Guava Psidium Guajava Benefits

guava psidium guajava

Guava Psidium Guajava though it originated from Tropical America is now almost naturalised in many parts of Sub Saharan Africa. It has many benefits both nutritional and medicinal. I have personally seen it used successfully to treat malaria in combination with peach  and avocado pair tree leaves. Guava Psidium guajava is rich in vitamin A and C. In fact it is five times richer in vitamin C than oranges. The guava tree's parts are used to treat diseases such as diabetes and fevers such as malaria, coughs and wounds. Research has also demonstrated that the leaves and bark are active against amoeba that cause desentry.

How Guava Psidium Guajava Is Used for Medicinal Purposes

Guava Psidium Guajava Bark: A decoction of Psidium Guajava is used internally to treat diarrhoea and dysentry.

Guava Psidium Guajava Flowers: An infusion of guava psidium Guajava flowers can be used to treat menstrual problem. The leaves can also be used externally to treat Leucorrhoea ( a white vaginal discharge) and mouth ulcers. The leaves are also known to treat conjunctivitis when used externally by applying them directly as a poultice to the affected eye.

Guava Psidium Guajava Fruits: The fruits when eaten fresh can act as a restorative aid in convalescence and bleeding gums.

Guava Psidium Gujava  Leaves: An infusion of Guava psidium Guajava leaves is known to treat diarrhoea and dysentry and Malaria. As already indicated I have personally seen it used to treat malaria.

benefits of Neem Azadirachta indica

Neem tree

Neem azadirachta indica is a common tree in south Asia which has also found its way to some African countries as people have learnt of the health benefits of neem. Neem has other benefits apart from the medicinal benefits. Neem is a large evergreen tree 40 to 50 ft tall and has dense pinnate leaves. Because of is shape, Neem azadirachta indica is a good shade tree. The parts of neem used for various purposes are the leaves, bark, seeds, oil and resin.

Medicinal Uses and Benefits of Neem azadirachta indica

• Neem tree has anti-inflamatory, antibacterial, anti-viral, antifungal, blood purifying and antiseptic properties.
• It also has insecticidal properties, reduces fever and acts as a tonic and detoxicant increasing vitality.        
• Neem leaves have traditionally been used  by Indian herbalists to treat malaria and leprosy.
• Neem oil and leaves are also effective against various skin infections especially boils and ulcers.
• Neem is also effective in treating eye and ear infections.
• Neem leave stimulate the immune system, improve liver function, detoxify the blood, and also enhance the body's circulative, respiratory and digestive system.
• Neem twigs are also used to clean teeth, prevent breath odour and protect teeth from infection.

Other Uses of Neem

• A decotion of Neem leaves is reputed to prevent hair loss  when applied as a rinse.
• The Neem oil is used in hair and skin lotions, toothpaste and soap.
• Neem tree leaves are also effective mosquito and insect repellent.

Malaria - Natural Treatment

Uchee Pines

Malaria is caused by Plasmodium, a parasite introduced into the bloodstream by a bite from an infected female anopheles mosquito, the one that stands on her head to bite. The parasite enters a red blood cell and multiplies until it forms a whole rosette of new parasites, and bursts the cell. At the time  a crop of red blood cells begin to burst, the patient starts having chills. When the red blood cells rupture, all the new malaria parasites are set free in the blood stream, and each one immediately searches for new red blood cells to inhabit. The patient continues to have a fever while the parasites are free in the plasma. Even a small number of parasites are capable of provoking high fever with shaking chills. Any successful attack on malaria has to be made during this parasite migration phase.

An excellent treatment begins with a hot water enema followed by two quick fomentations of three minutes each to the abdomen. As the second of these two fomentations is being applied, begin a cold mitten friction to the rest of the body, starting with the upper extremities, proceeding to the lower extremities, finishing the second fomentation with a cold mitten friction to the chest, turning the patient and ending with a cold mitten friction to the back. Follow this first phase of treatment with a rest of 1 to 1½ hours.

