Candice took the older three kids trick or treating for the first time this year, and they had a great time. Luckily it was on a Saturday so we had family over and they all went together, then watched a Scooby Doo mystery movie afterward (it goes with the spooky theme).

Of course during the movie they had their candy “loot” spread all over the floor in the TV room, and were happily gorging on assorted chocolate and sugar sweets. Near the end of the movie Kayin began doubling over in pain, screaming that his stomach hurt. So I put some nutmeg in a cup of water and gave it to him to drink. He said it helped and stopped screaming, and said he was fine as long as he had the cup with him. He was about to resume his feast when I reminded him that he already had too much and took his basket away for the night.

The next day Demitri broke out in a rash of little red bumps all over his skin so we felt good about putting away (not quite throwing away yet, but we’ll get there!) the rest of the candy in all three baskets. Demitri needed some rest so we put him to bed early that night after Candice gave him some herbs to help clear the toxins from his body.

I had a sinus infection a couple weeks ago that actually helped me feel more confident about my health.  I have a lot of personal experiences with sinus infections but this time I was able to overcome it without the need for antibiotics and that feels good even just to think about.  So here’s my story:

The kids had been coughing on me for a while due to illnesses being passed around at school (and our ear infection episode), and finally I felt my throat getting sore and my sinuses began to hurt.  One morning I woke up early with extreme sinus pain and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I decided to mix up some of my natural nasal decongestant, and that felt like it burned up the infection in my sinuses - it was great, there was much less pain!  But I was busy at work that week, and the next day I stayed up until midnight finishing a project.

That intensity brought the infection back, much stronger, and the ginger mix didn’t help as much (though it did some, I took it twice the next day).  The pain was so bad the next night that I couldn’t even go to sleep, so I stayed up watching Jackie Chan movies to try and distract myself.  In between movies I would sit still and try to meditate for a little while until the pain became my focus again.  I also drank some water and ate some corn tortilla chips (I hadn’t eaten much that day except for some soup, and corn is drying so I hoped it would help reduce the mucus drainage).  I also ate a few ginger chews that night (a candy made of basically sugar and ginger, with the consistency of taffy).  Candice bought those ginger chews for me a few months before but they were too strong for me then, that night they went down easy.

So after a few movies the sun came up and so did everyone else.  Candice suggested I try using a hot/cold compress to help with the pain, so I did and I felt so much better that I was able to sleep (sitting up) for 4 hours!  Here is how that works (we learned this from a Naturopath in Oregon a few years ago):

Take 2 washcloths and get them both wet.  Put one in the freezer and one in the microwave for 30 seconds to one minute (or if you don’t have one - like us - you can put it in a pan with some water on the stove and heat it up).  You want to get it hot enough so you can barely touch it but not so hot that it burns your skin.  Then put the hot wet washcloth on your face where it hurts (sinus area or forehead if you have a headache).  Hold it there for about 2 minutes (if it doesn’t stay warm you may need to heat it up again during that time), then put it back in the hot water or in the microwave while you grab the cold one from the freezer and put that on your face (I usually stand up straight and press on the painful areas through the washcloth to focus the heat/cold on them).  After about 30 seconds, put the cold washcloth back in the freezer, make sure the other one is heated up, and repeat the process one or two more times.

So after I had a good nap, I felt much better and was able to eat some more that day and get to sleep that night (after using another hot/cold compress before bed).  I was feeling even better the next day and life got back to normal a bit, but I still had some drainage in my throat and I was still coughing up some mucus in the mornings.  The mucus had become clear and my sinuses felt much better (though they were still a bit tender) so I thought the infection was over.

However, when Candice took a look at my tongue a couple days later she said there was still an external pathogen in my system (which made sense because the mucus became colorful again the next day).  She told me to take some triphala, so I took about half a teaspoon mixed with some water twice a day for 2 days.  On the third day I had a loose stool, so that’s when I knew I needed to back off with the triphala (it has a laxative effect).  Candice suggested I cut back on the triphala and add a pinch of trikatu, only once a day.  So I did that for a couple days and then stopped.  By then I had no sinus pain (not even tenderness), my bowels returned to normal (after being loose for a couple days), and the mucus drainage had stopped altogether.  Life is good

Here is a before and after picture of Nickalus eating some of my home-made nasal decongestant - he actually seemed to like it, he had four bites before spitting any out!

