Worms– a popular name for helminths, parasitic worms that can live in the human body. Diseases caused by worms are called helminthiasis. Symptoms of helminth infection are very diverse, similar to the manifestations of many common diseases: renal colic, pneumonia, hepatitis, pancreatitis, intestinal dysfunction, indigestion. There are many types of worms that can infect the human body - more than two hundred species, of which at least twenty are common in Europe.
Worms are believed to be a problem specific to countries with low social security and poorly developed medical science. Allegedly, worms only suffer from poverty, the poor, but also people who have remained outside society, who have fallen out of it. Nothing like this! Any resident of any country can be infected with worms, regardless of the level of prosperity. There is no question of any exclusivity in this case. Another thing is that developed societies are protected from diseases of this kind not only by advanced medicine, but also by their culture, in which people have acquired knowledge about methods of combating, treating and preventing helminthiasis since the moment of its creation. In this article, we will get acquainted with the most effective of them.
Prevention of helminthiasis in folk medicine
To prevent helminthiasis, traditional medicine advises maintaining hand hygiene, thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables with clean water, eating well-cooked meat, and disinfecting food storage areas with insects. Maintain cleanliness in residential areas, not only where people live directly, but also where pets and livestock live. Water should be drunk, if possible, boiled, and raw water from natural sources should be avoided in areas where cattle are grazing. When relaxing in nature, it is important to monitor the purity of the water in the reservoirs and its smell. Even running water can pose a risk of helminth infection if livestock have swum upstream. It is necessary to be suspicious of any stray animal, no matter how cute it looks, and not allow contact with it. It is important to eat well, eat food rich in vitamins and microelements. A healthy body has a strong immune system, which means that the risk of infection is lower.
Food of plant origin as an anthelmintic
Treatment of worms with folk remedies includes a number of food products, whose role in the treatment of helminthiasis is not small.
Onion, garlic, horseradish
These are proven anthelmintic products, their constant use will help to avoid the risk of infection. If it is a question of treatment, then onions and garlic will come to the rescue. Both children and adults can eat onions during treatment, but it is not recommended to give garlic to small children. The method of using onions as an anthelmintic is simple. Half a glass of finely grated onion should be poured with boiling water. Let it boil and then take it before breakfast for ten days. It is also easy to prepare anthelmintic medicine from garlic. Four large cloves of garlic should be crushed into a paste and poured with fresh (preferably homemade) milk. The mixture should be boiled and left to stand overnight. The resulting medicine should be taken one sip before eating. Onions and garlic help with enterobiasis (a disease caused by pinworms, parasites from the roundworm family). Reviews of the benefits of onion and garlic are positive, but most of those who have recovered agree that garlic is more effective, especially if you not only take the mixture of milk and garlic internally, but also do 100 ml enemas with it every day.
Often in collections of folk remedies there is advice to combine horseradish with garlic to fight worms. Six cloves of garlic are ground into a fine paste to which crushed medium-sized horseradish root is added. Half a liter of vodka is poured into the resulting mixture. The tincture is aged for ten days. The product should be consumed one tablespoon before meals. Experts claim that the drug helps not only with enterobiasis, but also with ascariasis (helminthiasis, caused by roundworms). The undoubted advantage of alcohol tinctures is the possibility of long-term storage at home.
Sauerkraut
Recognized folk remedy for worms. Rich in vitamin C, sauerkraut significantly improves immunity and strengthens the body, reducing the risk of worm infection. This tasty and healthy product serves not only to prevent, but also to treat helminthiasis. The method of treatment is as follows: half an hour before eating, you should eat a bowl of sauerkraut and wash it with brine. Within twenty days, the worms will leave the infected body. I think both children and adults will be satisfied with such a delicious treat. Reviews of people who have used this method indicate its effectiveness against pinworms.
Cabbage is often fermented together with another excellent anthelmintic - carrot, which is used in folk medicine to combat worms. It can be consumed separately in the form of juices (for children) and raw (for adults). The combination of cabbage and carrots will only improve the effect of treatment of helminthiasis.
