COLDS

Mix a gram of dalchini/cinnamon powder with a teaspoon of honey to
cure cold. Prepare a cup of tea to which you should add ginger, clove, bay
leaf and black pepper. This should be consumed twice a day. Reduce the
intake as the cold disappears.

GINGER FOR COLDS.

Ginger tea is very good to cure cold. Preparation of tea: cut ginger
into small pieces and boil it with water, boil it a few times and then
add sugar to sweeten and milk to taste, and drink it hot.

DRY COUGHS.

Add a gram of turmeric (haldi) powder to a teaspoon of honey for
curing dry cough. Also chew a cardamom for a long time.

BLOCKED NOSE

For blocked nose or to relieve congestion, take a table spoon of
crushed carom seeds (ajwain) and tie it in a cloth and inhale it.

SORE THROAT

Add a tea spoon of cumin seeds (jeera) and a few small pieces of dry
ginger to a glass of boiling water. Simmer it for a few minutes, and
then let it cool. Drink it twice daily. This will cure cold as well as
sour throat.

AJWAIN/AJMO FOR ASTHMA
Boil ajwain in water and inhale the steam.

CURE FOR BACKACHE

Rub ginger paste on the backache to get relief.

GARLIC FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

Have 1-2 pod garlic (lasan) first thing in the morning with water

HONEY AND GINGER FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

Mix 1 table spoon and 1 table spoon ginger (adrak) juice, 1 table
spoon of crushed cumin seeds (jeera), and have it twice daily.

MIGRAINE

For the cure of migraine or acute cold in the head; boil a tablespoon
of pepper powder, and a pinch of turmeric in a cup of milk, and have it
daily for a few couple of days.

BITTER GOURD/KARELA IS GOOD

A tablespoon of amla juice mixed with a cup of fresh bitter gourd
(karela) juice and taken daily for 2 months reduces blood sugar.

TURMERIC/ARAD CURE FOR INJURIES

For any cut or wound, apply turmeric powder to the injured portion to
stop the bleeding.. It also works as an antiseptic. You can tie a
bandage after applying haldi/turmeric.

CRAMPS

You must do a self-massage using mustard oil every morning. Just take
a little oil between your palms and rub it all over your body. Then take
a shower. This is especially beneficial during winter. You could also
mix a little mustard powder with water to make a paste and apply this on
your palms and soles of your feet.

HEADACHES

If you have a regular migraine problem, include five almonds along
with hot milk in your daily diet. You could also have a gram of black
pepper along with honey or milk, twice or thrice a day. Make an almond paste
by rubbing wet almonds against a stone. This can be applied to forehead.

Eat an apple with a little salt on an empty stomach everyday and see
its wonderful effects. OR When headache is caused by cold winds, cinnamon
works best in curing headache. Make a paste of cinnamon by mixing in
water and apply it all over your forehead

TURMERIC

FOR ARTHRITIS

Turmeric can be used in treating arthritis due to its
anti-inflammatory property. Turmeric can be taken as a drink other than adding to dishes
to help prevent all problems. Use one teaspoon of turmeric powder per
cup of warm milk every day. It is also used as a paste for local
action.

GOOD FOR THE HEART

Turmeric lower cholesterol and by preventing the formation of the
internal blood clots improves circulation and prevents heart disease
and stroke. Turmeric can be taken as a drink other than adding to dishes
to help prevent all problems. Use one teaspoon of turmeric powder per cup
of warm milk every day. It is also used as a paste for local action.

GOOD FOR INDIGESTION

Turmeric can be used to relieve digestive problems like ulcers,
dysentery. Turmeric can be taken as a drink other than adding to
dishes to help prevent all problems. Use one teaspoon of turmeric powder per
cup of warm milk every day. It is also used as a paste for local
action.

HONEY IS A GOOD CURE FOR ALL DISEASES

Mix 1 teaspoon honey with ? teaspoon cinnamon powder and have at night.

HICCUPS

Take a warm slice of lemon and sprinkle salt, sugar and black pepper
on it. The lemon should be eaten until the hiccups stop.

HIGH BLOOD CHOLESTEROL

In 1 glass of water, add 2 tbsps of coriander/dhania seeds and bring
to a boil. Let the decoction cool for some time and then strain. Drink
this mixture two times in a day. OR Sunflower seeds are extremely
beneficial, as they contain linoleic acid that helps in reducing the cholesterol
deposits on the walls of arteries.

PILES

Radish juice should be taken twice a day, once in the morning and
then later in the night. Initially drink about ? cup of radish juice and
then gradually increase it to ? cup. OR Soak 3-4 figs in a glass of water.
Keep it overnight. Consume the figs on an empty stomach, the next day
in the morning

VOMITING

Take 2 cardamoms/elachi and roast them on a dry pan (tava). Powder the
cardamoms and thereafter add a tsp of honey in it.. Consume it
frequently. It serves as a fabulous home remedy for vomiting. OR In
the mixture of 1 tsp of mint juice and 1 tsp limejuice, add ? tsp of
ginger juice and 1 tsp honey. Drink this mixture to prevent vomiting. OR
Limejuice is an effective remedy for vomiting. Take a glass of chilled
limejuice and sip slowly. To prevent vomiting, drink ginger tea. OR In
1 glass water, add some honey and drink sip by sip.