Two days ago I was playing star wars with my two older boys, Kayin and Demitri. We each had a plastic retractable light saber and were sword fighting outside. I tried to get Eden to join us, but she declined to engage in our driveway battle. I was having a good time with Kayin while Demitri was getting his jacket and shoes on (and finding his light saber), but when Demitri came out I found myself on the retreat. Kayin kept a safe distance away while we hit the light sabers together, but Demitri came at me like a wild banshee, swinging his light saber like an axe while he lunged towards me smiling and laughing. At one point he smacked my fingers with a crazy swing and I took a time out to look for gloves, wincing from the pain. Unfortunately I didn’t find any, but soon afterwards I was able to convince them that we should go inside and have lunch.

Candice was at her office preparing her herbs 4 kids class that she will teach next week, so I kept busy making food for all of us to eat and didn’t do anything about my bruised finger. But the next morning it was very painful, so I put on a healing paste as I learned from my ayurvedic home remedies book (this is found in the section on sprains and strains, but it applies to bruises too):

Apply a Healing Paste. Make a paste out of 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon salt, with enough water to form the paste. Use cool water. Applying it to the injury will help reduce swelling.

Almost immediately the throbbing pain subsided, and now (a day later) the swelling is completely gone and my finger is not even tender!

We all had a wonderful holiday break from school and gained more first hand experience in healing ear infections then ever before. When the fevers and coughing turned into earaches and fluid draining from the ears of both our babies, we knew we had to do something. It came to a head when Hani refused to eat and was too weak and in pain to do anything but cry and be held (I think that was the day after the fluid started draining from one of Hani’s ears and both of Nickalus’ ears, as well as their noses). We had started putting garlic and mullein ear drops in their ears the day before but it wasn’t getting better, so we pulled out all our books, did some more research and came up with the following remedies that we used to help both our babies heal from their ear infections:

External Applications (in the ears, using cotton balls and Q-tips):

• Turmeric, Hing (Asafoetida), Neem oil, Colloidal Silver with Tea Tree oil spray, and ear drops (Garlic and Mullein in an olive oil base). First, the colloidal silver with tea tree oil spray was used to sanitize the Q-tip that we used to clean the fluid out of the ear. Colloidal silver and tea tree oil are natural antibiotics and antiviral. Once the ear was clear of any noticeable fluid, we moistened a small cotton ball with the Garlic/mullein oil and with neem oil. Garlic and neem are well known for their antibacterial properties. Mullein is very soothing and takes away inflammation. After the cotton balls were slightly moistened with the oil, we rolled them in a mixture of turmeric and hing. Turmeric is antimicrobial plus has properties that heal skin tissue and decrease inflammation. Hing works like the garlic with its pungent smell to kill infection, but it also is very drying and helps to dry out the inner ear. We put these on cotton balls and put them in both babies’ ears, securing them with body tape.

Internal Applications (mixed with almond milk or water in a bottle):

