Natural remedy for eczema and dry skin

Dry skin and eczema often comes together. I have inherited dry skin from my late mother whom I remembered had scaly and peeling dry skin on her legs during her later years. I too I noticed had scaly and peeling skin, not only on my legs, but on my face as well.

In addition, I suffered from extensive eczema on my back many years ago. When I was in San Jose, California, because of the dry air, I noticed my leg itching and peeling skin on my legs the next day after arrival.

Using Oilatum soap recommended by a Dermatologist (skin doctor) didn't help much. So how did I solved my dry skin and eczema problems? Simple. I just stopped using soap (except for washing hands and also when using soap is unavoidable which is not often). I just used plain water for bathing.

Did bathing with plain water caused any problems such as body odour? Nope, as far as my observations went. None of my family complained of body odour. Neither did my friends complain of body odor when we gather together. I never notice people moving away when I am forced to be near them such as passengers on public transport or private cars.

I am still monitoring this simple plain water for bathing remedy for dry skin and eczema and will report further developments in due course.

How I beat constipation naturally

I used to suffer from constipation. I used to go for days without a bowel movement, then had to really struggle and strain for my next bowel movement resulting in hard stool (feces). Then may follow increasingly loose stool. Then the next cycle repeats again - many days with no bowel movement, strain hard, hard stool followed by loose stool. The way I broke the cycle is to really increase my fiber intake, eating lots vegetables and fruits plus drink sufficient water.

Not to be forgotten is the need to go immediately to the toilet the moment you sense something in your rectum or you get the urge to defecate. Try your best not to postpone going to the toilet.

Then slowly my bowel movement began to become more regular and easy. For months now I no longer suffer from constipation.

Leg wraps may save stroke victims

Inflatable leg wraps may be the natural remedy for stroke victims as well as for immobile patients (deep vein thrombosis).

Doctors at Western General Hospital and the University of Edinburgh conducted a trial with 2,876 patients and found that patients who uses cheap leg wraps have fewer blood clots. Prof Martin Dennis said: "At last we have a simple, safe and affordable treatment that reduces the risk of deep vein thrombosis and even appears to reduce the risk of dying after a stroke.

Deep vein thrombosis refers to a blood clot in the leg and if the clot travels to the brain,can be very dangerous. Deep vein thrombosis is likely to strike airline passengers sitting for long period during a long flight, and also immobile patients.

Prof Martin Dennis said: "At last we have a simple, safe and affordable treatment that reduces the risk of deep vein thrombosis and even appears to reduce the risk of dying after a stroke."

Dr Dale Webb of the Stroke Association charity said the results of this research are extremely encouraging and show that using a compression device on the legs of patients at risk of developing blood clots could be an effective treatment and has potential to save thousands of lives. He would like to see it incorporated into national clinical guidelines.

"This new device has the potential to save thousands of lives and we would like to see it incorporated into national clinical guidelines."

Leg wraps are inflatable devices regularly inflated with air to squeeze the legs, improves blood circulation and forces blood back to the heart. They can easily be bought at Amazon at low prices:



Source: Leg wraps raise hopes of saved lives after stroke

Okra: Natural remedy for constipation, acid reflux and others

Here is a very good example of food as medicine. From an email forward:

A guy has been suffering from constipation for the past 20 years and recently from acid reflux. He didn't realize that the treatment could be so simple -- OKRA! (or Lady's Finger). He started eating okra within the last 2 months and since then have never taken medication again. All he did was consume 6 pieces of OKRA everyday.

He's now regular and his blood sugar has dropped from 135 to 98, with his cholesterol and acid reflux also under control. Here are some facts on okra (from the research of Ms. Sylvia Zook, PH.D nutrition), University of Illinois.

Natural remedy for dementia & memory loss - old films

Here is a no medicine remedy for people with dementia or suffering memory loss, watch old films to jog their memory, particularly those showing everyday activities that patients will have experienced at one time or another in their youth.

This is being tried in a project called Memory Bank by YFA (Yorkshire Film Archive) in an 18-month research project.

Such films prompted conversations with the participants on everything from knitted bathing costumes, free school milk and 1960s fashion mistakes and clocking on at work, claims the organizer of Memory Bank.

YFA director Sue Howard said: "Memory Bank is about opening up our collections to a huge range of old people, many of whom face a number of age-related challenges, and who often have very few opportunities to see and enjoy films such as these. Reminiscence therapy and memory work play an invaluable role in improving a sense of personal identity and well being, and stimulating communication and sociability. Memory Bank is a unique proposition - it uses films taken largely from our home movie collections, which are a fantastic visual record of everyday life over the decades. It is these films that trigger our collective memories."

Environmentally friendly natural remedy fo eczema

About one and a half year ago, I was affected by severe eczema at both shoulder blades and back. The doctor gave some steroid cream, emulsifying ointment and moisturizing cream to apply as well as emulsifying soap to bath with. The steroid cream I applied very sparingly but the eczema comes back when its application stopped. The others I applied more liberally but it didn't bring a cure.

The doctor also advised to use soap sparingly, say, alternate days when bathing as the soap strip the skin of moisture which is bad for eczema. I tried increasing the interval between usage of soap and since I don't get any complaints of body odour, I finally stopped using soap and just used water for bathing. Now my skin is smooth and free of eczema. Not only it is effective, it is also environmentally friendly.

Food for hypertension - beetroot juice

Natural remedy for high blood pressure - drink beetroot juice. Want to bring down your blood pressure? Drink beetroot juice.

Amrita Ahluwalia, Professor of Vascular Pharmacology at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry researching the effect of drinking beetroot juice or taking nitrate tablets have shown that both brought down blood pressure within 24 hours. Apparently, the higher the blood pressure, the greater the magnitude of decrease in blood pressure. Their research paper was published the US journal Hypertension

It seemed the nitrate in the beetroot juice when eaten is changed to nitric oxide gas
and this gas keeps the blood vessels open and relaxed and thus reduces the blood pressure.

Beetroot at Amazon

Natural Remedies versus Alternative Medicine Conventional and this blog

What inspired me to write this post is, among others, a paraplegic blogger who asked me to help him earn from his blog. This paraplegic blogger sustained his very serious injuries because of a horrific car accident. His injuries need immediate emergency surgery, and that is conventional medicine. Now in cases like these, what can natural remedies or alternative medicine do? Perhaps later after surgery have helped him stay alive that perhaps some natural remedies or alternative medicine help him in recovery and live a more normal life.

I now consider natural remedies/alternative medicine and conventional medicine as 2 wings of a bird which complement each other or comes into play when the other is of no help. Even conventional medicine is now paying more attention to natural remedies and conventional medicine. Take nutrition for example. Previously, medical schools just cover nutrition on a cursory level only covered in other fields of conventional medicine. In fact, in many medical schools have now made nutrition a compulsory subject. (Landmark decision on nutrition).

Another thing - vaccines. Now this may get natural remedies and conventional medicine die-hard's all riled up, but one cannot deny that many vaccine helped not only where natural remedies cannot, but actually have eradicated some diseases from this surface of the earth.

So while the URL of this blog is foodasmedicine.blogspot.com and the blog title is Natural Remedies, I will try to present both sides of the coin and write about some conventional medicine for which natural remedies and alternative medicine can help little or not at all or where conventional medicine can supplement natural remedies or alternative medicine.

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