One of the popular folk methods of treating colds are procedures using mustard: mustard plasters, compresses, foot baths, etc. Steaming feet with mustard is very effective; this method is widely used by many people of all ages.
Mustard powder helps in the fight against colds, as it improves blood circulation, helps thin mucus, and relieves symptoms.
Benefits of mustard for colds
Mustard contains a lot of essential oils, which is the reason that the main effect of this plant is irritant. The main part of them is in the seeds, which is why they are mainly used both in cooking and in folk medicine; for this they are dried and crushed.
When treating colds, only dry mustard is used, and in cooking, whole grains and oil are also used.
The bitterness and smell of the plant are given by oils, among them allyl mustard, which has good penetrating ability. When it comes into contact with the skin, it causes irritation and blood flow.
This leads to vasodilation and improved blood supply, which is very useful for hypothermia. Mustard also stimulates the functioning of the endocrine glands.
The benefits of baths and other procedures include long-term effects, biochemical processes spread throughout the body, blood flow improves and blood vessels dilate, which promotes a speedy recovery.
For colds, mustard has an antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effect. This is facilitated by the active substances contained in it. The seeds of the plant contain:
- vitamins of group B, A, D, E;
- micro- and macroelements: iron, zinc, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, manganese;
- organic acids: oleic, linoleic, etc.;
- sulfur-containing glycosides.
For what diseases can dry mustard be used?
Any folk recipe is recommended for use for certain diseases. If we talk about mustard and different options for its use, the plant helps with the following pathologies:
- pneumonia;
- acute sinusitis;
- nasal congestion;
- ARVI and acute respiratory infections;
- inflammation of the mucous membranes;
- chronic bronchitis;
- pharyngitis;
- laryngitis.
The plant begins to affect the body after the first use. Dry mustard is used to prepare compresses. The active components enter through the skin and act on inflamed areas.
Cough mustard in children can only be used after consultation with your doctor. Mustard powder is an active agent that can harm the baby if used incorrectly.
In Ancient Greece, the mustard seed was believed to be a strong aphrodisiac. One of the Greek myths says that it was the mustard seed that Zeus used to arouse Aphrodite’s love for the mere mortal youth Anchises.
ARVI
Treatment of colds with mustard
Mustard is recommended by many doctors as an effective folk treatment. It is approved for people of any age; its use helps improve well-being, eliminate runny nose, sore throat and cough.
If the first symptoms of a cold appear, you can take a bath or steam your feet. Dry mustard is effective for coughs: it is added to foot baths, poured into socks, and used as mustard plasters. At the first symptoms of a cold, these methods are most effective.
Mustard for a runny nose also helps. It is included in many recipes.
Mustard in socks for colds
The effectiveness of this procedure is the same as that of using mustard plasters. It has a warming effect on the body. Because the powder remains dry, it acts slowly and the risk of skin irritation is very low.
The treatment method is equally effective for runny nose and cough in adults and children. Its essence is that in the area of the feet there are many nerve endings, the direct impact of which stimulates the activity of the immune system.
The method has limitations in application: it is effective at the onset of the disease and after the end of the acute period. In the first case, it is possible to prevent the development of the disease, in the second, it is possible to speed up the recovery of the body. During the acute period, you should not warm your feet with mustard. This can increase inflammation and provoke the development of complications.
Mustard powder can be purchased at a pharmacy. You will need warm and thin cotton socks. An adult needs to pour 1 tbsp into a sock. l. mustard and put on thin socks and thick ones over them.
Leave it like this until the morning. It is important to dry your feet before putting on socks, otherwise the powder will start to burn. In the morning, dry your skin well and put on warm socks again.
Mustard is poured into the child’s socks in the amount of half or full 1 tsp. You must remember to check that your feet are dry to avoid irritation.
The procedure refers to reflexology and is often used for a runny nose to reduce swelling of the nasal mucosa. Since the effect of this method is milder than mustard plasters, socks can be left on until the morning.
Children under 3 years old should wear thin socks and pour mustard into thick ones. The child should wear a diaper at night so as not to wet the powder. It is also recommended to consult your pediatrician first.
