50 Home Remedies: How Black Pepper Saved Me $700

Warning: this is a long post.

I have been meaning to write a comprehensive post on home remedies for some time but when I sat down to do it, I struggled with what to include or what not to include. I worry about people getting bad information. I trust we all know better than to lick a finger and stick it in an electrical socket, and yet, thousands of people go to the emergency room each year for that very reason. We is geniuses.

And speaking of emergency rooms...

Early Sunday morning I was washing dishes and I cut my thumb on a knife. Bad. Bad enough that I couldn’t get the bleeding to stop after 30 minutes of applying ice and restrictive pressure. It wasn't a big cut but there was enough blood to make me worry. Normally I would have gone to an urgent care center but the one by me didn't open for another three hours (remember this is early Sunday morning). Plan B was a hospital emergency room, but with my insurance, an ER visit costs $700 the second I cross the threshold. Don't even ask me what a band-aid costs. Now, $700 is a price I'd pay it for a broken bone, but a tiny thumb cut? I decided to give it another hour; if I couldn't get the bleeding to stop in an hour I would have to suck it up an go to the ER.

So what did I do? I googled “stop bleeding home remedy”.

Let me tell you, I read all kinds of crazy stuff. And I tried most of them. Vinegar, diluted bleach, sugar... Nothing helped. Then I read about fresh ground black pepper. I thought this was crazy but I tried it.

Keep in mind, the photos below would be far more effective if I had taken a BEFORE shot, but 1. I don't think y'all would want to see that and 2. I didn't want to get blood all over my camera. So you will just have to imagine and big bloody thumb. Go on now....

I cleaned the wound thoroughly, then packed a teaspoon of fresh-ground black pepper over the cut as best I could, then wrapped the whole thing it a clean paper towel and secured with a big piece of masking tape. After ten minutes I removed the paper towel and expected to see more bloody mess. To my shock and amazement, this is what I found...

What the?

Look, I'm not suggesting anyone tries to use this method to heal a gunshot wound, but if you are in a bind, give it a try. 

So while I am singing the praises of one home remedy, I thought I would take the opportunity to share some more. I emailed a bunch of friends and asked you guys on facebook for some tried-and-true home remedies. If you have one that is not listed below, take a second to chime in the comments below.

***50 Home Remedies ***

Colds / Nasal

Take a super hot bath. Mix in a couple of bottles of hydrogen peroxide, a hunk of fresh ginger (shredded), and five crushed IBprofen capsules. Soak for half an hour. This will detox your whole body by pulling the crud out through your skin (remember your skin is an organ too!). Drink tons of water to replace the stuff that comes out in the bath. Warning, you might grossed out an want a cold shower afterwards. If you have any cuts or hangnails cover them with vaseline before getting in the tub. Sandra

Remember that Ibuprofen is the only pain reliever made to work on mucus membrane (mouth, ear, sinuses). Christina

Eucalyptus oil. Eucalyptus oil. Eucalyptus oil. Sprinkle some in a hot bath. When you are dry, rub it on your feet, wrists, neck and scalp then over the ears with hats, scarves and put socks on top. I also mix it with a bit of chapstick and rub it on my temples and beneath my nose. The vapor helps loosen mucus, coughs, and opens up your lungs. It's also an anti-inflammatory and just sinks into your skin and takes the edge off of the achyness of being ill. Susan  (Note, I, Aunt Peaches, second this method wholeheartedly. I am rarely without Vicks Vapo rub for this very reason. Love my menthol/eucalyptus combo!)

