This section is particularly useful for the person at home who may not have a handy first-aid kit and wants to give immediate succor and help to a person in distress, since medical aid is not always within reach. To begin with the basic. The first requirement is clean water, whether for drinking, cooking or other domestic purposes. In villages, and often in city homes too, the water we get is not always clean or chlorinated, or at times is downright muddy. The age-old remedy for purifying water was to collect it in a clean container, filtering it through a muslin cloth. The container was often and still is of a particular shape — the ghara.
After water is collected the top surface is touched with a 2″ piece of ‘Alum’ or ‘phitkari’ as it is referred to in simple language. This reacts with the ions on the top surface and starts a process by which impurities get precipitated and settle at the bottom. Most of these are organic in nature, but some inorganic ones settle down too. This water is allowed to stand for four to six hours and then the upper clear water is either taken out mug by mug or the whole container tilted and the water collected in another container. The lower part with the impurities gets left behind due to the particular shape of the container. Do not be over enthusiastic and put too much alum, as it changes the taste making it unpalatable and also unfit for making tea, etc.
Another remedy is the use of drumstick seeds. If there is a drumstick tree in your courtyard, collect the seeds and dry them completely. Powder and store. Add a heaped tablespoon of this powder to a bucket full of water and keep aside for two hours. It gets rid of a particularly trouble some pathogen E. Coli responsible for gastrointestinal and urinary tract infections. Recent studies done in Africa and Indonesia show the efficacy to be 98.1% !!
□ FOLLOWING ARE SOME SPECIFIC REMEDIES FOR SHORT TERM USE FOR SOME COMMON DAY TO DAY CONDITIONS. (INGREDIENTS FOUND IN INDIAN KITCHENS)
Only one treatment should be adopted at any given time. Do not try all of them on a single condition. Depending on the availability try what you will be able to do comfortably, and correctly with least distress to the patient.
When boiling any ingredients for longer periods to get a decoction or soup, avoid using aluminum utensils. A steel or tefal coated vessel or a borosil dish is the best. Even in villages people use steel vessels or silver foil coated vessel.
Juice should be made from freshly washed ingredients chopped into small pieces and either crushed or put through a liquidizer and then strained. A decoction can be made from fresh or dry ingredients by first chopping them into small pieces and crushing them. Half a cupful of this crushed ingredient should then be boiled in four to five times the water and reduced to a quarter. Strain or filter and use. Herbal teas are made by putting the crushed ingredients 1-1 + teaspoon into 2 cups of water and reducing to \\ cup. For an infusion, soak a cup full of fresh crushed ingredients in 4 cups of hot water. Let it cool to room temperature and then use. Pastes can be made by grinding with a little water, milk or oil as specified. As far as possible, everything should be made just before use unless specified. For children use half the doses specified and for infants a quarter of the adult dose.
□ ABDOMINAL COMPLAINTS
1. Pain/flatulence/indigestion, etc
Ajwain : Spasmodic pain in the abdomen related to diarrhoea, dysentery, indigestion, colic, and flatulence gets a measure of relief by eating ajwain. Half to one teaspoon can be ingested with half a glass of warm water. For those who find swallowing this difficult, a decoction can be made by boiling one teaspoon ajwain in a cup of water for five to six minutes. Basically it has a carminative action and helps expel gas from the digestive tract.
Ajwain mixed with dry ginger called ‘sonth’ and black salt in a ratio of 1 teaspoon + \ teaspoon + \ teaspoon divided into 4-5 doses, taken three times a day with warm water is a good temporary measure for colic. For infants and children this could be boiled in water and a teaspoon of the boiled water given.
Boiled water
Infants 1/2 tsp (liquid) 3-4 times a day (Powder should be less than a pinch)
Children 1 to 2-3 tsp 3 times a day (Powder should be (liquid) just a pinchful)
Carminative mixture
Coriander seeds (Dhania)
Fennel seeds or Aniseed (Saunf)
Carom seeds (Ajwain)
Cumin seeds (Jeera)
Caraway (Sha jeera)
Half teaspoon of each of the above, boiled together in a cup full of water, made like tea with a little plain milk or sipped after a particularly heavy meal relieves the feeling of indigestion. This is also good for flatulence.
Mint or pudina tea or chutney made only from its leaves is good for indigestion.
Basil or tulsi leaves boiled in water or had as a herbal tea is good for hyperacidity, heart burn, etc.
2. Nausea and vomiting
Add a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger to a cup of boiling water. Keep aside for five to six minutes. Strain and add sugar to taste. Sip this frequently. Relieves nausea or vomiting during pregnancy, travel sickness, and indigestion.
Keeping a clove in the mouth also gives relief. Drink water in which cloves have been soaked.
Nausea
Cumin seeds/Jeera : Grind them, add a little lime and sail in taste. Take a quarter teaspoon a couple of times a day. Relieve* nausea and vomiting.
Curry leaves (karhi patta) boiled in water or butter milk with a pinch of salt to taste relieves the distress of indigestion, biliousness.