Everyone needs an herbal medicine chest to combat anything from cuts & scrapes to colds, flu & everything in between. Here are the medicines I have in my herbal medicine chest. You can make them or buy them. All of the herbal tinctures are diluted in water before ingesting.
Herbs For Your Medicine Chest
Echinacea tincture – clears up chronic infections and bacterial infections such as boils, snake & spider bites and staph. Dosage is 30-50 drops of tincture. For fevers use 1 drop of echinacea for every 2 lbs of body weight. Take every 2 hrs to begin, decreasing as symptoms lessen. This tincture stimulates the white blood cells in order to fight off infection and viruses, making it very useful in the early stages of colds and flu. If you feel a cold coming on take 1 tsp of echinacea tincture every 2 hours for up to 12 hours.
Yarrow tincture – has bitter properties and is stimulating to the gallbladder and other digestive organs. Take it before meals to help prepare your body to digest your food properly. Take a small amount in a glass of water before meals.
To prevent colds, use yarrow tincture 5-10 drops daily, to treat colds use a dropper full every 3-4 hrs decreasing as the cold tapers off.
To prevent bites from black flies, mosquitoes & ticks spray yarrow tincture on exposed skin. You can treat bites you get with yarrow tincture.
The tincture assists with almost every system in the body. It is used for many different ailments, including colds and flu, cramps, fevers, digestive complaints & disorders, nose bleeds, skin irritations and infections. It also regulates the menses, stimulates the flow of bile and is an excellent blood purifier. Use yarrow to clean wounds then wet the dressing with yarrow tincture and apply to the wound.
St. John’s Wort tincture – is used to relieve inflammatory pain, anxiety and mild depression and to speed wound healing when used as a topical application. It also improves capillary circulation, increases cardiac circulation and ease gastrointestinal distress.
The tincture is useful for viral infections including colds & flu. Dosage is 25 drops of tincture every 2 hrs. The tincture relieves headaches quickly. Dosage is 25 drops of tincture every 5-10 minutes for up to 2 hrs. St. John’s Wort tincture eases flu & colds, depression, SAD, muscles spasms & pain. It is soothing to the nerves and is very healing for nerve ending illnesses such as Chicken Pox, Shingles and the Herpes virus. St. John’s Wort is a restorative tonic to the entire nervous system, calming and soothing frayed nerves.
I have St. John’s Wort tincture for sale in my Shopify shop.
St. John’s Wort oil – is excellent for cramps and muscle aches. Massage 25 drops every 30 minutes into sore muscles. Apply frequently to skin rashes to heal skin irritations.
To prevent sunburn apply liberally to exposed skin, to treat sunburn apply every 5 – 10 minutes or as needed to relieve pain.
Motherwort tincture – relieves hot flashes & night sweats almost immediately, take 20-30 drops at the beginning of the hot flash or night sweats. It helps you get back to sleep.
It is very helpful for cramping during menstruation, take 10 drops every 20 minutes or as needed. For PMS use 10 drops 2x a day for 7-10 days before menstruation.
Motherwort tincture regulates and tonifies the functioning of the thyroid, blood vessels, liver, heart and uterus. For best results use 5-25 drops of tincture in a glass of water daily for 3 months.
Take motherwort tincture as a heart tonic, also helps prevent heart attacks in women.
Used regularly, motherwort helps relax and release any tension, nervousness & anxiety. Use 10-20 drops as soon as you feel your nerves starting to fray or just before a stressful event. Repeat every five minutes if needed.
Women with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia respond strongly to motherwort, with pain relief evident in a few hours to a few days. Start with 10-20 drops, and repeat every 15 minutes until you get relief. I have motherwort tincture for sale in my Shopify shop.
Dandelion root tincture – a few drops can be taken before meals to prevent gas and after meals for heartburn. It is a well known digestive herb. It’s also known as a cleansing herb that supports healthy liver and kidney function. The same cleansing action is used as a blood purifier that can help reduce blood cholesterol. It is a gentle diuretic, dandelion tincture is used as a treatment for UTIs and water retention.
Plantain oil – has antibacterial anti-inflammatory properties it helps prevent infection and relieves pain, itching and burning. Apply the oil 2 – 3 times a day.
Slippery Elm balls – treat indigestion and upset stomach. It gives relief to many digestive issues such as Crohn’s disease, gastritis, acid ingestion, ulcerative colitis, diarrhea, GERD, diverticulitis and IBS.
See my post on making slippery elm balls here
Violet leaf oil – soothes inflamed skin and can help tame rashes, hives and eczema. It helps moisturize, tone and heal the skin. Apply violet leaf oil topically for fibrosyctic breast conditions, plugged milk ducts and mastitis. Violet leaf oil soothes any kind of skin inflammation. I have violet leaf oil for sale in my shop.
Hops tincture – hops flowers have a calming effect on the body and helps relieve insomnia and anxiety. Its sedative effects are particularly useful when this tension leads to restlessness and headache. It is also effective for nervous exhaustion or tension and nerve pain. Hops may be used as an herbal pain reliever, relieving aches and pains such as period pain, nerve pain, earaches, headaches, and toothaches. Hops aid in digestive problems, such as stomach infections, diarrhea, indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), ulcers, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease.
Take 20 drops in a glass of water 3 times daily for anxiety or 10 drops with water up to 5 times daily for digestion.
Do not give to children. Do not take if you are pregnant or nursing.
Elderberry syrup – a wonderful soothing cough syrup and flu fighter. Elderberries have immune enhancing properties to lessen the symptoms and shorten the duration of colds, coughs, and flu. Elderberries are known to boost the immune system, improve heart health and kick butt for coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections. This remedy can be used as either a preventative or during acute illness and is safe for children older than 12 months. See my post on making elderberry syrup here
Garlic syrup – is great for most lung disorders, including sore throat and hoarseness, coughs, asthma, lung congestion, difficulty in breathing, as well as chronic bronchitis. It greatly assists in loosening phlegm from your lungs through expectoration. Garlic syrup is easily made by slicing thin pieces of a garlic clove or two into a jar and adding enough honey to cover the garlic slices. Let this set for an hour and the honey becomes thinner as it draws out the beneficial properties of garlic, infusing it into the honey.
The herbal medicines listed can be made or bought over time, there’s no need to rush out and buy them all or try to make them all. As you can add one or two to your herbal medicine chest. These herbal medicines are powerful and treat a wide variety of health issues.
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