My family swears by ouzo. If you think you are getting sick, drinking a shot and/or gargling with it before you go to bed to fight off the cold. Cynthia
Homemade chicken soup. I make sure to put fresh ginger in mine (calms upset stomachs and is very soothing). Kelly
 
For a nasal infection, a cup of warm water with a tablespoon of table salt shoot a cc or so up your nose, then wait until you've caught your breath and do it again a couple of times, it dries all the gunk. You can also gargle the salt water for a sore throat. Rhonda

If you have to sneeze pinch your nose and rub the roof of your mouth with your tongue. Cat  

Skin Ailments

(For sunburns) Make tea; pour it over the afflicted area (while standing or sitting in tub) and gently rub the teabags over the area. Dawn

If you have a pimple, wet a cotton ball, wring it out, add a few drops of Yonka serum and hold it to your face as long as you can, or use a band aid.  It has oil of thyme, lavender oil, oil of geranium, and one other. They are all anti-inflammatories. Ann

Apple cider vinegar is great on warts. Soak a cotton ball in it, place on wart and bandaid over. Refresh every day for a week. That should do it. Bev

Honey and salt paste for a facial scrub. The salt will disinfect and pull out impurities while the honey is a natural moisturizer. Cassandra

Poke a pin in an Advil Liquid Gel capsule and apply to the spot. It will knock that sucker out in no time. Caitlyn

Tea tree oil is the real deal, brilliant antiseptic and good for spot-treating acne. Katie

For bee stings, cut a green onion and apply the raw end to the sting. Same thing works with banana peels. Herby

A spoonful of honey a day makes your lips super soft. Randi

Lavender essential oil will help a burn (like from a stove) and it helps it heal faster and scars are less visible. It has to be a true note or pure form not mixed with any carrier oils. Elizabeth 

Use Listerine as bug spray. Spray all over your skin and clothes. Mosquitoes hate it. Janet

Bug bite? Rub it with a dry bar of soap. Will stop the itching. Susan

Crush up an asprin and mix it with baking soda and lemon juice. Make a paste and rub over your face for a couple of minutes. Rinse with cool water and ice cubes. Great for special occasions. Reem

Stomach

An almost surefire cure for nausea, even extreme nausea (where things have already started to happen, ahem)….try saltines and coke. Not ginger ale or sprite--there is something about the coke syrup that works. Eat a tiny corner nibble of the saltine (has to be the salted kind), take the tiniest sip of coke. Wait ten minutes, do it again. Repeat as often as needed. Works almost every single time. Myra

Chewing on fennel and caraway seeds is a great way to calm an upset stomach. My mother is Persian -- they have used for thousands of years. Salma

Hiccups

I learned this trick from a bar tender who said it works on everyone, even drunk people. Take a glass of water and drink 3 or 4 sips from the opposite rim. Meaning the rim that is not closest to you. This will mean bending over and probably spilling some water so do it outside or in the shower. Something in your diaphragm stretches in order to reach like that. It smooths the hiccups in two seconds. Amanda

A spoonful of peanut butter for hiccups. Works every time! Melissa

Especially for children: hold your kid's nostrils closed with your thumbs (one for each nostril) while using your fingers to close their ears. (Push in the flappy guys that partially cover the ear opening; don't try to plug the ear canal like a cork.) Have them take 10 sips of water. If they insist on breathing, let them do so only after the 5th and 10th sips. Voila! Works almost every time. John

Our sure fire hiccup trick: a glass of tap water, hold a paper towel over the top of the glass, sip the water *through* the towel. A few gulps ought to do it. Tracy

Ear problems

Mix equal parts vinegar and rubbing alcohol and put 4 drops in effected ear. Works great to prevent my kiddos' swimmer’s ear. Jayme

To help babies and toddlers with ear pressure problems on airplanes (especially small planes)...during take-off ask the flight attendant for two paper cups and two of those piping hot towels (or ask for hot water and soak some towels yourself). As the plane is taking off, put the towels in the cups and cup them over your child's ears -- no gaps. The steam will escape from the cups into their ears and alleviate the pressure. This works great on my son who has chronic sinus problems. Stopped him from screaming bloody murder and now he thinks it's a game. Learned this trick from a flight attendant and I never got a chance to thank her properly! Rebecca

