with Lemon Balm to calm and sedate.

I have made sweet and sour soup with bunches of mushrooms which increase the production and activity of white blood cells, making them more aggressive. Tonight I will make Leek and Potato Soup with tons of fresh garlic… another immune boosting food. Green Smoothies are freezing inside Popsicle molds for sore throats.

All the kids are taking Elderberry Syrup and the youngest is taking Homeopathic cough syrup. Daddy has been making his homemade honey, lemon, ginger tea.

And since I am not one to trust conventional hand sanitizers I will whip up some of my own this afternoon so that we might hopefully contain this illness as much as possible.

DIY Hand Sanitizer

1/4 Cup Witch Hazel

1/4 Cup aloe vera gel

1 tsp vegetable glycerin

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

8-10 drops tea tree essential oil

Mix the ingredients in a small glass jar, shake well. Dab on hands and rub it in for a safe way to sanitize hands and kill germs.

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

15 Comments on Natural Ways to Cope With Illness

  • A Natural Dawn

    I never would have thought of natural hand sanitizer! Thank you for sharing the recipe. Thankfully our LO is back in good health after an awful run in with the Rotavirus…I think.

    Of course, Booby milk is the BEST remedy :-)

  • sheri

    I feel for you! How do you make your own dryer bags?

  • Our kids have been sick off and on since we moved back to America from Japan this past October – I guess they have to build up immunities to American bugs now since they’ve never lived here before (they were born in Japan). My husband and I have had bouts of yuckiness as well and like your husband, I love to make honey, lemon, and ginger teal! I use homeopathic cough and cold medicine for the kids and I make green smoothies every day – I think the bugs would’ve been even worse if we hadn’t been chugging the smoothies a few times every day. I push garlic as well. I love that DIY hand cleanser – will try it for sure.

  • Well my 9y old daughter was slightly feverish yesterday so she got the specioal remedy Magnesium chloride (20cl every hour until feeling better or going to bed for the night) and she is feeling perfect this morning again.

    You can do a little cure of 20cl every morning for 3 weeks, it helps the immune system.

    http://www.naturalnews.com/023279_magnesium_cancer_calcium.html

  • Jackie Lee

    I never really thought about how sickness coincides with candy ~ but now that I think about it I think you might be on to something! We’re just getting over sickness as well (started right at Valentine’s day). Our biggest remedy is Elderberry Concentrate. We’re lucky enough to have a local producer and it kicks all kinds of sick butt! I’d like to hear about your dryer bags too! I also made homemade chicken soup ~ (with our naughty roosters) and homemade bread. Not sure how much the bread helps with our immune systems but the smell sure makes me feel better. :)

  • Super! Thank you for posting this. I have looked around for a recipe before but never really found one I liked. This looks great!

  • Antonia

    Thank you for sharing the hand sanitizer recipe! Can you please post the DIY dryer bags recipe as well! Thank you!

  • EarthDivas

    I’ve never thought about making my own hand sanitizer, but this looks really great! I’ve bought Clean George in the past (which uses tea tree as well) but your recipe would be much cheaper over the long run. Thanks so much!

  • Brandy

    Sorry you have a sick household!

    And, PLEASE do post how you make your own dryer bags + recipes.

    Your blog is fabulous! I’m so glad I stumbled across it while searching for natural recipes for sanitizing (such as baby toys – I have a 10 month old). I see parents all the time saying … oh use some kitchen bleach cleaner or dip them in bleach water. Seems wrong to be trading one germ/bacteria for toxins. I use the hydrogen peroxide with vinegar now.

    Thanks!!

  • Brandy

    Me again, I hope you read your comments. I may have lots of questions ;-))

    As I looked at the ingredients for the hand sanitizer … do you think that an added amount of alcohol would be necessary to effectively kill bacteria (cold and flu)? I’d love to switch to this recipe!

  • Bridget

    Thanks for the recipe! I’m going to give it a try.

    Hope all are doing ok now. Take care…

  • Thank you for the recipe! I’ve been buying the EO natural hand sanitizer, but this will be much cheaper.

    I hope you are all on the mend soon!

  • Adriann

    We are lucky enough to have elderberry bushes in our backyard and I make elderberry cough syrup in the fall and freeze it for when we are sick. The kids love the taste!

  • v

    Like so many others have already said, thanks for the hand sanitizer recipe. We often go to the park to play and there’s no soap there, so we rely on hand sanitizer in those instances. This is much better.

  • Mrs. B

    Would your husband be willing to post his tea recipe. I really am just looking to find out what kind of ginger (fresh, dried, powdered) he uses and how much of that to how much lemon.
    Thanks