WARTS

Apply castor oil daily over the problematic area. Continue for
several months. OR Apply milky juice of fresh and barely-ripe figs a number of
times a day. Continue for two weeks. OR Rub cut raw potatoes on the
affected area several times daily. Continue for at least two weeks. OR
Rub cut onions on the warts to stimulate the circulation of blood.. OR
Apply milk from the cut end of dandelion over the warts 2-3 times a
day. OR Apply oil extracted from the shell of the cashew nut over the
warts. OR Apply Papaya juice OR Apply Pineapple juice.

URINARY TRACT INFECTION

In 8 oz of water, put ? tsp of baking soda and drink it. OR Drink
plenty of water, as it aids in flushing out the waste products from the body.
OR Drink Cranberry juice. You can also add some apple juice for taste.

SINUSITIS

Mango serves as an effective home remedy for preventing the frequent
attacks of sinus, as it is packed with loads of vitamin A. OR Another
beneficial remedy consists of consuming pungent foods like onion and
garlic, as a part of your daily meals. OR Fenugreek/methi leaves are
considered valuable in curing sinusitis. In 250 ml water, boil 1 tsp
of Fenugreek seeds and reduce it to half. This will help you to perspire,
dispel toxicity and reduce the fever period. OR Tie a tsp of black
cumin seeds in a thin cotton cloth and inhale.

TONSILLITIS

Take a fresh lemon and squeeze it in a glass of water. Add 4 tsp of
honey and ? tsp of salt in it. Drink it slowly sip by sip. OR Milk has
proved beneficial in treating tonsillitis. In 1 glass of pure boiled
milk, add a pinch of turmeric powder and pepper powder. Drink it every
night for about 3 days.

For a recovering drug addict, the sight of a hypodermic needle or a crack pipe–or even the exterior of a drug house–can trigger powerful cravings. Now scientists hope to use new brain-imaging technology to train substance abusers to control cravings. The addicts would literally watch real-time images of brain blood flow and use mental exercises to try to control their brain activity.

“We hope to develop a novel therapeutic for addiction, which will create a new way of treating these patients,” says Christopher deCharms, founder of Omneuron, a brain-imaging company in Menlo Park, CA, that is planning a study to test the approach.

While much is still unknown about what happens in the brain during a craving for drugs such as cocaine and nicotine, recent imaging studies have shown that certain parts of the brain are hyperactive in addicts when they are shown drug-related pictures or movies. DeCharms and colleagues plan to build on these findings using a new type of brain-imaging technology that enables both subject and researcher to look at the brain’s activity as the subject thinks. Known as real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, the technology measures blood flow to different parts of the brain, indicating which parts of the brain are most active at a given time.

Omneuron researchers theorize that an addict could use mental exercises to try to increase or decrease activity in a specific part of the brain, enlisting the fMRI feedback to guide his or her progress. For example, in a cognitive-therapy exercise taught in pain clinics, patients with chronic pain are instructed to imagine their brain releasing pain-killing chemicals. The fMRI feedback process is similar to biofeedback, through which people learn to control their blood pressure or heart rate by getting constant feedback on their vital signs. With the Omneuron approach, the feedback would come from a monitor showing the addicts real-time pictures of blood flow in the brain.

DeCharms’s group has shown that the method works for controlling chronic pain: patients who were taught to control activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, an area involved in processing pain, experienced more pain relief than control groups did. (See Seeing Your Pain.) In the new study, researchers plan to compare brain-activity patterns in addicts when they are using versus not using a drug, or when they are shown pictures that trigger drug cravings versus neutral images. Researchers would then try to teach the subjects how to voluntarily bring their brain activity back to its calm, drug-free state.

“We’re just in the early stages of this research, but the hope is that rather than using purely pharmacologic or cognitive [therapy] approaches, this would provide another avenue to treat this major disorder,” says deCharms. His group has done an initial pilot study of the technology and is now in the planning stages of a larger study. It’s too early to estimate when such a technique, if successful, would be available to patients.

Brain-imaging and addiction experts are excited about the possibilities. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), says she has been considering this application of real-time fMRI since deCharms first published his paper showing that the technique could help chronic pain. (The research for this paper was funded by NIDA.) “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could train the brain to regulate the response to craving?” she says.

Hans Breiter, a psychiatrist and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, says scientists have been hoping to develop this type of application since fMRI was first developed in the early 1990s. “It’s taken a long time for the needed technological improvements to fall into place,” he says. “I’m pleased someone is going to do hard work to try to make it work.” He cautions that imaging areas known to be hyperactive in drug addicts, such as the anterior cingulate and the insula, is very challenging and requires a lot of technical expertise.

“One caveat is whether the exercises done with real-time fMRI can then be extended to real-life situations,” adds Rita Goldstein, a research scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Upton, NY. “But the prediction is that it will be like exercise, strengthening the functions subserved by those specific brain regions.”

If the feedback technique is effective, it could ultimately be combined with other treatment strategies, such as desensitization or medication. Some behavioral treatments, for example, teach drug abusers to try to dissociate drugs cues, such as a needle or a cigarette, from the emotional feelings these visual stimuli elicit. Cycloserine, an antibiotic that also affects the brain’s learning and memory systems, has been shown to boost the effectiveness of this approach for people with a fear of heights. Volkow suggests that the same could possibly be done with real-time fMRI and addiction.