The next portion of the treatment is alternating hot and cold fomentations, two quick ones to the spine, very hot, and about three minutes each, with one minute cold compresses following each three minutes hot fomentation. When the fomentations to the spine  have been completed,  give a hot foot bath with alternating hot and cold spray to the liver and spleen area. The patient may stand in the hot foot bath in the shower while the hot and cold spray are being administered to the midsection. Give the hot spray at about 110°F (43.3°C) and the cold spray at about  40°F (4°c) to 50 °F (10°C).

Continue the treatment for 10 to 20 minutes. The patient should be quite warm during this part of the treatment. The second phase of the treatment ends with a vigorous cold mitten friction for five minutes while sitting in a bathtub, the water at about 70°F (21.1°C) to 80°C (26.6°C). One may substitute a cold mitten in bed for a debilitated patient, or a salt glow followed by a cool cleansing shower at about 90°F (32.2°C) to 94°C (34.4°C). At the end of the second phase the patient should rest in bed to react for 1 to 1½ hours.

Another method of treatment for malaria consists of taking the temperature every 15 minutes; at the first sign of an elevation of body temperature, put the patient into the full body pack, a Russian steam bath, a whirlpool,  or a hot bathtub, to elevate the temperature to about 102°F (38.8°C) to 103°F (39.4°C), bringing out an army of white blood cells into the blood stream to attack the parasites before they can enter the new red blood cells. You probably will not catch them all the first treatment, but persevere. Be ready with a full body pack every time the symptoms appear, whether it is every 3 days or 4 days, or at irregular intervals. Used with persistence and proper timing, this treatment will completely eradicate the disease.

The malaria drugs depress the white blood cells both in the bone marrow and in the blood. You are dependent on the phagocytic activity of the white blood cells to eradicate the parasites.

Experiences Of Those That Have Used Natural Remedies to Treat Malaria

1. Dr. H.F. Rand, Superintendent of St. Helena Sanitarium in Washington state, tells of his experience:

...We gave malaria patients a cool half-bath about ten hours before the chill was due, following this with other cold treatments at intervals. The men from the medical school were there to watch the results. They watched for the chill to come, but it did not come. We used other cool treatments and kept them up. Together we treated these cases for a week. All that was required in the treatment was hydrotherapy, and it was successful from the beginning.

There was another case that they had been treating in their way for nearly two weeks. The man had been taking quinine and other medicines. The doctors told him it would probably be three to four months before he would be well. They knew that the malarial parasites could resist their medicines, and live in spite of them. This case was more reduced than the others had been. We used cold mitten friction, beginning about the same number of hours before the chill was expected each time, and the chills kept coming further and further apart until finally they ceased in about a week.

Just recently in California we have had two gentlemen suffering from this disease who had taken large quantities of quinine. As soon as they came we began giving the cold mitten friction every two hours, with hot and cold to the spine to tone up the nervous system. We were careful with the diet in order to keep the alimentary tract in as normal a condition as possible; and in tow or three days the chills were completely obliterated, and the patients improved very fast. We used no quinine at all. The examination of the blood in one week showed no trace of the plasmodia.- LIFE AND HEALTH, August 1909.

2. Another malaria remedy came from Mr. & Mrs. Font-Piquer, Christian missionaries to Africa, around March, 1993. ''With my husband, since we are at Riverside, we have given natural remedies to people attacked by malaria. Generally, the patient has already been given Chloroquine by local doctors, but the parasites are becoming resistant to it more and more often. So, as a last resort, people come to us when they are in bad shape. We have applied the treatment that you give in HOME REMEDIES and have seen wonders in five days. As the water from the river is not clean (parasites, cholera, bilharzia) we have boiled it or just put charcoal powder in it and have administered enemas, fomentations, papaya leaf or peach leaf tea, charcoal drinks, and have required the people to fast during the time they have the fever. Generally they vomit what they eat during the fever, anyway. We have given a lot of citrus fruit juice as well. We have been very impressed to see the results with the help of God and the good will of the people."