• Tea made by boiling water with goldenseal powder, hing, turmeric, trikatu, and honey in it. Goldenseal, although expensive is a very powerful natural antibiotic. It can be used both externally and internally in small amounts. Hing and trikatu (an Ayurvedic herb) works by increasing the body’s digestive activity to help boost the immune system. And turmeric again works like an antibiotic in the body. For every 2 cups of water or liquid, we used 1/8 to 1/4tsp of each herb. It is important to add the honey to this mixture when putting it in the bottle (don’t heat the honey). All of these herbs are very bitter and pungent (they don’t taste very good). We used Vanilla flavored Almond Milk bought at the store, so there was some sugar in this. If your child is under a year old and you do not feel comfortable using honey, you can substitute stevia or molasses. This tea or mixture helps heal the infections from the inside out and can be given when ever they want a drink.
• Honey and Trikatu on a spoon is an ayurvedic home remedy for runny noses or productive (with mucus) coughs. Mucus builds in the digestive system first, before it shows up running out of a nose or rattling around in their lungs. Trikatu is a powerful herbal formulation that helps stimulate the digestive fire and dries up mucus in the digestive tract, boosting the immune system and enabling the body to get rid of the mucus. Adding a small pinch of trikatu to a spoon full of honey is an effective and quick way of getting rid of mucus in the lungs. The honey is essential, not only for taste (trikatu tastes like chilli pepper mixed with black pepper), but energetically honey brings the healing power of the herb to the lungs and upper body region. They work together to clear the digestive system and the lungs of mucus. Trikatu should not be used long term in children. Only for acute conditions and never longer than 5 days in children, the elderly, and pregnant women. The trikatu and honey combination can be given up to 3 times a day as needed.

Below is a picture of all the items (except the honey, I forgot to put that in the picture) we used to address the ear infections. We have access to the ayurvedic herbs - neem oil, goldenseal, and trikatu - because Candice is a medical herbalist. And if you want help locating these herbs, feel free to contact Candice through her website at phxherbs4kids.com. All these items are not necessary, but we had them on hand so we used them all:

Food:

• Cut up Figs and Dates - figs are excellent for children, and dates promote health and vitality. They are also good during teething, as their texture helps massage the gums. During ear infections, the movement of the jaw chewing also breaks down mucus in the inner ear and allows it to drain, breast feeding also does this.
• Almond Milk - we switched from raw goats milk to almond milk in their bottles to help reduce the amount of mucus involved during this time. If your child has lots of mucus, in the ear or lungs, it is important to avoid mucus producing foods; such as dairy products, cold foods and drinks, processed sugar, fried foods, and berries.
• Rice Porridge made in a similar fashion as my oatmeal

The morning after putting all those herbs in the babies ears on cotton balls taped to their heads with body tape, we were excited to see them acting more like themselves again (see picture to the right). This was very encouraging, they began eating again and wanting to play. A couple days later we got rid of the tape (and some of their hair, we cut some to make the tape removal less painful) but kept using turmeric and hing to keep reducing the fluid that was still draining a bit from their ears (as well as the ear drops to ensure the infections get totally resolved).

As you can see below, they are recovering very nicely - their ears are a bit orange because of the turmeric, but that’s okay. We used these remedies religiously for 5 days. It is important to be consistent with this treatment. As we found, stopping the remedy for a day or two resulted in increased drainage from the ears, specifically from Nickalus. We are back to using the turmeric and hing on a Q-tip that had been sprayed with the colloidal silver/tea tree oil rubbed in the ear two times a day. We will continue to treat them until there is no sign of fluid.

For plenty more home remedies which will empower you to take control of your own health, click on the book pictured to the right.

The picture of Hani shows the molar he pushed through in the back during this episode - he’s also working on the molar on the other side and an eye tooth - sickness often comes during teething due to the stress on the immune system during that time.

I have dealt with sinus congestion for all of my life, and I’ve tried many different ways to help, with varying success.  One thing I’ve found useful lately is based on something I learned about during the Ayurvedic cooking seminar I attended with Dr. Vasant Lad in New Mexico last year. 

Dr. Lad prepared Chai Tea for everyone on Saturday morning and I reacted badly to the milk in it.  I was willing to try it because he spoke about the spices in it (cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg if I remember correctly) and said they reduce the mucilaginous properties of the milk.  But unfortunately it didn’t do the trick for me.  So I mentioned this during the class, and Dr. Lad took my pulses and gave me a few ginger slices with lime juice and salt on them to eat, in order to stimulate my agni (this is the name for the digestive fire in Ayurveda) and burn up some of the ama, or toxins, that were the cause of my sinus issues.

