Wet Sock Treatment

So my lovely and open minded readers... I would like to share with you something really useful today! If you or your kids feel stuffed, are coughing, or have a fever, this remedy will help release the symptoms and it will help you sleep better. You don't have to buy any icky over the counter medicines or decongestants... just trust me on this one. (However, I am not a doctor and all is based on my doctor's recommendation and my own and my friends' many years of experience with this method)

This hydrotherapy technique works for flu symptoms, earaches, soar throats, sinus infections, cold symptoms, upper respiratory infections and anything else related. 

You will need:

Pair of Cotton socks

Pair of Wool socks

Towel

Very warm water in sink/bucket (as warm/hot as you can handle)

Very cold water

RIGHT BEFORE BEDTIME...

Make sure that you are comfortably warm, dressed in something you will be going to bed in. Prepare the COTTON socks by soaking them in very cold water. Then put your feet in warm water. The water should be as hot as you or your child can handle. Soak your feet for about 10 minutes. The trick is you don't want the water to cool down so don't stay there longer than 10 minutes. Then pull your feet out and right away dry them with towel. Squeeze all the water out of the cotton socks (very cold/freezing) and put them immediately on your nicely warmed up feet. Put dry wool socks over them and make your way to bed right away. Avoid getting chilled!

Keep the socks on overnight, you will find the wet socks dry in the morning.

So how does the wet sock treatment actually work?

Instead of medicine, your body is doing all the work in healing your symptoms. As your feet cool down, the veins constrict and send good nutrients into your body. And as your feet start slowly warming up, the veins expand and the bad stuff is disposed off by your body. The alternation of hot and cold stimulates your circulation and puts your immune system into a hyper active mode.

Some extra tips:

• Repeat this therapy for at least 3 days of your sickness
• When my kids were babies, I used to give them a warm bath instead of the foot bath - it was recommended by my doctor at the time
• I used cotton socks and footsies for my babies as wool socks wouldn't stay on over night
• My little kids don't like the feeling of cold socks on their warm feet but over the time they learned that this really makes them feel better and helps them sleep so they now do it without complaining
• Make sure you go lay straight down as this works best when your body is in horizontal position and is warm

As an immune system boost during the time of sickness I always use echinacea tincture for the whole family.

Onion syrup for the coughing days

Yes indeed, the season has started. The season, in which we get cold and cough so easily that we sometimes can't keep up! We are trying to strengthen our immune system using only natural remedies and herbal teas!

This one was reintroduce to me by a friend, who makes wonderful home remedies, teas and syrups from her own home grown herbs. You can find her on her Facebook page over here. 

I said "reintroduce" only because this home remedy was used by my grandmother on regular basis when I was a little girl, I only forgot all about it by now. 

You will need:

1 medium size onion

White sugar (I used organic raw)

Glass jar with a top

Cut up the onion into strips and start layering the onion and sugar into the jar. I start with an onion and continue with sugar, following with a layer of onion and sugar agin. I repeat this pattern until I reach the top of the jar. You don't have to fill it up all the way to the top. Simply stop where you need to stop.

Because of the smaller size of the jar I had some onion left over.

Let it sit for 24 hours on your kitchen counter. The onion layered with sugar releases its juices and you will be left with yummy sweet onion syrup. I use tea strainer to pour it out. It will last in your fridge for a week or so. Take it as you need for your cough, every couple of hours. 

In addition to this syrup, we always use raw honey and echinacea to treat cough.