Natural Health Tutoring http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com Home Remedies and Natural Healing and Breech Baby Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:45:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 How To Heal An Infected Finger At Home! http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/how-to-heal-an-infected-finger-at-home/ http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/how-to-heal-an-infected-finger-at-home/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:45:40 +0000 admin http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/?p=418

I’m glad I can share this remedy with you, but I am certainly NOT glad that we had to go through the experience to get the learning!

My youngest is two years old and as cute as any little girl can get!  I hate to see any of my children in pain and she definitely experienced a good bit of it this week with an infected finger.

With some garlic, some salt or epsom salt, herbs and neosporin we are looking at the end of this ordeal!  We aren’t completely done with it yet but she is much better.  I was so happy with the results that we saw as we treated her at home, that I wanted to share what we learned in the hope of helping someone else.

Background Story

Friday last week, I was helping my daughter into the van.  She put her hands on the floor of the van, only to retract her hands back and say Ouch!  She showed me her index finger and I didn’t see any sign of injury whatsoever.  No blood, no scratch, nothing that would indicate a problem.  I assumed she bumped it or touched something a little sharp.  The rest of the weekend, she was fine and so was the finger.

Fast forward to Tuesday of this week.  She woke up acting pretty tired and just wanted to lie around.  That is certainly not like her, but I let her rest because we had two late nights in a row.  After she had slept a while, I went to check on her and it seemed she had a fever.  I figured she was getting sick and that explained the tiredness.  A little while later, I noticed the swelling in the finger she had showed me over the weekend.  It was very red and completely swollen with some discoloration under the finger nail.  The swelling was worse at the finger tip and got a bit smaller and less red as I looked down her finger.

I didn’t initially connect the fever and lethargy with the swollen finger, but once I did, I was very scared.  I was afraid that the infection would move to her blood or that she would get much much sicker.  A few treatments came to mind right away and so the battle began.

I really wish I could have gotten better photos of it to help you treat your own case, but I’ll display what I was able to get.

Treatment Strategy

I can call it a strategy now that I know what to do – at the time, I was just pulling every remedy I could find and using it as frantically as possible.

The very first thing I did was to give her a garlic enema.  I have used this tactic many times over the years for fevers in my children and have never been let down by its results.  Within a few moments of finishing up the enema, her fever was down a little more than a degree.

Right after the enema, I brought her out to the couch and put a baking soda paste on the finger.  Just mix up some water and baking soda to make a thick paste.  I coated her whole finger tip and half way down her finger because I really wasn’t sure what was causing the infection or where the original injury occurred.  It dried pretty quickly and I left it on while she slept some more, approximately 30 minutes to an hour.

(Side Note:  My husband has had several spider bites from a Brown Recluse Spider.  These very dangerous and potentially deadly bites can be treated with a baking soda paste as well.  Coat the area well and let it sit for a while.  If it is working, you’ll usually see some bubbling happen where the venom is being drawn out.  After you rinse the paste off, put Neosporin on it with a bandaid in between baking soda treatments.  He usually does two or three baking soda treatments throughout the day and keeps it covered with Neosporin until healing is evident.)

There was no bubbling at any place on her finger with the baking soda on, so I assumed it wasn’t a bite we were dealing with.  I’m still not sure exactly what happened to her finger, but at that point there was no open wound where the baking soda could have drawn out any venom.

Then, I soaked her finger in warm water with salt dissolved in it.  Afterward, I coated it with Neosporin and put a bandaid over it.  I was pretty worried about her, so I had her sleep in the bedroom by us.

In the morning, I gave her another garlic enema.  The fever wasn’t as bad as the day before, but I figured the antibiotic action of the garlic was exactly what her body needed.  The fever came down even more, thankfully!

I brought out all my dried herbs and put together a few to make a poultice.  I included a large pinch of the following:  comfrey, plantain, lobelia, red clover, and slippery elm.  After mixing them well, I poured some boiling water over the mix – just enough to make a thick paste.

Before applying the herbal poultice, I soaked her finger in more warm salt water.  Once the herbs were cooled off but still warm, I put a round layer of the herbs on a gauze first aid bandage – it was about as large as a silver dollar.  I really wanted this to cover up her whole finger.  I wrapped up the gauze with an ace bandage because I was out of medical tape.  I left her thumb out and wrapped it around ehr hand, fingers and wrist – not tight.  She fell asleep immediately since she still had somewhat of an elevated temperature.

I have to say, I think the herbal poultice was the biggest victory we had in this whole battle with the garlic enema coming as a close second!  After I pulled that poultice off (it had been on about an hour or so) I could finally see some of the infected puss at the surface.  Until this point, there didn’t seem to be any visual change in the finger at all.  Now, I finally felt like what I was doing what making some kind of difference for her.

The next dilemma was to figure out how to drain the area.  There were no holes or scratches that my husband or I could see and the infection was not finding a place to drain out on it’s own.  We soaked it warm water with espom salts and tried to figure out the best way to get that puss out of her finger.  We really did not want to hurt her any further if it wasn’t necessary.  As we mulled over what to do, the finger actually started draining by itself!  I was so relieved!  My husband did actually squeeze it a little bit as gently as he could in order to get more out.  We did another soak and covered it with Neosporin and a bandaid for a while.