I had a hard time with the ginger slices, but the cooking class was continuing so it wasn’t really the time to address it.  Recently I discussed it with Candice and she suggested I try adding some coconut flakes to help relieve some of the shock of the strong mixture.  I tried that and now I have some every morning before breakfast, and it’s an instant relief every day for my sinuses and helps get rid of nasal drip also.  I have been using ginger paste from a jar because we have it, but I may start buying the actual ginger roots once I empty the jar.

A few years ago I purchased a book which detailed another process to help relieve nasal congestion. The focus of the book was asthma, but I was able to use the techniques (developed by a Russian doctor) to help provide much needed sinus relief for myself. I wasn’t able to find that same book recently when I looked for it, but I did find a similar one, called Dramatic Asthma Relief.

I remember in college one day a nutritionist came and spoke to the gymnastics team and told us that it is important to eat within an hour after working out.  He said this would help the muscles rebuild faster.  I noticed afterwards that I didn’t feel so wiped out if I ate soon after working out.  So 10 years or so later, as I’m trying to get back “in shape”, I have a drink that helps me feel nourished after working out.  I don’t spend hours working out now like I did back in college, but I still feel the effects of a half hour of fun, strenuous activity (whether it’s raking leaves or warming up to do circles on my mushroom). 

My nourishing after workout tonic is actually a type of medicated milk.  I have been allergic to milk for as long as I can remember (I grew up eating cheese-less pizzas, soymilk in my cereal, and “Dreamy Tofu” was my ice cream), but I learned about medicated milk from Dr. Vasant Lad at an Ayurvedic cooking seminar I attended (where I learned how to make poha and chapatis) in New Mexico back in March.  The seminar was based on the book Dr. Lad wrote called Ayurvedic Cooking for Self Healing, which I had been trying to learn from for several months.  In the book there are actually a few different kinds of medicated milk, but the one that I like the best is the one with turmeric.  The picture above is what I made the other night after doing 45 circles on the mushroom.  Here is the recipe (from Dr. Lad’s book, pictured to the left):

“1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup milk
1/4 cup water
Mix all ingredients and heat to boiling point. Continue to cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until there is 1 cup of liquid left.
*This is good for pharyngitis, laryngitis and hoarseness of the voice. It is also effective for acute tonsillar congestion and acute kapha-pitta conditions of the lungs. It is a natural antiseptic.”

When I prepare it I don’t use that much water and I cook it on high since I have an electric stove (unlike Dr. Lad who insists on gas stoves, even in the cooking class). I also put the pot into a larger pot or bowl of cold water after cooking to cool it down faster while I keep stirring to prevent a skin forming on the surface.

I was amazed when I tried it for the first time, it actually helped reduce my allergies.  I used raw goats milk from a local farm, which we happened to have because we wanted to give Nickalus something better than commercial formula (he joined our family last year when he was 4 months old).  I’ve tried pastuerized milk from the store and I reacted badly to it, so I stuck to the raw milk (see www.realmilk.org for a source near you).

A couple nights ago Kayin (our 6 year old son) came down after we put the kids to bed and he had a bad case of hiccups. I remembered finding something for Demitri about 8 months ago that worked great, so I looked up hiccups in my Ayurvedic Cooking for Self-Healing book (the one pictured to the right). Here is what I wrote back in April about our experience with Demitri:

One day last week our four-year-old son Demitri had the hiccups when we were getting everyone ready for bed. I remember reading about a recommendation for hiccups in my ayurvedic-cooking book, so I decided to give it a try. Here is the recommendation:

“To stop hiccoughs, eat 2 chopped bananas mixed with 1 teaspoon of ghee, ½ teaspoon of honey and 2 pinches of ginger powder.”
-Ayurvedic Cooking for Self Healing by Usha Lad and Dr. Vasant Lad, page 189

I already had half a banana left from one of my children on the counter so I put it in a little bowl, cut it up with a butter knife and fork, used a spoon to put in a little bit of ghee, used the knife to add a little bit of honey (the honey we use has never been heated so it is semi-solid), and added one shake of ginger powder. Then I mixed everything up and gave a spoonful to my son. Although it tasted sweet to me he was in a sad mood and said he didn’t like it, but after one bite he didn’t have any more hiccups! He hasn’t had any hiccups since then, but I won’t forget this remedy – it brought us great relief, since hiccups at bedtime can keep everyone up late.