Mustard bath for colds
Under the influence of warm water, skin pores open, and mustard helps cleanse the body. With the help of such a bath you can not only treat a cold, but also relieve stress after a long day of work.
Mustard has a stimulating effect on the sweat glands, promoting their more active work, enhances blood microcirculation, eliminating its stagnation. This leads to a significant improvement in the condition and activation of the immune system.
Essential oils of mint, rosemary, and eucalyptus are often added to a mustard bath. They help relieve stress, normalize the functioning of the respiratory system and are effective as antiseptics.
This bath is easy to prepare: just take ⅓ cup of mustard powder and pour it into hot water.
To prevent lumps from forming, it is better to first pour the powder into a small bowl and add water to it, stirring constantly, and then pour it into the bath. The mustard bath should be as hot as can be tolerated.
The main task is to induce profuse sweating. It is advisable to place a pillow or a rolled towel under your neck. You should not take water procedures for more than 10-20 minutes, otherwise your health may worsen. Afterwards, you need to wash off the remaining mustard under a warm shower.
You should immediately get out of the bath if you feel a burning sensation, this indicates an allergic reaction. Excessively hot baths should be avoided by people who suffer from cardiovascular diseases and pregnant women.
How to make mustard cake for cough
Choose only high-quality mustard powder to prepare cough cakes from honey and mustard . It should have a finely ground structure, a bitter odor and a uniform yellowish-brown color.
The easiest way is to buy the powder at the pharmacy. Be careful when purchasing - check the integrity of the packaging and the release date. If the packaging is damaged, the mustard is exposed to humidity and temperature changes, which destroy enzymes and esters important for treatment. The shelf life of mustard should not exceed 11 months.
Cough cakes with mustard and honey are easy to prepare. Dissolve the dry powder in warm water. The mixture should be thick and not runny, but it should remain plastic so as not to dry out during use.
To get the desired therapeutic effect, use water at a temperature of no higher than 40°C in cough cakes with honey and mustard. Too hot water destroys the enzymes that are responsible for the conversion of synergin, and the warming properties of the compress become weaker.
Also follow some rules when applying:
- Pre-treat your skin with oil or liquid nourishing cream.
- When placing the cake on your chest, try not to touch the heart area. If you place the compress on your back, distribute it over the lung area.
- To prevent the cake from slipping out of place, fix it with a cotton swaddle and wrap it with a warm winter scarf.
Contraindications and precautions
Any medicine can cause significant harm if used incorrectly. The same applies to mustard. It must be used exactly following the instructions and in the absence of contraindications, including:
- Heat. In this case, you cannot do any warming procedures, this can lead to unpleasant consequences. Heat limits the use of mustard plasters and water procedures. Compresses at a temperature are allowed if its value is not higher than 37.5 degrees.
- Pregnancy. Baths with mustard are prohibited, as are other procedures that increase temperature and stimulate blood supply. This can cause premature labor.
- Phlebeurysm. It is a contraindication to water procedures due to the weakness of the walls of blood vessels.
- Injuries, violations of the integrity of the epidermis, heart disease, blood vessels, high blood pressure.
- Long-term illness. It is believed that normally a person should feel better on the 3rd day from the onset of the disease, and on the 5th the temperature should drop. A runny nose lasts a week, a cough lasts no more than three. Exceeding these periods is a signal of the development of complications, which cannot be neglected. If you feel worse, you should call a doctor.
For children, contraindications for treating colds with mustard are as follows:
- individual intolerance;
- acute condition;
- diathesis;
- elevated temperature;
- damage, skin irritation;
- age up to one year.
Contraindications
Any product used to treat the body has both positive and negative properties. Therefore, before you start using mustard, it is worth studying the contraindications to its use:
- It is strictly forbidden to use mustard compresses for children under 3 years of age. Children's skin is very delicate and there is a risk of burns. In addition, mustard can disrupt the functioning of the cardiovascular system.
- Compresses should not be used if tumors are present. Warming up can lead to an increase in malignant tumors.