By mid-day that second day, her fever was all the way gone, even though I hadn’t given her any more garlic enemas.  The enemas are much harder to do on a child that is feeling better and has more energy.  I wish I would have done a few more, but she seemed to be on the mend.

Before her bedtime, I soaked the finger again in espom salt water and then covered it with the herbal poultice mixture.  I was hoping to have it on over night, but when I woke up the next morning I noticed that she had already taken it off during the night.

On day three, things were definitely improving!  No more fever at all.  We were able to get the finger to drain again, and this time the fluid was a little cloudy at the beginning and then was a clear fluid.  No more infection!  The finger was still red and swollen, but not nearly what it had been two days earlier.  After two nights of sleeping in the bedroom with us, I was finally ready to let her sleep in her own bed that night!

I kept soaking the finger with warm epsom salt water and the covering it with Neosporin and a bandaid from here on out.  This lasted another four days.

Then, on Tuesday, exactly a week after all this started, her fingernail showed signs of being ready to fall off.  It seemed like it was just hanging by the cuticle.  We put some more Neosporin on it with a bandaid so that she wouldn’t catch it on anything while playing.  I am hoping that, if the nail does fall off, we’ll be able to get a better look at what happened under there.  We’re all too familiar with what a spider bite looks like so I’m sort of suspecting to see that – but we’ll see!  I plan to use the herbal poultice one or two more times to help the area heal more quickly.

Treatment Overview

Garlic Enema – three times a day for fever and to get antibiotics into the system

Herbal Poultice – three times a day for drawing out infection and healing the wound

Epsom Salt Soak – several times a day

Neosporin – any time you are not otherwise treating the infection, cover it with Neosporin and a bandaid

I sincerely hope this helps you treat an infection and fever very quickly and with great results like we had!

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]]> http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/how-to-heal-an-infected-finger-at-home/feed/ 2 Terminology: VBAC http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-vbac/ http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-vbac/#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:57:32 +0000 admin http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/?p=125 Vaginal Birth After Cesarean – If you have already had a c-section and are pregnant again, you may want to try having a natural birth this time around.  You would then be considered to be a VBAC patient.

The absolute best site I have found when dealing specifically with VBAC situations is VBACFacts.  This is a very informative website!!

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]]> http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-vbac/feed/ 0 Terminology: Posterior Position http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-posterior-position/ http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-posterior-position/#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:52:35 +0000 admin http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/?p=122 The baby’s spine would be right up along your spine with her face pointing up when delivered.  In this position, many women will experience back labor where much of the pain is concentrated in the lower back.

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]]> http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-posterior-position/feed/ 0 Terminology: Anterior Position http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-anterior-position/ http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-anterior-position/#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:50:44 +0000 admin http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/?p=119 This is when the baby is facing your spine.  The baby can be right or left anterior depending on which way he might be turned just slightly.  The anterior position is optimal for delivery.

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]]> http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-anterior-position/feed/ 0 Terminology: Oblique Lie http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-oblique-lie/ http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-oblique-lie/#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:46:18 +0000 admin http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/?p=116 In the oblique lie, the baby is just between being vertex and being transverse.  If the baby does not finish the rotation to the head-down position, this position could result in a shoulder presentation during labor and delivery.

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]]> http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-oblique-lie/feed/ 0 Terminology: Longitudinal Lie http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-longitudinal-lie/ http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-longitudinal-lie/#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:31:16 +0000 admin http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/?p=113 Whether in the breech or vertex position, whether the baby is looking at your spine or your stomach, this baby is straight up and down in your womb.

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]]> http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-longitudinal-lie/feed/ 0 Terminology: Vertex Presentation (or Cephalic Presentation) http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-vertex-presentation-or-cephalic-presentation/ http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-vertex-presentation-or-cephalic-presentation/#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:21:26 +0000 admin http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/?p=110 Baby is head down and in the “fetal position”.  The head will be in mom’s pelvis and baby’s chin to his chest. This is the best position for birth and by far most babies are born this way. Some will move into this position during labor.

There are, of course, variations of this presentation, most of which are talked about in other definitions.  But, if the baby’s head is flexed instead of the chin being to his chest, labor and delivery could be more painful.

If a brow presentation is discovered, the doctor might try to manuver the head with suction or proceed directly to c-section.  If the face is presenting, the doctor will most likely choose a c-section.  These different head flexes are called Flexion Attitudes.

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]]> http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-vertex-presentation-or-cephalic-presentation/feed/ 1 Terminology: Transverse Presentation (or Transverse Lie) http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-transverse-presentation-or-transverse-lie/ http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-transverse-presentation-or-transverse-lie/#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:55:06 +0000 admin http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/?p=107 Transverse – The baby is laying sideways over your pelvis.  No part of the baby is engaged in the pelvis.  A baby in this position can not be delivered naturally unless she moves during delivery.  Statistics suggest that only one in every 2,000 births is in this position.

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]]> http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-transverse-presentation-or-transverse-lie/feed/ 1 Terminology: Footling Breech Presentation http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-footling-breech-presentation/ http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/terminology-footling-breech-presentation/#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:32:25 +0000 admin http://www.naturalhealthtutoring.com/?p=104 Footling Breech – Baby’s head is up in your rib cage instead of down in your pelvis.  In this case, the baby’s feet are not by his head, but are down in the pelvis.  A footling breech would come out feet first.  Variations of footling include one foot up and one foot down (footling) and both feet down (double footling).

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