This time I didn’t have any leftover bananas and Kayin said he was hungry so I used one whole banana, broke it into pieces, then added half a spoonful of ghee, half a spoonful of honey, and a few shakes of ginger powder. After mixing it up I gave it to Kayin. He liked it and dug in, but halfway through he stopped and said he was done eating and done with hiccups, and proceeded to go lay down and go to sleep. I got to eat the rest, it was Yummy!

Our family just went through a wave of diarrhea/stomach flu, and a few days ago Candice had it bad so I wanted to help her feel better quickly (with 5 kids ages 6 months to 6 years we both need to be well as much as possible). So I found this recommendation for Diarrhea in my Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies:

Cook one or two apples until they are mushy, then add 1 teaspoon ghee, a pinch of cardamom, and a pinch of nutmeg. Eat slowly. This mixture is not only delicious, it will also help stop diarrhea right away.

So after a quick trip to the nearest grocery store for apples, I cut one up, cored it, peeled off the skin, and sauteed it in a pan with a little water so it wouldn’t burn. When I could squish all the pieces with a fork, I added a little bit of ghee, cardamom, and nutmeg, mixed it up and put it into a bowl for Candice. She doesn’t normally like fruit so I only started with one, but she said it felt good to her. However, Nickalus ate most of the first apple so I cooked 2 more. By the end of the day Candice and the kids went through almost 6 apples. Fortunately I had some leftover that I put in the fridge because I needed it a couple days later:)

This afternoon the kids were playing in the backyard and I had just opened the sliding glass door to plead with them to not take apart the travel cage for our rabbit that Candice bought this week. Eden (our 2 yr old daughter was near the door so I told her to watch out before I closed it. She stuck her fingers in just before it closed and they got smashed.

She started a constant panic crying at that point, so I brought her inside and gave her a couple homeopathic arnica pills (we call them “hurt pills”) but as soon as she had closed her mouth over them she continued her panic crying.

Her fingers were already swelling up, so I tried making a paste of turmeric and salt (recommended for swelling in the home remedies book - see link to the right) and she let me put a little bit on her fingers, but that didn’t seem to help (not right away, at least). Then I got a teacup, put a bunch of salt in the bottom, and filled it with almost hot water and told Eden to put her fingers in it. She did so willingly, and I could see a visible relief as she relaxed her shoulders and switched into normal crying mode.

After a few minutes, she began getting distracted and only cried when her awareness was brought back to her fingers since she had to stand in one place while soaking them (I would recommend using a mug rather than a teacup in this situation because the teacup kept falling over). After about 15 minutes she was playing in the water and it seemed like she forgot which hand got hurt. The swelling had already been reduced almost back to normal. So I told her to go wash her hands and get them dried off, and within an hour she was climbing and playing like nothing had happened!

I have dealt with a lot of poopy issues as a parent of five children. My oldest and my youngest children were and are constipated babies. As a baby, my oldest child, who was exclusively breast-fed the first 6 months of his life was very constipated. He would have a bowel movement once a week. A big blow-out at that. I had a few friends who said that some babies “just don’t go as often”. My family care MD said that breast-milk was a laxative and he couldn’t figure out why the baby was constipated.

When we first started giving our oldest solid food at 6 months, he became very very constipated. It was so bad, that one time he didn’t poop for 2 weeks. And when that bowel movement came, it was hard like rabbit poop and very painful. I knew something had to be done. So I started giving him water. I was told by several people, including lactation consultants that breast-fed babies don’t need water and that if they get water too soon, it can damage their kidneys. There is some truth to excessive water intake at an early age can weaken the Kidney system. But I learned that a blanket statement, such as “breast-fed babies don’t need water” does not apply to every baby!