- Recipes based on mustard powder cannot be used during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
- Skin diseases, rashes, itching are absolute contraindications to the use of folk remedies based on mustard.
- Allergic reactions, individual intolerance to prescription components.
- Mustard compresses are strictly prohibited for use in the treatment of asthma.
The first mustard bath recipe for weight loss
There are two known recipes for mustard baths for weight loss. The first recipe is to stir a glass of mustard in a glass of warm water until a homogeneous mass is obtained. It is allowed to use regular mustard “from a jar”, and not mustard powder. Pour the resulting mixture into a warm bath and dilute thoroughly in water. Sit in the resulting solution for 10-12 minutes, depending on the sensitivity of the skin. After this, rinse your body with warm water without soap, put on warm pajamas and go to bed. Some recipes recommend applying a clay anti-cellulite mask, but this does not make much sense. A course of masks can be carried out upon completion of weight loss. And it is best to supplement mustard baths with a reasonable diet and moderate physical activity.
By the way, mustard baths for weight loss are excellent at combating muscle fatigue, sore throat and fatigue, therefore they are recommended for novice athletes as a means of support. Baths prepared according to this recipe are recommended to be taken every other day for a month. After all, mustard baths for weight loss are quite aggressive. So, you will get a course of 15 procedures. Mustard baths for weight loss should be alternated with milk-salt baths. For one bath, take a liter of full-fat (6%) milk and a kilogram of sea salt. A milk bath can be taken for up to 20 minutes, preferably also before bed.
Mustard compress
Mustard compress is effective for severe dry cough, and is also used in the treatment of acute and chronic bronchitis. It is believed that homemade mustard plaster has a softer and more gentle effect than store-bought ones. By adding oil, you can hold it for much longer, and thereby ensure deeper heating.
To prepare a compress, take one tablespoon each of dry mustard, flour and sunflower oil. Knead all the ingredients like regular dough, and then shape the mixture into a flat cake. Place it on a piece of plastic and apply it to your chest with mustard to your body. Make sure that the mustard cake does not fall on the heart area.
Place a warm scarf or woolen scarf on top of the compress and cover the patient with a blanket. It is recommended to keep the mustard plaster for at least 2 hours. When making such a compress for children, it is important to monitor the condition of the skin. Lift the compress from time to time and check. If severe redness appears, the compress should be removed and the chest should be wiped clean with a wet towel.
After the procedure, it is necessary to carefully remove all remnants of mustard from the chest, then wrap it again in something warm and cover the patient with a blanket. A mustard compress can also be applied to the back, placing it between the shoulder blades.
Improvements should appear after the first mustard warming procedure. The cough becomes wet and the phlegm is cleared more easily. If necessary, the compress can be reapplied, but you need to wait a day or two so that the skin has time to recover from irritation.
Medicinal plants that can cause miscarriage
Folk recipes for preparing decoctions or infusions of medicinal herbs have long helped to terminate pregnancy without abortion.
The following types of herbs are distinguished according to their effect:
- plants that cause uterine hypertonicity
- herbs that cause fetal death
Decoctions are prepared using running water, infusions are prepared using alcohol and vodka. Taking them causes bleeding followed by spontaneous abortion.
Here are some plants used for this purpose:
- Aloe. For this purpose, it can be consumed as pure juice or the leaves can be chewed 4 times. per day.
- Water pepper. The decoction is consumed 2 tbsp. after meals three times a day. 2 tbsp. dried herbs are thrown into a container filled with 2 tbsp. boiling water and bring to a boil. After 3 min. remove from the stove and leave for 30 minutes.
- Anise decoction is prepared according to the same scheme. Consume 20 minutes before meals. 50 ml 3 r. in a day.
- The floater is flattened. 1 tbsp. dried or purchased herb at a pharmacy, pour 2 tbsp. hot water. The decoction takes 7 minutes to prepare. and infuses for about 2 hours. Then it is filtered and taken 3 r. per day 1 tbsp. before eating.
- An alcohol tincture of barberry leaves is made from 2 tbsp. chopped plant and 0.5 tbsp. alcohol Infuse for 2 weeks in a container with a closed lid in a dry place. Use 25 drops three times a day. To relieve the unpleasant taste, it can be diluted with water.
