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Kitchen Cupboard Remedies

Linseed poultice

Boiling water should be poured into a bowl and into this sprinkle the linseed. Stir constantly with a knife or spatula until a thick paste is made. The dough should be quickly spread on a warmed piece of cloth, preferably linen, and applied as hot as can be tolerated. Please remember to ask the patient if the temperature is comfortable! Linseed meal retains heaat and moisture for a long time but may irritate delicate or inflamed skin.

Bread poultice

Put slices of bread into a basin, pour over them boiling water and put in a warm place for a few minutes, when the water should be poured off ,replaced by fresh boiling water, poured off again,and the bread pressed, beaten with a fork and made into a poultice. Bread poultices are invaluable for their bland non-irritating properties. Recently (Winter UK 2002) a friend of mine was working in the garden and put a garden fork through the flesh of his foot. The wound became badly septic and began to turn into a cellulitis ascending the leg.The patient felt very unwell, weak and feverish, despite continued antibiotics and a tetanus injection.There were several visits to the GP and changes of antibiotics but to no avail. I advised a bread poultice as the skin was by now sore and breaking down badly, black in places. A bread poultice left on over night grows its own penicillin in the warm moist environment. Over the following week he improved daily leading eventually, over about a month ,to complete cure.The patient himself felt much better in himself from the first days' application. He was also given well indicated Homeopathic remedies but on a local level it was the poultice that gave the greatest comfort and relief. Remedies used were Arnica, Hepar Sulph and a combination of Echinacea, Gunpowder and Pyrogen, all well known for their action in infection which if left could lead to generalized septicaemia (blood poisoning) and gangrene (death of tissue which will then rot).

Charcoal poultice

Mix charcoal (barbecue charcoal from hardware store or super market or art shop) crushed with bread poultice in equal portions and just before the application of the poultice sprinkle the surface with a layer of charcoal. Charcoal may be sprinkled on a wound or ulcer and a simple bread poultice applied over it. Charcoal poultices correct offensive smells from foul sores and encourage a healthier action. Makes wounds cleaner and healthier. Paw paw poultices are made and applied in the same way and recent studies in the UK in the Hospital for Tropical Diseases showed their effectiveness in keeping wounds clean and free of infection

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