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Aloe Vera Tips & Solutions, Issue #008 - Remedies for Hives
August 06, 2012

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Aloe Vera Tips & Solutions
monthly newsletter/ezine of
www.aloe-vera-and-handy-herbs.com
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Vol. 1 #8 August 6, 2012

Contents:
Taking Care of Myself - Remedies for Hives
A Practical Tip/Solution - My Herbal Foot-bath
I Recommend - Ready-made Aloe Products
Contact & Policies



Taking Care of Myself - Remedies for Hives
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It's crazy how I'm starting to have more health issues, but it seems they all tie into things I can share for the benefit of others.

Over the first week of July I've had, what at first I called monstrous insect bites. I hadn't seen the insects, but since I had these huge itchy welts on my left foot and on my right ankle I just assumed I had been bit. I was applying aloe vera of course, and even tying split open sections of aloe vera leaves on the ankle hive and keeping it in place with an elastic bandage that I wrapped around my ankle and pinned into place.

Those itchy welts were just dying down and decreasing in size, with less itch, when new ones popped up on my right inner arm, and third finger. Same story.

By Thursday night of that week I began to question where all these invisible insects were. How come I never saw one? What if this were hives? I could not recall having had hives before, so I went to check online, and I read some alternative remedy books at home, and became convinced that I was dealing with hives. Especially since any scratching in the vicinity of these patches seemed to raise up more of them.

They began to die down on the weekend, but then I discovered more such raised, very red, shiny welts on my shoulders and even on my throat. I decided to drop in on a walkin-clinic late Sunday afternoon, and soon a doctor confirmed that it was likely hives. He prescribed a steroid cream.

However, the pharmacy where I went to pick it up had their computer down and could not fill the order before closing time. I took the prescription home to get filled in another place the following day. The next morning my shoulder hives had stopped itching. Just the ones on the right thumb were increasing.

I decided to check what this Rx contained and would really do, because - maybe I wouldn't need it after all. Turns out, like an antibiotic, Betaderm 1.0% cream is to be applied 3 times a day, and must be finished. (Though when I asked another pharmacist, he said, 'no, it can be stopped when you don't need it'). The side effects are that they may make the skin very thin and sensitive at the spots where it is applied.

I went through a list of possible causes, and after a day or two I crossed off - allergy to my insect repellent lotion, allergy to sunshine, stress, etc.

To shorten my long story, I did get the prescription filled at the end of the week, as the hives were not letting up, but I didn't find any positive results. I turned back to hunting up and trying natural remedies.

Last summer I had signed up with a distributor company that sells aloe vera products, and I had received a kit of many of these products. Now I gave them a workout. The spray aloe vera was so soothing - the itch the pain all stopped instantly. But when the product had absorbed into my skin, I needed to apply more. Afraid that I would use it up too fast, I looked for other aids.

The tube of aloe vera gelly worked fine too, but applying it under my clothing meant it was soon wiped away. I had to keep my skin exposed. My old trick of splitting open a section of raw aloe vera leaf and putting it face-down on the hive(s) and then wrapping elastic bandages over it to hold it in place worked best of all.

I had other ointments in the bathroom and gave them a try too. Some, like Lanacane, were momentarily soothing, but greasy. An old jar of prescription cream, from a doctor in 2006, had cortisone in it and it helped a bit too - but none of these cleared up the hives.

Finally, someone said they'd been sold a good product at the health food store near me, so I went there one morning before work, and a petite woman who had hives once too, and could identify with her own stories, sold me a little bottle of homeopathic tablets to put under my tongue, on an empty stomach, about every 4 hours. I've been trying that but not as consistent as 4 times a day.

Coming through my garden after work that same day, I noticed that the herbs I allow to grow wild throughout were looking fine. The calendula were waving their bright orange flowers in the breeze. Suddenly it came to me, I had made calendula ointment for Christmas gifts the other year because it is good for skin conditions. So are the plantain leaves beside my path! And what about my comfrey by the front door? All three are great for skin conditions!

After changing to my gardening shoes, I brought out a medium-sized basin and filled it with calendula, plantain and comfrey leaves. I brought them in and washed them in the sink, and then spread them on some paper towels to drain while I made and ate supper.