Soar Throat / Coughing

Warmed lemonade with a teaspoon of honey swirled in cures a kid's nighttime coughing fits. Amy

Gargling with salt water - works wonders. Sore throats, cough, even earaches. Becky

Eat a couple of marshmallows for a sore throat. Dawn

A spoonful of honey makes a sore throat feel better and stops cough better than OTC stuff. Our crew team (rowing) goes through a lot of "honeybears" at regattas when the weather is cooler- the coach is a doctor and he originally recommended to rowers, etc. Dawn

Headache

My favorite is eating a big thick shake (like a Blizzard) when you have a headache. Numbs it away. Lisa

I have to travel for work and I'm always getting headaches from smells on buses, trains, planes and conference rooms (imagine -- perfumes, BO, cleaning products, etc). I keep a plastic bag with a tissue loaded with lemon oil. When I need it I waft the tissue under my nose to block or balance the offending smells. Justin

Splinters

Make a paste of baking soda and water. Pack it on the splinter and put a band-aid over it. 10 minutes later the splinter will pop out. Jennifer

Apply hydrogen peroxide. It draws the stuff out. Heather

Soak the area in olive oil before trying to pluck it out with tweezers or a hot needle. It makes it easier to grab onto the splinter. Natalie

Toothaches

Clove oil for toothaches. A couple drops from a Qtip helps immensely. Don't swallow it! It will make your mouth water and it tastes horrible, but it works. Christina

Hold an ice cube between your thumb and your forefinger (same side as the toothache). The nerves hook up in a weird way. It will calm the pain long enough to get to the dentist and have the real problem taken care of. Grant

For a canker sore, gargle with warm water and salt for 30 seconds every few hours. If it is a particularly bad sore, soak a black tea bag in very hot very salty water for a couple of minutes, then press the bag directly on the sore for 10 minutes. The salt will draw out the crud and the tannins in the tea will relieve pain. Dee

Hangover

MSG. Cat

My roommate taught me a after a night of heavy drinking to take a multivitamin before you go to bed and one when you wake up. Mary Elena

A hangover is just a symptom of dehydration. You can prevent the worst of it by drinking 2 liters of water before going to bed (hopefully you can remember). I also take a small dose of an anti-inflammatory like aspirin. Coleman

Urinary Tract Infections

Alka Seltzer has never been advertised for such, but it will treat UTI's. Cassandra

I get UTIs all the time since having mt second baby. I get no warning at all. Unsweetened cranberry juice will get rid of it in a day or two, but if you are worried about, ahem *making a mess* , and you can't spend all day sitting on the toilet, you can fold a couple of clean cotton socks and stick them in your underwear like a pantyliner. It's not glamorous but it gets the job done. You can tend to your kids and go to the store for medicine without worrying you will pee your pants. Anonymous

Baby Care

Pure cornstarch cures diaper rash better than any OTC remedy I've ever tried. Amy

Feet

Listerine is wonderful for a great foot soak. It's a very powerful disinfectant and will keep your feet smelling yummy. I like the vanilla mint. Cassandra

Fever

Soak socks in vinegar and put on clean feet (stick a towel underneath). Wear until they dry out. Maybe an hour or two. Take temperature, it should have come down a bit. June

Lice

Natural Remedy for Lice: 3 tblspoon baby shampoo 3 tblspoon olive oil 1 tsp tea tree oil 1 tsp eucalyptus oil. Leave on hair for 30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly.  Jen

Taking Pills

If your kid has to take yucky pills or medicine, have them suck on a popsicle first. It will numb their tongue and sense of taste long enough to make swallowing easier. Jennifer

OKay. That's it for today. Feel free to chime in the comments with your favorite home remedy. Also, this is the part when I am supposed to encourage you to seek professional medical help in cases of serious illness, but I am going to assume we all have enough common sense to know that much already. Right? Right. Stay safe and healthy everyone!