Prepare a Medicine Cabinet First Aid Kit with Healthy Alternatives
Harsh chemicals and artificial medications aren’t always necessary for minor injuries when you can treat with alternative health items, and save money too.
A few years back, I accidentally spilled a plate of hot bubbling cheese on my chest. When I pulled the plate away, the food was stuck to my skin so badly burned that when I wiped it with a towel, my skin peeled away. It was excruciatingly painful, and it was bound to leave a scar. I washed it, patted it dry, put cold presses on it, and even sprayed it with Bactine (which is supposed to numb) and nothing took the pain away.
A friend of mine suggested I put lavender oil on the burn. Instantly, the lavender oil soothed the sting in the burn. I continued to put lavender oil on my chest for three days, and the pain was drastically reduced; by the third day, the pain was all but gone. The other amazing thing was, after a month, there was barely a visible scar. Today, if you didn’t know I’d been burned, you’d never guess to look at it; that’s how small the scar is. I attribute this to the lavender essential oil/
Since then, I make sure I always have lavender oil in the house and in my first aid kits. That got me to thinking about what goes into a good alternative health first aid kit. Let’s look at some natural, alternative health items you should include in a first aid kit:
Lavender Essential Oil–good for burns, bruises, soothing cuts and scrapes, and for inhaling to assist with anxiety, calming, and aiding in falling asleep.
Tea Tree Essential Oil–excellent for controlling the sting and itch of bug bites, cleaning properties for minor scrapes and cuts, soothing and slightly numbing for minor wounds, excellent for dandruff on the scalp and helps clear up psoriasis and eczema flaking.
Aspirin–this can be bought so inexpensively at any of the dollar stores, in the old formula white pills, but it last a lot longer than ibuprofen or acetaminophen for expiration dates, and can be used on a wider variety of problems, including topically, so it’s always good to have some around, just in case.
Aloe Vera Gel–food grade aloe vera can be ingested for certain stomach ailments, but most often, it’s used on the skin as a light astringent, helps with cleansing a wound and keeping it clean, and is also very soothing. It’s best known use is probably for that of sunburn and poisonous plant itches. If you have the plant, it’s always best to use the real plant for the gel, but the perfume and additive free pure aloe gel is amazing stuff to have in an alternative health first aid kit.
Lemon Essential Oil–this versatile and wonderful smelling oil is great for removing gummy sticker residue left by stickers, tape from bandages, glue, and other things left on the skin by medical procedures and paraphernalia. It’s also a good cleansing agent and anti-microbial.
Peppermint Essential Oil–I swear by this stuff when I’m stick to my stomach. On more than one occasion, peppermint oil has helped prevent vomiting and settle a queasy belly for me. It’s also better than menthol as absorbing smells. I will put a little bit under the bridge of my nose and immediately, the scent of the dirty litter box doesn’t bother me while it’s being cleaned up. It’s got a refreshing scent, a light tingle to the skin when used topically, and is very soothing and cooling. I will sometimes rub it on my belly when I have gas or feel nauseated.
Ice Pack–ice has always been a great burn pain reliever, but it’s also good for reducing inflammation from injuries, helping to slow down or reduce bruising, and to help with pain control. A quality ice pack that can be reused or refilled should be a staple in any first aid kit.
Dried Ginger Root–if you can keep the fresh ginger root around, this truly works best, but you never know when you might need it, so keeping some dried or dehydrated ginger root vacuum sealed in your alternative health first aid kit can help with severe nausea. You can put some of the dried root under your tongue, suck on it, or brew it with hot water in a tea.
Witch Hazel–a natural plant-derived astringent and anti-microbial, witch hazel can help reduce the heat of a fever when applied on the face, helps with flushing and hot flashes, is quite cooling and soothing, and helps reduce inflammation. It is the main ingredient in many of the over-the-counter hemorrhoid treatments, but you can make your own much cheaper with wash cloths or wipes and your own bottle of witch hazel.
Baking Soda–this bicarbonate can be used to help with stomach gas and acid (it’s a main ingredient in many over-the-counter heartburn/stomach acid medications), but it’s also great at helping with foot odor. Put it in shoes, soak your feet in it to help alleviate and prevent foot odor. It can also be added to bath water and toothpaste for added cleansing and odor prevention.
Duct Tape–in a pinch, duct tape can hold a wound together until you get medical treatment. If you’re bleeding and you cannot get it to stop, duct tape is one option to seal the wound, then seek immediate medical attention. Duct tape does not hold well in water, so removing it once a medical professional is available is not as difficult as other methods of temporarily sealing a wound.
These are just some suggestions for alternative health first aid treatments. These shouldn’t be used in place of seeking medical attention when needed. The point is to have these items in your home or in your first kit where you will be able to get to them quickly if you need them, when you’re in a minor emergency situation, then to seek medical attention once the emergency of the situation has passed. There are plenty of other items you will want to include in a good first aid kit, but these more natural, alternative items are definitely ones you should consider.