Sherri's Helpful Hints

First Aid and Health Tips

Arthritis
Relieve arthritis. Before each meal, drink a glass of water containing two teaspoons apple cider vinegar. Give this folk remedy at least three weeks to start working.

Bee Stings
Relieve by applying a poultice of baking soda and water.

Black Fly Bites
Rub regular underarm deodorant across the bite, and the bite will stop itching right away.

Boils or Pimples
To diffuse a boil or pimple, add two tablespoons of lemon to a cup of freshly-boiled water. Soak, clean, and disinfect the area with a cotton ball.

Burns
To soothe burns, dab pure vanilla extract onto a cooking burn to keep it from blistering.

Car Sickness
Sucking on a wedge of lemon will make you feel better. But be sure to rinse your mouth afterwards as lemon corrodes teeth enamel.

Chafed Skin
Gently pat a raw slice of potato over irritated nose, forehead, cheeks and chin. Rinse with cool water to close pores.

Contact Lenses
If they are lost, darken the room as much as possible. Shine a flashlight over the floor. The lens will glow.

Corns
To relieve corns, just before going to bed slice off one end of a lemon so that the "hole" that remains is the size of a penny. Insert the toe with the corn into the lemon. Put a sock on your foot to keep the lemon in place and repeat nightly until the corn disappears.

Cough
For relief of a common cough, mix honey and lemon together. Roast a lemon until it breaks open, mix a teaspoon of warm lemon juice with half a teaspoon of honey, and take every half hour until cough goes away. Never give honey to a child under 1 year of age.

Fatigue
Start running warm water into the tub, then add 1-1/2 cups ordinary table salt to the bath. Have the water warm, but not hot.

Hiccups
Since hiccups are nothing more than trapped air beneath the diaphragm, the only real way to stop them is to drink something carbonated and belch. Works every time.

Hornet Stings
Wring out a towel in hot water and sprinkle a generous portion of meat tenderizer on the towel. Apply directly to the sting, re-treating the towel every five minutes for about half an hour. The hot towel causes the pores of your skin to open, and the tenderizer neutralizes the venom. If you do this quickly enough after the hornet's bite, there is no pain or swelling.

Insect Bites
To relieve the itch, cut an aloe leaf and rub its juice on your skin.

Treat with a poultice of either cornstarch or baking soda, mixed with vinegar, fresh lemon juice or witch hazel.

Apply a paste made of meat tenderizer and water.

Rub bites with wet bar soap to help relieve itching.

Mosquito Bites
Rub regular underarm deodorant across the bite, and the bite will stop itching right away.

Poison Ivy
Apply a paste of 3 parts baking soda and 1 part water. Let dry, then wash off. This also works on poison oak, poison sumac, or other skin irritations.

Rubdown
For a super scented rubdown, spray two clean, dry bath towels with your favorite cologne. Toss the towels in the dryer for 3 minutes on a high setting so that they are heated through. Rub them vigorously over your body for sensational skin. Damp skin will more readily absorb the fragrance.

Sinuses
While you're in the shower, inhale the steam as deeply as you can. It will help loosen any nasal stuffiness. This also helps if you have a deep bronchial cough.

Sore Throat
For relief, mix a tablespoon of honey and the juice of one lemon into a cup of warm water, and sip.

Splinters
A drop of iodine or mercurochrome on a splinter will make it show up better.

Sunburn
To cool sunburn, dissolve 1/2 cup or more baking soda in a tub of lukewarm.

To relieve the sting of minor sunburn, cut an aloe leaf and rub its juice on your skin.