Once I started offering my son water (an ounce or two at a time), his bowel movements occured once or twice a week and they weren’t as hard. I came to a conclusion that my baby was just dehydrated. In fact, I was too. By increasing my water intake, it also helped my baby get re hydrated. Another thing we did to help move his bowels more is we switched his diet. He was only 6 or 7 months old, but we switched to only feeding him Fruit-Eze. Fruit-Eze is a puree of dates, raisins, and prunes (see fruiteze.com). We started feeding him it thinned out with water at least twice a day. Within a week, his bowels were moving daily.

Once he was having a bowel movement every day, I noticed some positive changes in him. He wasn’t as fussy at bed time. My son was never ‘colicky’. But at night he would be fussy and pull his legs to his chest, etc. That quit! His eczema had also cleared up, and his allergies were better. We were doing a few other things at this time, like using natural laundry soap and no fabric softener; eating more organic foods; using natural cleaning products; and giving 1/8tsp of vinegar (pickle juice) to my son daily *I’ll be writing a post on how Apple Cider Vinegar healed my son’s allergies and asthma soon.

The concept is simple. When elimination happens, healing can happen. When your body is full of crap (literaly) and thus toxins, illness will surface. Whether that is eczema, food and environmental allergies, reoccurring colds/flus, runny noses, ear infections….I could go on, but this is a Good Feeling Place and I want to continue feeling good.

Anyways…my youngest child is still a baby at the writing of this post. He is almost an identical copy to my oldest son. He too is frequently constipated and only has a poopy diaper about every 5 days. He also is exclusively breast-fed and is currently not interested in food at 6 months old. I do offer him a bottle of water through out the day. More if we are out side. He seems interested in taking the water. But it doesn’t have the same immediate effect as it did with my oldest. So I assume that my baby is not as dehydrated as my first child was.

One time when we were on vacation, my baby hadn’t pooped in about 6 days, so I knew he would be going soon. I switched his regular filtered water out with a product called Smart Water (you can find it at grocery stores, Walmart, Sam’s Club). Smart Water is basically vapor distilled water with added Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium, and Potassium (3 basic minerals everyone needs). After my baby drank about 1/2 oz of Smart Water, he pooped instantly. About every 2 oz of Smart Water I gave him, he’d poop. We had his bowels moving daily for a week straight. I was amazed at how much he could actually poop! And then I thought, I can’t believe he wasn’t going every day!

Minerals work for constipation because they heavy in nature. Its heaviness sort of pulled everything down and out of my son–if you want to think of it that way. That is also why those 3 minerals are important if you have leg cramps. Its heaviness pulls the nutrients and energy down to the legs and into the muscles to nourish them. The daily bowel movements went off and on for about 3 weeks. Then we were back to being constipated.

I am not sure how I heard of this [editor’s note: see home remedies book below], but I tried the ol’ warm salt water technique. You heat up in a pan on the stove as much water as you want to put in a bottle. Then you sprinkle salt (preferable rock salt-think minerals) into the pan and stir. You will want to season to taste. The water needs to be salty enough that it will make you pucker or gag, but not too salty that you feel you need to drink clean water get the taste out of your mouth. Once you got the right taste, give the warm salt water to your baby. Preferably do this first thing in the morning before feeding if possible. I am not certain how much each child will have to drink. The first time I tried this on my baby, he drank 4-5 swallows and then he had a poop. Another time, he drank 3oz and then pooped later that afternoon.

The salt water works because the salty taste drains downward. Just like the minerals do. The salty taste also increases fluids in the body, specifically the Intestines. For instance, Salted Lime Water will rehydrate you if you have sun stroke (or are out in the sun too long); also Epsom salt is a good laxative for adults.

Our baby still has issues with constipation. He is still strictly breast-fed and I am trying to eliminate foods from my diet to help him, but that is a challenge for me. The herbals I am giving him are helping to increase his digestive ability long term, along with the probiotics. Right now, the warm salt water bottle is our fix for acute constipation. Hope all of this helps some of you.

Peace and Blessings