- Decoction of tansy flowers. You can buy this herb at the pharmacy and pour 2 tsp. mixture 2 tbsp. boiling water To get the result, you need to consume no more than 2 tsp of the decoction. three times a day.
The folk method of terminating pregnancy using bay leaves is carried out in two stages. First, prepare a decoction of 100 g of leaves for a quarter of an hour. Then the cooled drink is drunk at night, and the wet raw material is rolled up in the form of a tampon in gauze and inserted into the vagina. The result should occur after 2 days.
The effectiveness of traditional methods of abortion directly depends on the time of consumption of the prepared drink. If this is done after the first week of a missed period, the result may lead to an incomplete miscarriage.
Benefits and contraindications
The well-known mustard powder is obtained from mustard seeds, a spicy aromatic plant. These grains contain essential oils that stimulate blood circulation and help warm up the body. They are also rich in proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins. Therefore, the powder helps with ARVI, bronchitis, pneumonia, neuralgia, gout, neuritis, rheumatism. To treat colds, it is most often used in mustard plasters, but other methods are no less effective and even safer.
Mustard powder is a good remedy for colds, primarily due to the fact that it stimulates blood circulation: this not only warms the patient, but also improves the functioning of the immune system. The disease occurs due to hypothermia. A virus is introduced into a weakened body. It causes a runny nose, sore throat, slight fever and weakness. And in addition to fighting the virus itself, warming also plays an important role in treatment.
However, mustard should be used only during certain periods of the disease: at the very first signs or if 3-4 days have already passed since its onset.
In the first case, the disease will not develop, but in the second, it will pass faster. On the 1st-3rd day of illness, you cannot use mustard, because there is a risk of making yourself worse - causing inflammation.
Also, the use of mustard is contraindicated in the following cases:
- allergies (more likely in a child);
- damage to the skin in the place where they were going to put the compress (rash, scratches, cracks);
- high temperature (above 37.4˚);
- less than a year old;
- vasomotor, bacterial or allergic rhinitis (permissible only for colds);
- inflammatory processes in the body;
- varicose veins;
- oncological diseases;
- problems with the heart and blood vessels;
- pregnancy.
You need to treat with mustard until the cold goes away completely.
By what means can you terminate a pregnancy in the early stages?
It is better to eliminate an unwanted pregnancy up to 6 weeks, while the embryo has not yet begun to develop and is loosely attached to the uterus. There are various recipes to achieve this goal, excluding the use of special medications.
Let's introduce some of them:
- Milk with iodine for abortion may have an effective result by causing heavy bleeding. To do this you need to take 1 tbsp. milk and add a few drops of iodine purchased at the pharmacy. Take this drink three times a day. It is important to remember that this remedy should not be used for more than 10 days.
- You can induce spontaneous abortion using a concentrated salt solution by pouring it into the amniotic space. This remedy leads to the death of the fetus, so this method is considered quite cruel. At one time, this method was used by American women in late pregnancy, which caused terrible burns for the child and, naturally, they were incompatible with life.
- Castor oil is added in an amount of 50 g to orange juice. The woman drinks half a glass and waits for a possible miscarriage, since such recipes cannot be 100% effective.
- A decoction of onion peels is prepared by pouring 3 liters of boiling water over 2 kg of raw materials. This product is boiled until it acquires a red-brown color. It is believed that consuming 0.5 glasses daily can cause a miscarriage.
- There is an assumption that a large dosage of ascorbic acid can also be an assistant in this dangerous procedure in terms of causing severe bleeding of the uterus. The problem is that it is almost impossible to calculate the dose for a specific woman, and the consequences can only worsen health.
- Science has proven that taking aspirin at least every 4 hours can cause miscarriage in 80% of cases.
- You can also use hot water douching. There is a high probability that this method will have an effective result and cause bleeding, which will provoke the release of the fertilized egg.
Often these drugs lead to fetal death, which can be very dangerous for a woman’s life. Therefore, before deciding on such a method, think about whether you need such problems.