Pumpkin
In the arsenal of folk remedies for worms in humans, pumpkin occupies a significant place. True, in this case, not only vegetables are used, but their seeds. They contain substances that cause paralysis of the locomotor system of parasitic roundworms (pinworms and roundworms). Pumpkin seeds and the oil obtained from them are a remedy for worms recognized by academic medicine. Pumpkin seeds are a wonderful and very healthy delicacy, so they are excellent for preventing helminthiasis in children. But for treatment, simply biting the seeds is not enough to use their alcoholic tincture. To prepare it, you need to take two hundred grams of peeled pumpkin seeds and a glass of medical alcohol. The seeds should be soaked in alcohol for three days. Tincture should be taken one tablespoon before each meal. The treatment lasts a week.
Helminthiasis is also treated with pumpkin seed oil. Treatment and prevention with pumpkin oil is suitable for very young children who cannot yet eat a handful of hard seeds. One teaspoon of pumpkin oil is an excellent means of preventing helminthiasis, and it also helps with constipation and poor digestion.
Alcohol tincture is a folk remedy for worms for adults. In other forms (seeds and oil from them), pumpkin is useful for both adults and children.
In conclusion, it should be added that during treatment it is important to follow a diet and not eat coarse and heavy food (fatty pork, legumes, raw cabbage).
Other herbal anthelmintics
If the previous section was about food, then this one will focus on plant products that humans don't eat. These include medicinal herbs, leaves, bark and non-edible parts of tree fruits.
Walnut
It became known as an anthelmintic during the time of Hippocrates. It was popularized here by the Cuban Cossacks. For the preparation of the decoction, dried partitions of nuts are used, and for the infusion, freshly picked green leaves are used. Sheets and partitions can be combined with each other, the effectiveness of the product will only increase. The infusion is prepared quickly - crushed walnut leaves are poured with a glass of boiling water, left to stand for two hours, strained and used one tablespoon each before meals. The treatment lasts three days. When preparing the decoction, the following proportions are observed: for two glasses of water - one crushed leaf and a dozen dried walnuts. Cook for fifteen to twenty minutes and that's it - the broth is ready. Use in the same way as the infusion.
Reviews of the use of this anthelmintic indicate its effectiveness against all intestinal parasites. you just need to remember that walnut infusions and decoctions, as well as other natural remedies, cannot be used if you have individual intolerance.
Aspen
Infusions from the bark of this tree help in the treatment of opisthorchiasis (a disease caused by cat fluke - a parasite from the genus of flatworms - and primarily affects the liver, gall bladder and pancreas). Prepare the infusion as follows:
- the bark of young aspens is harvested in spring;
- slightly dry the bark, then grind it in any convenient way;
- pour vodka into the crust in a ratio of one to five;
- insist for ten days;
- separate the liquid from the wood pulp by filtering it through cheesecloth or coarse cloth;
- A new crust is added to the resulting liquid and the process is repeated;
- Let the product stand until a precipitate appears, which must be carefully separated from the liquid part.
Judging by the reviews, there is no more effective remedy against flat parasites in folk medicine than aspen bark. The infusion should be used after consultation with a parasitologist, who will determine the dose and duration of treatment. Contraindicated for children.
Herbs
In folk practice, plants such as elecampane, tansy, chamomile, St. John's wort, immortelle, wormwood, clove, celandine are used for the treatment of helminthosis. Each of these plants deserves special attention, but in this article we examined only the most effective drugs, so we will focus on the "three".
Trojčatka is a method of treating helminthiasis with a combination of three plants: tansy (heads), wormwood and cloves (fruits). To start treatment with this method, you must grind all the herbs into powder and, using a pharmacy scale, strictly adhere to the dosage. The resulting powders should be drunk three times a day, half an hour before meals, in the dose: tansy - 1 gram, clove - 0. 5 grams, wormwood - 0. 3 grams. Reviews indicate the highest efficiency of the method.
Contraindicated for children, as well as adults if they suffer from peptic ulcers, gastritis or hypertension. The product should not be used by women during pregnancy and the menstrual cycle.
Traditional medicine has wide possibilities in the treatment of helminthiasis. But it is important to remember that even natural remedies can cause side effects or allergic reactions. Therefore, it is advisable to consult a doctor before using this or that folk remedy.