While I ate I looked up recipes in my book for ways to use/store herbs. I decided to chop them up and puree them in the blender with a bit of water. Then I poured about two cupped hands full back into the rinsed basin and added some warm water. I took that to my desk where I was going to work at the computer all evening. I soaked first one foot and then the other in the basin, repeating back and forth for several hours - until the water felt almost too chilly for comfort.

When I went to bed I noticed with pleasure that none of my hives were itchy, though the marks were still there.

All the next day, no itching! When three days had passed, I began to tell my friends that I'd been healed of my hives!

Unfortunately, the break was only three days long, so I returned to trying the herb foot-bath, for it relieved the itch the longest, like over-night, or almost 24 hours.

Last week I looked up what the sample Bee pollen and Royal Jelly tablets were good for, which came in the same product kit mentioned above. Today I am on my fourth day free of the hives and no marks left even!

It's hard for me to say which remedies for hives that I tried are the best. It's possible that the aloe vera compresses, the herbal foot baths, the homeopathic remedy specifically for hives, and the Bee products all had some influence. Since stress is considered a cause.

I think prayer and just letting go of some issues that concerned me was a big healing factor too. I felt convicted that I've been so busy trying out all kinds of remedies that I've forgotten to seriously consult with my original Manufacturer to see what His diagnosis is, and what He would like to do to fix the problem.

I'll hold off writing a more definitive article for the website until I know for sure what remedies for hives are the best. However, I'm willing to hear what has worked for you. (To be honest, I really don't want them back so can do more 'scientific experiments'!).



A Practical Tip/Solution - My Herbal Foot-bath
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You may be interested in my herbal foot-bath, so I'll anticipate your questions and offer my recipe/plan.

First, to find the herbs; plantain grows like a weed beside country paths and city sidewalks. That's why I say, God provides the herbs we need for our pharmacy right close by where we can find them for free. You can read up more about this herb on my website at www.aloe-vera-and-handy-herbs.com/plantain.html. Also calendula, and comfrey. The latter two are not so readily found wild, but you can easily grow them, and they love to take over your garden or flowerbeds.

If you do not have a garden, go to any health food store, and ask for these as dried herbs, usually in plastic bags. (You may easily put the dried herbs into a tea-ball and pour hot water over that in a teapot and you have a healthy tea. But you may also use them for your foot-bath, or - dip a gauze patch, or even a clean handkerchief in the tea, and lay that on the place of the itchy or unwell skin.)

For the foot-bath, if using freshly picked herb-leaves, wash them under running tap water and lay them on paper towels to dry. Then cut them up with a sharp knife to get the healing juices to break out of the leaves, or drop them in a blender with about a 1/4 cup of water (for the sake of the blades), and puree the leaves.

If you want to make a bath for your feet or other limbs, put the puree into a basin and add warm water for comfort. If you want to use the puree for a compress, spread it like jam on clean folded cloth and in case it seeps through, lay a piece of plastic wrap underneath. Now lay the compress herb-side down on the area needing help, wrap it up snugly and if necessary use other means to tie it in place.



I Can Recommend - Ready-made Aloe Products
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Not everyone is like me. Some people would really rather find the ready-made products with the healing ingredients, buy those, and keep their personal care quite simple. Okay. I can understand that.

So if you would like to investigate the products I mentioned above, here's where you go and how to drill down to the specific items;
myflpbiz.com/avhh
then click on the Products icon
next on the Personal Care link in the list
Then you have to select your country from the pop up page.

Now you can click on the individual products for more information. The ones I used are Aloe First Spray, Propolis Creme, and Aloe Vera Gelly.

I'll leave the buying decisions to you, but I do recommend these from personal experience!

Perhaps if I'd used it more intensely I'd have more dramatic results to report. However, I thought I'd mention it in case this is news to you too.



Contact & Policies - Constant
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CONTACT INFO: Ruth Marlene Friesen (306)856-7785
903 23rd Street West, Saskatoon, SK. S7L 0A5 Canada.
www.aloe-vera-and-handy-herbs.com/reachMe.html

Ruth@aloe-vera-and-handy-herbs.com
(If it is your first contact with me, you will to be asked to confirm
by clicking a link in an email before you can get through.
That is just the kind of security we enjoy at SBI)

POLICIES: I am definitely against S/p/a/m! I Will NOT share your
information with anyone. Integrity as a Christian, and as a
business woman is my personal standard.
Your email address WILL NOT be shared with anyone!

COPYRIGHT (c)2012 Ruth Marlene Friesen

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